Integrity

"And so, since God in his mercy has given us this wonderful ministry, we never give up. We reject all shameful and underhanded methods. We do not try to trick anyone, and we do not distort the word of God. We tell the truth before God, and all who are honest know that." (2 Cor 4:1-2)

I have been apalled over the last decade at how easy it is for "apostles" and "prophets" and "pastors" to outright lie with a straight face in order to save face. To bend Scripture to suit their will instead of bending their will to allign with Scripture.

Whenever you come across the opposite of of Paul's qualities and behaviors (verses above) in a church leader or parachurch leader, please people. Don't make excuses for them. They are practising sin.

Don't just blindly follow them, thinking that's what you "have" to do. God doesn't expect you to follow immature and insincere people. Verses like these make it clear that some "leaders" are NOT our true elders, are not following in the footsteps of Paul, Timothy, Silas ... let alone Messiah Jesus.

Sadly, they're just dysfunctional people, unwilling to repent or grow, desperate to enjoy power over other people's lives and in real need of some good ol' fashioned disciplin'. :)

Be free of them and look for elders and teachers who reflect the behaviours that Paul writes about above. There are plenty of them. They're out there. Thank God (literally) I'm meeting them again!

Resurrection

Our "house" church drew together yesterday - easter sunday - for pizza, homemade hotcross buns, oreos and cheese and crackers. Oh, and also to remember and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.

We were wonderfully led through a series of ten passages of scripture by Brother Dave ... and we would pause after each passage and unpack it as it struck us. Before we knew it, an hour and a half had gone by before we reached the final passage, read by my eldest son from his favourite book Revelation. The passage was a wonderful counterpoint to the pain and loneliness of Jesus on the cross, and the confusion straight after the resurrection. It described millions of people worshipping God and "the Lamb", totally clear on who He is, totally for Him, totally besotted with Him.

It was a beautiful time and we remembered particularly that Jesus as a Jewish man with no earthly father, unjustly treated, abused and abandoned by his friends, tasted of human suffering so totally that no one can say "He can't judge me". We also paused to remember his abject aloneness as well as the confusion that the disciples were in, which reminded us that when we are in crisis, it's normal to not be able to quote scripture and feel like everything's ok. Just as they had no idea what was happening, so do we often.

But joy comes in the morning. Resurrection comes and God ushers in a new day with new thinking, new challenge, new calling and new blessing and power available to us.

Praise be to God and to the Lamb who was slain, and who lives again to intercede for us.

Amen.

Bones

Oy! I last posted more than a month ago. Sometimes Life just gets in the way of the things you love, but eventually you get time for them again as you work through what's coming at ya!

Indulge me today, people. Rather than just the final verse of Joshua, I'll pick pieces from the last THREE verses (it's still Famous LAST Words, anyway). :)

Israel served the LORD as long as Joshua lived. They also served him as long as the elders who lived longer than Joshua did. These elders had seen for themselves everything the LORD had done for Israel.

The people of Israel had brought Joseph's bones up from Egypt. They buried his bones at Shechem in the piece of land Jacob had bought... That piece of land became the share that belonged to Joseph's children after him.

Aaron's son Eleazar died. His body was buried at Gibeah in the hill country ... Gibeah had been given to Eleazar's son Phinehas.

Soooooo much history in and behind these verses. But here's my read of it, personal bias and filters well and truly on:

First. Israel honored great leaders and contributors in Joseph and Eleazar. (If you've read my post about Joseph's bones, I love the resolution here of that incomplete story: the great man is finally laid to rest!)

We live in a day of reformation in the church. As an older style of leadership dies away over the next 15-20 years, lets not adopt a position of "Good riddance!", but let's honor them. And not just honor them, but take their bones - their "presence" and legacy - with us into the future.

Our history is built on the acts of fallible human beings as well as those of an infallible God. I've written (and ranted) extensively about the abuses of power that many "christian" "leaders" have committed and continue to. Thank God that these men/women (though they often make the most noise and the biggest ripples) are in the minority as far as the clergy go. Most men and women serving God in formal pastoral and missional roles around the world (my own father included) are doing their best with pure motives; they carry on the tradition of centuries and we should treat/remember them with honor.

Second (and last). The people served the LORD as long as the Old Guard remained. We're not yet reading the next book of the Bible in this series of posts, so we can take some license and ask "So, did they stop once these leaders died off?" And so I ask us: Will we only passionately serve the LORD as long as these leaders are here or the current church structures remain?

I went out with a mate of mine to play pool last night; he's an "ex-pastor" like me. (When I write that it feels like I'm saying "ex-alcoholic" or something!) And we were asking the question, "As we deconstruct almost everything that "church" and "ministry" has come to mean over decades of our lives, what will we have left?"

As we believers in emerging churches or who are without-church-community continue to pave new paths, take new territory, explore new ideas, will we practically forget the holiness of God, the core of Truth that (rather than our subjective worldview) our world (Earth!) is built upon? Or will we indeed consolidate the gains of two thousand years of disciples and many more millenia of God's servants, and continue to build the Kingdom they all lived and died for?

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Have I been a little preachy here? Are my sentences getting as long and convoluted as those in CS Lewis' Narnia books? Do you agree with my thoughts? Disagree? I welcome all comments (as long as they're clean and constructive). :)

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If this devotion was helpful, please feel free to visit the other posts in the series by clicking Famous Last Words. And don't forget to visit the sister post to this, written by Yehudi01 who joins me in this project, writing from the Jewish perspective.

Another Day in ... Paradise?

In Kinshasa's slums children as young as 4 or 5 are being accused of witchcraft and sorcery, and people claiming to have spiritual power to cast out demons charge money to deliver these children from the power of witchcraft.

These children are being blamed for the ills of the household or even of the neighborhood. Sick animals, sick people, the lack of food and water are all blamed upon them.

A spiritual smokescreen masks the reality that these children are just not
wanted because they represent an unmanageable economic burden. Indeed, as
economic burdens, the easiest route for a family is often to accuse the child of
bringing suffering to them.

I encourage you to read the rest of this post at Square No More or the original report at The Observer. It is of course difficult at first examination to assess the truthfulness of the report this is based on. But while Pentacostalism can't solely be blamed for this situation (as many of the commentors on the post point out), it still makes me wonder again: where the heck is the "good news" of our Messiah when our theologies and practises contribute to this kind of insanity.

Walk by Faith

I'm a big believer that the journey of faith is meant to be an adventure. I think that the "command" in scripture to walk by faith is equally an invitation.

I love the much-preached-about story of Simon Peter walking on water (Matthew 14:25-33). Here's a few short thoughts on what walking by faith means to me, based on that story.

1. It begins with either asking for or receiving a command/directive from God. (verse 28-9: "If it's You, command me to come to You on the water." ... "Come!") - God, what do You want me to do next? Jesus, if you want me to go do XYZ, just tell me, please!
2. It continues by acting on what God says to do (verse 29) - this may be a personal word for you, spoken into your heart or simply acting on a scripture that's meaningful to you.
3. Action that God considers faith is pointed at God or it's doing something alongside Him - just as Peter was looking at Jesus the first time he walked then walked beside Jesus the second time. In our lives, whether we feel that contact or not, it simply means we are doing something to be allied and alligned with Him, not for our own selfish purposes - Father, I don't want to do this just so you'll make me wealthy or famous, or even just for the buzz, but to know You and to live the adventure with You!
4. Walking by faith for Peter was based on what he'd seen Jesus do. Jesus modelled, Jesus showed him what was possible. Peter copied then found he was doing it, joining in. Jesus models both the lifestyle and the possiblities for us... Maybe there's more to the command "Follow Me!" than just passively agreeing to a doctrinal position and saying a Sinner's Prayer...

Go on. Walk by faith a little!