BibleDriven

The Communion of Saints

My wife, Allyson, and I had the opportunity to be in Louisville this weekend (13-14 DEC 2008) for the wedding of a very good friend. And on Sunday, there was occasion to attend worship services in two very different churches.

The first was a non-traditional community church—laid back sort of dress, a rockin’ band, a largely young-in-age congregation, meeting in a very nicely renovated school building.

The second was a very traditional Baptist church—casual business sort of dress, a pianist and choir with director, an older-in-age congregation, meeting in an older and stately church building. The music in the first was contemporary (maybe even cutting-edge); in the second it was conventional and time-honored hymns. In the first we sang from words displayed on a number of plasma screens mounted from the ceiling around the room; in the second we sang from hymnbooks and lyrics printed in a program. In the first we sat in cushioned chairs; in the second on standard pews.

On the surface, things couldn’t have been more different.… but both were the communion of saints!

In both, our songs praised the Lord who saved us.

In both, the Word of God was read, and heard, and proclaimed with power and proportion, but without apology. In both, Christ was exalted as Savior and Lord, Redeemer and King, God and man, the Word made flesh. In both, there was fellowship and prayer. And in both, we celebrated the Lord’s Supper in unity, remembering his first coming and anticipating his second coming. Together, though in very different ways methodologically, we were part of something much larger—the communion of saints—and the glory is the Lord’s!

Prince of Glory, gracing heav’n e’er time began,
Now for us embracing death as Son of Man.
By your birth so lowly, by your love so true,
By your cross most holy, Lord, we worship you!

Tags: Church, Unity, Worship

We’re all Christians, but …

“All my family are Christians …” That’s how the woman with whom I was having an intriguing chat at the coffee shop began her next story. She’s a spry and inquisitive lady of nearly 70 years, well-read

and well-traveled, and an absolutely delightful conversationalist. We’d talked about seeing the country by train, about her late husband and friends she’ d known in other places. She’d told me of times spent in London and Scotland, of an opportunity missed to visit Japan, and of a Lutheran pastor she had once that, for just a moment, I reminded her of.

Then she leaned forward and began, “All my family are Christians …,” and I wondered what would follow. Her next words gave me pause: “… but we’ve all taken so many different routes.”

“Do you mean different routes to becoming Christians?” I thought.

But before I could ask, she made clear that she meant that they each had such different ways of “being” Christians. One, she said, was a “religious fanatic,” another a good and kind person, but who “never went to church,” yet another had decided that her Christianity and heavy drinking were quite compatible. She herself, she noted, was “spiritual” and a “Christian” but not much of a church-goer, and really quite comfortable with people believing whatever they liked as long as they didn’t judge her.

And it hit me hard. There, right in front of me in the person of this charming and entertaining and interesting older lady, sat the embodiment of much American religion — moralistic, therapeutic, deistic, consumerist, individualist, neo-gnostic, postmodern, pluralistic, and completely self-assured and self-satisfied. This is all that many folks — even many church members — have. It is their own little religion, their own unique route and journey, for sure, and they really like it. But it is not biblical nor h

istoric Christianity, nor is it good news in the end.

These are strange days. Therefore, “… be alert, with all perseverance and requests for all the saints.

Pray for me also, that I may be given the message when I begin to speak—that I may confidently make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may be able to speak boldly as I ought to speak” (Ephesians 6:18-20, NET).

Tags: Church, Truth

Only what needs to be done!

In M. Night Shyamalan’s movie The Village, one of the characters, Lucius Hunt, is asked by another why he is so fearless. His reply is remarkable: “I don’t worry about what will happen, only what needs to be done.”

While here and there one finds notable exceptions, the Church-at-large in our culture seems to be of quite the opposite mind: “Don’t worry about what needs to be done, only what will happen if you do it.” In other words, look out for yourself, your interests, your investments, your future. Choose selfishly, not sacrificially.

If it comes to a choice, better to look good (image) than be right (character), better popular than prophetic, better culturally successful than fearlessly faithful!

God’s call to Ezekiel stands in stark contrast to such thinking. The Lord’s first words to him were: “I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day” (2:3). Okay, not quite the comfortable little position to ride out until retirement.

In fact, not only are they rebels and habitual transgressors, but they are “impudent and stubborn” as well, i.e. shameless and hard-hearted. Is it up to Ezekiel to make a career decision here, put together a list of pros and cons and opt for a more promising path? No! He is being “sent” and the heart of his commission is summed up in these words: “you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD…’” (2:4). And before Ezekiel can voice the slightest concern, the Lord adds: “And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them” (2:5). In other words, Ezekiel is not to worry about what will happen. “Be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words … nor be dismayed at their looks” (2:6). His only concern is what needs to be done. “You shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear” (2:7).

Here is the crying need of the hour, in the midst of our dying culture: for the church to be the church—called and sent by God, taking a sacrificial stand if necessary, but always speaking the word of God into the midst of the rebellion, chaos and confusion of our day.

We truly don’t need to worry about what will happen when God calls and sends, only what needs to be done!

Tags: Church, Ministry, Spiritual Warfare

Where are we going … and just who’s driving?

I read somewhere recently, “Evangelicalism is dying for the discovery of the value of good theology, while managerial pragmatism is all but killing the soul of our enterprise.” It stopped me dead in my reading tracks.

The unnameable distraction, that gnawing anxiety that something wasn’t quite right, suddenly stood before me bald-faced. It’s so easy to slip over into “ad-ministering” in the place of “ministering,” and to think (or at least assume) that the cause of church and Kingdom is won on

the field of management technique and organizational structure. Not to say, mind you, that good management and proper organization are unimportant and can be ignored. But there is no secret formula to the life and ministry of the church, as if finding and wording a perfect mission statement, and then crafting a compelling vision statement, and then devising a great strategy is necessarily going to accomplish our well-documented goals within our time-bound schedule.

I’m just a little uncomfortable with that. It’s too mechanical, too mathematical.

Besides, all of our “mission/vision/strategy/purpose-driven” stuff can easily mask a thorough-going pragmatism that is far removed from the biblical emphases of faithfulness, love, service, patience, suffering, and perseverance.

I, for one, want to slow the “drive” down a bit and reconsider the destination.

Tags: Church, Culture