Why do we draw our patterns for “what-church-should-be-like” from Paul’s correctives to the chaos in 1 Corinthians 12-14 rather than the exuberant harmony of Acts 2:42-47?

There are fewer verses in the latter — so it has an advantage there already!

But more than that – even though the Corinthian letter bears principles of great value – the greatest value is for churches which are in crisis; suffering from behavioral problems even during their times of gathered worship.

Are we accentuating the positive and eliminating the negative (as the old song goes) — or the reverse?

Does your church have a problem with severe jealousy over the gifts provided by the Holy Spirit intended for the blessing and encouragement of the body of Christ?

Is your church uncontaminated by genuine love for each other that shows in patience, kindness, humility, protection, trust, hope, endurance?

Does your church have women interrupting the speaker to say: “What? I don’t understand. Somebody explain that to me. That doesn’t make any sense”?

Does your church have people generally interrupting the speaker to say: “Oooh! Oooh! I just had a revelation from heaven! Shhh. Shhh. Let me share it!”?

Does your church have people interrupting the speaker, wailing and warbling in languages no one can understand, with no one around who can interpret?

Does your church gather with everyone having their own idea of what the (dis)order of worship should be – and demonstrating their willingness to make theirs happen right now?

All while visitors are sitting there, wondering what in tarnation is going on?

Well, Corinth apparently did. So Paul wrote them to encourage them to calm things down, do things in a decent order, show courtesy, take turns, keep things intelligible, and above all glorify God.

My guess is that people pretty much do that in your church as they do in mine, even if grudgingly sometimes.

So back to the original question.

Do our churches devote ourselves to the apostles’ teaching, prayers, breaking of bread?

Are visitors awed with signs and wonders of near-miraculous changes in the lives of people touched?

Do we stick together and share everything we have?

Do we sell our property and possessions and give the proceeds to any among us who has need?

Do we meet every day at our church building campuses, putting them to some use more than just on Sunday?

Do we have each other over to the house frequently to dine, break bread, express gladness with sincere hearts?

Do we praise God constantly?

Do we consistently enjoy the favor of people around us?

Is the Lord adding to our number daily those who are being saved?

Have we got all of that part down yet — done the really difficult, challenging, character-building part of living like Christ in front of others — before we go on to the stage where rules must restrict behavior that isn’t even present?

Dang.

I think I just answered my own question.

Do you know what really chaps my saddlebags?

Of course you don’t – or if you think you do, you’re still reading to find out if you’re right.

What really chaps my saddlebags is people who think they know God better than He knows Himself.

There. I’ve said it. And I ain’t a-gonna take ‘er back.

I’m talking about people who say, “Oh, the Bible is bad because it mandates war and extermination and intolerance.”

Well, tough toenails, Person-Who-Knows-Gooder-Than-God. Tell you what. You pretend you’re God. You devise a brilliant way to keep order among millions of refugees in a desert with no visible means of support for forty years and if you come up with something better than law and punishment and providence, you give me a call.

And if you find something more efficacious than Christ’s blood and His grace in giving it for all who mature past the point of needing law, make it an urgent call, collect.

While I’m waiting, I’ll just go on yapping about people who say, “God is hateful and murderous and vengeful.”

Well, duh. He is also just and merciful and loving and provident and generous and omnipotent. Try telling the whole story in context instead of just the part that suits your purpose. Imagine holding back all of your emotions at those whom you might have created to enrich the world when they molest and rape and torture and steal and lie and annihilate each other instead of doing what you asked them to do, which was for their benefit and the good of all. I’m just real sorry He doesn’t measure up to your perfect standards of morality.

Oh, and by the way, see how you feel when they nail your firstborn to a cross and leave him there to die.

In the meantime, keep to yourself your brilliant perceptions about what the Bible says until you’ve read it through at least once, and about who God should be like until you’ve achieved perfection yourself.

He will still love you no matter how idiotic your notions are, and will still want you to be a part of His family in spite of what you are:

A doofus like me.

I know, because I’ve had some of those same snot-nosed, arrogant, indefensible ideas myself – probably still carry a few of ’em around in my saddlebags, when I’m thinkin’ with ’em as well as just sittin’ on ’em.

And He still forgives.

After you read this, you’ll know you want to:

http://www.christianchronicle.org/blog/2011/03/sudden-illness-claims-life-of-church-member-a-mother-of-five-young-children/

Maybe it’s because I purchased Rob Bell’s controversial short tome Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell and the Fate of Everyone Who Ever Lived this morning and devoured it whole by early this evening, but “A Brief Impression” is all I can yield.

I like Bell’s writing style. I’ve used it for years, not even knowing that he would be born and grow up to use it himself. I like asking questions, especially leading questions, as I find that was a tactic favored not only by some influential Greek philosophers, but also Jesus Himself. It’s good to encourage folks to think for themselves.

But if I’m ever going to write a book “About” something, I hope I will give that something the treatment it deserves, rather than just a quick overview outlining the aspects I like and the reasons why I like them. I hope I’ll give a little fair time and reference to the aspects other people like or prefer and their reasons, and if I disagree, maybe some of the reasons why I disagree.

If that something is a matter of faith, I hope I’ll cite a lot of scripture illustrating many points of view and why I’ve settled on mine.

And if I’ve raised a lot of questions, I’d like to hope that I would try to give my answer to at least more than a token few of them.

Satan, for instance, only makes a cameo (pp. 89-90) in Love Wins, and by reading scripture you’d think he had something more to do with sin, fallen man, temptation, judgment, and final destiny than just the function and perhaps destiny to make people better by having them turned over to him for whatever he does with them. However, there is no mention of his other appearances in scripture.

This is just one example, and I’ll leave it at that because I’m trying to keep this impression brief and I find that example typical of Bell’s treatment of his subjects in Love Wins. (The word “salvation,” for instance, only appears about 10 times – once in the ISBN description of the book, oddly enough.) Fortunately, he doesn’t burden the reader with terms like penal substitutionary atonement or soteriology.

I actually sympathize with Bell’s charge that the story of Jesus has been co-opted for a lot of different and lesser stories, some of them patently false – but to be able to call them false, one would have to refute them. And he doesn’t. Nor does he really, definitively support the propositions that he seems to be suggesting.

I can’t sympathize with the ideas that heaven and hell are merely states of mind in this life (or aeion) enjoyed by or inflicted upon one’s self through the choices one makes, or that because God desires something – the salvation of all – He makes it happen by His irresistible love, even perhaps against the will of one who does not wish to be saved. Those may not even be accurate perceptions of what Bell was trying to say. (And I end up having more questions. Like, “Does justice win, too?”)

You see, conclusions of this nature are rarely stated as such in the text of Love Wins. One is left to draw one’s own conclusions … which is another part of the writing style I share with Rob Bell. Yet, to be able to do so, one needs enough information on all sides of a question to reach a conclusion.

Rather than a brief impression.

To be fair, at the close of the work, Bell suggests other and weightier references from which he has gleaned some of Love Wins. Hopefully, they discuss the questions and issues raised within it more fully. And I fully appreciate the need for a work that addresses them without becoming ponderously heavy.

I’m just not sure that Love Wins really addresses them.

I have a theory. My theory is that legalistic Christian thought is absolutely, incontrovertibly “right” … if you’re allowed to insert the word “only” wherever desired in scripture.

And if you’re allowed to ignore or explain away any other scripture which contradicts you.

Because if you insert the word “only” into a scripture, it can become the sole criterion for something to be true; the singular condition upon which a logical progression can be made.

And the genius of legalistic Christian thought is that the word “only” doesn’t even have to be expressed as part of a verse being quoted or a logical constructed being built … it’s assumed.

All thanks to the doctrine of the silence of scripture: Anything not expressly commanded is implicitly condemned.

Want to exclude the active, current, present role of the Holy Spirit in faith? Quote Romans 10:17:

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Because the verse is silent on any other way by which faith comes, there is no other way. Faith only comes by hearing. (Of course, you have to ignore or explain away 1 Corinthians 12:9 and Ephesians 2:8, but those are relatively minor inconveniences.)

The problem, of course, is that the word “only” isn’t there.

And most legalistic Christians would be quick to point out the condemnation attached to this passage:

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll. ~ Revelation 22:18-19

“Faith comes only by hearing” is just one example of “the missing only” fallacy. I’ll bet you folks have encountered lots of others.

Share a few!

Don’t try.

Okay, that would be my first post shorter than its title, but I’m tempted to leave it at that.

Here’s what I mean, though:

Don’t make church growth your goal.

Make your goal preaching Christ, making disciples, putting people to God’s work with the help of His Holy Spirit.

The church that results from that will grow, if the seed finds receptive soil and God gives the growth. Keep watering. Plant more seed; the Word — you know.

Don’t worry about uplifting worship times, awesome praise teams or incredibly gifted worship bands or dynamic speakers or cool videos or  special programs or targeted ministries or awesome marketing or a big, sprawling building or sufficient parking or offering seeker services or traditional services or progressive services. Some of that may come, but fend it off as long as you can.

Tell them about Jesus. Show them Jesus. Win them to Jesus. Demonstrate to them how they are visiting Him in jail; how they are clothing His nakedness and feeding His hunger. When they have worked side by side with each other and with the Spirit, they will want to gather in praise, as often and as devotedly as possible.

People who can see the work of God – the work He is doing through them; in partnership with them – when they see that work in the lives of others … they’ll see it in their own lives too and you won’t be able to shut them up when it comes time for worship. Or any other time. It will well up from within them like a spring of living water. Just stand back and thank God when it happens and you get caught in the spray.

You may not be able to limit them to just meeting on Sundays to worship together. They might just open their hearts and their homes and their dinner tables and their earnings to each other. They might sell their possessions and give to those who have need until no one among them has need anymore.

I know all this sounds too good to be true. I know it sounds like a pipe dream. I know it sounds all but impossible.

But it also sounds a lot like the last few verses of Acts 2, and well into Acts 3 and 4.

And it also sounds like what Jesus said about nothing being impossible with God (Matthew 19:26; Mark 10:27; Luke 18:27).

Sorry. I have no idea why I feel compelled to re-post this from not-quite-a-year-ago. But here it is.

Take a look around on the Internet at the orders of worship and sermon topics of churches which post them, and you might get the impression that many ministers of the gospel have the idea that “You can only preach so much Jesus.”

Really?

Because you can preach “the plan” all you want to, and if you don’t preach “the man,” you’ll have converts to a system, not the Savior.

You can preach “the church” all you wish, and if you don’t talk about the Bridegroom who purchased her with His blood, you’ll be preaching narcissism.

You can preach against sin all year every year, and if you don’t proclaim the One who died to save us from it and lived again so that we could live, you’ll only be spreading guilt and despair and hoplessness – not the gospel.

You can preach about your experiences in life till the cows come home, but if you don’t share His, will your church end up knowing more about your life on the farm than the Son you live for?

You can preach about biblical history, eschatology, pneumatology, soteriology, theology, or any other -ology … but if you don’t tell people about Jesus of Nazareth and what He taught and how He lived and how He reigns, just exactly what are you doing in the pulpit of a church in the Christian faith?

Have you actually shared all there is to know about Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God, Son of Man, Savior, Redeemer, Rabbi, Teacher, Lord, Master, Friend, High Priest, Sacrifice, Good Shepherd, the Holy and Righteous One, Firstborn of the Dead, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace? The One to whom virtually all scripture points and praises – like John, His cousin – “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!”

Has your church plumbed the depths of its relationship with God through Christ?

Have you told them all there is to know about His love; how far He would go and what He gave up?

Or have you given up?

Paul didn’t give up, and Christ was all he resolved to preach (1 Corinthians 2:2).

Peter knew there was no other name that could save (Acts 4:12).

John knew that it is through Him that we have fellowship (1 John 1:5-7).

Not just a plan. Not just a church. Not just a history. Not just a theory of His return, His Spirit, His divinity, His salvation, or His relationship with His Father.

But HIM.

Have you actually worn out the Ancient of Days?

Have you truly out-taught the Teacher?

Have you really mastered the Master?

Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” ~ John 12:20-21

Joseph son of Jacob was one. So was Samson. Most of the children of Israel, in Egypt and Babylon. Jesus Himself. Peter and John. Eventually, almost all of the apostles … and uncountable disciples and martyrs thereafter.

But it was Paul who put the reality into words: “Prisoner for the Lord.”

He was one. And so am I. And so are you.

Not locked into manacles and chains of a physical jail cell, but constrained by self-restraint and the Spirit of the Lord to live a life of service to others and therefore to Him.

Or locked into a life that serves self and sin and therefore, Satan (2 Timothy 2:26).

Slavery. Indentured servitude, if you prefer, since it is by our choice. And it is our choice.

Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? ~ Romans 6:16

It’s one or the other; no middle ground. Romans 6-7 leaves no doubt about it. One choice leads to eternal life in Christ; the other to death.

Inevitably, the sentence is death. Either to self and our own desires (Galatians 5:24; Ephesians 4:22; Colossians 3:5) or of self and our own desires.

My favorite television show as a kid was the brilliant and enigmatic (but short-lived) British series The Prisoner. Its nameless, titular main character began each episode with a defiant declaration to his captors: “I am not a number; I am a free man!”

Scripture says choose self and you are just a number … one of the numberless multitudes who are prisoners to their own desires yet whose hairs are numbered and known by the Father who loves them; choose the Father and you are free from law and death and sin and self.

You become the warden, taking captive “every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

You also capture His heart, as you are captivated by His love.

And forever after, you are free to be a prisoner for the Lord.

There is an old saying in Christianity – stated one of several ways – that God is too holy to tolerate sin; to abide sin; to dwell in the presence of sin, or the sinner. It is used to support the Spirit-in-the-written-word-only-today doctrine by saying that the Holy Spirit somehow becomes an accomplice to sin if the person in whom He dwells falls even for a moment.

To establish this proverb, Isaiah 59:1-2 is sometimes quoted:

Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save,
nor his ear too dull to hear.
But your iniquities have separated
you from your God;
your sins have hidden his face from you,
so that he will not hear.

But, generally the rest of the chapter is not cited … because a thinking person would realize that it ends with God’s covenant to inspire descendants forever with His words through His Holy Spirit:

“As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the LORD. “My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants—from this time on and forever,” says the LORD. (Isaiah 59:21)

That – and the rest of the chapter which describes how God overcomes the sin He sees through a Redeemer – is inconvenient to the argument that men are too sinful for God to dwell with them or within them.

And sometimes Habakkuk 1:13a is cited:

Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;
you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.

But the rest of the verse, usually not … because a thinking person would realize that the prophet is having a conversation with God and actually accusing Him of tolerating evil:

Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?
Why are you silent while the wicked
swallow up those more righteous than themselves?

Plus … how could He be aware of evil if He does not see it or look upon it? if He is indeed blind to it?

The Lord’s answer in chapter two make it obvious that He sees and judges the sin spread out before Him and pronounces His woes and will dispense His justice:

The cup from the LORD’s right hand is coming around to you,
and disgrace will cover your glory. ~ Habakkuk 2:16

The LORD is in his holy temple;
let all the earth be silent before him. ~ Habakkuk 2:20

It is always a foolish and dangerous thing to base an argument upon what God cannot do. With God, nothing is impossible (Matthew 19:26; Mark 10:27; Luke 18:27) – and His eyes remain holy even if He sees sin. His Presence is not hobbled nor destroyed by the presence of it in His world.

You see, if God is too holy to even look upon sin, too holy to dwell among sinners, too holy to live within them …

• Then Job 1 is a lie.
• So is 1 Kings 22:19-23 and its twin, 2 Chronicles 18:18-22.
• Same with Psalm 51.
• Isaiah 59:21 is full of empty words.
• Joel 2:28-29 and Acts 2:16-18 are meaningless.
• The promise of His Spirit could not have even fallen on the apostles, who were far from perfect (Galatians 2:11; Romans 7:15-24).
• Worst of all, Philippians 2:5-11 and Mark 2:15-17and Luke 5:20 and Luke 7:48 and John 1 and  2 Corinthians 5:21 are cruel fabrications and the Christ who knew no sin could not have become sin in order to forgive it and we are all hopelessly, irrevocably, eternally damned.

Too holy to dwell in sinful men?

Yes, but not the ones He has forgiven.

Our sins may hide God’s face from us, but He still sees. He sees those sins repented. He sees them nailed down, lifted up, and crucified dead. He sees His Son, dying on that cross.

And for reasons unfathomable to us save in the term “love,” that is all that matters to Him.

Shame on any of us for ever trying to pretend God or His Son or His Holy Spirit are too weak to do what Christ’s blood has done.