Spiritual Viewpoints

by Rick Smith

Church

A Holy Hunger?

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VIEWPOINTS
Thoughts To Encourage Godly Living
April 26, 2002

A HOLY HUNGER?

The way some “saved” people live, it’s no wonder there are so many skeptics. Who can blame an honest seeker for coming up empty when the finders have nothing to show? The truth is, people don’t want to see our dusty truths as much as they want to see our God.

Jesus was asked “Where is your father?” and he replied “You do not know me or my Father,…If you knew me, you would know my Father also” (John 8:19). Jesus’ answer is what we should be searching for. If we haven’t found Jesus, and therefore, God, in our lives, we need to lead the search party!

I’m afraid we aren’t offering the bread of life because too many of us are starving for it ourselves. Comfortable church assemblies and Cocoa Puff sermons haven’t answered man’s deepest longing — the need for a Savior. The best song leader, the finest Praise Team, or the most convincing preacher cannot take the place of the crucified Christ. What lost person cares if we can eloquently articulate the principles of interpretation? Seekers want to see the Holy Spirit living in us.

Are we looking for religion or spirituality? Many have plodded through decades of religion with its rules and regulations. We tell people the Old Testament law was fulfilled, and attempt to satisfy them with a New Testament law. That isn’t what they want or need. They want God. They want a Savior. They need Jesus and we give them a book. The Bible is inspired and important, but the emphasis should not be put on memorizing the genealogy, but rather on where the genealogy leads us. The preacher, Phillip, didn’t own a New Testament and was still able to begin in Isaiah and tell the Ethiopian about Jesus (Acts 8). Too many of us start in Acts, walk right past Jesus, and head straight for the water. We have to ask ourselves, “Are we trying to convert sinners to a plan or a man?” That begs the question, “To which have we been converted?”

Our church patter seems patented. We’ve got the “plan of salvation”, the “five steps”, the “five acts of worship” — where is Jesus? We sound more like parrots and mockingbirds than Spirit-led men and women. We’ve got the “spin”. We’re just missing Him.

Ask yourself, “What is the Lord doing in my life?” Am I really one beggar telling other beggars where to find bread, or am I one of the starving who has never known Jesus? Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6). We need a holy hunger before we’ll ever be satisfied. And then we’ll share the Savior!

The Only Saved People In Town

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Mark Twain was known to say that he put a dog and cat in a cage together as an experiment to see if they could get along. They did, so he put in a bird, pig, and goat. They, too, got along fine after a few adjustments. Then he put in a Baptist, Presbyterian, and Catholic — soon there was not a living thing left.

Mr. Twain’s humorous predicament has been many people’s tragedy. It seems that more is made about what we belong to rather than to whom we belong. It’s actually worse than that. Yesterday I was asked what church I attended. Next, I was asked which movement this church represented. Finally, I was asked which belief system did I use regarding certain doctrines. In frustration, I told the person, “I’m just a Christian”. Well, that wasn’t good enough for them! I felt like a chicken in the meat department with its wing lifted while someone sniffs it for freshness. There was no way I could pass that test.

I go numb when I hear people bragging about the church they “grew up in”. I want to hear someone say they grew up in Christ.

I’m happy with the church I attend, but I am more thankful for Jesus who shed His blood to purchase his church. I’m grateful for every saved person on the planet — and they don’t all attend church with me.

It feels good to get this off my chest. But if one more person asks me what church I go to, I’m going to tell them I go to the “Church Of The Only Saved People In Town”! Of course, then they’ll probably think I’m a member of their church.

Heaven’s Family

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In the eyes of God the church is a beautifully dressed woman, the bride of Christ. She was a colony from heaven, not a man-made organization from earth. “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God” (Rev. 21:2,3).

Jesus prayed the church would be one, not one as it is today, splintered to smithereens, but one as he was one with the Father. John wrote, “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their (apostles) message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:20-21).

The early church enjoyed the favor of all men (Acts 2:47) as they saw the beauty of Christ on display within the colony of heaven. But before too many years the pride and traditions of men began rising above the simplicity of the Lord’s will. Paul wrote, “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. 11 My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 12 What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul” (1 Corinthians 1:10-13)?

It took me a long time to realize that the Christ-followers of which Paul wrote were as prideful as all the others. Each fragment of the body was lifting itself up, therefore belittling all the others. Just because some used Christ to proclaim their soundness, didn’t make it so. They were denominating or separating themselves, as were the followers of Paul, Apollos, and Cephas. None in this list of the Apostle Paul were free from dividing and mutilating the beauty God had constructed in heaven. They were attempting to dissect the colony of heaven into factions.

It would be helpful to avoid the word “church.” It does not adequately translate the Greek ekklesia. It has become a theological term, and has taken on a kind of professional or institutional twist. There is no indication in the Scriptures that God intended to form what we view as the church. Certainly He did not design “churches,” with their varied creeds, laws, and traditions.

Paul’s statement in Ephesians gives us a meaningful and broader sense of the ekklesia: “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household” (Eph.2:19). That paints a beautiful picture of God’s family, which the word “church” has distorted. Again, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (Eph. 5:25-27). Let’s be reminded, each time we read the word “church” we’re seeing a translation of the word ekklesia. What theologians have done to it over the centuries has become shameful ~ as well as what many of us think and accept today.

I prefer the word “community,” which seems to me to best render the word ekklesia. Colony, and congregation is a good term. It comes from the Latin grex, flock, and means “to flock together.” But it also has suffered from the abuse of theologians, who tend to corrupt the words they use. Ekklesia literally means “called out,” but it also implies a calling together, and in the case of God’s call, it is a calling together into a fellowship, the sharing of eternal life. The community of God in any area embraces all who are part of the family of God. It consists of all who have heard the call of God and have properly responded to it. There may be many “churches” in a city, but there is only one community of heaven. Sadly, and here’s the rub, churches embrace those who see things a certain way. But the community of heaven is composed of all who have embraced Him as the Way. There is a difference in “the life of the church” and the community of the Life.

The word community suggests those who are bound together by a common tie. This common tie is not a creedal compilation, a written or unwritten code, a particular opinion, or a special way of doing things. The tie that binds is faith in the person of Jesus.

Trailer Trash

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Our church building was about two miles from the campus trailer court where Betty and I lived. It was our first year of marriage and my second year of college. One Sunday morning we were sitting in church which was just across the street from the college. A man dressed in shabby clothes, who lived in our trailer court, led the closing prayer. His prayer was simple: “Lord, forgive us for we are but worms. Amen”

After his “Amen”, two stylish looking older women sitting directly ahead of us turned to each other with up-turned noses and said something very uncomplimentary. In today’s vernacular it would be like saying, “Trailer trash”.

We weren’t certain whether his prayer or apparel caught their attention ~ probably both. After hearing the comments, I knew his prayer was right-on. So, I figure it was his shabby looks.

God is quite adamant on this subject. The prophet Samuel would have anointed Eliab instead of David as King because he mistakenly judged him on his looks. “But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him (Eliab). The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (I Samuel 16:7). God looks through our Armani’s or J.C. Penney’s finery directly into our hearts.

God continues looking at hearts in the New Testament, “I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God” (I Timothy 2:9-10). It seems as though a damper is put on fancy apparel and modesty alone is required.

The Holy Spirit puts an exclamation mark on the heart when He inspires the following: “Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, ‘Here’s a good seat for you,’ but say to the poor man, ‘You stand there’ or ‘Sit on the floor by my feet,’ have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?” (James 2:2-4)

Trailers or shabby clothes don’t make trash out of people. Besides wanting people to dress modestly, with decency, and appropriateness, God’s interest is in our hearts. The only show He wants to see is the demonstration of a good heart. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (Matthew 5:8)

ECHOING CLICHES

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As we grow older and gain more wisdom our perspectives may change. Some folks don’t like change, others are intolerant, and all should be skeptical. We never want to accept falsehoods that undermine our spiritual foundation. So, when we learn something we’ve not previously comprehended, how do we present it to honest brethren in ways that will not shake them?

Although it’s comfortable to sit firmly on held beliefs, that feeling of security may become a painful cactus sticking us in the derriere. A fresh look may be more biblically sound than some old paths. After all, we must carefully heed the warning of Jesus, “Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition” (Matthew 15:6ff).

Our goal must be to lift up Christ, not echo clichés that have become traditional. For instance, our penchant for certain words can diminish Christ while lifting the Church higher than the cross. We seldom say someone believed on the Lord, or became a disciple of Jesus, or began to follow Christ. Instead, we parrot the cliches and say someone “became a member of the Church.” Preachers urge their congregations to “be faithful to the Church” and never “leave the Church,” or if they do, to “come back to the Church”. It’s as though the church died for Christ, not he for the church.

Can you see what I’m saying; do you understand? How many times have you heard someone say, “So and so fell away from the church?” Why didn’t they say “So and so fell away from the Lord”? Now you tell me ~ who did they fall away from, if not the Savior?

You may argue that it’s only a matter of semantics, but is it? Or, could it be a mindset that diminishes the headship of Christ, and elevates the church as an institution?

The church didn’t die for us, Jesus did. When we accepted Christ, we became part of HIS church. The church is made up of all the saved people on earth. Your congregation is a family of believers who have been saved by the blood of the Lamb.

The Apostle Paul puts this in proper perspective as it’s not a matter of word usage, it is a matter of spiritual understanding. “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way” (Ephesians 1:18-23).

When we recognize the church as a body of people called out of sin into salvation because of the sin offering of its Savior, our speech will then acknowledge us as having our first devotion to the Lord. Let’s be careful to acknowledge and lift up Jesus (Jn.12:32), so all people will be drawn to him!

Inner Peace

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Is a peaceful life something that eludes you? Are you out of tune with the work of the Holy Spirit in your life? Those two questions are connected.

As Paul contrasts the life controlled by the flesh and the life controlled by the Spirit, he shares an insight that allows us to understand why we’re searching for lost peace. Those who allow their fleshly desires to dominate/control their behavior will demonstrate sinful behavior and not find peace. Those who allow the Holy Spirit to control their behavior will produce things in line with the Spirit, including a peace only the Spirit can provide. Paul calls these things the “acts of the flesh” (Gal 5:19) and the “fruit of the Spirit” (Gal 5:22).

The third fruit that Paul lists is “peace.” This word in Greek is used 91 times in the New Testament and it can mean harmony or well being. The word peace in Hebrew and Greek are less about an absence of war and disruption as they are about an inner state of being. When the Holy Spirit dwells in you, the Spirit produces within the believer an inner harmony that will not be shaken by the things of the world. What is more, this inner harmony works as an inoculation against the acts of the flesh because the acts of the flesh are produced by and perpetuate inner conflict.

That means the peace the Holy Spirit brings is not based upon circumstance and feeling. God is constantly working to transform us by the Spirit. This transformation by the Spirit gives Christians a peace and consistency that is not shaken by externals.

Oddly enough, often our churches are not characterized by peace and I cannot help but think that also means that the members who gather are struggling to be in tune with this aspect of the Holy Spirit’s work in their life. This may also have something to do with a denial of the Spirit’s working in the life of the Christian. If we don’t believe the Spirit is at work in our lives then how would we expect to have produced in our lives those things the Spirit alone produces? I say that with one disclaimer and that is this…I don’t think the Spirit is fully limited in what the Spirit can do based upon our beliefs about what the Spirit is or isn’t doing. I refuse to put the Holy Spirit in a theological box.

We must get more in tune with the Spirit. When we do so we will find an inner peace like we have never had before because we are no longer resisting or ignoring the work of the Holy Spirit, rather we are working alongside or in accordance with what the Spirit is doing in our being. We will find that the acts of the flesh are no longer so appealing and that working in partnership with the Spirit is much more fulfilling. We will finally find the peace our soul so longingly desires.