Namibia Journal - November 23rd
November 23rdI read a lot of the last book Jim Duddleston from Apex gave me before leaving America. It's called “Organic Church.” This section from page 53 was one of many things that blew me away:
“In Acts, chapter 1, all five of the qualities I have mentioned that make up a church according to my seminary's definition were present [elders, sacraments, regular gathering, defined beliefs, considers itself a church]. Many scholars believe, however, that the true Church didn't really begin until chapter 2. What is the difference between the groups in chapter 1 and chapter 2 of Acts? God came upon them with the presence of the Holy Spirit filling the believers, and what a difference that made. Without Jesus in the very core of our understanding of church, we are no different from any other religious group, Kiwanis Club, or the Moose Lodge.
“We have a saying in our movement: the church must be conceived in heaven before it is born on earth. It must first be a glimmer in our Father's eyes. Church is spiritual and must start in the spiritual realm first and foremost.
“The heavenly ingredient is so much more significant than the earthly ones. In fact, the heavenly ingredient gives the earthly ingredients their significance. If we minimize or even eliminate the heavenly from our definition, we end up with a church that is more like a computer without a power source, or a body without a circulatory system—dead.
“In our organic church movement we have come to understand church as this: the presence of Jesus among His people called out as a spiritual family to pursue His mission on this planet.”
The author goes on with a bit of a disclaimer that he knows this definition of the church is a little broad but he gives a lot of reasons for liking and supporting such a broad definition.
Now, since first beginning this entry five days ago, I have read a lot more of the book and still like it a lot but there are definitely sections that I do not like at all, so I say read with caution (as always).
The author is obviously a synergist from many statements in the book but he is another very Biblical and consistent one when focused on the practice of ministry like the author of Firm Foundations. An appropriate filter should be used by anyone reading this book. For instance, his underlying theology in his exposition of the parable of the four soils is off, but his application is very enlightening. He helped me see that those for whom the seeds are planted in thorny and shallow soils don't actually leave the church! They stay there being unfruitful. He gives an illustration about the reality of the 100, 60, and 30 fold increases and hits hard the idea of investing in those impressively fruitful, by the grace of God, few.
Erin helped bake a ton of cookies today for the camp coming up. They are cooking a lot of things ahead of time to lighten the load of cooking for so many everyday for a week.
We ran a lot of errands today, picking up some necessities and comparing prices everywhere. There are at least 5 grocery stores of decent size within close walking distance to the center. Everyone has his or her own opinion on which one is best. Most stuff is priced very close but there are significant savings on some things at some places... We are trying to practice good stewardship :)
Tonight was the first time I got to join Mike, Josh, and Christiaan for their Wednesday night men's Bible study. We started out talking about the terms “punishment” “condemnation” and “discipline” and how/why these relate to us in our relationships with God. We talked about condemnation from Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Some people have tried to narrow this condemnation down to just one sense or application. The fact is that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus in any sense. For verse 2 says, “For the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” That is real from the point of the second birth, at the point of salvation, and goes on forever. We talked about how discipline is one of the best things God does in a believer's life. Here are some verses on that:
“Heb 12:7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?”
“Heb 12:8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.”
“Heb 12:11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”
“Rev 3:19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.” (The words of Jesus.)
It may hurt for a while, but discipline is awesome. I shared about a time in my life when God was really disciplining me for days going on into weeks and how it just hurt so bad in my heart and I knew it was Him. He was never so real and so constant to me before that time in my walk. God's loving reproof is awesome. It brings about permanent change in our lives. Lastly, with punishment, we talked about how the term probably wasn't actually that different than discipline but it was all about the difference in connotations. Discipline has a connotation of purpose and growth while punishment sounds more like condemnation. For clarity's sake, we should probably not use the term punishment when referring to discipline and when other terms are available.
After the discussion, we watched the same Louie Giglio message that was watched on Sunday. I got to see the whole thing this time and it was very solid. He was preaching from Leviticus 9 about what an amazing thing it was that the people's sacrifice was accepted by God and how they celebrated and fell facedown. He was also drawing a lot from what John Piper talks about in “The Pleasures of God” about the God-centeredness of God. (I mean God in the trinitarian sense.) God is all about God. God is into God. It wouldn't be right for God to be more into anything else but Himself. He's God. And the good news for us is God has grace on us. Without grace, we couldn't see God. We couldn't know God. We couldn't worship God. But God has given us great glimpses of Himself and the knowledge and the love of Him by His grace. So we love Him—we know and enjoy and delight in Him. Praise God for grace and celebrate because it gives us God. The Father has made us a sacrifice acceptable for consumption for Himself in His Son through His Spirit. Praise God that we may see His face and enjoy His face.
“2 Cor 4:6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
Pray for an ever-increasing passion for the team and the Okahandjans, that we receive His grace.
While I was with the guys at Mike & Josh's house, Erin was back at the center with several of the ladies. They were in Ruth chapter 4 in the Word and spent some time in prayer together.
<< Home