The unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace

Many times ecumenical movements are perceived to be the result of the spirit of unity rather than unity of the Spirit. This causes a great concern for some evangelicals. Quite frankly, there are many evangelicals that cannot get beyond this idea and, will not strive to unite with other believers that they perceive to be of a different doctrinal stance. As a result there are thousands and thousands of denominations and divisions. Wikipedia reports that there are 38,000 various denominations.

Yet, the apostle Paul wrote the following to the church in Ephesus. Eph 4:4-6 There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call-- (5) one Lord, one faith, one baptism, (6) one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Okay.... is it possible that we can find the way to exercise the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace? Is it possible to find a way that believers can be more inclusive, especially of each other? All of the divisions center on our reading and understanding of scripture. Those who use what Brian McLaren calls a constitutional reading of scripture, use this to take their various doctrinal stances that they then divide on.

Let’s just look at Ephesians 4:1-4: “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Walking worthy of the calling should mean walking in love.

What would we expect the Spirit to unify believers on? First of all, it should be evident that the Spirit would unite believers in the fruit of the Spirit. So let’s look at the fruit of the Spirit in bullet form:

• Love (agape) selfless love
• Joy
• Peace
• Patiences
• Kindness
• Goodness
• Faithfulness
• Gentleness
• Self Control

I’m sorry, I do not see doctrine, scripture interpretation... etc. Think about the definition of each word in the list above, realizing that they all together make up agape and, then ask yourself, about the fruit of those who divide, judge, accuse, condemn and demand doctrinal purity. It seems to me that by definition those who divide and condemn do not exhibit any of the above fruit.

Further, if one uses the scripture interpretation method of Jesus and his followers.... that is... a strictly redemptive interpretation.... and, I think that we have sufficiently proven over the entries in this blog... that in fact, that was Jesus method.... the one he taught to his followers always; And more than this, if you witness the inclusiveness of Jesus as he ate and interacted with sinners it should be crystal clear that he was focused on the fruit you see listed above. That should be the source of the unity of the Spirit.

God is Love; how I was recently chastised.

The apostle John tells us in no uncertain terms that God is love... However, he spoke something to me that hit me like a ton of bricks. I read 1John 4:8, Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. How many times and in how many ways do I NOT love? I think far too often. I don’t have a problem including the outcasts; for me, that’s easy, but, lately I have been confronted with the fact that I have been pretty unloving to those who I would say are religiously dogmatic. I’m sorry but I have struggled loving the self righteous... the judgmental. I have gone so far as to judge them and that is the source of my growing pains.

I hear the Spirit telling me this: “ My love is radical Joe... you are very correct, I love the outcasts; I love those who are judged and further, I am not judging them at all... I love them and accept them just where they are”...

Big smile on my face but, then, the Spirit goes on to say...” I love the judgmental also... yes indeed, I love the Pharisaic spirited person... I radically love all people and, that is why I was willing to go to the cross. I went there for the outcasts and, the self righteous.”

Whoa! ... that stings! I’m thinking to myself....”but Lord you yelled at the Pharisees!.”

The Spirit reading my mind says... “yes, I did but it was out of love.... why have you yelled at them?”

I immediately had to realize and answer honestly... “out of anger,” my head drops.

Then the Spirit asks, “Can you love from a place of anger?”

My reply has to be “No,” a little shame sneaks in.

Ok, I have bared my heart a little. I need to repent... If I have hurt you with my ministry please forgive me. Understand that when I begin to be critical from now on... I am going to try to be loving, considerate and, if I have to come from a place of anger... I am going to try to just be silent.

Still, I want to point out that God is Love. God is agape (ahg-a-pay). So what is this love that is what God is? I like this definition; Thomas Jay Oord has defined agape as "an intentional response to promote well-being when responding to that which has generated ill-being” In other words, it is making the situation better. Agape has the highest and best outcome at purpose. This is the highest and best outcome for all people. This is radical love. This is the love that Jesus possesses and, guess what, if I truly have Jesus in me it should be the love that I possess. All of us who name the name of Jesus should have this love for all. This is not syrupy love. It is love that causes us to esteem others greater than we esteem ourselves.

Can I confess? Can I be honest? This is painful. This is hard. This will take some radical rethinking on my part. Pray for me as I seek the Lord’s help in cultivating this love.

Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, Sadducees and Herod.

I can still remember my grandmother’s baking days. She made some awesome bread. It smelled so good when you walked on the porch and the closer you got the more inviting it became but, goodness gracious.... when you tasted it warm and buttery it was soooo good! The substance that made it rise and be airy was yeast, leaven. I have watched her make it from scratch. I have smelled the yeast in warm water just fermenting waiting to do its magic. When introduced to flour, water and other ingredients it took over. It permeated the entire batch of dough.

Jesus is warning that the doctrine of the Pharisees, Sadducees and Herodians was just like my grandmother’s yeast. Except, instead of bringing goodness into the loaf it just would take over. Yeast, leaven is a metaphor that is used often in scripture. It is a metaphor that is used for sin and interestingly, the Jews were instructed to get rid of all leaven for the Passover meal. They could not even keep it in the house. It was a metaphor for sin and contamination.

Jesus went on to say that the leaven of the Pharisees was their teaching and, that it was hypocrisy. Mat 16:6-7 Jesus said to them, "Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." (7) And they began discussing it among themselves, saying, "We brought no bread."....... Mat 16:12 Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. In other words, Jesus said that the teaching/doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees was just like leaven. It would permeate and ruin the purity of the teaching that he had taught them. In Luke 12:1 Jesus called the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees hypocrisy and in Mark 8:15 he mentioned to beware of the leaven of Herod which was the leaven of the Herodians... that is, people who followed Herod.

Let me describe the historical context of each of these groups. The Pharisees were strict lawyers, self righteous and very judgmental. They believed in the imminent resurrection but they were very exclusive in their acceptance of people and extremely dogmatic about their beliefs and rigid with their understanding of God’s will.

The second group was equally religious and self righteous when it came to the Law of Moses but were far more liberal in the spiritual realm and, did not believe as much in the supernatural. They did not believe in an imminent resurrection. Likewise, they were not expecting the kingdom of God to be manifested in a supernatural way. They were the wealthy elite ruling class.

Finally, the third group was called the Herodians. They were followers of Herod who thought that co-operation with the government was the best way to aid the kingdom advancing. They wanted to see Herod in power and, believed that they could best advance the issues important to the Jews by supporting and, working with Herod and the Roman government.

I find it interesting that there are such close parallels to these groups within the church today. There are modern day Pharisees who are self righteous and exclusive. They are judgmental and claim to speak for God and exclude all who do not believe as they believe... do not interpret the scripture the way that they do.

Likewise, there are modern day Sadducees. They have removed much of the supernatural from Christianity. They self righteously tout the teachings of the sermon on the mount but, deny the power of the Holy Spirit and, the efficacy of the cross. They play down humanities need for redemption and the fact that Jesus put the world to rights for all by his death, burial and resurrection.

Also, we have the Herodians.... militia groups and saints that believe that we need to take over the government and rule by the Ten Commandments. They believe that the best way to change the world is to have government officials elected that have a biblical agenda.

Was it Solomon that said there is nothing new under the sun? In subsequent articles we will dig deeper into this topic.

Godly Sorrow vs. Condemnation

Paul states emphatically that there is absolutely no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1-5) and, John reports in his gospel that Jesus did not come into the world to condemn it... rather to save it (John 3:17-19). Yet, Paul teaches that godly sorrow leads to repentance (2Cor 7:10). So, we see that there is a proper and, an improper response to our sin. The proper response is godly sorrow or grief and the improper response is condemnation. We must ask ourselves this question; Does our teaching and preaching produce condemnation or godly sorrow? All too often the answer is that it produces either condemnation or nothing. It seems to me that much of current evangelical doctrine (teaching) is geared toward producing condemnation. Why is this so? Let’s examine it for a short time in this blog post.

What is the difference between godly sorrow and condemnation? One produces repentance and closeness to God and, the other produces despair and distance from God. Godly sorrow produces the closeness. Condemnation produces despair. How do these affect obedience? Well, condemnation leads to obedience from fear and, godly sorrow produces obedience from love. Condemnation demands obedience and, godly sorrow coaxes obedience. Condemnation demands perfection. Godly sorrow recognizes process and striving toward a goal. Condemnation makes no allowances for failure. Godly sorrow encourages the failing to reach forward with a hope for a better tomorrow.

Condemnation emphasizes God’s justice and, godly sorrow is achieved by emphasizing God’s mercy and grace. The difference between condemnation and godly sorrow is highlighted by where the emphasis is placed on the various message of scripture. This appears to be the great divide between the apparent apostle’s doctrine found in the pages of the New Testament and, the early church father’s doctrine that comprises much of our evangelical teaching.

This is precisely the reason that Jesus taught his followers a new hermeneutic... a solely redemptive hermeneutic that pointed always to him... the author and finisher of our faith and salvation. This is also the reason for his shift in definition of the phrase word of God. He and his apostles redefined it to mean him or the gospel. This nuance makes all the difference in the world when it comes to producing condemnation or godly sorrow. It is the reason that we must only look to the scarlet thread of redemption that runs through the pages of scripture from Genesis to Revelation.

If the redemptive focus is always preeminent then, the scripture will always produce godly sorrow in the one who finds him or herself coming up short and wanting. If not, it will always produce condemnation and despair. The concept of need, rest and, reasonable service is critical to proper spiritual growth... a growth that is absent of fear and despair. My prayer is that the saints of God, especially those who believe that they have been called to minister and lead, will embrace the redemptive focus and, will begin to help produce saints that can grow in the grace and the knowledge of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ which, will in turn allow a growth toward true holiness.

Haggai’s Message For Today

I am reposting this article that I wrote a while back. It came from a bible study that I and my wife did in Haggai.

Hag 1:2-4 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'This people says, "The time has not come, even the time for the house of the LORD to be rebuilt."'" (3) Then the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying, (4) "Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate?"

The Prophet Haggai prophesied, during the time that the people of Israel had been allowed to go back to Jerusalem, to begin to rebuild the temple of the Lord. This was the return from Babylonian captivity. Work had stopped on the temple of the Lord and they were busy building their own houses and pursuing their own agendas. 

Here, by the Prophet, the Lord asks if it makes sense that they should have finished houses while His house, the Lord’s house lay desolate.

Today, in this world of denominations and factions, the people of God are busy making their houses beautiful, stained glass and fine plush pews, while the true House, the body of Jesus is lying in desolation. The factions grow with ever increasing numbers day by day; dividing and growing like a cancerous cell. In the meantime, the world sees the denominations and debate, and concludes that Christianity, is merely another alternative of the relative choices that one has in life about what to believe. There is no chance for the powerful witness of the body of Christ to go forth with crystal clarity. When we ignore this, we continue to say, “the time has not come, even the time for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt.” I proclaim today, that the time is long since passed!

Look on to what else Haggai says:

Hag 1:7-11 Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Consider your ways! (8) "Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified," says the LORD. (9) "You look for much, but behold, it comes to little; when you bring it home, I blow it away. Why?" declares the LORD of hosts, "Because of My house which lies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house. (10) "Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew and the earth has withheld its produce. (11) "I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on men, on cattle, and on all the labor of your hands."

Look at the Spiritual implication of what is written here. The spiritual drought that besets the land is the result of God’s efforts. He blows it away! We may see a little harvest of anointing oil and a small portion of fruit from time to time, but the heavy due and the new wine and fat cattle are merely a thought of some future move of God. The plain truth is that the harvest is being held in check because the house of the Lord is desolate. The Lord says to consider our ways. We are to rebuild the temple. This will take heavy lifting. This will require much hard labor.

Haggai goes on to say:

Hag 2:6-9 "For thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land. (7) 'I will shake all the nations; and they will come with the wealth of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory,' says the LORD of hosts. (8) 'The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,' declares the LORD of hosts. (9) 'The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,' says the LORD of hosts, 'and in this place I will give peace,' declares the LORD of hosts."

So what is the answer? What is the heavy lifting? What is the work that must be accomplished to make the latter glory of the Lord’s house greater than the former glory? The temple must be built on the proper foundation. The foundation is the Lord Jesus Christ and above that is the Apostles Doctrine. But, what is the Apostles Doctrine? Don’t we have it? Well, we will ask the question this way. With all of the factions that exist in Christianity do we have it today? The answer is absolutely not!

The truth is that we all have pieces of the truth, but we must have our earth shaken. We must allow the Spirit of the Lord shake our individual nations. What we must do, is come together to search out the apostles’ doctrine by means of the Holy Spirit, in the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. This will require heavy lifting. This will require us to lay all of our agendas on the table and examine them together with the Holy Ghost’s direction. We cannot divide, but like a family intent on ironing out differences so that it is no longer a house divided, we must resolve to stay at it, until we have found the answers, and further, that the Holy Ghost has witnessed to us as a group, that we have indeed found the answers. At the end of this will come a return of the Apostolic Doctrine, and the Lord will bless as He promised in Haggai. The latter glory of the house will be greater than the former.

No longer will Larry King be able to have a Catholic Priest, John Macarthur an evangelical preacher, and a new age advocate debating truth, for the true temple of the Living God, the body of Christ, will be demonstrating in the Land, and Christ Himself will stamp his approval with a greater works ministry, that is so profoundly miraculous, that the whole world will take notice and see that the Temple of God is in the land.

By Request Here is a VBlog

Explaining the purpose of the Paradigm Shift blog.

What about authority, Protestantism and Acts 2:42? Part I: An answer to Father Barron

Anne Rice’s recent announcement has stirred up some very interesting debate and discussion. A recent face book posting of a YouTube video of Fr. Barron, speaking of Anne’s announcement led to another posting of a video by him on Protestantism and authority. These videos pose interesting questions about what is the church and where does it get its authority. So, on the one hand we have the Roman Catholic Church and the various branches of the Orthodox Churches claiming apostolic succession. On the other hand, the Protestant Churches claim that scripture alone is authoritative. Thus the question; Who has authority?

In fairness to the Roman Catholics and Orthodoxy, scripture alone... sola scriptura... has allowed the development of thirty thousand plus denominations. But, equally problematic is the schism of 1054 which divided the Eastern Church from the western church. Let’s just say that it is uncertain which of the factions were right... I lean to the eastern side but still, authority?

Yet, the New Testament suggests that there was at least in the first century church an authoritative apostolic doctrine or teaching. Act 2:42 “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.” Also, Paul said this to the Thessalonians (2Th 2:15) Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle. It is pretty clear that one needed two things for correct doctrine; (1) The epistles written and, (2) the traditions that they were taught by word of mouth. It therefore seems obvious to me that there was at one time an apostolic doctrine. So the question remains; what was the apostolic doctrine and who has it? Was it handed down or was it lost?

Are there ideas that can be clearly seen from scripture that show that the current church doctrine whether Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox or protestant is incorrect? The answer is yes indeed! First, the apostolic definition of the phrase the word of God meant gospel or Jesus and did not mean scripture. This was to establish the authority of Jesus and the gospel. Yet, when you listen to or, read about the debates over sola scriptura both sides, the Roman Catholic and, the Protestants both refer to the scripture as the word of God. That was the Pharisaic emphasis but was certainly not the apostolic emphasis. The true authority was the interpretation that Jesus gave to the scripture and, aside from that interpretation there was not scriptural authority.

Secondly, the apostolic teaching about scripture emphasized that it was solely redemptive; pointing to the work and mission of the Lord Jesus Christ. When one examines 2Tim 3:16 it must be placed in its wider context of verse 15 and 17. It is only profitable for doctrine when it makes one wise for salvation. This again is a solely redemptive purpose. It is only good for doctrine, reproof, etc. in its redemptive context. Scripture used outside of its redemptive focus is in reality the leaven of the Pharisees.

So, the question remains what is the apostle’s doctrine and what happened to the church? The apostle’s doctrine always puts grace and forgiveness first. This is the catalyst for all of the benefits of the gospel. That is why it is truly good news and, no one can out sin grace. This is the foundational premise. Paul stated that where sin abounded grace abounded all the more and James proclaimed that mercy always triumphs over judgment. This is the source of the Sabbath Rest.

Unfortunately for the truth, this does not make sense to the natural mind steeped in the knowledge of good and evil. The good news, when stated as it actually is, sounds too good to be true. Secondly, when one understands the truth of the gospel... really believes it.... it becomes harder to control people. The leaven of the Pharisees and the current church doctrine emphasize controlling people. However, the gospel states that it is the love of Christ that constrains or controls (2Corn5:14). Therefore, current doctrine is used to control or constrain behavior. This inhibits the natural love for God that flows from the true gospel.

We will look at this more in the next post.