The Bible likens the local church to a body - a body of which Christ is the head and we, the Christians, are all members.
The beauty of any body is the perfect connectivity every member has with each other through a common blood and the way each member functions at the direction of the head. In the same way the Body of Christ is united through the Blood of Jesus, by which we have been made holy and able to enter into correct fellowship. Each Christian is connected to other members and moves as commanded by the Head...or at least they should...
I was thinking this afternoon about the many different types of people I have met in churches over the years. The good, the bad, and the ugly are out in force in any given congregation. Some churches seems to attract more of the good, some more the bad and ugly.
I created analogies for some of the different types I have observed:
The Clothing Christians:
These are the people who look like they are connected but aren’t. They are like the clothes on your back – they look like they belong with the body, but aren’t a true member. These are the pew fillers, the event stuffers, the adornment that make the church look good and big…but they are never truly connected. They can get old, worn out, full of holes. They have no ability to reproduce themselves. They do neither harm nor good and when they are leave, it’s like changing outfits, no one really notices and the Body remains unaffected.
The Cancer Christians:
These are the life suckers of the Church. They are created, not through proper body development, but are the result of a problem or issue. These are the wolves among the sheep. They can be nearly undetectable until they are too big to get rid of easily…and usually when they go they take the members they have poisoned with them. They are a growth on the Body, but refuse to be controlled by the Head or the immune system.
The Creepy Christians:
I tried to find an analogy for someone who was connected to the head but not the Body and discovered something interesting…it can’t be done! To be truly, vitally connected to the Head, one has to be a part of the Body. The Head and the Body go together…always. You cannot find one without the other, unless it be the a grave or the scene of a horrible crime. It is creepy and morbid to try to place a head on anything but a body and the head refuses to send brain waves to any other object except the body.
Bill Scheidler says, “The only way [a part] can properly function is to be rightly related to the whole” ("The New Testament Church and it's Ministries" page 63). Only creepy “Christians” (imposters!) will attempt to connect the head to themselves without the rest of the Body. God has specially designed His Body in such a way that no one can be in relationship to Him without becoming part of what He loves the most – the Church. He refuses them any notice, time, or life sustenance.
The Connected Christians:
These are the kind of people that I want to be, strive to be, and choose to be like. Correctly connected, in perfect function, to both the head and the other members, they complete the beauty of the Body. These people know their place, love their place and listen to the Head. They are covered with the same immune system, feel by the same nervous system, and are of one mind with everyone else – because they are of Christ’s mind! They are alive and reproducing, and to sever them from the Body would result in the same disablement and pain as amputating a limb. They are Body builders!
Which kind are you?
Nov 5, 2009
Oct 17, 2009
Caleb - Mouthpiece of Faith
But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. “Let’s go at once to take the land,” he said. “We can certainly conquer it!” (Numbers 13:30)
Here's THE STORY:
Caleb was born a slave.
All he knew in his first 39 years was a life of subjection and obedience to whatever he was told. He was not allowed to form opinions, or follow his own beliefs; rather he must be at all times submitted to the ideas and pressure of his masters. There was no opportunity to live as he thought best.
All his life he was considered the lowest of the low. Life was painful, life was void of dreams, life was defeat. His very identity was to be whatever he was told he was.
But somehow in the body of a slave beat the heart of a hero. Somehow, in the middle of the mud and sand and searing heat of Goshen God was forming a man who would never, ever be swayed by popular opinion – or even by ‘rational’ opinion if that opinion denied the power of Jehovah. He would be a man that would never live in a slave mentality, but he would rise in faith above circumstance and situation and possess ALL that had been promised him.
Caleb was present on the glorious day when God freed the Children of Israel and they marched triumphantly out of Egypt. He was one of those hundreds caught between the Red Sea and the army of Pharaoh. Both times he saw God deliver His people while shaming His enemies.
The real story starts, though when Caleb was one of twelve chosen to spy out the Promise Land. When they all returned from their reconnaissance mission, they gave a factual report. It was a fruitful land, there were broad rivers and lush meadows and high mountains, there were flocks and herds and pasture land as far as the eye could see, there was room for all of them. AND there were fierce warring tribes, and broad walled cities that could withstand the mightiest of armies. There were incredible giants that ruled the land.
All twelve faithfully reported what they had seen. Ten, though, left their greatest asset out of the picture. Ten looked at themselves and their weakness and suddenly they were whiny, weak, cowering excuses for men. Ten were like grasshoppers in their own sight. Ten had never left the slave mentality. Only two believed differently.
Ten were correct when they said that they could never overcome those giants. You see, they had already, by the doubt they fostered, been stripped of the power of God. They were truly left like bugs before their enemies. They were weak, they were ineffective, and it was no one's fault but their own. The result of a doubt and a slave mindset is this: You are exactly what you say you are.
Joshua and Caleb, saw things differently. Yes, they knew they were weak in the eyes of their enemies and that, on their own, they had no hope of ever reaching the promised inheritance. Unlike the others they remembered that they couldn’t have made it out of Egypt, either, without Jehovah providing the way. They remembered their own futility at the Red Sea, and they remembered God's great deliverance through the Red Sea. Yahweh was the only reason they had made it this far. They counted their God into the equation and the sum was greater than any enemy.
Caleb stood before the entire crowd of terrified people and – despite the popular opinion – boldly announced that they should "go at once" into the land and take it because they could "certainly conquer it". Here was a man who was slave no more and he didn’t intend to return to Egypt’s mindset.
Now, the rest of the story we know. The people complained, God got tired of the unbelief so He let gave them exactly what they wanted. He didn’t make them go into the land of giants and milk and honey.
Instead they wandered in the desert for 40 years until all the men who had spoken in doubt – all the slaves - were dead. Then God let an entire new generation of Israelites claim the promise – and Caleb and Joshua lead them.
Forty long years in sun and sand - a wandering punishment for others' complaining - still did not daunt Caleb. When the Promise Land was finally taken, he was offered his choice of land. And what was his choice? "Give me the mountain with the giants on it, though I am 80, my strength is still as a young man's." This one time slave was a victor through and through. Oh. Did I mention? He conquered those giants, too.
What things have you been a slave to all your life? What opinions or views of yourself have bound you?
The God has set you free from your old identity and you will never have to be a slave again. Your peers can’t make you view yourself as a failure when you know your God.
In Daniel 11 it says “Those who know their God will be strong and do great exploits.”
A realistic view of ourselves in ONLY achievable when we have a proper view of God and what He has said.
Slave mentality will kill the promise of God in your life…
but Faith makes mountains removeable and giants defeatable.
Here's THE STORY:
Caleb was born a slave.
All he knew in his first 39 years was a life of subjection and obedience to whatever he was told. He was not allowed to form opinions, or follow his own beliefs; rather he must be at all times submitted to the ideas and pressure of his masters. There was no opportunity to live as he thought best.
All his life he was considered the lowest of the low. Life was painful, life was void of dreams, life was defeat. His very identity was to be whatever he was told he was.
But somehow in the body of a slave beat the heart of a hero. Somehow, in the middle of the mud and sand and searing heat of Goshen God was forming a man who would never, ever be swayed by popular opinion – or even by ‘rational’ opinion if that opinion denied the power of Jehovah. He would be a man that would never live in a slave mentality, but he would rise in faith above circumstance and situation and possess ALL that had been promised him.
Caleb was present on the glorious day when God freed the Children of Israel and they marched triumphantly out of Egypt. He was one of those hundreds caught between the Red Sea and the army of Pharaoh. Both times he saw God deliver His people while shaming His enemies.
The real story starts, though when Caleb was one of twelve chosen to spy out the Promise Land. When they all returned from their reconnaissance mission, they gave a factual report. It was a fruitful land, there were broad rivers and lush meadows and high mountains, there were flocks and herds and pasture land as far as the eye could see, there was room for all of them. AND there were fierce warring tribes, and broad walled cities that could withstand the mightiest of armies. There were incredible giants that ruled the land.
All twelve faithfully reported what they had seen. Ten, though, left their greatest asset out of the picture. Ten looked at themselves and their weakness and suddenly they were whiny, weak, cowering excuses for men. Ten were like grasshoppers in their own sight. Ten had never left the slave mentality. Only two believed differently.
Ten were correct when they said that they could never overcome those giants. You see, they had already, by the doubt they fostered, been stripped of the power of God. They were truly left like bugs before their enemies. They were weak, they were ineffective, and it was no one's fault but their own. The result of a doubt and a slave mindset is this: You are exactly what you say you are.
Joshua and Caleb, saw things differently. Yes, they knew they were weak in the eyes of their enemies and that, on their own, they had no hope of ever reaching the promised inheritance. Unlike the others they remembered that they couldn’t have made it out of Egypt, either, without Jehovah providing the way. They remembered their own futility at the Red Sea, and they remembered God's great deliverance through the Red Sea. Yahweh was the only reason they had made it this far. They counted their God into the equation and the sum was greater than any enemy.
Caleb stood before the entire crowd of terrified people and – despite the popular opinion – boldly announced that they should "go at once" into the land and take it because they could "certainly conquer it". Here was a man who was slave no more and he didn’t intend to return to Egypt’s mindset.
Now, the rest of the story we know. The people complained, God got tired of the unbelief so He let gave them exactly what they wanted. He didn’t make them go into the land of giants and milk and honey.
Instead they wandered in the desert for 40 years until all the men who had spoken in doubt – all the slaves - were dead. Then God let an entire new generation of Israelites claim the promise – and Caleb and Joshua lead them.
Forty long years in sun and sand - a wandering punishment for others' complaining - still did not daunt Caleb. When the Promise Land was finally taken, he was offered his choice of land. And what was his choice? "Give me the mountain with the giants on it, though I am 80, my strength is still as a young man's." This one time slave was a victor through and through. Oh. Did I mention? He conquered those giants, too.
What things have you been a slave to all your life? What opinions or views of yourself have bound you?
The God has set you free from your old identity and you will never have to be a slave again. Your peers can’t make you view yourself as a failure when you know your God.
In Daniel 11 it says “Those who know their God will be strong and do great exploits.”
A realistic view of ourselves in ONLY achievable when we have a proper view of God and what He has said.
Slave mentality will kill the promise of God in your life…
but Faith makes mountains removeable and giants defeatable.
Oct 3, 2009
Invincible Humility
We all hear the term. We all know what it is. We can all spot a person who is not functioning in it. Yet none of us would consider ourselves and expert at humility. Why? Because it is uncommon in the human nature.
In order for humility to truly be understood it must be practiced because it is totally contrary to natural human thinking.
Humility
1. Humility is not weakness.
It is controlled strength. The strongest man in the world is the one who can rule himself.
2. Humility is not a personality trait.
It is a character trait. No personality finds humility easier to practice than others. Any personality will be improved by humility and degraded by pride.
3. Humility is not lack of identity.
It is the identity of Christ within us, and flowing out of us!
4. Humility is not just the absence of pride.
It is a quality of itself that must be applied! It is far from passive or neutral; it is active and must be put on in place of pride.
7 Indisputable Facts About the Invincibility of Humility:
1. It cannot be swayed by opinion because it does not fear opinion nor care about contempt.
2. Has no enemies - save for one and that one is already conquered.
3. Cannot die because it is impossible to kill a corpse.
"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." -Galatians 2:20
4. Has nothing to fear because it has nothing to hide.
5. Has clear battle lines. Humility will never be found in Satan's camp and pride will never be found in God's.
6. Always has more grace available, while pride runs grace dry.
"Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for 'GOD RESISTS THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.'" – 1 Peter 5:5
7. Cannot be conquered - it has already conquered itself and won. The definition of conquer is to bring under, to subdue. I dare you to conquer that which is already conquered or to subdue that which has already subdued itself.
Humility wins in the end.
One last thought...humility is the root of every virtue.
It goes hand-in-hand with trust. Love must be mixed with humility so that it can be true love without hypocrisy, "esteeming others as better than itself".
Patience must have humility, because humility has no agenda and places no demands on others.
Servanthood MUST have humility to function. Humility makes itself the slave of all.
Forgiveness ALWAYS has humility involved because humility remembers where it came from and holds no one to a higher standard than itself.
In order for humility to truly be understood it must be practiced because it is totally contrary to natural human thinking.
Humility
1. Humility is not weakness.
It is controlled strength. The strongest man in the world is the one who can rule himself.
2. Humility is not a personality trait.
It is a character trait. No personality finds humility easier to practice than others. Any personality will be improved by humility and degraded by pride.
3. Humility is not lack of identity.
It is the identity of Christ within us, and flowing out of us!
4. Humility is not just the absence of pride.
It is a quality of itself that must be applied! It is far from passive or neutral; it is active and must be put on in place of pride.
7 Indisputable Facts About the Invincibility of Humility:
1. It cannot be swayed by opinion because it does not fear opinion nor care about contempt.
2. Has no enemies - save for one and that one is already conquered.
3. Cannot die because it is impossible to kill a corpse.
"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." -Galatians 2:20
4. Has nothing to fear because it has nothing to hide.
5. Has clear battle lines. Humility will never be found in Satan's camp and pride will never be found in God's.
6. Always has more grace available, while pride runs grace dry.
"Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for 'GOD RESISTS THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.'" – 1 Peter 5:5
7. Cannot be conquered - it has already conquered itself and won. The definition of conquer is to bring under, to subdue. I dare you to conquer that which is already conquered or to subdue that which has already subdued itself.
Humility wins in the end.
One last thought...humility is the root of every virtue.
It goes hand-in-hand with trust. Love must be mixed with humility so that it can be true love without hypocrisy, "esteeming others as better than itself".
Patience must have humility, because humility has no agenda and places no demands on others.
Servanthood MUST have humility to function. Humility makes itself the slave of all.
Forgiveness ALWAYS has humility involved because humility remembers where it came from and holds no one to a higher standard than itself.
Sep 7, 2009
One Way
What is your portion?
The Lord asked me this about a year ago for the first time and it has echoed in my memory every since.
What is your portion?
What are you satisfied with?
What is sufficient to meet your every need?
Who is your life source?
Is it Jesus?
Is He the your only way?
As Christians I think we understand that our first approach to God can only be through Jesus, but what about after that? As we come before God again and again, how do we approach? Do I come through the blood of Christ, or do attempt to approach based merely on the fact that I've been there before?
Let me present an illustration:
I am a citizen of the United States. As such I have a passport proves that I am who I say I am. Say I go to Greece on a vacation, but when I try to reenter the US I have lost my passport. I come up to the border with my suitcases full of mementos to bring back to my family and friends, but the guards won’t let me in…I have no passport……I can argue that I have been there before. I can show them that I speak like an American, that I have the clothes of an American, that I have family that is American. I can try everything I know, but only ONE document will let me into the United States no matter how many times I’ve come and gone.
It is the same with God.
In 2 Timothy 2:19 the Bible says that the Lord knows those who are His.
Ephesians 2:13-14 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the BLOOD OF CHRIST. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,
What opens up the border between where I am, and where I belong? My spiritual passport..the blood of Jesus
How do you approach the Throne of God as a Christian? Often we come before the Throne of God and bring before us our works, our ministry, our triumphs, our steadfastness…all like gifts on a platter to appease and delight the King? To which the King says, “Those are beautiful gifts, but who are you who brings them? I cannot accept or even look at a gift from one I do not know!”
But there are those who approach with head bowed and empty hands lifted – empty, that is, save for the stain of the blood of Jesus on them. To those who do that, the King says, “Ah, I recognize that mark, that stain is familiar. You are the one that was guilty and is now saved. YOU are one of those that my Son rescued. I recognize you. Come, what do you have to show Me?” And then you pull out your treasure trove of gifts to present to Him.
Heb 10:19, 22 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
The blood of Jesus is our passport into the Presence of God. There is no other way that we can belong there. It removes all suspicion and vulnerability to the judgement of God. When we have the blood of Jesus over us it is our confidence that we are where we belong.
When I ask, what is your portion, the question is What are you relying on to bring you close to God and what do you rely on to supply the grace that you need today? To be the only thing that you need. Are you trying to enter the hard way, with hands full of gifts from a foreign country? Or do you have the identifying symbol of one who belongs? Have you been washed clean and transformed by the Blood of Jesus?
The Lord asked me this about a year ago for the first time and it has echoed in my memory every since.
What is your portion?
What are you satisfied with?
What is sufficient to meet your every need?
Who is your life source?
Is it Jesus?
Is He the your only way?
As Christians I think we understand that our first approach to God can only be through Jesus, but what about after that? As we come before God again and again, how do we approach? Do I come through the blood of Christ, or do attempt to approach based merely on the fact that I've been there before?
Let me present an illustration:
I am a citizen of the United States. As such I have a passport proves that I am who I say I am. Say I go to Greece on a vacation, but when I try to reenter the US I have lost my passport. I come up to the border with my suitcases full of mementos to bring back to my family and friends, but the guards won’t let me in…I have no passport……I can argue that I have been there before. I can show them that I speak like an American, that I have the clothes of an American, that I have family that is American. I can try everything I know, but only ONE document will let me into the United States no matter how many times I’ve come and gone.
It is the same with God.
In 2 Timothy 2:19 the Bible says that the Lord knows those who are His.
Ephesians 2:13-14 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the BLOOD OF CHRIST. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,
What opens up the border between where I am, and where I belong? My spiritual passport..the blood of Jesus
How do you approach the Throne of God as a Christian? Often we come before the Throne of God and bring before us our works, our ministry, our triumphs, our steadfastness…all like gifts on a platter to appease and delight the King? To which the King says, “Those are beautiful gifts, but who are you who brings them? I cannot accept or even look at a gift from one I do not know!”
But there are those who approach with head bowed and empty hands lifted – empty, that is, save for the stain of the blood of Jesus on them. To those who do that, the King says, “Ah, I recognize that mark, that stain is familiar. You are the one that was guilty and is now saved. YOU are one of those that my Son rescued. I recognize you. Come, what do you have to show Me?” And then you pull out your treasure trove of gifts to present to Him.
Heb 10:19, 22 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
The blood of Jesus is our passport into the Presence of God. There is no other way that we can belong there. It removes all suspicion and vulnerability to the judgement of God. When we have the blood of Jesus over us it is our confidence that we are where we belong.
When I ask, what is your portion, the question is What are you relying on to bring you close to God and what do you rely on to supply the grace that you need today? To be the only thing that you need. Are you trying to enter the hard way, with hands full of gifts from a foreign country? Or do you have the identifying symbol of one who belongs? Have you been washed clean and transformed by the Blood of Jesus?
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