Kingdom Life – Introduction
I have been spending some time thinking again about the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ as recounted in Matthew chapters 5, 6 and7, and must admit that over the last few weeks it has just blown me away!
It’s completely counter-intuitive
It’s revolutionary.
It’s life changing.
It’s basically…..
Incredible!
You think you understand it and yet it is so difficult to apply to your life, because it forces you to alter your worldview and viewpoint. It moves you to a different place, changes your perspective, gives you a new and fresh place to stand, a place where you start to see the world through different eyes.
It’s available.
It’s accessible.
Yet how many of us actually get it – truly get it deep down in our hearts.
We’ve all read it. Personally, I have read it many, many times, and have heard and delivered countless sermons on the issues that it raises and addresses. But have I really got it? Has it made a difference to the way I walk and talk, and live within the realm of the Kingdom of God.
Today.
Now.
It just doesn’t make sense to our self-obsessed, consumer driven minds. It’s so easy and yet so hard.
For those who were there when Jesus preached it, it would have been an emotional and spiritual rollercoaster. Confusing and yet comforting. Right from the start Jesus holds no punches and tells it as it is.
He wants it to be challenging, he want is to be controvertial. He’s not seeking the approval of his listeners.
He is deliberately turning the prevailing religious worldview of the time on it’s head! He knows what he is doing. He has a purpose – a reason. He picks his words for maximum effect, and by doing so, changes the world forever.
How? By redefining what it means to live a Kingdom life!
To live.
In God’s Kingdom.
Where God is King.
The true Theocracy!
For real.
Now
That changes everything. That’s revolutionary……and that blows me away!
Over the next few weeks I want to share some of my thoughts and observations on what Jesus preaches in these chapters, starting at the beginning with the Beatitudes, Matthew 5: 3-12. I’ve entitled this series of posts Kingdom Life – and as far as I am concerned this is where the rubber hits the road for all professing disciples of Jesus. So lets see how we get on.
Long Live Organic Church
Christianity Today’s Mark Galli wrote an article in his online SoulWork column a couple of week ago titled ‘Long Live Organic Church’.
In it he explains his rather interesting, if not a little negative, or maybe pragmatic, viewpoint about the future of the organic church movement and its main proponents, advocates and ‘thought leaders’, such as Neil Cole, Alan Hirsh, Bob Roberts and Frank Viola. He expresses some admiration for them and what they dream to achieve, but also worries that the disappointment of experiencing inevitable failure will cause disillusionment with church in general:
“I love the passion. And the prophetic word to institutionalism …. and the vision to make Christ’s love and grace known to the four corners of the planet…..What I worry about is the coming crash of organic church. And after that, I worry about the energetic men and women at the forefront of the movement. Will they become embittered and abandon the church, and maybe their God?”
As he continues:
“That the organic church movement will crash, I have no doubt. Every renewal movement in church history has either derailed immediately or produced temporary renewal at the expense of long-term unintended consequences. Church historians tells us that in 11th- and 12th-century Europe, churches and chapels sprang up all over the continent, signaling a revival of faith after the centuries formerly called “the dark ages.” It was one of the most viral, church-planting movements in history. Unfortunately, it nurtured a fervency that longed to transform the world for Christ—which soon bore fruit in the Crusades.”
He follows this with what he calls a ‘more excellent way of love’, which basically means not to desire to change the world but to focus on obedience to God’s call on our lives and not expect too much, because if we do then we will inevitably end up disappointed:
“When the focus is on loving obedience to a loving Father, what difference does it make if it doesn’t seem to do any good? What difference does it make if the world or church is not transformed by our lights? When our motive is results, we are bound to be disappointed, because we live in a tragically fallen world that is stubbornly resistant to transformation. But when we focus on obedience to a sovereign heavenly Father, who in love is redeeming his creation in his own time and way (often mysteriously)—well, how could we ever be dismayed?”
What sort of gospel is that? Just plod along and don’t expect too much because you’re not going to make any difference and you’ll end up disappointed.
I agree with his focus on love and expressing the purposes of God through our function as salt and light, and that our primary focus should be on obedience not making changes for changes sake – but does he honestly believe that Jesus doesn’t expect transformation as a result of the ministry of His church?
“When the focus is on loving obedience to a loving Father, what difference does it make if it doesn’t seem to do any good? What difference does it make if the world or church is not transformed by our lights? When our motive is results, we are bound to be disappointed, because we live in a tragically fallen world that is stubbornly resistant to transformation. But when we focus on obedience to a sovereign heavenly Father, who in love is redeeming his creation in his own time and way (often mysteriously)—well, how could we ever be dismayed?”
I wonder what the world would have been like today if the Apostles and early church has taken a similar view?
To be honest though, I think I get where he is coming from, that as Christian people in a fallen world we should be good news to people and not expect reward – the fact that we are being obedient in serving others should be enough .
But is this really all God has planned for us and His church?
Personally, I don’t think so, and I think that the likes of Neil Cole, Alan Hirsh, Bob Roberts and Frank Viola are with me on this one.
Thankfully, Neil Cole and Frank Viola are much more articulate than I am – and they have responded to Mark Galli’s article, Neil Cole with four posts on his blog, Cole-Slaw (here, here, here and here) – the first of which has also been reproduced in Christianity Today (here), and Frank Viola in on his blog, Reimagining Church (here) – also in Christanity Today (here).
All five posts are worth reading and make a coherent and convincing rebuttal of Mark Galli’s original post.
Mark Galli seems to have resigned himself to the conclusion that the expression of church that we see today is the best we are ever going to get – that somehow we shouldn’t expect any more or anything better. And yet many, many Christian people want more, expect more and are finding more through ‘organic’ expressions of church. To quote Frank Viola as he considers organic church as a movement:
“I believe it would be more accurate to say that there is a phenomenon today where countless Christians are leaving institutional forms of church and exploring non-traditional forms of church in pursuit of authentic, shared-life community. I’ve been gathering in organic expressions of the church…for the last 21 years. And from my observations, many of the people who are leaving the institutional form of church presently are leaving because they are following a spiritual instinct. They are saying and thinking, “There has got to be more to Jesus Christ and his body than this.” Or as Reggie McNeal once put it, “A growing number of people are leaving the institutional church for a new reason. They are not leaving because they have lost their faith. They are leaving the church to preserve their faith.””
Rather than accepting the status quo as inevitable, maybe we should be on our knees pleading with God to send revival to our churches – to breath life back into our traditional denominations and expressions of church! Who says the organic church has to be separate from traditional church? Who says it is bound to fail?
The story goes that Rodney ‘Gypsy’ Smith, the noted evangelist from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, often pleaded with God to do great things by drawing a circle around himself with a piece of white chalk and praying, “Lord, send a revival, and let it begin inside this circle.”
Sounds good to me – now where’s my chalk?
What To Worship: Your Choice
Here is a really nice post I found and thought I would share it with you – so you could enjoy it as well 🙂
I like the take on values, and especially the need to transfer good values to our kids, but it was the quote from David Foster Wallace towards the beginning that I wanted to highlight:
“This, I submit, is the freedom of a real education, of learning how to be well-adjusted: You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn’t. You get to decide what to worship….Because here’s something else that’s true. In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And an outstanding reason for choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship – be it JC or Allah, be it Yahweh or the Wiccan mother-goddess or The Four Noble Truths or some infrangible set of ethical principles – is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money or things – if they are where you tap real meaning in life – then you will never have enough. Never feel you have enough. It’s the truth.”
You get to decide what to worship – literally, what to value as having worth in your life. Everybody worships something or someone.
The best thing we can do for our children is give them a good and balanced education – give them the tools to make their own decisions based on knowledge and understanding. Part of this is to provide them with a rational value system. We all want our kids to feel safe and loved, to be happy and healthy, kind and caring, but they will only be that way if they see those same values lived out in our lives. Ultimately, we will only transfer values to our children that we hold ourselves. How safe and loved do we feel, how happy and healthy, kind and caring are we? What do we value, what do we give worth, what do we worship? The values our children see and experience working out in our lives are more likely to be the ones that flourish in theirs.
Obviously, as a deliberate disciple of Jesus, I have my own take on that, mainly that only as we find ultimate worth in God do we truly start to put everything else into perspective – that the beauty, grace and forgiveness that we find in God makes all else seem taudry and fake. That in the end, the only real place to feel safe and loved, happy and healthy is in Jesus, and as we feel and experience his love and forgiveness then we slowly become kind and caring towards others – changing our values and reprioritising the things that are important in our lives.
To quote Matthew 6: 19-21:
” Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” ESV (bold added by me)
Your heart will be where your treasure is, or in other words, your values, and your kids values, will be influenced by what or who you worship – simple as that!
The Organic Nature of Church
I noticed a link on Twitter earlier this afternoon to an article on Resurgence about the organic nature of church.
Have a look at the article and associated links – because it’s great to see more about the organic nature of discipleship and its effect on the church. As explained in the article:
“Many churches have a linear discipleship program where they try to funnel everyone through the same process. Sadly, many times churches simply use the latest program or book in hopes that what works for a large church across the country in a different context will work for them. I have learned that discipleship is usually the opposite….You need to find out what works in your culture and context. Being organic means that you begin with the gospel and let the people grow naturally, right where they are. This is growing disciples naturally.”
The article goes on:
“Organic Discipleship is an organic understanding of spiritual formation that begins and ends with the gospel. Organic means growing or developing in a manner of living organisms. An organic understanding of the discipleship will require church leaders to rethink current church systems and structures in Biblical terms….Organic discipleship is not a program or curriculum; rather it is about learning the natural rhythms of discipleship within your church context.”
What more can you say? Spot on.
This works for me, but it can’t just be imposed on a church by its leadership – it has to be a grass roots movement, starting with changed hearts. Then it becomes infectious, because others see life in those living as “organic disciples” and want some of it for themselves.
You also get the opportunity to download a free e-book, ‘Grow: Reproducing through Organic Discipleship’ by Winfield Bevins. I haven’t read the e-book as yet, and will post a review when I have done so.
Information about Winfield Bevins given in the post:
‘Winfield Bevins is lead pastor of Church of the Outer Banks, an Acts 29 church located on the coast of North Carolina. He has authored several publications and is currently finishing a doctorate at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC. He is passionate about church planting and is involved with training church planters from different denominations. He and his wife have two children and live in the Outer Banks.’
Good one Resurgence – and thank you Winfield for letting us download your e-book for free.
ECG Northumberland – Autumn 2009
Next weekend, Saturday 10 October 2009, is the Autumn one-day ECG Conference being held at King Edward VI School in Morpeth, Northumberland. The main speaker for this event is Ali Burkett, a local lad from just up the road, advertised as follows:
“Ali was born and brought up in Northumberland and, after becoming a Christian at the age of 21, has worked and ministered along with Ruth his wife in various settings over the last 20 yrs. He now works with Southview Church in Chirnside, whilst running a family business. Ali is passionate about developing church that is relevant to our modern age, and in much of his ministry works with young people, particularly in an outdoor setting”.
As always, it should be a really good event, and well worth attending. Further details are available from the ECG Northumberland website.
Discipleship Fundamentals – Who Do You Say I Am?
Here is a slidecast that I put together from a sermon I delivered a few weeks ago at MBC. It is the first in a series of five talks on the fundamental principals of discipleship. I’ve called the series “Focussing of what’s important” which I suppose doesn’t really make that much sense in isolation. I am going to produce an introduction slidecast explaining about the series but until then I hope you enjoy the various talks as I include them on the blog over the next few weeks and months.
Night Out – Soweto Gospel Choir
Our house group had a night out on 8 September to see The Soweto Gospel Choir at The Sage in Gateshead. What a fantastic night! We had a great time. It was the first time I had been to the venue, and it was perfect for the vocal performance given by the choir. Although we were on the top level of the auditorium, it felt like we were right next to the stage. The acoustics where fabulous and really brought out the subtlies and nuances of the singing.
The Soweto Gospel Choir themselves were very, very good. Even though most of the words to the songs were not in English, the passion and emotion of the songs came through, and the African dancing and druming just added to the thrill of the occasion.
What I liked best of all though was the fact that this was not a secular choir who were singing in a gospel style, but so obviously a gospel choir singing from a love and relationship with Jesus. This was praise and worship at its best. All of the choir using their voices to give honour to the One who deserved it. A fabulous praise experience that transcended our lack of understanding of the language being sung because it translated to us the listeners into the language of heaven.
The most moving part of the evening for me was when the choir sang John Newton’s famous hymn ‘Amazing Grace’. It was sung with an understanding of the Grace of God in the hearts of the performers, the Grace that ‘saves a wretch like me’. The thing that really hit me most of all though as I listened was the amazing grace shown by the choir to even sing the song in the first place. Here was a choir of African people singing a song written by a slave trader who transported their forefathers from the land of their birth to work as slaves in the West Indies and America. Only by God’s Grace did John Newton write that amazing hymn, and only by that same Grace did this wonderful choir sing his hymn so many years later.
Overall, it was a great night out that everyone enjoyed. If you get a chance to see the Soweto Gospel Choir on the rest of this tour or at any time in the future then I would recommend it. You won’t regret the time and you will come away from the experience the richer, not only because the infectious nature of their enthusiasm and joy, but also because of their obvious love for their Lord, Jesus, to who’s glory they are singing.
Discipleship Groups
Here is a slidecast that I posted on slideshare.net yesterday briefly outlining some thoughts about Discipleship Groups. I hope you find it informative and useful. It is the first in a number of short presentations that I am planning to produce to explain how organic church can work in a European – specifically rural UK – context. To a large degree they will be speculative and theoretical – but my plan and prayer is to put the principles outlined in this and future slidecasts into practice over the next few months here in Northumberland.
See what you think. Feedback would be great. 🙂
Accountability Group Questions
I have been thinking about accountability groups lately, and mainly about how accountability questions in a small group context can be used as the basis for ongoing discipleship, both for not-yet, new or established Christians.
Using accountability groups to support discipleship is certainly not new. John Wesley used a very similar method to great effect in the eighteenth century as a fundamental part of his church planting strategy during the Methodist revival.
Here is a set of questions that have their origin in the spiritual accountability group that Wesley started when he was a student at Oxford, called the Holy Club. The first list appeared about 1729 or 1730 in the preface to Wesley’s second Oxford Diary. Similar questions appeared in his 1733 A Collection of Forms of Prayer for Every Day in the Week. As late as 1781, Wesley published a list of questions like this in the Arminian Magazine:
1. Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I am? In other words, am I a hypocrite?
2. Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?
3. Do I confidentially pass onto another what was told me in confidence?
4. Am I a slave to dress, friends, work, or habits?
5. Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?
6. Did the Bible live in me today?
7. Do I give it time to speak to me everyday?
8. Am I enjoying prayer?
9. When did I last speak to someone about my faith?
10. Do I pray about the money I spend?
11. Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?
12. Do I disobey God in anything?
13. Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?
14. Am I defeated in any part of my life?
15. Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy or distrustful?
16. How do I spend my spare time?
17. Am I proud?
18. Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as the Pharisee who despised the publican?
19. Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold resentment toward or disregard? If so, what am I going to do about it?
20. Do I grumble and complain constantly?
21. Is Christ real to me?
I think this list is brilliant – and real food for thought.
Here is another set of questions also developed by Wesley for use in Methodist class meetings and band meetings, which were small groups focused on accountability. Before joining these smaller groups, each member stated their willingness for the following questions to be asked of them at any time. These are hard hitting questions which are designed to be direct and straight to the point – no messing around here!
1. Have you the forgiveness of your sins?
2. Have you peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ?
3. Have you the witness of God’s Spirit with your spirit that you are a child of God?
4. Is the love of God shed abroad in your heart?
5. Has no sin, inward or outward, dominion over you?
6. Do you desire to be told of your faults?
7. Do you desire to be told of all your faults, and that plain and home?
8. Do you desire that every one of us should tell you from time to time whatsoever is in his heart concerning you?
9. Consider! Do you desire we should tell you whatsoever we think, whatsoever we fear, whatsoever we hear, concerning you?
10. Do you desire that in doing this we should come as close as possible, that we should cut to the quick, and search your heart to the bottom?
11. Is it your desire and design to be on this and all other occasions entirely open, so as to speak everything that is in your heart, without exception, without disguise, and without reserve?
Taken from The Works Of John Wesley, Volume 9 (The Methodist Societies History, Nature, and Design), Edited by Rupert E. Davies, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989, pp.77-78.
The following questions were also developed by Wesley, and were asked of every member at every meeting.
1. What known sins have you committed since our last meeting?
2. What temptations have you met with?
3. How were you delivered?
4. What have you thought, said, or done, of which you doubt whether it be sin or not?
5. Have you nothing you desire to keep secret?
Taken from John Wesley’s Class Meetings: a Model for Making Disciples, by D. Michael Henderson, Evangel Publishing House, 1997, pp. 118-9.
In a similar vein, the following questions are taken from Salvation Army Orders and Regulations for Soldiers, 1950:
1. Am I habitually guilty of any known sin? Do I practice or allow myself in any thought, word or deed which I know to be wrong?
2. Am I the master of my bodily appetites so as to have no condemnation? Do I allow myself in any indulgence that hurts my holiness, growth, obedience, or usefulness?
3. Are my thoughts and feelings such that I wouldn’t be ashamed to hear them published before God?
4. Does the influence of the world cause me to act, or feel or say things that do not show the love of God?
5. Am I doing all in my power for the salvation of sinners?6. Am I fulfilling the vows and promises I have made before God in the past?
7. Does what I do as a Christian match what I say about being a Christian?
8. Am I conscious of any pride in my life?
9. Do I conform to the fashions and customs of this world or do I show that I despise them?
10. Am I in danger of being carried away with worldly desires to be rich or admired?
Here is another interesting list from the Men of Integrity website. These are specifically aimed at men, but can very easily be adapted for any accountability group:
1. Have you spent time with God on a regular basis?
2. Have you compromised your integrity in any way?
3. Has your thought life been pure?
4. Have you committed any sexual sin?
5. How much time did you spend in prayer this week?
6. Did you pray for the others in this group?
7. Did you put yourself in an awkward situation with a woman?
8. What one sin plagued your walk with God this week?
9. Did you accomplish your spiritual goals this week?
10. Are you giving to the Lord’s work financially?
11. How have you demonstrated a servant’s heart?
12. Do you treat your peers and coworkers as people loved by God?
13. What significant thing did you do for your wife and/or family?
14. What was your biggest disappointment? How did you decide to handle it?
15. What was your biggest joy? Did you thank God?
16. What do you see as your number one need for next week?
17. Are you satisfied with the time you spent with the Lord this week?
18. Did you take time to show compassion for others in need?
19. Did you control your tongue?
20. What did you do this week to enhance your relationship with your spouse and/or child(ren)?
21. Did you pray and read God’s Word this week? What did you derive from this time?
22. I what ways have you stepped out in faith since we last met?
23. I what ways has God blessed you this week? And what disappointments consumed your thoughts this week?
24. Did you look at a woman in the wrong way?
25. How have you been tempted this week? How did you respond?
26. How has your relationship with Christ been changing?
27. Did you worship in church this week?
28. Have you shared your faith this week? How?
29. What are you wrestling with in your thought life?
30. What have you done for someone else this week?
31. Are the “visible” you and the “real” you consistent?
32. Have you been truthful about everything we have discussed?”
The questions I use are from Church Multiplication Associates, ten questions that are listed on a Life Transformation Group card which I keep my Bible. The questions are as follows:
1. Have you been a testimony this week to the greatness of Jesus Christ with both your words and actions?
2. Have you been exposed to sexually alluring material or allowed your mind to entertain inappropriate thoughts about someone who is not your spouse this week?
3. Have you lacked any integrity in your financial dealings this week, or coveted something that does not belong to you?
4. Have you been honouring, understanding and generous in your important relationships this past week?
5. Have you damaged another person by your words, either behind their back or face-to-face?
6. Have you given in to an addictive behaviour this week? Explain.
7. Have you continued to remain angry toward another?
8. Have you secretly wished for another’s misfortune so that you might excel?
9. Did you finish your reading this week and hear from the Lord? What are you going to do about it?
10. Have you been completely honest with me?
I use this list for convenience, and also because the same card has Strategic Prayer Focus statements on the reverse of the card, so making it multipurpose. However, I like the Wesley’s Holy Club questions quoted earlier, and feel that they fit with contemporary culture.
Neil Cole also specifically mentions a shorter list of questions that he uses regularly:
1. What is the condition of your soul?
2. What sin do you need to confess?
3. What have you held back from God that you need to surrender?
4. Is there anything that has dampened your zeal for Christ?
5. Who have you talked with about Christ this week?
A good number of the lists given above can be found in Neil Cole’s book Cultivating a Life for God, Church Smart Resources 1999 pp 125-131.
Which ever list you use, and I would recommend that you use one of them even if you are not part of an accountability small group. The lists developed by CMA/ Neil Cole are a good place to start since they are clear and easy to use. Remember, accountability questions are not asked to make you feel guilty or to judge or condemn you. They are asked in order to encourage deliberately discipleship, actively encouraging you to dig deeper into the faith, to hear the Word of God and to act upon it.
Round-up (27/08)
Starting a Movement:
I saw this video at The Point blog and thought it was really good, so I have posted it again here.
I also thought the comments made by Jeremy Moore, the author of the original post, were excellent, so here they are:
A few things we can learn from this video…
1. One man can start a movement.
2. A movement need not be started by the most skilled.
3. When you look around and nobody else is joining your dance, just keep dancing.
4. When the one guy who joins your movement slowly fades away, keep going.
5. Before you know it, the people joining your movement won’t even know you started it.
6. When your movement takes a life of it’s own, just let go… There will be no stopping it.
7. The very people who are staring at you like your nuts, as you “movement” alone, will be the same people dancing the hardest in the end.It’s time to start your movement, or if you already have and it doesn’t seem like anyone has joined the dance…keep dancing!
Brilliant – really well put!
DA Carson – List of Sermons and Lectures:
Here are three compiled lists of sermons and lectures by DA Carson – we like him here! I found them on the ‘Feeding on Christ’ blog, which is a good place to visit anyway, link to it here.
Some cracking stuff in the lists so dig in and and be inspired!
Simon’s Cat – the official website:
I love the Simon’s Cat animations. If you have never seen them, put ‘Simon’s Cat’ into YouTube, or alternatively, visit the official Simon’s Cat website here. There are a number of Simon’s Cat short films (and Simon’s Sister’s Dog) – and all of them are worth watching – trust me! The latest one “Fly Guy” is shown below – watch and enjoy :).
Mark Sayers Discipleship Podcast:
Here is a link to the Red Church blog and the first podcast in a new series of talks by Mark Sayers about holistic life changing discipleship called ‘Do This and You Will Live’. Have a listen and see what you think. Mark is a thoughtful and very interesting speaker who hits the nail on the head for me about how Christians should relate to popular culture. You can download the podcast from the Red Church blog, or alternatively from Mark Sayers’ blog, or through iTunes. Enjoy.
Free The Monkey 