Spiritual warfare – Wisdom From the Word

A Functioning Body Part 5

In this concluding post I come back to some key verses in Ephesians and Colossians. Paul says in Ephesians that everything will ultimately be summed up in Christ. He lays out the goal of the Father.

⁷ In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace ⁸ which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, ⁹ having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, ¹⁰ that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth – in Him. Ephesians 1:7–10 (NKJV)

Everything in heaven and earth will reach a conclusion in Jesus. Later in the same chapter (verses 16-23) Paul prays for a spirit of wisdom and revelation for believers, praying that our spiritual eyes would be opened to see what our calling is all about and that Jesus is seated in heavenly places far above the spiritual forces we are battling. Paul then informs us that we are seated there with Him.

⁶ and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, Ephesians 2:6 (NKJV)

We are to battle from victory, nor for victory.

That we are still in a battle is very evident, as Paul notes in Colossians.

²⁷ To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. ²⁸ Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily. ¹ For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, ² that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, ³ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 1:27–2:3 (NKJV)

The ‘them’ in 1:27 is us, the saints. Thematically Paul focuses on both us in Christ and Christ in us, which is what Jesus taught in John 14:20, that He was in the Father and we in Him and He in us. Paul’s battle, his ‘great conflict’ in his prayer, teaching and preaching was to get us to realize these truths and come to maturity, to a full assurance of the reality of that Jesus is both in us and that He is the source of all wisdom and knowledge.

If we as the body of Christ are to function as He designed, we need those called as leaders to draw out the gifts and callings in the rest of the body. We need them to create an environment where these gifts can be expressed and we need to realize the Father’s ultimate intention, to sum up everything in Christ. To accomplish these goals, we need an experiential awareness of two things. First, of Christ in us leading and guiding, second that we are in fact seated with Him in heavenly places, operating from a place of assured victory. If we do these things and do them well, we will be a functioning body.

A Functioning Body Part 4

Here I am tying together a couple of aspects in this series. I previously referenced the role of leadership regarding the calling to stir up gifts and equip the rest of the body. I last wrote about how the church can function with the various members of the body functioning when the church gathers. Now we look at an example of what this could look like. Contextually the early church met in homes and the people in general knew one another. The caveat of course is that in places there were new converts each week, which we have historically seen in revival seasons.

In examining the idea of different people being involved in a service as we see in 1 Corinthians 14 we may wonder how applicable these New Testament (NT) approaches are in a modern congregation. The answer is, very applicable! The large churches get most of the attention but the reality is the majority of churches in North America are congregations of less than 100 people. With some foresight and wise leadership, I believe variations of the NT approach can be used. The key thing is activating the gifts that people inherently carry as followers of Jesus and then making space to see them exercised.

We being with an example of how a smaller group could function. Imagine you have a house church and Bob, Arnold and Ruth are the recognized leaders. You meet and spend some time in worship. As this dies down Bob asks, “Does anyone have a sense of anything the Spirit is saying? Any sense of our next steps?” Sharon responds with, I believer the Lord wants us to gather around the Roberts family and pray for them. Sam pipes up and says, “Yes, Sharon, I was sensing the same thing.” The group gathers and prays for the Roberts family and three members have words of knowledge they receive and share for the Roberts. Ruth says, “What are others sensing?” Zach says the Spirit has been impressing something on his heart about holiness that he feels he is to share with the rest of the group. “That fits for me says Ruth” and Zach shares. After he shares the group weighs what has been shared and examines how it aligns with scripture. Ed jumps up and says he has an important word to share. Arnold and Ruth glance at one another with a look of caution and ask Ed to hold off for a bit as the group needs to return to prayer.

This is a brief example with many elements missing. The role of children, how teachers fit with prophets and numerous other practical issues. It does however provide a flavour of what walking out 1 Corinthians 14:26-33 could look like.

²⁶ How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. ²⁷ If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. ²⁸ But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God. ²⁹ Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. ³⁰ But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent. ³¹ For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged. ³² And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. ³³ For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. 1 Corinthians 14:26–33 (NKJV)

We now turn to a larger assembly where few hundred people gather in a building on Sunday. During the worship, as is the culture in this group, the gifts of the spirit are evident. Someone gives a message in tongues and someone else gives the interpretation. Someone else starts to give a prophetic word and one of the leaders interrupts from the platform and says, “Please hold that. We first need to weigh and apply what has just been shared.” The previous message is publicly discussed. Later one of the leaders asks if anyone needs prayer and six people raise their hands. Another leader asks those around them to pray for them and to share the outcome with the congregation. Later one of the leaders points out three people in the congregation and says, “I sense the Spirit resting on you. What is happening?” They each share and one receives prayer for an assignment the Lord has given.

Granted this would be a little different and likely messier than our average Sunday service but also likely much more fruitful. Frankly, most of us don’t need more sermons, we need more engagement and involvement with our fellow believers. When someone says they have something to share a leader can ask both what and how they received it. Was it a sense of Him speaking to their heart, a vision, a verse of scripture or something else. When they share how they received it others can be edified and encouraged. Would you find this more meaningful than most of what happens in a typical meeting or service?

What I am aiming at in this whole series on A Functioning Body is encapsulated in a couple of lines from the song Make Room, because I believe what I have shared is the way Jesus wants to do church with us.

Shake up the ground of all my tradition
Break down the walls of all my religion
Your way is better, Jesus
Your way is better

Make Room as sung by Kim Walker-Smith Bing Videos

[Verse 1]
Here is where I lay it down
Every burden, every crown
This is my surrender
This is my surrender
Here is where I lay it down
Every lie and every doubt
This is my surrender

[Chorus]
And I will make room for You
To do whatever You want to
To do whatever You want to
And I will make room for You
To do whatever You want to
To do whatever You want to, oh

[Verse 1]
Here is where I lay it down
Every burden, every crown
This is my surrender
This is my surrender
Here is where I lay it down
Every lie and every doubt
This is my surrender

[Chorus]
And I will make room for You
To do whatever You want to
To do whatever You want to, Jesus
And I will make room for You, for You
To do whatever You want to
To do whatever You want to
Oh I will make room for You, Jesus
To do whatever You want to
To do whatever You want to
Oh I will make room for You
To do whatever You want to
To do whatever You want to, Jesus
[Spontaneous]
Have Your way, have Your way, Jesus, oh
We surrender all, we surrender all, Jesus
Have Your way, Jesus, have Your way, Jesus

[Bridge]
Shake up the ground of all my tradition
Break down the walls of all my religion
Your way is better
Oh Your way is better
Shake up the ground of all my tradition
Break down the walls of all my religion
Your way is better, Jesus
Oh Your way is better
Shake up the ground of all my tradition
Break down the walls of all my religion
Your way is better, Jesus
Your way is better
Shake up the ground of all my tradition
Break down the walls of all my religion
Your way is better
Oh Your way is better

[Chorus]
And I will make room for You
To do whatever You want to
To do whatever You want to
And I will make room for You
To do whatever You want to
To do whatever You want to, oh

[Verse 2]
Here is where I lay it down
You are all I’m chasing now
This is my surrender
This is my surrender
Here is where I lay it down
You are all I’m chasing now
This is my surrender
This is my surrender

A Functioning Body Part 3

In my last post I referenced the role of leaders and the responsibility they carry. Here I want to look at what can and should happen when leaders draw out the gifts in others and create an environment that makes space to accommodate their use when the body gathers. Warning, our responsibility is not to take up space in a seat on a Sunday or Wednesday! I have a friend who was converted during the Jesus Movement and he naturally started reading the bible. He then went to a church service with a friend and at one point got his friend’s attention, pointed at the platform, and said, “I don’t know what this is but this isn’t that.” He was referring to the difference between what he read in scripture and what he saw on the platform.

To be clear, I am not suggesting that we all need to wear first century garb and the men grow long beards. I am saying that there is generally a significant difference between what we read in scripture and what we encounter in the vast majority of our services. We do what we have been taught and what has been modeled for us and from there we get what we have. The problem, from my perspective, is that though we have many things, we don’t have what we should have, the body released and empowered. Here is a quote from a book I recently reread that describes what happens when people are empowered to walk in their gifts and calling.

Calvary Chapel grew so quickly because all the little workers were out working because they were empowered. And that’s what God used Lonnie for. Chuck Smith Jr. said in the first year Calvary Chapel went from a little over two hundred people to two thousand people. At what became the Vineyard in Yorba Linda, when the Holy Spirit fell on Mother’s Day, our church went from three hundred to twenty-seven hundred in nine months. It was crazy! That didn’t happen because of great sermons. That happened because the body of Christ was empowered, activated, and commissioned to go out and do the work of the ministry. I’m a product of that. I’m part of the legacy of what Lonnie’s life produced. I’m a businessman and a family man, but I also have a burning desire to do all that I can for God, to make known what I’ve experienced in God, everywhere that I go. I want to go to the ends of the world and preach the gospel.

Frisbee, Lonnie; Sachs, Roger. Not By Might Nor By Power: Set Free (p. 273). Kindle Edition.

You may tell me that this was a unique season in the body of Christ. Perhaps it was. Yet it is what my heart longs to see. I also think it was what was happening in the New Testament. To be clear, I am not advocating experiences over truth. I think true godly experiences often establish or reinforce truth. What isn’t included in the quote is the emphasis that Calvary Chapel and the early Vineyard had on preaching through the scriptures. The truth of the word was paired with the reality of encountering His presence. Jesus addressed it this way.

²⁹ Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. Matthew 22:29 (NKJV)

The Greek word translated as ‘mistaken’ means to wander or be led astray, to be deceived. Here Jesus was responding to the Sadducees who denied the resurrection and afterlife. His point was that they missed the point because they were neither grounded in the scriptures nor familiar with the power of His presence. Their beliefs had led them astray from the truth in both their theology and experience.

I have long believed that at the end of the age we will see a church focused not on power or the word but a church focused on power and the word. A body that is deeply grounded in His word and walks in and demonstrates His power and presence. That is the cry of my heart.

Now we need to address how we get there. I have previously referred to 1 Corinthians 12-14. Chapter 12 outlines various gifts of the Spirit available to us as His children. Chapter 13 highlights love as the motivation we should have for the use of spiritual gifts. A side note here. Paul was writing to the church at Corinth and addressed their misuse of spiritual gifts. His solution to the misuse of them wasn’t to ask them to take a break. Just the opposite, he instead encouraged them to further pursue the gifts (14:1) while explaining how they were to function when the body gathered. That is the focus of chapter 14. Paul focused primarily on the use of tongues and prophecy because they were the primary issue. I am not going to going over every aspect of what Paul wrote but I will focus in on a few verses that capture the core of what we need to know and understand in order to see the body empowered.

In this passage the responsibility of leadership is not to do everything. It is to provide oversight to the ministry of the body to one another. Paul’s expectation was that when the body met each person would bring something; a song, teaching, revelation or interpretation to strengthen the others. Leadership was to facilitate not dominate this process. Inherent in the passage is an expectation that people knew one another and the spiritual gifts they carried. These gifts were to be shared with others. We needn’t fear that scripture was violated if four individuals had a message in tongues or a prophetic word. Paul’s point was there needed to be a mutual submission to one another’s gifts and a discerning of when to speak and when to be silent. His expression, ‘let the first keep silent’ addressed the need for a respect for others and a submission to leadership.

While this is likely quite different from what most of us experience when the church gathers, I believe it was more normative for the early church and should be for us as well. Will getting there require change and adjustments in how we function and relate to one another? Certainly. Is it worth attempting to experience more of His presence and see the church empowered and touching the culture around us? Yes!

Join me in sharing these ideas and praying for their realization as we pursue His heart!

To be continued.

A Functioning Body

Jesus told us what the church was called to do in what we refer to as The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). Paul gave us some information on the how in Ephesians, Colossians and a key portion of 1 Corinthians (12-14). Ephesians informs us where we are to be, seated with Christ (2:6), who we battle, principalities and powers (6:12), and how we can be successful in battle (6:10-18), which requires that we actually put on and use the armour. In Ephesians Paul also included how the church is led and built (4:11-16) which includes leadership, training and impartation to effectively build and release His body.1 Corinthians 12-14 highlights the importance and function of spiritual gifts within the body of Christ and Colossians presents Christ as the source of everything (1:27). In Colossians Paul also denounces festivals and angels as means of grace and revelation, pointing out that the answer is in Jesus not rules and rituals.

My goal in this writing, this first part is merely the introduction, is to have us reflect on how we function as His body in relation to how He has called us to function. I am deeply concerned that in general we as the church, His body, have settled for far less than He has both called and enabled us to walk in. If the church were a car, I would say it badly needs a tune up, or if you prefer an EV analogy, the battery is weak and has trouble taking a charge. Granted, it is easy to see problems, we also need solutions. My aim is to come into agreement with the heavenly physician and offer both a diagnosis and treatment. After all we see that in the first chapters of Revelation that Jesus had a different message for each of the seven churches and each message was specific to their need at that point in time.

I have some sense of where the broader body of Christ is in Canada and the US through what I read and experience yet I am obviously more familiar with what is happening where I fellowship. In writing I have no great prophetic revelation to offer, I am pointing us to scripture and the way He has called us to walk. After nearly four decades in walking with Jesus I echo the heart cry of Paul summed up in a single verse of scripture.

¹² Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Philippians 3:12 (NKJV)

If you have attained, great, show the rest of us the way. If you have not and your heart desire is for more then please read through Ephesians, Colossians and 1 Corinthians 12-14 and join me on this journey.

As an encouragement this new song by Josh Baldwin featuring Jenn Johnson is a call to go higher and fulfill His purpose, not ours, His!

https://ca.video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&p=made+for+more+josh+baldwin&type=E210CA1485G0#id=1&vid=40564892dc6bb29bf464a98b4ffebe6a&action=click

Knowing Jesus, Applying Grace

As a follow up to my last post on wisdom I am going to drill down further on wisdom and knowledge and look at how to exercise wisdom by acting on our knowledge. To begin, the simple distinction between wisdom and knowledge is that knowledge is possessing information; wisdom is knowing what to do with the information we possess. We see this all of the time in advice on diets and health. It is easy to arm people with knowledge. Imparting the wisdom to act on that knowledge is another matter. The same is true of sermons. Most sermons share knowledge. However, whether we act on that knowledge is another matter.

A major challenge in acting on what we know is the struggle of conflicting desires, as Paul laid out in Romans 7. Knowing what to do but struggling to exercise wisdom and act on it. Paul had both knowledge and wisdom but as he presented in Romans 7, struggled with the actual application.

¹⁵ For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. ¹⁶ If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. ¹⁷ But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. ¹⁸ For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. ¹⁹ For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. ²⁰ Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. ²¹ I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. ²² For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. ²³ But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. ²⁴ O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ²⁵ I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Romans 7:15–25 (NKJV)

One thing that is clear here is that the application of knowledge isn’t all about willpower. Paul said his will was right, his actions were not. Paul expressed very clearly that he knew what to do, wanted to do it and yet something was hindering his engaging in what he desired to do. Paul then pointed us to the need to draw on something outside of ourselves – grace! Grace has been defined by many as ‘unmerited favour’ but the definition falls short. Grace is that, but it is also His empowering presence, His enablement to do what He has called us to do. We see that in the very next verses in Romans.

¹ There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. ² For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1–2 (NKJV)

Paul described sin as ‘dwelling’ in his body, not his nature as he received a new nature at conversion (2 Corinthians 5:17, 21) but something inherent in fallen humanity that was not eradicated by his conversion. Which is why we need a glorified body at our resurrection or translation. Paul presented the battle against sin but he also pointed us to the solution. Sin is like gravity; it seeks to pull us down. If I hold my hand out with my phone in it and let go of my phone, unless there is an intervention it will fall to the ground, drawn by gravity. If I reach out and catch it with my other hand, I overcome the force of gravity and interrupt what would naturally take place.

In terms of applying knowledge to overcome the pull of sin, this interruption and overcoming of what would naturally take place is grace. Paul described the effect of grace as, ‘the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.’

At conversion Jesus came to dwell in me and you. If He is in us then He is also the source of the grace we can draw on to interrupt the power of sin in us. We are now back to knowledge. What we need to know now is how to exercise wisdom to draw on this grace. In a single word, intimacy. If I have developed an intimate relationship with Jesus, in my interactions with Him I will find myself rising above and moving away from the pull of sin. I do this by simply looking to His presence in my spirit. This is trusting Christ in me the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27) rather than my abilities. When I do this, I experience His empowering presence (grace) enabling me rise above the pull of sin.

Two passages of scripture that speak further to this are in Hebrews and 1 Corinthians. We know that Jesus was without sin in the presence of temptation, not only in His wilderness temptation but also throughout the rest of His earthly life.

¹⁵ For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Hebrews 4:15 (NKJV)

We then have Paul telling us that when we are tempted, just as others are, that there is a way out.

¹³ No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NKJV)

The way out is what I have outlined above, living in the reality of Romans 8 rather than Romans 7 and knowing Jesus within as Paul presented in Colossians. To that end, let’s pursue intimacy with Jesus and look to Him within that we may walk in wisdom.

Our Father

There are two passages in scripture that are more well known than all others. The 23 Psalm and the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6, so named because Jesus our Lord gave it to us, more specifically Jesus gave it to His early disciples, and by extension us. We have it in Luke 11 and Matthew 6 with minor variations. The Matthew one is the commonly taught one but I have included the version Luke shared because there we see Jesus originally gave it in response to a request. We have more than one version because Jesus traveled around the country teaching and taught regularly on the same subjects but wasn’t reading them word for word off of a tablet – tablets where heavy in those days!

¹ Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” ² So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. ³ Give us day by day our daily bread. ⁴ And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.” Luke 11:1–4 (NKJV)

⁹ In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. ¹⁰ Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. ¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread. ¹² And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. ¹³ And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Matthew 6:9–13 (NKJV)

A couple of important elements. When one of the disciples requested a prayer Jesus provided a model one that covered key areas, which was the practice of rabbis in that time period, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” I am going to focus on the version Matthew provided from the Sermon on the Mount as it is the longer and more commonly used version.

The prayer in Matthew begins and ends with the Father, starting with His location and ending with His kingdom. A bit more detail may help as we engage our hearts.

Our Father: Jesus instructs us to begin with an acknowledgement to/of our Fathers. A recognition that we are part of a larger family with the Father as the head.

In heaven: A recognition for us of where He resides. The spiritual eternal realm. Our prayers are rising before the throne, the throne of grace we later learn (Hebrews 4:16).

Your kingdom, Your will be done: These are not pleas or requests. The tense in Greek tells us that they are decrees/declarations. We are agreeing with His agenda and expressing our desire to see that His kingdom and will are established. There is submission to His will in this declaration.

On earth as it is in heaven: A decree and declaration stating that earth is ultimately to come into alignment with heaven.

Our daily bread: Expressing our dependence on the Father for our sustenance.

Forgive us: Requesting forgiveness in the context of our commitment to walk in forgiveness toward others. This is also a recognition that we all need it at some point (1 John 1:8-9).

Request for protection: We are praying for protection from ourselves and the evil one. He will lead us in right paths. We need to follow.

Yours is the kingdom and power: The Father is king in this eternal kingdom, the glorious one who sits on the throne. He is the one to whom our prayers ascend and the one we are agreeing with as we pray and declare.

In a brief summary here is the pattern.

Acknowledgement and recognition,
Declaration,
Recognition of dependence for sustenance,
Request for forgiveness and a commitment to walk in forgiveness,
Request for protection, and
Worship.

Now go pray.

A Dwelling Place

We have stepped into a new year. Yet I believe we need an old focus as we move through it. The writer of Psalm 132 expresses the passion David carried for a dwelling place for Yahweh.

A Song of Ascents. ¹ Remember, O Yahweh, on David’s behalf, All his affliction; ² How he swore to Yahweh And vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob, ³ “Surely I will not come into my house, Nor lie in the comfort of my bed; ⁴ I will not give sleep to my eyes Or slumber to my eyelids, ⁵ Until I find a place for Yahweh, A dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.” ⁶ Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah, We found it in the fields of Jaar. ⁷ Let us come into His dwelling place; Let us worship at the footstool of His feet. ⁸ Arise, O Yahweh, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength. ⁹ Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness, And let Your holy ones sing for joy. Psalm 132:1-9 LSB

Just as a house needs a foundation for the rest to be built upon, and to stay in place a ship needs an anchor, so too, we need to look at what we anchor and build our worship on. Not only our faith, but a major aspect of it, our worship. Here the Psalmist sought to anchor the future in the heart that David carried and his passion to see a dwelling place established for Yahweh.

One thing this Psalm tells us is that we need to seek His face and heart. This is always true yet as His body we seem to engage in it only intermittently. Here David’s passion was to see a place for Yahweh to dwell and interact with His people, a place of encounter where heaven met earth.

In our time we don’t need to build a dwelling place, we need to understand how to individually and corporately be a dwelling place! After all we know from the New Testament that we are in fact His dwelling place on earth in this season of time.

¹⁶ Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? ¹⁷ If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. 1 Corinthians 3:16–17 (NKJV)

¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? ²⁰ For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. 1 Corinthians 6:19–20 (NKJV)

In these two passages Paul gives both a warning and an exhortation. The context in chapter 3 is the Corinthians demonstrating immaturity by exhibiting selfishness and division in their gatherings. The context is chapter 6 is their defiling Yahweh’s temple through sexual immorality. It is clear from both of these passages that as a group of believers the Corinthians were in danger and seemed not to have recognized that, hence Paul’s warnings.

I believe and pray that we will have a greater awareness of the importance of being His dwelling place on earth and that it will affect how we live our lives before Jesus and before others. It should be very obvious that we cannot walk in sexual immorality and the Father’s favour at the same time, they are mutually exclusive. Most of the church seems to easily get this reality. Yet if we allow division and competition we are in just as much danger. In fact, Paul’s warning is stronger in 3:17 where he warns, “If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him.” Here Paul is addressing envy, strife and division (3:3).

This tells us that we need to walk in love and unity to know the benefit of being His dwelling place. This is a key aspect of our worship. It does no good to stand beside a fellow believer on Sunday morning and sing if at other times I am engaged in strife with them. My singing will not bring His favour, my honouring my fellow believer will. Let’s have David’s passion for Yahweh’s dwelling place and see it demonstrated by walking in love and unity. Then we will see His manifest presence resting on us and expressed through us as His dwelling place on earth! We might call that what many of us regularly pray for, revival.

The Church Part 4

In my last post I raised the idea of whether principalities and powers tremble as we gather as His ekklesia. I think they should and I will explain both why and how. In the process I will attempt to address what Jesus envisioned when He said, “I will build my church/ekklesia” and the importance of the injunction in Hebrews 10 to be ‘assembled.’ If you are concerned that I am going to delve into how we rebuke and bind spiritual entities, let me assure you, I believe that to be both foolish and potentially dangerous! I want to focus on how we simply walk and live out our faith in genuine spiritual fellowship and community. In recent years I wrote a manual on hearing the Lord’s voice and in my introduction noted that hearing from Jesus isn’t about lofty visions and spiritual encounters. I am all for those if He is initiating them, not so much if we are trying to drum them up. However, my point was that those experiences are not the norm for most of us, nor does scripture suggest they should be.

The same is true of the gathering and assembling of the ekklesia. It has been well said that it is easy to miss the spiritual looking for the supernatural and my whole series on the ‘church’ lies in the shadow of that danger. However, I press on. I believe that when we are found faithful and walk in love in the midst of ‘this present darkness’ our behaviour is a witness to heaven and the demonic spiritual realm of the power of His love to transform us. Principalities and powers influence the spiritual atmosphere over areas. The more we walk with and are found in Jesus in spite of this oppression and opposition the more we weaken and break their hold and influence over areas. We are not called to bring heaven to earth as much as to walk in a depth of koinonia that demonstrates heaven on earth.

I recently read some material from Dutch Sheets where he shared how believers were praying and not experiencing anything in the moment. No great visions or prophetic words, simply being found faithful, and later learning of the important impact of their prayers. My friend Wouter shared how during WWII a small community in Germany prayed fervently for protection from the Nazi regime. They came through the war without losing their sons and were protected from the Nazi scourge in their country. We have no stories of them seeing angels or other supernatural signs. What they experienced was spiritual reality. The commonality in these stories is that a group of people were engaged in intercession together. They were united for a common purpose. They had gathered, assembled and taken up a task together.

Now, some reflections on a church service compared to a gathering and assembling of the ekklesia. I think the main difference lies in intent and focus. The church and the ekklesia may both gather on a Sunday to worship, pray and hear a message. The church and ekklesia may both proclaim salvation, yet those who recognize that they are the ekklesia also seek to shift the spiritual atmosphere over cities and regions. They engage in this because their responsibility, that they are called out, gathered to Jesus to accomplish His purposes in a region and that they carry the necessary spiritual authority to accomplish the task Jesus has assigned to them.

My real goal here is to help us as the church to see that we are actually called to be the ekklesia. A gathering of people called to assemble and exercise spiritual authority over an area to extend and demonstrate His kingdom. The gathering piece is important, the assembling is critical. I have used this illustration before. If you purchase a product from Ikea or a similar store when you bring it home you need to assemble the pieces, each in the spot it where it was designed to fit. The same is true of Jesus body. We all have a function, and while gathering believers together in a room is a good start, the important step is identifying and releasing said believers into their calling and purpose, both individually and corporately.

As an individual I know my place in the larger body and like the rest of the ekklesia one thing I am called to is daily prayer, intercession if you will. At times I doubt the efficacy of my own prayers and my ability to hear His voice, even though I have written a practical manual on hearing His voice. Perhaps I need to read it! Yet at the same time I am faithful to read the scriptures, pray and engage with His presence of behalf of others. Out of this I find that when I respond to His promptings to call or email someone because I sense He has placed them on my heart I invariably hit the mark. This is the fruit of simply seeking to be found faithful to this aspect of my calling. I pray you embrace the same goal.

In my next post I will look at some final areas. What a gathering might look like based on what Paul taught to the Corinthians, the focus of Paul’s prayers in some of his letters and the role and importance of church discipline in fulfilling our mandate.

The Church Part 3

In my previous two posts I focused on the idea of the kingdom, on earth as it is in heaven and that the church/ekklesia is called to demonstrate the kingdom. I noted that as the ekklesia, called out ones, we are both called out from something (the world if we read John’s letters and James) and called to someone, Jesus. We have been called to Jesus to represent, re-present Him.

I have intentionally been using the word ekklesia rather than church as no matter how we frame the idea, in practice most Christians refer to the church as a building rather than a body of people. If you look at the church in the book of Acts, they didn’t have a dedicated building. In Jerusalem they met outdoors at the temple or indoors in the homes of believers. This was the common practice in the world of the New Testament. What the word ekklesia denotes is gathering for a purpose. In Matthew 16:18, if we paraphrase, Jesus said, ‘I will build my gathering of believers called out to serve My purpose.’

I believe that whether believers gather on a Saturday, Sunday or a Friday evening, they still gather for a purpose. What needs to be addressed is whether that is the same purpose Jesus had in mind when He spoke of building His ekklesia. My friend Evelyn stepped from time into eternity a few years ago. In conversation she frequently used the phrase “the church that Jesus is building.” She saw it as something different from what took place at a typical service.

In my decades of church attendance what I have normally experienced is some degree of worship (singing), some public prayers and a sermon. These are all okay things in and of themselves, but perhaps they fall short of what Jesus saw as the purpose of the ekklesia. For example, Paul was clear in scripture that the gospel he taught was given to him by Jesus. Here is one thing Paul said we were to do.

⁸ To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, ⁹ and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; ¹⁰ to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, Ephesians 3:8–10 (NKJV)

Verse 10 says we as the ekklesia are to make known God’s manifold wisdom to principalities and powers in heavenly places. Paul uses the term ‘principalities and powers’ again in Ephesians 6:12 so we know that in both chapters he is referring to spiritual beings in heavenly places. Do you think that happened at your last gathering? Did principalities and powers tremble as we gathered?

What we need to determine is just how we as the ekklesia demonstrate the Father’s wisdom to principalities and powers if we are function as Jesus called us. A good part of the answer is in the rest of the chapter. Understanding that through what Jesus accomplished we have access to throne of grace – for a purpose! We are called to demonstrate His kingdom in the context of our culture.

Here in part is how Peter and Paul understood Jesus’ goal for the ekklesia.

⁴ Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, ⁵ you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:4–5 (NKJV)

¹⁹ Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, ²⁰ having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, ²¹ in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, ²² in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Ephesians 2:19–22 (NKJV)

As the ekklesia we are called to gather and build one another into a spiritual house, a holy temple, the dwelling place of the Spirit that reflects Jesus to the surrounding culture. As for my building, I have fallen short of what I intended to accomplish in this post. In my next post I will look at ‘being assembled together’ in Hebrews 10, the role of joints regarding how and what they supply, Ephesians 4, and what that looks like in practice, 1 Corinthians 14 and tie it back to principalities and powers.

More to come.

The Church Part 2

In my previous post I referenced the idea of the church (ekklesia) being called to demonstrate the kingdom. To further clarify the distinction between the church and the kingdom here is what George Eldon Ladd wrote some decades ago.

The Kingdom is primarily the dynamic reign or kingly rule of God, and derivatively, the sphere in which the rule is experienced. In biblical idiom, the Kingdom is not identified with its subjects. They are the people of God’s rule who enter it, live under it, and are governed by it. The church is the community of the Kingdom but never the Kingdom itself. Jesus’ disciples belong to the Kingdom as the Kingdom belongs to them; but they are not the Kingdom. The Kingdom is the rule of God; the church is a society of women and men. George Eldon Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI.: Eerdmans, 1974, 2000), 109.

Again, we as the ekklesia are not the kingdom, we are to demonstrate the kingdom and to come under the authority of the kingdom. Following on that, a better understanding of the meaning of ekklesia leads to being better equipped to demonstrate the kingdom. I previously referenced that ekklesia means the ‘called out ones.’ Inherent in the idea of this calling is that we are both called out from something and to something. We better understand this by hearing from Paul.

¹ Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God Romans 1:1 (NKJV)

Here I believe Paul is contrasting his calling into the ekklesia with his calling as a Pharisee. The distinction is between Paul’s calling ‘to’ versus a calling ‘from.’ Pharisee literally means a ‘separated one.’ The Pharisees identified themselves by what they were separated from. When Jesus called Paul, he no longer identified himself by what he was separated from but by the One he was separated to – Jesus! In the same manner, at our conversion we were called to be part of the ekklesia, called out and separated not from something but to someone, Jesus, for His purpose. When we see that we can then consider what our focus should be. We have the overview in Matthew.

¹⁸ And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. Matthew 28:18–20 (NKJV)

Jesus called us as the ekklesia to demonstrate His kingdom and disciple and teach nations, which in the context of Matthew is people groups, ethnicities. We have the same message in Matthew 24:14.

¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:14 (NKJV)

Some have taken the Great Commission in Matthew (with variations in Mark 16:15-16 and Acts 1:8) to mean that as the ekklesia we are to disciple nations as in nation states. Yet that is not Jesus’ focus in Mark and Acts. Jesus directed us to make disciples of all ethnicities in the earth within the context of nation states. In this age the goal is not Christian nations but an effective ekklesia, Christians engaged in their calling, within nations. In my next post I will look at examples from the New Testament around the ‘how’ and let that lead further into church history. Hint, showing up on Sunday, sitting and standing on cue and then departing won’t accomplish the task and is not what happened in church history. What did happen is changed lives, communities and social structures.

More to come.