Trust in God's Steadfast Love

C.S. Lewis said something to the effect that it is a much safer practice to meditate on the love of God for us than to meditate on our love for God. This is true, of course, because our love for Him flounders and is weak, but His love for us is strong and unrelenting and unending.

The Scriptures are full of different ways of encouraging God's people to depend and trust in His unfailing love for us. Ultimately this is the only place of peace and rest for the human soul. When all looks hopeless and impossible in the natural, we find rest in knowing that God is love and that He will not relent nor quit in His pursuit of us and in His pursuit of those that we pray for.

He is an all-consuming Fire of desire for weak humans, and He is filled with divine energy to tirelessly seek and chase us down! This is where I find my confidence in prayer for myself and for others - not in my zeal nor my intercession nor my efforts nor my love, but in His unrelenting zeal, His unceasing intercession, His divinely initiated works, and His selfless love. The cross of Jesus is the highest expression of this reality in God, and this is the solid ground on which I plant my feet when my zeal falters and I'm surrounded with impossible situations. If my focus and trust is in my love for God, I will be discouraged; if I meditate and trust in His love for me and for those I pray for, my heart will be strengthened to believe and to remain steady even while trembling.

Hallelujah to the Father and Son and Holy Spirit! May His name be known and loved by more men and women and children in the year 2011 because we, His own, trust in His steadfast love to accomplish it...He is worthy!

How Much More...!

My heart is full to overflowing with the magnanimity (vastness) of the Father's heart! Just today I got word of a generous and sacrificial gesture made by a dad and mom towards their son that was not necessary nor particularly deserved, but was given purely for love's sake and because he is their son - that's all! No other reason needed!

I know these parents and I know they are imperfect; Jesus' words come to me as fitting for them: "If you then, who are evil (imperfect), know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him?"

There's lots of treasures to be mined from these words, but I want to focus here on the bigheartedness of God the Father so that our hearts are tenderized by His goodness and kindness towards us which comes our way simply because we are His children - no other reason needed! I believe that in these words, Jesus is addressing the suspicion that we fallen humans have of God because we imagine Him to be like us with our mixture of motives. So Jesus gives a picture of what fallen human parents are capable of (giving good things to their undeserving children simply for being their children), then adds, "...HOW MUCH MORE will your Father...give good things..." In other words, how much more eager and pure is the desire to give that comes from One who has absolutely not one trace of shadow or darkness in Him, One who is Pure and Holy Love and whose sole desire is for the well-being of His child even at supreme cost to Himself!

I believe that Christmas (Jesus' birth) and Easter (His death and resurrection) and His ascension and His soon return to place us in an honored position with Him throughout eternity are all loud expressions of the "how much more" of the heavenly Father! All of His giving flows out of that one great Gift of His own Life in His Son Jesus. He gives and gives and keeps on giving of Himself in His Son by His very own Spirit. If I'm moved deeply by seeing "evil" parents do extravagant and selfless things for their children for the only reason that they are their sons or daughters, how much more should I be moved by the perfect Parent who gives me good things when I ask, for the only reason that I am His daughter, no other reason needed.

If you are a parent, take a moment to consider how you would give anything for your child even when he/she is undeserving and unappreciative...THEN, in your mind's imagination, put yourself in the child role and ask the Holy Spirit to show you how much more your heavenly Father is like that towards you. Let your imagination, your heart's eye, see yourself as the one He wants to give good gifts to for the simple reason that you are His son/daughter, and bask in that kind of unconditional blessing.

If you are not a parent, pay attention to how healthy parents are with their children (and particularly when the child doesn't deserve the gift) and ask the Holy Spirit to give you a glimpse of how much more your heavenly Parent is like that towards you for the simple reason that you are His son/daughter, and revel in that reality of unconditional love.

Yes, we see this "how much more" of the Father played out in the birth, death, resurrection, ascension, and sure return of Jesus, but we also see it in living color around us in fallen human families. May the Spirit of Jesus open the eyes of our heart and imagination to see that He has bent over backwards to show us in everyday life and in His Word what His Father heart is like!

God bless you and expand your heart this season with the "how much more" of His fatherly heart!

The Normal Christian Church Life (#10) - Chapter Nine

Chapter 9 - "The Organization of Local Churches"

This is the final chapter of this book; after this I will be writing random thoughts for a few weeks.

I will give a brief summary of this lengthy chapter (please see entire book online at Google Books if you want more), then I will close this post with comments on the house church movement today.

Nee begins the chapter by listing three things that we typically regard as essential in our present-day concept of "church":

• A "minister"
• A church building
• "Church services"

He proceeds to deal with each of these in detail, explaining how the New Testament Church viewed them. The chapter also deals with the distinction made in the New Testament between "church" and apostolic ministry (which Nee refers to as "the work"). Some summary statements Nee makes in this chapter are the following:

• "The relationship between the work and the church is really very simple. A worker (apostle) preaches the gospel, souls are saved, and after a short lapse of time a few of the comparatively advanced ones are chosen from among them to be responsible for local affairs. Thus a church is established! The apostle then follows the leading of the Spirit to another place, and history is repeated there. So the spiritual life and activity of the local church develops, because the believers bear their own responsibility; and the work extends steadily because the apostles are free to move from place to place preaching the gospel and founding new churches."
• "Romans 12:5 Apart from Christ, the Church has no head; all believers are only members, and they are 'members one of another.' Mutuality expresses the nature of the Church...All those who compose a church take their place as members of the Body, not one occupying the position of head. The whole life of the church, and all its activities, must be stamped by this characteristic of mutuality."
• "The Scriptures show two distinct kinds of meetings - apostolic meetings, which are led by one man, and church meetings, in which all the local brethren are free to take part."
• "There are several purposes for which the church meets, as recorded in Scripture. First, for prayer (Acts 2:42; 4:24,31; 12:5); second, for reading (Col. 4:16; I Thes. 5:27; Acts 2:42; 15:21, 30-31); third, for the breaking of bread (I Cor. 10:16,17; Acts 2:42; 20:7); fourth, for the exercise of spiritual gifts (I Cor. 14)."
• "The apostolic meeting is not an intrinsic part of the church life; it is merely a piece of work, and it ceases with the departure of the worker (apostle). But the church meetings go on uninterrupted whether the worker is present or absent."

To conclude this post, I will share that I believe the Church, under the Lord's leadership, is beginning to move back to the ways of the early church when church gatherings were in inconspicuous places (like homes) and were much more effective in displaying the beauty of Jesus, in discipling believers, and in winning the hearts and minds of unbelievers (or "pre-christians") without the road blocks of hierarchical structures and systems, buildings and the huge expenses required to maintain these elements.

As I live and work among the younger generations, I increasingly see the ineffectiveness of our systems and structures as they get in the way of "parenting" them in God, which is what they desperately need and want because of the massive breakdown of the home in our society. House gatherings will provide family life for the upcoming generations; the Lord will increasingly find places where He can "set the solitary in families" (Psalm 68:6).

The movement towards house churches is growing rapidly and while there are various approaches to this, there is much common ground among those who are voices today in this movement. For those interested in knowing more I recommend the following books: "Pagan Christianity?" by Frank Viola and George Barna; "Reimagining Church" by Frank Viola; "Houses that Change the World" by Wolfgang Simson; "The Rabbit and the Elephant" by Tony & Felicity Dale and George Barna; "Organic Church" by Neil Cole; "Missionary Methods: St. Paul's or Ours?" by Roland Allen.

The Normal Christian Church Life (#9) - Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight: "The Question of Finance"

This chapter is one of the most, if not the most, offensive chapters of this book. Before plunging into Nee's teachings on the topic of money, I want to share two things for clarification's sake.

First, when Jesus said in Matthew 6 that you "cannot serve God and mammon", I believe it was another way of saying what the apostle Paul says to Timothy - that the root of all evil is the love of money. Both Jesus and Paul recognized the seductive power of money in the hands of fallen people and speak of it as "the other god" that vies for our loyalty and allegiance. Nee points out in this chapter that in most other areas of our lives we can get away with being theoretical, but the issue of money brings our walk with God into the very practical. This is where "the rubber meets the road".

Secondly, once again just a reminder of the context from which Nee is teaching. He is speaking from the house church paradigm, and this book is a recording of his discipling of apostolic leaders (or "workers" as he often refers to them). These are men and women on whom the hand of God rests for establishing churches and who are engaged in this as a full-time calling. So keep in mind that Nee's admonitions concerning finances are directed to those who are truly "sent ones" by God.

Having said this, I believe it's worthwhile for those of us who do not have this particular calling to pay attention to what he teaches for understanding of God's intention for church leadership and for our role as those who share in the blessings of apostolic leadership. Although we in the West are still a long way away from this, we can get a rough picture from the early church of what God's intentions and desires are for His Body. (This chapter, as the others, bears out how far away the present-day Church is from God's design as seen in the New Testament.)

For the sake of brevity, I'll skip much of the explanations of his points so if you have questions, I would encourage you to look at his complete book (see Google books where it's available in its entirety) for more material.

Nee begins by pointing out that while the New Testament goes into detail about other facets of the work of the apostle, there is nothing said about how the personal needs and the ministry needs of the worker were provided..."This is certainly amazing! What men consider of supreme importance, the apostles regarded of least consequence. In the early days of the Church, God's sent ones went out under the constraint of divine love...In grace God is the greatest power, but in the world mammon is the greatest. If God's servants do not clearly settle the question of finance, then they leave a vast number of other questions unsettled too.

"If the work is of God, it will be spiritual; and if the work is spiritual, the way of supply will be spiritual. If supplies are not on a spiritual plane, then the work itself will speedily drift on to the plane of secular business. If spirituality does not characterize the financial side of the work, then the spirituality of its other departments is merely theoretical...

"That God's servants should look to human sources for the supply of their needs has no precedent in Scripture...If they (temporal needs) can be met by the labor of his own hands, or from a private income, well and good. Otherwise, he should be directly dependent on God alone for their supply, as were the early apostles. The twelve apostles sent out by the Lord had no fixed salary, nor had any of the apostles sent out by the Spirit...

"There is an idea prevalent that if a worker has a settled income he can be more at leisure for the work, and consequently will do it better; but...in spiritual work there is need for an unsettled income, because that necessitates intimate fellowship with God, constant clear revelation of His will, and direct divine support...God wishes His workers to be cast on Him alone for financial supplies, so that they cannot but walk in close communion with Him and learn to trust Him continually...

"If a worker receives a definite salary from man, the work produced can never be purely divine...He who holds the purse hold authority...It is only to be expected that if we receive an income from a certain source, we should have to account for our doings to such a source...If we are supported by men, then we must seek to please men, and it is often impossible at the same time both to please men and God."

Nee proceeds to speak of what it means to "live from the gospel" (I Cor. 9:14), saying that Paul is not referring to our "modern system of paid service in the work of God" but that it is all a "matter of freewill. As the hearts of believers are touched by God, they give gifts to His servants, so that while these servants receive gifts through men, their trust is still entirely in God." There is no definite period of time nor definite sum of money nor definite responsibility attached to giving.

"But in Corinth Paul did not live from the gospel; he made tents with his own hands. So there are evidently two ways by which the needs of God's servants may be met - either they look to God to touch the hearts of His children to give or they earn it by doing part-time secular work..."

Regarding the financial responsibility of the churches, Nee says that the Scriptures indicate three different ways that money collected by the churches was used:

• For the poor saints among them.
• For the elders of the local church (when circumstances required that elders give up their ordinary business to tend to the interests of the church - in such a case, the local brothers should seek to help at least in some measure to supply what is needed.
• For the workers/apostles and their work. "This must be regarded as an offering to God, not as a salary paid to them." (II Cor. 11:8,9; Phil. 4:15,18)

Nee gives strong admonition about the worker's attitude towards money and the work of God, warning of the common danger of using human methods to expand the work: "If God sees the work needs extension, He Himself will extend it, and if He extends it, he will be responsible to meet the increased needs...Circular letters, reports, magazines, deputation work, special agents and special business centers have been means much used of Christian workers to increase funds for the work...The cross is no mere symbol; it is a fact and a principle which must govern all God's work...

"On the one hand, workers should be careful to disclose their needs to none but God; on the other hand, the churches should be faithful in remembering the needs both of the workers and their work..."

Nee concludes the chapter with comments about why he personally does not believe in organized faith missions (this is worth your looking at), but he graciously allows that some feel led by God to do this and only desires that "we all do not seek the increase or extension of the companies in which we work, but make it our one aim to work exclusively for the founding and building up of the local churches."

Lord, continue to open our eyes and understanding of Your great desire for weak humans; would You do whatever You need to do to make Your Bride pure and unadulterated in our love and devotion to You even if it means that You must remove all of the props that artificially hold us up that we are not aware of...for the sake of Your name in the nations, dear Lord!

The Normal Christian Church Life (#8) - Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven: "Among the Workers"

In this chapter Watchman Nee speaks of how the early church organized itself. (When he makes reference to "workers" he is speaking of those with an apostolic calling to establish and build up local churches.)

A strong emphasis of Nee's is the independence of the local churches: "We never find any federation of churches there (in Scripture); they are all independent units." However, regarding "the workers", there was a certain amount of association, loose organization: "Paul refers to those who are with him (Acts 20:34), which indicates that while there was no organization of the workers into different missions, still they had their own special associates in the work...Such grouping of workers was ordained and ordered by the Lord. These apostolic companies were not formed along partisan or doctrinal lines...it was not because of natural affinity that they associated specially with some, nor was it because of difference in doctrine or practice that they did not associate with others. The deciding factor was always the ordering of the Lord."

Nee goes on to emphasize that although the Lord appointed certain associates to work together, they had no special name, system, or organization. Their only interest was to either establish a local church or strengthen a local church that was already in the area..."The Lord is the Head of the Body and not the Head of any organization." The worker's passion must be the Body of the Lord, not his own ministry or organization. "All carnal strife among the workers of God will be at an end once the Body is clearly seen as the principle of the work...(this) necessitates a deep knowledge of the cross of Christ."

In the New Testament "we see no trace of organizational missions on the one hand, nor do we see any workers going out on individual lines on the other hand...They are formed into companies, but such companies are on a spiritual basis, not on the basis of organization...The Lord united them; therefore they became fellow workers...In such groups none held special positions or offices. Whatever ministry the Lord had given them, that constituted their position. They received no appointments from the association..."

Nee then speaks of authority saying that in an organization it's possible for a man to have authority by virtue of his position in the organization without having any inherent authority in himself as a person..."in divinely constituted companies of workers...authority is exercised among them, but such authority is spiritual, not official. It is an authority...which is the outcome of a deep knowledge of the Lord and intimate fellowship with Him...In an organization its workers are obliged to obey, but in a spiritual association they are not...there is no compulsion; direction and submission alike are on the ground of spirituality."

There must be a working together but that isn't by means of an organization but rather by means of each worker hearing from the Head Who directs His work: "God's servants must work together in companies, but there is a kind of co-working which is to be avoided, that is, co-working in a man-made organization which restricts its members so that they cannot really respond to the leading of the Spirit..."

In the Scriptures "there is no universal organization or central control..." This is because "God does not wish the power of organization to take the place of the power of the Holy Spirit ...Whenever people cease to obey the Spirit and labor in the power of the flesh, then it is best if the work is simply allowed to fall to pieces. A good organization often serves as a bad substitute for the power of the Holy Spirit by holding a work together even after all its vitality is gone..."

Nee finishes this chapter by reiterating the importance of the worker's responsibility which is two-fold:

• First, when he comes to a place where there is no church, then he is to establish one in that locality.
• Second, if there is a local church in existence there, then "all his teaching and experience must be contributed to that church that it may be strengthened and edified, and no attempt should be made to attach that church to himself or to the society he represents." (None of the apostles went into regions to establish another church "brand" from where they had come.)

Holy Spirit, we continue to pray for workers/apostles who have had a deep encounter with Jesus and who seek Him above all else and whose hearts are ablaze with desire to establish His name across the earth in preparation for His return. Would You raise up leaders who understand what You are doing in the earth today, for Your sake, Lord. Thank You that You want this more than we do! Amen...