Building an Acts 2 Community--Day 1

I chose to teach in public school because I knew that, for the majority of kids, it was their only option.

I wanted to work with what we had available to us.

Though two of my children finished in private high school, the bulk of education for all three was public school.

I wanted to know that, if we worked hard with who they were and what we had, they would have every post high school option available to them for their choosing.

God seems to lead us on a similar course. He always works with what we give Him in surrender of our will to Him and in time spent in the hard work of getting to know Him.

He works with what we make available to Him.

In Acts 1, after His resurrection, Jesus is leaving instructions with the apostles for their next steps, as He knows His earthly departure is imminent:

"...[you are waiting on] the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world."

Our mission as believers is to spread the Good News of Christ. This is action that requires strategy. Where do we begin?

Church circles often discuss what an Acts 2 church would look like, where believers [commit] themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers.

Peter's how-to includes this admonition:

"Get out while you can; get out of this sick and stupid culture!"

For most of us, we can't exit the culture any more than most kids can exit public school. But we can work hard with who we are and with what we have.

Since local churches are simply parts of the greater Church, it seems valuable to ponder an Acts 2 community, where resources are pooled, harmony is built and the message of Christ flourishes.

We'll ask God for some how-to's.

Tomorrow: fighting our proprietary spirit.

Stomping on the Name of Jesus

A Florida Atlantic University student refused to follow his professor's instructions:

Write the name of Jesus on a piece of paper, put it on the floor and stomp on it.

Ryan Rotela, instead, picked up his piece of paper and put it back on the table, saying to the professor, "With all due respect to your authority as a professor, I do not believe what you told us to do was appropriate."

Perhaps there is a god of contempt, and to serve that god is to hold in contempt the name of Jesus.

When we stomp on each other's character--fellow Christ-followers--are we serving that same god?

My recent series, Seduced by Dissension, brought comments that seemingly went beyond the pale.

On Day 4, an anonymous comment (from exvicar) characterized me as follows:

Debi: "Today, class, we are going to drop you off for an anatomy lesson at the home of a man I admire, Mr. Jeffrey Daumer."

Student: "Isn't he a serial killer who eats people?"

Debi: "How dare you use such a label. And here, give him this hot sauce for me."

If we claim to be followers of Jesus, how is it loving and truth-telling to paint a person with wild charges that have not even a hint of truth to them?

Contempt at best; at worst, raw hatred.

Life goes on, and love wins in the end.

The lesson from Ryan Rotela?  Let's not stomp on the name of Jesus--or each other.

Seduced by Dissension--Day 5

In a church, the critical difference between dissension and healthy disagreement is agenda, that is, the motive of the heart.

Since we as the church purport to carry the Good News of Christ, we all face a test from God:

Are we wittingly, or unwittingly, seduced into driving a wedge in the skilled servant work of our local body with our hidden agendas?

What are some of these hidden agendas?

Portraying God as a keeper of personal labels; the "worse" the labels, the greater the rejection by God.

The truth is, Jesus hung out with the "worst" label-makers of all. He knew their hearts were ripe for receiving His forgiveness. Only the self-righteous (the Pharisees and Sadducees) put themselves out of reach of God's transforming love; Jesus labelled them in Matthew 12:34:

You brood of vipers...for the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

Another hidden agenda begins with similar reasoning with which the serpent seduced Eve (Genesis 3):

Surely God would not speak His lessons through a person who does not meet "my" standards. 

Yet we are inspired by the prostitute Rahab's courage in hiding God's spies; she, in fact, is in the very lineage of Jesus (Joshua 6:25, Matthew 1:5).

Perhaps most divisive of all:

We undercut and undermine the spiritual authority with which God has empowered our church leadership.

A church who has adopted God's agenda for their body lives by the anthem in Acts 5:

"...for if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop [it]; you will only find yourselves fighting against God."

The test is our heart's agenda. Are we the road, the gravel, the weeds or the good earth in Matthew 13?

Only good earth avoids the seduction of dissension.

No weapon formed against good earth will prosper.

Seduced by Dissension--Day 4

God is a Commanding God.

His Piercing Truth flows through a conduit of Love and Grace with an accuracy that isolates and exposes--regardless of disguise--dissension and discord.

Two churchgoers:

One, a lifetime in church, knowledgeable in the Word, ready to deliver God's standard of living to one and all. To do less would be to compromise the blow of Truth that God, in his or her view, metes out first and foremost.

The other, an incoming newbie, fresh from the world, wondering what this Jesus/God/Holy Spirit life is all about. He has met the church leader and is intrigued by his embrace, his acceptance, his honesty. Because this newbie saw the conduit of love and grace first, he risks entry into church, and from the pulpit begins to learn the Truth of the Commanding God who first and foremost Loves and applies Grace.

The church leader's agenda is critical, and when it is surrendered wholly to what God wants, determined to first and foremost extend the love and grace of God to a dying world, then he (or she) cultivates the good earth from Matthew 13 (Day 1):

The seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the News, and then produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.

That newbie, learning and setting down roots in the good earth of God's agenda, will find his way into the rhythm and ease of mature and skilled servant work (Ephesians 4, Day 2), and may invite others into his new world.

The churchgoer trapped in the seduction of dissension will continue the fight, but should be cautioned by 1 Corinthians 13:1:

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

The church leader cultivates the good earth that is God's agenda for the local church. It will not happen without God-driven leadership that understands the precision and demeanor of God's conduit of Love and Grace. It will not happen without Truth spoken from the teaching of that local church that then reaches the hearing of those who are loved and graced through the door.

Tomorrow: the test we all face if we purport to carry the Good News of Christ.

Seduced by Dissension--Day 3

Years ago, a few voices on our pastor search committee prayed:

Lord, we only want the pastor you have for us. We are setting aside what and whom we want, and are instead asking You to send Your choice for us.

Words that began the war.

We all live by our personal agendas that are driven by our character. In a church, when a task is assigned to more than one person, agendas--and the character behind them--start to emerge.

To give God permission to insert His agenda--when we secretly think we know best--is a step of huge and difficult intention.

Our opinion is the voice of our heart's agenda. A Jesus heart--one surrendered to God and driven by His grace and love--will seek God's agenda because Jesus always deferred to His Father. Voices in a church that move rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God's Son (Eph. 4, Day 2) will have time and energy for the skilled servant work for which they are being trained.

Dissension invites us to spend that valuable time and energy on circular, non-fruit-bearing arguments and standoffs. It is a seduction not of God.

 In Matthew 13:20-21, Jesus is explaining His meaning of the seed cast in gravel:

"...this is the person who hears and instantly responds with enthusiasm. But there is no soil of character, and so when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it."

Soil of character will host roots in Christ: deferring to others, not taking self so seriously, displaying a servant's heart with no need for recognition. These roots meet difficulty with strength and preparedness.

Difficulty will always be the next event for a church. Bringing light to a dark world is to enter into near constant opposition. If there is no soil of character--if the voices (opinions) of the church are a cacophony of agendas--dissension is the result. Skilled servant work cannot get done. People stay wrapped in their words and their frustration.

Tomorrow: Why leadership (and its agenda) in a church matters.

Seduced by Dissension--Day 2

Churches are rocked by dissension. That they become a fertile battleground is no surprise; the enemy of God should be vigilant when a church is ripe for cultivating a Jesus heart in its people.

As a classroom teacher and principal, I always noticed that a classroom or a school had a collective personality--a group mentality and character--in addition to that of the individuals present.

Similarly, churches have a group mentality and character, led by a pastor who helps to shape the direction of growth and personal development.

Ephesians 4:11-13:

[Jesus] handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christ's followers in skilled servant work, working within Christ's body, the church, until we're all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God's Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.

Moving rhythmically and easily with each other in order to accomplish our skilled servant work, living fully mature, fully developed within and without, and fully alive like Christ is quite the calling. It requires skilled leadership and willing followers; personal agendas must be set aside for a wholesale surrender to God's agenda for each specific church.

Dissension cannot survive in a church that is seeking to be fully alive like Christ, integrating the step-by-step revelation of God's agenda for that body. When the preponderance of the group character is to follow God's agenda, not our own, the rhythm of the body moving easily with each other will ferret out the discord brought about by other agendas.

God alone can filter our agendas, both individually and collectively. He knows what agenda we bring to church and challenges us to move into the efficiency and grace that unity in response to God's Son brings.

Tomorrow: Matthew 13, gravel and the soil of character.

Seduced to Dissension--Day 1

The voice of dissension comes in many forms.

Disagreement, carefully constructed and thoughtfully conveyed, enriches a discussion and widens others' thinking.

Dissension is disagreement that leads to discord.

What is the critical difference?

Agenda.

The motive of the heart.

I have watched a parade of people come and go in the same church for nearly twenty years, including pastors and their families.

I suspect it is no small matter in the eyes of God what agenda we bring with us to church.

In Matthew 13:3-8, Jesus uses a boat for a pulpit, speaking to those gathered on the shore:

"What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road, and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn't put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled by the weeds. Some fell on good earth, and produced a harvest beyond his wildest dreams."

This is a story about our faith journey and we hear it discussed often. But I wonder if Jesus is showing us that what the seed falls in, determining its growth or lack thereof, is our personal agenda, sometimes seduced by dissension.

That's what we will examine over the next few days.

Lord, please meet each of us in our reader's heart and show where our seed is falling.