Hi Fun Seekers,

In order to help break the commonplace “echo chamber” phenomenon that’s in the drinking water of the blogosophere, I’ll be conducting interviews with various and sundry authors, writers, teachers, bloggers, etc. who have unique and interesting things to say about Christ, the church, and the future of the church in this hour.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be interviewing Dan Kimball, Len Sweet, and Todd Hunter.

If you’d like me to interview some other folks in the future, let me know who they are. BUT … do NOT offer the name of someone if you cannot provide an email address for them.

For instance: Don’t offer up Billy Graham or Rick Warren if you don’t have an email for them. We need to be able to contact them via email. Also please don’t offer up a website and say, “I’m sure the contact info. is there, go hunt for it.”

NOT …

If you offer someone’s name, please do the work of tracking down their EMAIL addy (not a snail mail address).

Note that any email addresses you provide will be kept private with us. The emails will be removed from your comment before it’s approved.  So the person’s privacy won’t be compromised.

By the way, last week the Technorati Authority score for this blog was 492, which I’m told puts it in the top 10 Christian blogs in the blogosphere. Consequently, whoever is being interviewed will likely get major traffic to their site.

Have a great weekend!

Lyrically, this is one of the greatest hymns ever written. If you know some other wonderful Christ-exalting hymns,  please share the lyrics in the comments section. Would love to see them.

Hast thou heard Him, seen Him, known Him?

Hast thou heard Him, seen Him, known Him?
Is not thine a captured heart?
Chief among ten thousand own Him,
Joyful choose the better part.

Idols once they won thee, charmed thee,
Lovely things of time and sense;
Gilded thus does sin disarm thee,
Honeyed lest thou turn thee thence.

What has stripped the seeming beauty
From the idols of the earth?
Not a sense of right or duty,
But the sight of peerless worth.

Not the crushing of those idols,
With its bitter void and smart;
But the beaming of His beauty,
The unveiling of His heart.

Who extinguishes their taper
Till they hail the rising sun?
Who discards the garb of winter
Till the summer has begun?

‘Tis the look that melted Peter,
‘Tis the face that Stephen saw,
‘Tis the heart that wept with Mary,
Can alone from idols draw:

Draw and win and fill completely,
Till the cup o’erflow the brim;
What have we to do with idols
Who have companied with Him?

Miss Ora Rowan (1834-1879)

Back in February of this year, I had the privilege of speaking at George Fox Seminary with Alan Hirsch, Dan Kimball, Len Sweet, and MaryKate Morse.

During the panel discussion, Alan Hirsch slipped into “instigator mode” (I think he was bored that day or was thirsty for a good ole’ fashioned brawl). Alan asked, “Frank, what do you think of the clergy and do you see a place for it?”

Having read and endorsed my book Pagan Christianity, Alan knew full well where I stood on the subject. My answer was simple: “Some of my best friends are clergymen … I shall put a period at the end of that sentence.” To which the audience laughed. We then went on to other matters.

The irony in Alan’s question was that we were all sitting in a seminary named after a man who was vehemently opposed to the clergy system and was sorely persecuted for it.

The full answer to Alan’s question is that my views on the clergy are identical to that of George Fox himself.

I felt that answering the question in this way could have created a potential riot (there were a good number of clergy in the room), so I chose to give the response I did, which brought some needed comic relief to the anticipated tension that Alan’s question brought to the audience.

That said, there are two things I want to share on the subject today:

First, I’ve become quite amazed at the number of pop “church” books that have come out since the release of Pagan Christianity which are trying quite desperately to defend the clergy/laity divide. A number of these books present themselves to be new, radical, and offering a different perspective on church. But if I may be candid, they merely rearrange the liturgical furniture and tweak the ecclesiastical vocabulary while leaving untouched the root issues of the church’s problems. None of them deal with the sacred cow of the clergy system—the pink elephant in the room that many Christians dare not touch. Most of these books are merely a rehash of most church renewal books that have come out over the last 50 years. Band-Aids and patchwork operations applied to a defective ecclesiology. And (to quote Led Zeppelin), “the song remains the same.” That always happens when one deals with the symptoms and not the root/systemic causes.

Point: You can rearrange the chairs on the Titanic all day long, but the ship is still going down.

Second, in this regard, I wish to point my readers to the work of Jon Zens. Zens is one of the few scholars outside the institutional church who is writing 100 years ahead of his time. A former clergy-man himself, Zens effectively shreds all the typical justifications for the clergy caste system and turns them into confetti. About a year ago he went nose-to-nose with another scholar and turned the shredder on high. You can read Jon’s incredible exchange here.

Check out Jon’s many articles on the subject at http://www.searchingtogether.org/articles.htm

But be forewarned: They are not for the faint in heart.

“The New Testament doctrine of ministry rests therefore not on the clergy-laity distinction but on the twin and complementary pillars of the priesthood of all believers and the gifts of the Spirit. Today, four centuries after the Reformation, the full implications of this Protestant affirmation have yet to be worked out. The clergy-laity dichotomy is a direct carry-over from pre-Reformation Roman Catholicism and a throwback to the Old Testament priesthood. It is one of the principal obstacles to the church effectively being God’s agent of the Kingdom today because it creates a false idea that only “holy men,” namely, ordained ministers, are really qualified and responsible for leadership and significant ministry. In the New Testament there are functional distinctions between various kinds of ministries but no hierarchical division between clergy and laity.”

~Dr. Howard Snyder

“Increasing institutionalism is the clearest mark of early Catholicism—when church becomes increasingly identified with institution, when authority becomes increasingly coterminous with office, when a basic distinction between clergy and laity becomes increasingly self-evident, when grace becomes increasingly narrowed to well-defined ritual acts … such features were absent from first generation Christianity, though in the second generation the picture was beginning to change.”

~James D. G. Dunn

Yesterday, I returned from a 9-day trip to South Africa.

Our tour lasted 6 days with three key conferences.  (The other 3 days were for traveling.)

Milt Rodriguez and I delivered 12 messages in those 6 days. We gave 3 interviews and had many informal gatherings with various saints and groups there. Our time concentrated on Pretoria and Cape Town.

I was honored to be the keynote speaker at the ReThink Conference in Pretoria.  A number of leaders from South Africa also spoke there along with Rob Bell, Leonard Sweet, Reggie McNeal through video.

All in all, Milt and I spoke to over 500 people during our 6 day tour. And most of them were already familiar with my books, which laid a nice groundwork for what we were going to share.

We met many wonderful people and forged new relationships with individuals and groups.

The Lord Jesus Christ was magnified, given, and received.

There’s much to tell, but I have no time now as I’m catching up from being away.

Suffice it to say that I fell in love with South Africa and the people we met there. We had a beautiful time together and the trip was one of the most spiritually fruitful trips I’ve been on for a first visit.

Some highlights:

• Cape Town is drop-dead gorgeous.
• I love the pink/purple colors of Pretoria. The Jakarandas make the place beautiful.
• The culture is fascinating. The body of Christ there has a unique opportunity post-apartheid to demonstrate Ephesians 2 and 3 in living color.
• We brought my Italian “family” culture to them and they picked it right up. “Forgetabooouuu …”
• The South Africans have a great sense of humor. We laughed hard and much. This was freeing to some of them who were inclined to separate spirituality and laughter.
• Organic church life is taking root there. The people are hungry for Christ and His body in experience.

Regrets

• Wish we could have stayed longer. Not much time for sight-seeing and we fell in love with the saints there. ‘Twas sad to leave.
• Found out my homeboy Vanilla Ice was there when we were. Sad we didn’t get to connect (smile).
• It’s a 16 hour non-stop flight from Atlanta to JoBerg. The flight is not for sissys (smile).
• The South African’s drive on the wrong side of the road, speak in tongues constantly (without interpretation), and clear their throats (make a coughing sound) a lot while they talk (big grin).
• They have a hamburger place called WIMPYS. We discussed what must be on the menu. “The Double-Meat Wuss” … “The Pencil-Necked Geek” … “The Limp-Wristed Lightweight” … “The Pansy” … “The Weakling.”  But we never stepped in to check the menu.

God willing, we plan to return in November 2010 to work with the new organic church plants that came out of our time in the country. Before that, some of them plan to visit one of the organic churches we are planting here in the States. So we are quite excited about that.

The CD containing the messages delivered in S.A. will be available before the year is out.

My next trip – Las Vegas for a 4-day Organic Missional Church Connecting/Equipping Event.  After that, I’m taking two months off to write and work with a new organic church plant here in Florida.

Incidentally, it seems that whenever I return from a trip, I’ll get several emails from people saying: “I had no idea you were in my city? How come I didn’t know about this?”

Answer: to be notified about future events and conferences, you need to fill out this form: http://ptmin.org/events.htm

Not all events are public, so you will want to fill out the form so you can receive an email notification if I’m in your city, state, or country.

~ Frankie V.

Hi Fun Seekers.

Due to present circumstances, I won’t be blogging for the next 12 days. I’ll ‘splain after those 12 days. So this will be it for almost two weeks.

Over the past month, I’ve been pretty active writing a bundle of new articles. If you’ve not read them all yet, this would be a good time to play “catch up” and get ready for what’s in store right around the corner.

Go to “Recent Posts” on the left-hand side and you can find the last 15 blog posts I’ve written.

Here’s a preview of some of what’s coming:

• An interview with Dan Kimball
• An interview with Todd Hunter
• An interview with Leonard Sweet
• A new article I wrote for Neue Magazine on “Organizational Church vs. Organic Church.”

Those of you who read David Fitch can check out my interview with him and my response earlier this year.

Also, if you are into “link love,” we would be happy to swap links with your blog. Just email PTMIN@aol.com and put in the subject line – Swap Links. In the email, put your blog url and the name of the blog. Note: you must add a link to this blog first before yours will be added to our blog list. (As previously stated, the blog list doesn’t equate an endorsement of any particular blog or its content.)

Have a great weekend, and we’ll catch up in about 12 days.

Yours in the costly but glorious quest,

Frank

I’ve been a Christian for a long time. Since I was a child.

Observation: God’s people are the most easily offended people on the planet.

And the petty things they get offended over . . . it’s pretty amazing. And even more sad.

Christians get offended more easily than non-Christians.

What’s wrong with this picture? Especially in light of Jesus’ piercing words: “Blessed is he who is NOT offended in me.”

Have you been offended by someone recently? Is it over something minor or monumental (tragic)?

Well, here are a few things to consider:

• You are usually offended when you are thinking the worst about someone’s motives and thinking that they were wishing you ill. In other words, you are judging the intents of their heart.  Something a believer ought never do. We have not so learned Jesus Christ. “Love thinks no evil” – it doesn’t think the worst about others nor does it judge the motives of another. Whenever we do this, we’re in the flesh. 9 times out of 10 when a Christian is offended with another believer, they have merely misunderstood their fellow brother or sister in Christ and have read things into what they have said and did that aren’t there.

• You have forgotten that everything that comes into your life has passed through God’s hands first, and He works all things together for your good.

• You’re too sensitive. The world doesn’t revolve around you and your feelings. This is true for all of us. Remember: To follow Christ is to pick up your cross . . . daily.  When we’re easily offended, there’s too much of us that’s alive.

• The Lord is teaching you to live above offense. He’s trying to teach you love.

• Consider the times you’ve offended others. Then pause and re-consider  that thing that you’re so offended about. “In His light we shall see light.”

• You serve a Lord who was tortured, beaten, and killed in the most gruesome way known to mankind. Have you had blood squirting from your wrists? Has your back been bloodied to where there’s little flesh left? Has someone driven nails into your wrists and feet? In light of those questions, do you really have *a right* to be offended by someone?

I have no particular reason for writing this. I simply woke up with it on my heart. So I am believing it’s for someone reading it out there in cyberland.  Hope you’re not offended by it (That’s a stab at irony, folks.)

Also: I have a very small (and perhaps unfounded) fear that someone is going to take the above out of context and use it to continue to abuse his or her victim. (“See, you’re not supposed to be offended, so I can continue to make life miserable for you and you just need to take it.”) Excuse me [cough], but if that’s you, you’d do well to get your head examined.

ONLINE CONFERENCE TOMORROW ON TWITTER.COM

Don’t miss the online open-participatory conference tomorrow on Twitter (Tuesday – October 13th). Tweet your thoughts/insights on Eph. 3:8-11. Use #Eph3 tag at end of your Tweets.

Spread the word to Twitter-land. This may possibly one of the largest virtual 1 Corinthians 14:26 gatherings to date. Even Rick Warren is supporting it and has RT (re-tweeted) it to his 45,000 plus followers.

Thanks Rick.

What follows is the afterword in From Eternity to Here. To my mind, it’s one of the most important parts of the book. So I’m publishing it here.

Note that PTM has a small number of copies of “From Eternity to Here,” “Reimagining Church,” and “Finding Organic Church” for bloggers to review on their blogs.

If you are interested in one of these titles to review for your blog, email Jeanette at PTMIN@aol.com, put “blogger review” in the subject line, and then give her your blog url and your mailing address. They have limited copies, so email her soon.

Here’s the afterword. If you like it, free to link to it or even publish it in its entirety on your blog or website.

—–

Afterword

from the book From Eternity to Here (David C. Cook, March 2009)

One Man’s Journey into a Deep Ecclesiology

Frank Viola

. . . the summing up of all things in Christ. (Ephesians 1:10, NASB)

My friends Andrew Jones and Brian McLaren have written about something they call “deep ecclesiology.” This phrase appears to be derived from Noam Chomsky’s linguistic theory of Adeep semantics.” Chomsky said that underlying the “surface structures” of the statements we make is a deeper and simpler structure that’s ingrained in the human capacity for language.

Andrew and Brian have said that in a similar way there lies underneath our varying models of church a basic underlying reality that’s manifested in our historical and social settings. This notion has been coined “deep ecclesiology.”

I resonate wholeheartedly with the concept that there is a reality of the church that is higher and deeper than what typically occurs in many modern church structures. To wit, a “deeper” ec­clesiology.

At the time of this writing, the phrase “deep ecclesiology” is still being shaped. I have shared my thoughts on this subject with both Brian and Andrew, along with some others in the emerging church conversation. So this chapter can be considered a stab at furthering that shaping in the public arena.

I strongly believe that the underlying reality of the church is none other than Jesus Christ Himself. Not as a doctrine. Nor as a system of belief. Nor as a set of moral teachings. Not as a moral philosopher or social activist. But as a living Person who has thoughts, feelings, and volition. A living Person who dwells within our spirits and who can be known.

To my mind, any ecclesiology that does not make Christ absolutely central in its life, mission, and expression cannot be rightly called “deep.”

The church is the indwelling of Christ in a group of local people by the Holy Spirit. Those models and forms of church which best enact this reality, giving it visible expression, are adequate toward fulfilling a deep ecclesiology. Those models and forms which do not should be discarded for those which better enact it.

Here I will attempt to explain how I arrived at this conclusion and what it means (at least for me) in concrete terms.

Revivalist Theology

Shortly after I began following the Lord at age sixteen, I was introduced to something called “revivalist theology.” If you are an evangelical Christian, then you may be familiar with this theology. Revivalist theology was founded during the days of the English revivalist George Whitefield. It was later picked up and pop­ularized by Dwight L. Moody.

D.L. Moody was an American revivalist who lived in the 19th century. Historians estimate that Moody preached the gospel to 100 million people in his lifetime. Moody didn’t have televisions, the Internet, radios, cable TV, fax machines, mp3 players, email, nor did he put out a national magazine. He did most of his preaching on foot and preached in the open air. It has been said that Moody brought one million people to Christ.

During the years of 1870 to 1900, revivalist theology was born. And it largely came through the womb of D.L. Moody’s ministry. What is revivalist theology? Revivalist theology hangs on two unshakable precepts: 1) If you are lost, you must be saved. 2) If you are saved, you must win the lost. According to revivalist theology, every word in the BibleCboth Old and New Testa­mentsChangs on these two precepts. Everything in the Bible can be juiced down to those two things.

To unravel it further, revivalist theology teaches that the only reason why you are alive today is so that you can get other people’s papers in order for heaven. In fact, that is the only reason why God didn’t strike you deader-than-a-hammer after you became a Christian.

Because I had never been taught anything else, I embraced this theology hook, line, and sinker. I later came to realize that revivalist theology is untenable. It dutifully ignores 99.7% of the Bible. (I can only think of two occasions in the New Testament where Christians who were not apostles preached the gospel to the lost. Additionally, I cannot think of any verse in any letter in the New Testament penned by Paul, Peter, John, James or Jude where Christians are exhorted to preach the gospel to the lost.)

Am I against revival? No. Am I against sharing the gospel with the lost? Not at all. What I am against is the penchant to take the New Testament and stretch it to the point where it fits revivalist theology. The vast bulk of the New Testament is not about winning the lost. As we have seen in the previous pages, there is something else that Scripture is preoccupied with.

The Power of God

After I was thoroughly schooled in revivalist theology (this included knocking on doors, “Four-Lawing” strangers, and taking sinners down Athe Romans road”), I was introduced to “the power of God.” I drank deeply from the wells of a movement that obsessed over God’s power. I heard sermon after sermon on the gifts of the Spirit, the recovery of the gifts, miracles, healings, signs and wonders. I also had my share of experiences with God’s power.

Today, I am a firm believer that the power of God is real and operative in our time. However, when I stood back from that season in my life, I made a few telling observations. First, most of the people that I ran around with who incessantly talked about “the power of God” were the same people who were most lacking in God’s power. I saw this countless times. So much so that it became a predictable pattern.

Second, I met a few King Sauls, a few Balaams, and a few Samsons in this camp. Explanation: These men had tre­mendous outward power. King Saul prophesied accurately, Balaam had an incredible gift of the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom, and Samson was unstoppable in his display of physical strength.

But there was one other thing that these three men shared. They all had defective characters in some arena of their lives. And their flesh was very much alive in those arenas. Outwardly, they had impressive gifts of spiritual power. But inwardly, they lacked something fundamental.

In one of his letters, Paul carries on rather loudly about the peril of possessing gifts of great spiritual power, including spiritual insight into the deep mysteries of God, and yet lacking some of the basic features of love, like honesty, humility, and kindness (see 1 Cor. 13:1-3). Character, therefore, and not gifting, is the only reliable sign of God’s work in a person’s life (Matt. 7:22-23).

I made another puzzling observation on this score. I noticed that so many of my fellow brethren who talked about the power of God seemed to be incredibly self-absorbed. They had an uncommon knack for talking about themselves and how God was using them with His power. Whenever they would testify, 10% of it seemed to be about what God was doing. The other 90% was how God was using them and what they were doing.

Paul of Tarsus, a man who had tremendous spiritual gifts, hardly uttered a whisper about how God used him. And the one time that he described his spiritual experiences, he was backed into a corner to testify about them. In so doing, he did two notable things. One, he used the third person to describe his revelation of the Lord. Two, he said he was speaking as a fool in detailing God’s power in his life (see 2 Corinthians 12:1ff.).

I’ve since learned that those who have genuine power with God do not talk much about it. And they certainly don’t talk about themselves a whole lot either. I learned that it’s profoundly easy to become drunk on God’s powerCto become obsessed with the miraculousCto become fixated with spiritual giftingCand lose sight of Jesus Christ in the process.

It’s a perilous thing when men try to harness God. I’m a firm believer that the church of Jesus Christ has been granted enormous spiritual power. But that power is upon the church, not a set of special individuals.

I have sadly watched the power of God be reduced to something quite common and cheap. The result: The power becomes diluted. Within the confines of the body of Christ, the power of God is safe. That’s because the church is the steward of God’s power. Outside of her, it becomes easily corrupted.

Am I against the power of God? Not at all. I appreciate the power of God. I even awe at it. But I am against putting power on the throne. For that reason, I cast a cautious eye upon those who claim to have God’s power.

The power of God is Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 1:24). And the Holy Spirit has come to reveal, honor, and glorify Him (John 15:26; 16:13-14). It’s a fitting irony, therefore, that one of the things which will derail you and me from encountering what the Holy Spirit came to do is to seek the power of God. To put it in prescription form: Seek the power of God, and you will un­doubtedly miss the Christ who embodies that power.

Eschatology and Doctrine

After that season in my life, I was sold a different bag of Christian goods. I ended up on the eschatology train. Eschatology is the study of things to comeCthe study of end times. When is Jesus Christ going to return? When is Russia going to invade Jerusalem? What is the meaning of the ninth toe on the foot of the beast in the book of Revelation? When does Daniel’s A70 weeks” begin? Who is the false prophet? And of course, who is the antichrist and exactly what is the mark of the beast?

Open admission: I caught eschatology fever. I was bitten by the rapture bug. I began studying the visions of Daniel and Revelation, making charts, plotting graphs, mapping out the movements of the antichrist, the false prophet, God and Magog, etc.

Attention young Christians: You can get ridiculously obsessed with rapture fever. I was taught, “This is important. We have to know prophecy. We must study prophecy. 90% of the Bible is prophecy. We have a duty to understand it.”

Let me confess. I was pathetically into eschatology. So much so that I could discuss it for hours with wild-eyed fascination.

But I made a discovery. That all of those hours I spent pouring over Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelation, trying to put the end-time puzzle together, did not help me one iota to come to know my Lord better. It was largely an academic, intellectual exercise. And a sterile one at that.

The result: I stopped studying end-time prophecy.

After I got off the eschatology bandwagon, I was introduced to something called “Christian theology” and “Christian doctrine.” I was taught that the most important thing that God wants for His people is that they know and embrace “sound doctrine.” So I rigorously studied the Scriptures, along with the views of Calvin, Arminius, Luther, and many contemporary theologians and scholars.

In my early 20s, I was attending various Bible studiesCeach sponsored by different denominations and movements. There I would engage in the usual shrill disputes over doctrine with my Christian brothers. I will shamelessly admit that I enjoyed the mental stimulation of sharpening my doctrinal sword on the side of someone else’s head.

But during that season, I made another discovery. Namely, that Christian doctrine can make a person downright mean. I observed that the men who were the most schooled in Christian doctrine and the most concerned about “sound theology” did not resemble Jesus Christ at all in their behavior. Instead, they seemed to center their lives on making the unimportant critical.

The spirit of the Lamb was altogether missing. They were harsh personalities who appeared to almost hate those with whom they disagreed. Granted, there is a doctrine in the New Testament. But majoring on Christian doctrine and theology can turn Christians into in­quisitors. The words of Thomas Aquinas are fitting: “Lord, in my zeal for love of truth, let me not forget the truth about love.”

Am I against doctrine? No sir. Am I against theology? No ma’am. But I do not advocate an overemphasis on it. Con­sequently, I came to the place where I was compelled to lay down my doctrinal sword, for like Peter, I had been cutting people’s ears off with it!

I recommend that you study church history. It will make you cry. Our forefathers drew their swords against one another, spilling their blood over doctrines. Peripheral doctrines at that. They crossed swords over their private interpretations of Scripture, and it often ended in bloodshed. Again, majoring in doctrine can make a Christian vicious. History bears this out.

After I dropped pursuing doctrine and theology, I became involved in a lot of other Christian “things.” I majored in holiness, believing that it was the central theme of the Bible. I then majored in faith and learned the principles of “walking in” and “living by” faith. I became deeply involved in “worship and praise”, deeming both to be the central desire of God. Then it was ministry to the poor. Then personal prophecy.

After that it was Christian apologetics. My venture into apologetics led me to debate with the president of the American Atheist Association in the city where I lived. I was 23 years old at the time. I studied the apparent contradictions of the Bible and resolved many of them. (Today, I am perfectly content to leave them unresolved.)

While it was great fun watching my atheist opponent squirm, the thrill soon wore off. While he didn’t convert to Christ, he had to rethink his understanding of what a Christian was. Even so, I suspect there was little eternal value that came of it.

The Embodiment of All Spiritual Things

Enough of the historical narrative. Here’s my point. In the first eight years of my Christian experience, I learned to major in a slew of “Christian” things. And that is my pointCthey were things.

All of the churches and movements I was involved in had effectively preached to me an it. Evangelism is an it. The power of God is an it. Eschatology is an it. Christian theology is an it. Christian doctrine is an it. Faith is an it. Apologetics is an it.

I made the striking discovery that I don’t need an it. I have never needed an it. And I will never need an it. Christian its, no matter how good or true, eventually wear out, run dry, and become tiresome.

I don’t need an it, I need a Him.

And so do you.

We do not need things. We need Jesus Christ.

Everything in ScriptureCevery book, every story, every teaching, every theme, every letter, every verse, all of the arrows point to Him.

You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! (John 5:39, NLT)

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself . . . Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him. (Luke 24:27, 31)

He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. (Luke 24:44-45)

To be truly scriptural is to be Christological, for Jesus Christ is the subject of all Scripture. This discovery changed my life.

My journey didn’t end there, however. Around the same time, I made another life-altering discovery. It was this: That Jesus Christ is the embodiment of all Divine things. My eyes were opened to see that Jesus Christ is Salvation. Jesus Christ is the Power of God. Jesus Christ is Holiness. Jesus Christ is Doctrine. Jesus Christ is the living incarnation of everything that is spiritual.

You can chase spiritual things until you are blue in the face. And there will always be some Christian who is peddling a new “it” or a “thing” upon which to center your life. Warning: If you buy into it, you will most certainly miss Him.

When I realized that Christ was everything in the Christian life and that the Father had put all spiritual things into Him, it radically changed my life. Gone were the days where I sought “things.” Gone were the days where I chased after Christian truths, doc­trines, and theologies. A new chapter had opened where I began to seek Christ Himself. I sought to be drowned in the face of the knowledge of my Lord. For I discovered that in Him exists everything that I needed.

God’s object from first to last is His Son. It is ChristCand Christ aloneCthat God the Father desires for His people. I had grossly confused spiritual growth with acquiring spiritual things. So I went about pursuing spiritual knowledge, spiritual virtues, spiritual graces, spiritual gifts and spiritual power. I later dis­covered that spiritual growth is nothing more than having Christ formed within (Gal. 4:19).

When we are saved, Jesus Christ is begotten in us. He then grows in us. Spiritual growth, then, is nothing more than knowing Him and allowing Him to grow in us.

Upon reflection, it seems that many Christians regard salvation, evangelism, peace, power, holiness, joy, service, church practice, ministry, and doctrine as simply Divine “things”, all detached from the living Person of Christ and made something in and of themselves.

But God never gives us spiritual things. He never gives us virtues, gifts, graces, and truths to acquire. Instead, He only gives us His Son. He gives us Christ to be all things for us.

Consequently, Jesus Christ is the embodiment of all spiritual things. He is the substance of all Divine realities. He is the incarnation of all spiritual virtues, graces, gifts, and truths. In short, God has vested all of His fullness into His Son.

In other words, Jesus Christ not only reveals the way to His people, He is the Way. Jesus Christ not only reveals the truth to His people, He is the Truth. Jesus Christ is not only the giver of life, He is the Life (John 14:6). Put another way, Christ is the incarnation of all that He gives. He is All and All. That is, He is everything to everyone who has received His life.

C   Jesus Christ is Hope (1 Tim. 1:1).

C   Jesus Christ is Peace (Eph. 2:14).

C   Jesus Christ is Wisdom (1 Cor. 1:30).

C   Jesus Christ is Redemption (1 Cor. 1:30).

C   Jesus Christ is Holiness (1 Cor. 1:30).

C   Jesus Christ is Righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30).

Hope is not a thing to be sought after, it’s a Person. Peace is not a virtue to be obtained, it’s Christ. Righteousness is not a grace to be asked for, it’s Christ, and on and on. One is a spiritual “thing.” The other is the Lord Himself. To put it in a sentence, Jesus Christ is not simply the giver of gifts, He Himself is the Gift.

Spiritual progress, therefore, is tied up in knowing Christ as our All. It takes place when we take Christ as our Portion to be all things for us. Greater Bible knowledge will not do this for you. Increased religious activity or spiritual service will not do this for you. Neither will spending more time praying. Only a revelation of the vastness of Christ can meet the bill.

As I survey the landscape of modern Christianity, it seems to me that spiritual things and objects have replaced the Person of Christ. The doctrines, gifts, graces, virtues, and duties that we so earnestly seek have substituted for Jesus Himself. We look to this gift and that gift, we study this truth and that truth, we seek to appropriate this virtue, we try to fulfill this duty, but all along we fail to find Him.

When the Father gives us something, it’s always His Son. When the Son gives us something, it’s always Himself. This insight greatly simplifies the Christian life. Instead of seeking many spiritual things, we only seek Him. Our single occupation is the Lord Jesus Christ. He becomes our only pursuit. We do not seek Divine things, we seek a Divine Person. We do not seek gifts; we seek the giver who embodies all the gifts. We do not seek truth; we seek the incarnation of all truth.

God has given us all spiritual things in His Son. He has made Him to be our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption, our peace, our hope, etc. Recognizing that Jesus Christ is the incarnation of all spiritual things will change your prayer life. It will change your vocabulary and the way you think and talk about spiritual things. And it will ultimately change your practice of the church.

Toward the Reality of the Church

To put it candidly, you will never have an authentic experience of the body of Christ unless your foundation is blindly and singularly Jesus Christ. Authentic church life is born when a group of people are intoxicated with a glorious unveiling of their Lord.

The chief task of a Christian leader, therefore, is to present a Christ to God’s people that they have never known, dreamed, or imagined. A breathtaking Christ whom they can know intimately and love passionately. The calling of every Christian servant is to build the ekklesia upon an overmastering revelation of the Son of God. A revelation that burns in the fiber of their being and leaves God’s people breathless, overwhelmed, and awash in the glories of Jesus.

From God’s standpoint, the church’s center of gravity is Jesus Christ.

To the bride, He’s the bridegroom.

To the house, He’s the foundation, the cornerstone, and the capstone.

To the body, Christ is the head.

To the family, He’s the Firstborn.

When a church is centered on the ultimacy of Christ, it no longer chases Christian “things” or “its.” Knowing Christ, exploring Him, encountering Him, honoring Him, and loving Him becomes the church’s governing pursuit.

Rightly conceived, the church is a local group of people who have been immersed and saturated with a magnificent vision of Jesus Christ and who are discovering how to take Him as their All together. This discovery lies at the heart of a deep ecclesiology.

I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ . . . That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings . . . (Philippians 3:8, 10, KJV)

I will close with the fitting words of A.B. Simpson:

Once it was the blessing, Now it is the Lord;

Once it was the feeling, Now it is His Word.

Once His gifts I wanted, Now the Giver own;

Once I sought for healing, Now Himself alone.

Once twas painful trying, Now tis perfect trust;

Once a half salvation, Now the uttermost.

Once twas ceaseless holding, Now He holds me fast;

Once twas constant drifting, Now my anchor’s cast.

Once twas busy planning, Now tis trustful prayer;

Once twas anxious caring, Now He has the care.

Once twas what I wanted, Now what Jesus says;

Once twas constant asking, Now tis ceaseless praise.

Once it was my working, His it hence shall be;

Once I tried to use Him, Now He uses me.

Once the power I wanted, Now the Mighty One;

Once for self I labored, Now for Him alone

Once I hoped in Jesus, Now I know He’s mine;

Once my lamps were dying, Now they brightly shine.

Once for death I waited, Now His coming hail;

And my hopes are anchored, Safe within the veil.

—–

Taken from From Eternity to Here (David C. Cook, 2009), pp. 291-305.

Just returned from Nashville, TN. I was privileged to be one of the keynote speakers at the 2009 Zoe Conference. ‘Twas an honor. Spoke in 3 sessions and had a fantastic time meeting some of the most precious saints on the planet.

On Friday night, had an awesome time with some beautiful Christians who are hungering organic church life, sharing the riches of Christ with them in a home. The house was packed out to the max. Reminded me of a first-century gathering.

It was a packed 2 days. My only regret is that I didn’t stay a few more days to see the city of Nashville and meet some other friends in town!

Next Up: 3 conferences in South Africa and then Las Vegas.

Regarding other matters, you’ll see that the blog has been given a new face-lift. I like it much better than the older version and think it’s much easier to read. Hope you do too

There have been many recent requests for my podcasts on iTunes. You can now subscribe and new podcasts will load automatically to your iPod or iPhone. We were just informed that we have thousands of subscribers. Yikes! To subscribe, just go to the search window in the iTunes Store and look for my name. It will come up under “podcasts.”

Please let us know what sort of podcasts you’d like to hear in the future. Right now, there’s a mixture of spoken messages, interviews, and one that’s pure satire/comedy. Your comments and ideas are appreciated. It makes a difference in what we decide to upload.

Last but not least, thanks to all who wrote great reviews on “Finding Organic Church” on Amazon.com.

David Flowers just wrote an outstanding review on it yesterday.

Thanks so much, David. You should review for Publisher’s Weekly!

—

3 Facebook Group Pages:

A Jesus Manifesto - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=141697503128

From Eternity to Here – http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=76903743708&ref=mf

Pagan Christianity – http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10759792783

I’d like to continue our series on “Kingdom Confusion” as promised. You can read Part I here.

In this post, I wish to address a somewhat popular cliché that I think misses the mark on what the New Testament (NT) teaches concerning the kingdom of God.

Here’s the cliché: “Jesus mentioned the church only twice; but he mentioned the kingdom over 100 times. So He really doesn’t care about the church as much as He does the kingdom.”

Have you heard it before? Maybe even passed it on?

Allow me take dead aim at this line of thought.

First, let me say at the outset that it saddens me greatly when Christian leaders pit the church against the kingdom and the kingdom against the church. To my mind, this tendency reflects a profound misunderstanding of what the church really is. (I’ve discussed this elsewhere.)

Behold I show you a mystery: Without the church, there is no kingdom. And without the kingdom, there is no church.

As I’ve argued in Part I, the kingdom of God is the manifestation of God’s ruling presence. As such, the kingdom is embodied in Jesus Christ.

Christ incarnates the kingdom.

But note that Jesus Christ is inseparable from His body also (see From Eternity to Here which argues the point from the NT texts). When the church is functioning properly in a given place, she IS the manifestation of God’s ruling presence. She reveals Jesus Christ, that is, she expresses the kingdom … the righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. She shows forth the rule of God, makes visible the reign of God, and the justice, freedom, and peace that goes with it. (See Part I for my thoughts on what the kingdom is and isn’t.)

To separate the kingdom from the church is like separating light from visibility.

It’s a profound flaw to do so.

Note that I’m talking about the church as the NT envisions it, not what goes by the name “church” in many corners of the planet today.

Having said that, I believe the “Jesus-only-mentioned-the-church-twice-and-the-kingdom-over-100-times” argument is based on a superficial analysis of the Gospels that’s grossly misleading.

This line of reasoning is not dissimilar to those who say “The Trinity is NEVER mentioned in the Bible, therefore, to say that Father, Son and Spirit are three yet one is false.”

Note that the term “Godhead” is only used 3x in the NT. Does that then mean the Godhead is not mentioned or referred to in the NT? Or that it’s not important?

Hardly.

Everywhere you see Father, Son, and Spirit mentioned in the NT, the Godhead is in view, though not by that specific title.

Let me repeat that.

Everywhere you see Father, Son, and Spirit mentioned in the NT, the Godhead is in view, though not by that specific title.

For instance: John 17 is dripping full of the Godhead. So is most of the Gospel of John. Though “Godhead” isn’t mentioned once in that passage. And neither is the word “Trinity.” Yet the Godhead is present … all over the place. And in living color.

With that thought in mind, let me make a radical statement:

The Lord Jesus Christ mentioned and referred to the church MORE than He did the kingdom of God.

But He didn’t do it by using the word “ekklesia.”

Let me ’splain.

Remember that small band of disciples that He called unto Himself and lived with for 3.5 years?

“The Twelve” and what Luke calls “the Women.”

Probably around 20 individuals in all.

Those 20 people were a community who lived a shared life under the headship of Jesus Christ, with Christ as the center of their life and fellowship.

In other words: they were the embryonic expression of the ekklesia.

What is ekklesia (church) in the NT? It’s a community of believers who share a common life in Christ, assembly together regularly, and make Jesus central, supreme, and head over their lives together.

Those 20 were the community of the King (to quote Howard Snyder). And that’s precisely what ekklesia is.

Consequently, every time you see the Twelve with Jesus (and the Women) in the Gospels, you’re seeing the church.

And virtually every time Jesus spoke to His disciples and used the word “you” …

“YOU are the light of the world.”

“YOU are the salt of the earth.”

“And when the Spirit comes, He will teach YOU all things.”

“I am the Vine, YOU are the branches” …

He was referring to the church.

And when John uses the word “we,” he is often speaking of the church …

“And of His fullness WE have all received, grace upon grace.”

Do you remember when Jesus said, “Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and dies, it abides alone. But if it dies, it bears many grains.”

The “many grains” are the church.

How about when Jesus referred to His brethren?

“But go to my BRETHREN and tell them I ascend to my Father.”

Or how about when He prayed for His disciples in John 17, and He said,

“I’m not praying for these alone, but for all who will believe on me through their word.”

Who is the “all who will believe on me”? … it’s the church.

And on and on and on.

Yes, the church of the living God is on just about every page of the Gospels. Far more than the kingdom, in fact.

To be accurate, there are 85 unique references to the kingdom in the Synoptic Gospels. And 5 in the Gospel of John. So the Gospels total 90 references to the kingdom.

Put that over against the many references to the church given above, and it’s less.

When we come to the NT writings (Acts to Revelation), the kingdom is mentioned 31 times and the word church is found 77 times.

The word “brethren” – which refers to the brothers and sisters in the churches – is used 249 times in Acts through Revelation.

The word “saints” (holy ones) which is a reference to those in the churches is used 60 times.

Now in light of all of the above, can we please stop pitting the church against the kingdom?

To do such is to violate NT Christianity.

As I’ve argued in “From Eternity to Here,” the church (rightly conceived) is at the center of God’s eternal purpose. She’s the very reason that provoked creation.

Here’s my response to those who would say that the church isn’t important. What follows is part of a transcript of a message I delivered called “Is She Important?” many years ago. I trust it helps make the point.

“Don’t tell me that the church isn’t important when she appears in the opening pages of holy Scripture, and she reappears at the very end. She’s at the beginning. And she’s at the end. (Eve in Genesis 2 and the Bride in Revelation 22).

Don’t tell me the church isn’t important when your Lord and my Lord is consumed with a zeal that eats Him up for her.

Don’t tell me that the church isn’t important when Jesus Christ gave His life for her and forsook everything to have her. (Ephesians 5:25 says Christ gave Himself for the church.)

Don’t tell me that the church isn’t important when Jesus Christ sees Himself as indistinguishable from her. She is bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh, His very body on earth. (See Acts 9:1-5; Matt. 25:40, 45). How can you say the church isn’t important?

Don’t tell me that she isn’t important when she’s the fiancé of the Son of God, and He’s waiting to marry her. To take her in oneness. How can she not be important?

Don’t tell me the church isn’t important when Paul says, “You, the body of Christ in Corinth, are the corporate Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:12; see also 1:12-13; 6:15; 8:12, etc.).

Don’t tell me the church isn’t important when the very last words of Scripture are uttered by her. She has the last word. The last words of holy write come out of her throat. “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come’”.

Don’t tell me that the church isn’t important when she’s the wife of the Lamb. His partner for eternity.

Don’t tell me that the church isn’t important when she is at the very center of the mystery of the ages that Paul unveils in Colossians and Ephesians.

Brothers and sisters, the ekklesia is God’s eternal purpose. From before creation, He has wanted a bride, a house, a family, and a body (a visible expression). That was His original intention. From the beginning, He has wanted a corporate expression of Himself to reveal the beauty of His Son. He has desired to have a counterpart for Him. Why was Eve made? For Adam. To be his counterpart.

The church is not only important, it is the most important thing to God that exists. That’s His girl.

Look in the natural. Don’t tell me that we as the creatures of God Almighty aren’t built this way. When a man falls in love with a woman, there is nothing more important to him than that girl. That’s a picture of the passion of your Lord. He put that in you. He put it in you because that’s how He is. He is in love with you.

And you want to make Him visible. That’s His purpose. To come together. To live together. To share your lives together. You are that pearl. That great and costly pearl that the merchant gave everything for. His servants shall do the same, although we can’t give what he gave.”

In summary, you cannot separate the Lord Jesus Christ from the kingdom of God and you cannot separate the church of Jesus Christ from the kingdom.

Let us, therefore, stop making these categorical separations that do not exist in the mind and heart of God.

Jesus Christ is the embodiment of both the kingdom and the church. The church is just as predominant in the Gospels as it is in the Epistles.

And what God has joined together, let no man put asunder.

Selah.

Related articles:

Why I Love the Church: In Praise of God’s Eternal Purpose

Reframing Discipleship

Discipleship, Mission, and Church: A Plea to Learn Our History

Kingdom Confusion: Part I

Steve Brown (SteveBrownEtc.com) interviewed Len Sweet and I recently on that which is most neglected yet most needed.

Click here to listen to it.

You can also find it on iTunes under my name.