The Ancient Future Church

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

“And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit; so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.”

Years ago Dustin Hoffman and Morgan Freeman starred in a movie called Outbreak. The movie centered on the efforts to contain an Ebola like virus. The virus was of course deadly. No surprise there. But what made it frightful was that it was airborne. It had the power to infect millions in a matter of weeks.

In the early days of the church faith was similarly contagious with the opposite effect. It could infect millions within weeks giving abundant life to everyone within its path. That is what Paul is describing in these opening verses of 1 Thessalonians. He and his companions have spent time among the Thessalonians. They have consequently come to faith. The Thessalonians are now imitators of their fathers in the faith which of course means they were followers of Jesus.

And under the power of the Holy Spirit their faith, one with full conviction, has spread. It has infected people in Macedonia and Achaia. Farther says Paul. “Your faith has gone forth everywhere.” It is so contagious that “everywhere” Paul goes people have heard of the miraculous work of God among the Thessalonians. Paul and companions have nothing to add. What they planned to say has arrived ahead of them. It is airborne.

What if such faith were alive and well among us today? Given our proximity here and our ability to travel the world, contagious faith could alter the face of the globe within weeks, if not within days or hours. Neighbors would come to faith. Neighborhoods would follow. In turn towns, cities, metropolitan areas, states and nations would catch the bug. Contagious faith would make millions, perhaps billions, sick with the love of God.  Many of us would long to have our headstones read, “He made people sick. RIP.” If only such faith were alive and well today.

Exodus 32:1-20

“These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”

Memories often fail us, huh? When our almost four year old Dow meets a new friend and the friend inevitably asks, “How old are you?” Dow runs over and says, “Mommy, what’s my number?” He is not good with names either. He is worthy of some slack though. He is ONLY almost four and he has never forgotten who is parents are.

Forgetting who brought you out of Egypt is like forgetting who your parents are. It doesn’t happen. Well, it shouldn’t. But the Israelites, because Moses was delayed, have forgotten who brought them out of 400 years of slavery in Egypt. In the place of God and His servant Moses, they cast their lot with a golden calf that is void of any power.

Boy we humans are lame. “We?” you ask. Yep. I am an Israelite called by another name. If I have a leg up it is that I am not deceived by a golden calf. If I have a leg up! Because my heart is, just as John Wesley says, a veritable idol factory. And as the prophet Jeremiah says of all hearts, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” The NIV says “beyond cure” in lieu of “desperately sick.” Ugh. My heart is terminal.

So what is your idol, the thing you exalt in the place of the God who brought you out of Egypt? Most often mine is me. When something is not happening according to plan, I am inclined to step in and think I will bring about the desired result. I’ll help God. It is the perennial challenge for me in this church plant called Grace Community. God birthed the idea and promised to birth the people through relationships. In spite of the abundant fruit to the contrary, He seems delayed to me. I want to take the reins and say giddyup. I can plan an attractive event as well as anyone. I can draw people. Same desired outcome, right? Right! But the means matter and He has another plan. But, I argue with myself, His plan isn’t on pace. So again I am tempted to usurp what is His, and replace Him with myself.

And of course that is where He wants to change me, in the area of trust and patience, in Him of course.

Listen. Did you hear that? “Come on God, Giddyup!” Was that me? Or you?

Matthew 4:1-11

“Man shall not live by bread alone.”

Jesus says this in response to the tempter who would have Jesus abandon faithfulness in order to satisfy basic human need. Jesus was hungry. Very hungry. Ever fasted for forty days? Jesus said no to the tempter. Why? Because life lived where needs are met in order to sustain life is not life at all. “Man does not live by bread alone.”

Life is found in God. We are molded by His hands and animated by His breath.  In Him we live and move and have our being. What does it mean to gain the whole world including sufficient food to sustain human existence if one forfeits his soul? No truer words have been spoken than those of St. Augustine. “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

Doing without for the welfare of the Kingdom (don’t miss Paul’s suffering for the welfare of the body in the Colossians lesson for today) is difficult for us to understand. In our environment few, if any, do without food sufficient for life. Nor would such deprivation be expected of us in order to advance a cause. And it is highly likely that such austerity or asceticism would be met with derision. “That’s not healthy.” And of course if you can have health and conscience, why wouldn’t you?

But there are places where food to sustain life and conscience collide. At least one mainline church in the US offers food and clothing to the poor in Africa with the expectation that the poor will be grateful and support the church’s apostasy or at least remain silent in the face of it. A choice must be made.

The thought of having to choose on behalf of many whether to continue the flow of food versus faithfulness to Jesus is unimaginable in my circles. But not in Africa. Not in Rwanda. Some redwoods in the forest of faith have said no, lived with the consequences and trusted that God would provide. They are Kolini and Rucyahana and Rwaje to name a few. And it is my honor to have held their hands and carried their bags. They have said, some literally, “You can’t pile the money high enough for me to run the risk of hell.”

Such meaty faith and witness is born of deep conviction, one being life sustained on bread alone is no life at all.

Matthew 3:13-17

“I need to be baptized by you and do you come to me?”

What are the limits of Jesus’ desire to relate to us, to identify with us? Here Jesus submits to the baptism of John. Clearly it is not necessary in any way. He is not part of the unwashed. He is without sin. He is not one in the brood of vipers fleeing the wrath to come. Why then? Why be baptized when he is the only real baptizer. And why does John resist?

Is there a parallel in Peter? Jesus wants to wash his feet. The prophet, priest and king? Really? Why would he want to do that? It is an act so menial and so intimate it still makes people uncomfortable to this day. Like John the Baptist, Peter resists.

What is the common denominator? Jesus moves toward us. Our first inclination is to move away.

We could analyze infinitely why we resist. To what end? I came across a cartoon years ago that captured the sentiment especially for a southerner. A husband is happily driving his pick-up and his wife is at his side on the bench seat. With each frame she moves closer to the passenger door. Finally she exclaims, “We are not a close as we use to be” to which he responded, “Well, I haven’t moved!” We are forever moving away from intimacy. We resist the very wholesome advances of Jesus. How can we tell? We are far apart and he has not moved.

But like most passages, these two are not first saying something about us. Our flight is obvious and predictable anyway. We are meant to see the grace and mercy of God. He is moving towards us, toward our rituals, even our feet, a la Thompson’s “Hound of Heaven.” “God does follow the fleeing soul by His Divine grace.”

This is love unbounded, love unknown. The answer to the question first posed? None! There are no limits. Jesus is God in our space, indeed God in our face.

Colossians 1:1-14 and Matthew 3:7-12

“Bear fruits that befit repentance.”

Bear fruit. We are expected to bear fruit. The expectation is clear in the words of John the Baptist? And it is not any fruit but fruit appropriate to our new direction in life, our new reality that we have turned around and are no longer fleeing God. We can’t rely upon our heritage. We can’t rely upon baptism. Externals don’t matter. It should be evident in our manner of life that we have turned. The Holy Spirit and fire produce something.

It is clear in Colossians as well. Paul says the Gospel is bearing fruit throughout the world. Indeed the life redeemed by Jesus is meant to bear fruit that is pleasing to the Redeemer. When we call to mind the first eight verses of John 15, the circle is complete. Pre-Jesus, Jesus, and post-Jesus, all indicate we are to bear fruit.

So a simple question – what fruit has the Gospel borne in you as of late?

We could do the quick test. Do I have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control in increased measure? Am I loving better? Am I reacting less (patience, self-control)?

The more difficult test is what is divine quality in us that other’s notice or envy? The fruit confirms we are disciples (John 15:8). What do others see Jesus doing in us such that they want to experience it for themselves?

A last look – where has my devotional reading and prayer life led me to noticeable or measurable change of heart?

Such self-examination leads me to rejoice that it is the Holy Spirit and the Vine that produce the fruit. Because the “grade” confirms what Jesus says, “Apart from me you can do nothing.”

1 Peter 5:1-14

“Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares for you.”

I don’t know about you but my first inclination when anxious is to act, not cast. First I analyze the situation. Then I form a plan of attack. Execution follows. If I had a nickel for every time I walked through this process I would be a millionaire. If I had a nickel for every time I walked through this process only to find it a waste of time a few minutes or a few hours later, I would still be a millionaire.

What if I can be transformed in such a way that my first inclination is to cast, to literally toss off anything that is troubling me to someone much better able to handle it? I am guessing I would worry a lot less. And if I worried less about what might be, I would probably live into each present moment more fully. I would be there more for my wife and more for my kids, there in every way, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Of course half the battle is trusting enough that God actually wants to shoulder or bear these burdens for me. I can’t imagine mine alone being all that appealing to him and when one considers the potential burden of some 6 billion people (if our evangelism efforts actually yielded fruit), well who would apply for that job! And yet he is a God that can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. So I should resist defining him by even man’s greatest capacity.

So life would be much improved if only I could be transformed in such a way. Come Lord Jesus!

John 16:1-15

“I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”

I believe in the new age. That’s right, the new age. Jesus launched it when he returned to the Father and made good on the promise to send the Holy Spirit. We live in a new age in which the Holy Spirit guides us into all the truth.

So by the power of the Holy Spirit we see what God is doing in Jesus. By the power of the Holy Spirit we can thus say “Jesus is Lord.”  By the power of the Holy Spirit we can engage in mission. By the power of the Holy Spirit we can appreciate the abundant life set before us. Most important, by the power of the same Holy Spirit we can be transformed into the likeness of Christ.

Guiding us into all truth is a rather large task. It might be overwhelming to us if it were not the limits on what he can teach. For he speaks not “on his own authority.” He speaks what came from Jesus which came ultimately from the Father. So the Holy Spirit is not leading us in ways contrary to what has already been revealed. He is not leading us to live lives contrary to the purpose for which we were created. He is not leading us to cast off constraints. For he knows well without them the people perish.

That notwithstanding the Counselor often leads us to appreciate ancient truths anew. For example, that we are created equally in the image of God and that God is, therefore, no respecter of men. That experience of Peter (Acts 10) and the words of Paul (Galatians 3:28) may have shocked some but only because they had forgotten what had been revealed long ago. So it is with us at times.

So we live in a new age but not with new truth. If we are concerned about what we are hearing and whether it is the truth, the first measure we should apply is whether what we are hearing leads us ever deeper into the image of Christ. The Holy Spirit will lead us there and nowhere inconsistent with it. He has no authority to do otherwise.

1 Peter 2: 11-25

“Beloved, I beseech you as aliens and exiles . . .”

That’s not very nice Peter. Name calling I mean. Aliens? Exiles? That seems a little harsh. We once called people from another country that had entered the United States and stayed without permission “illegal aliens.” We now call them “undocumented workers.” We want everyone to feel at home.

But Peter wasn’t talking about others. He was talking about his spiritual kin. He was talking about us. He was talking about Christians. We are the aliens. Our country of origin is elsewhere. We are the exiles. We are voluntarily absent from our home for a season ostensibly to serve our King on mission.

But Peter could have been wrong, right? Well apparently Paul thought the same thing. “But our citizenship is in heaven and we eagerly await a Savior from there.” See Philippians 3:20. Ok, perhaps the second generation went off on a tangent. Jesus did not use such language. Did he?

Hold the phone. “If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, because I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” See John 15:18-19.

Everywhere I look now I see alien, foreigner, sojourner, not of this world, citizen of heaven, not known, and even hated just as Jesus was.

Why then do I feel so at home in this world? Why then do we feel so at home in this world? How could a church ever be considered “established.” Why would we ever design worship or worship space to be neutral and remove everything (like a cross) that might offend? Why would we expect by our vote to establish the Kingdom on earth when in reality we should expect no right to vote at all because we are illegal aliens?

Ok. There are mitigating factors. We are meant to be salt and light. We are meant to be careful in how we engage outsiders (unbelievers). We may not be “of” the world, we are for it, groaning to see it redeemed.

So, without throwing the baby out with the bath water, can’t we have a serious conversation in which we admit there is more of the world in the church than there is church in the world? Just asking! It seems Jesus, unlike us, didn’t want everyone feeling at home or at least not so much. Just saying!

1 Peter 2:1-10

“A stone that will make men stumble, a rock that will make them fall.”

The Gospel drives and draws. In a world where everyone wins a trophy this is hardly acceptable and indeed an offense. We like to teach things that we think are universal in their acceptability. Certainly we don’t want to teach something that has the power to exclude. And so we struggle to teach and preach Jesus. Why? Because he drives and draws!

A fellow blogger, whom I admire greatly, is taking a beating for suggesting church discipline is a vital and necessary component to the Christian life and that in the absence of it more destruction, pain and sorrow follow. Consequently, he would say, we should not shrink back from exercising it. In response some howl saying how presumptuous and judgmental discipline is as are the people who would dare to exercise it. This blogger rightly points out that their problem is not with him but with the Bible, specifically Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians 5.

No one is required to believe and/or practice what is in the New Testament. But you cannot change what it says. You cannot dismiss, even soften, the truth that Gospel drives and draws, that some hear it and embrace it while other runs from it like it is the plague. Some follow. Some fall.

This is a problem with attractional models of church. We try to make universally attractive what is wonderfully attractive to some and utterly repelling to others. This is a slippery slope because we might so accentuate the positive to the exclusion of the negative so as to make the Gospel something other than what it is. We are stuck then with half the Gospel or Gospel light or engaging in a bait and switch in which we must tell the people that we did not tell them all the essentials at the outset. We should not be surprised if they doubt our integrity. When we accentuate the positive to the exclusion of the negative we have stopped “spinning” and started deceiving.

Let’s own the dichotomies from the outset. Jesus is a scandal to Jews and foolishness to Greeks. But he is the power of God to those called to believe. He makes some stumble and some fall. Let’s live with it and resist the temptation to make the Gospel something it is not, specifically universally acceptable. Some will never accept that they are sinners. Others will never accept that God’s mercy extends even to their undesirable neighbor.

1 Peter 1:13-25

“Through him you have confidence in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”

Through him, Jesus, you have confidence in God. Reliability is a big deal. And we have it in God because of Jesus. When Jesus seemed forsaken, he was not alone. Dead but found alive. Shamed but now reigns in glory. The same God who was there for Jesus, vindicating boldly Jesus’ trust in the him, that God and Father is there for us. He is reliable and that is a really big deal. Or at least it should be.

So many have a hard time relating to this reliability of God. For so many, people that should have been reliable were found absent at the most critical juncture of our lives. Especially fathers. Too often they were MIA. Some “ism” caused them to be absent, physically and emotionally. Sometimes it is as simple as misplaced priorities or self-centered perspective.

You may have heard this example but it bears repeating: “Charles Francis Adams, the 19th century political figure and diplomat, kept a diary. One day he entered: Went fishing with my son today, a day wasted…His son, Brook Adams, also kept a diary, which is still in existence. On that same day, Brook Adams made this entry: Went fishing with my father, the most wonderful day of my life!”

The elder Adams somehow never had (due to his own experience of father) or lost the value of showing up, the value of presence, the value of reliability, that you will in fact be there when the need arises. Do we not know how much a child, especially a son, wants to be loved by his father. A lot of boys don’t figure it out until they have kids of their own but they would have traded a thousand x-boxes and I-pads (provisions) for one day of fishing (quality time).

And when you can’t rely upon little f  father, it is most difficult to contemplate trust in the big F Father. Reliability is a bridge too far.

But God is the mother of all fathers. All of us are created in the image of God but only those who believe become the children of God. We are adopted. God is our Father. Regardless of our personal experience in this life, we have a dad and He is reliable. Just ask Jesus. Death and shame did not have the last word. Life and glory did. We have a hope and it will not disappoint. His reliability will stand the test of time. In fact, it already has!