Death Reigns (6) New Testament Age

Ephesians 6:12 is an important verse for understanding the functioning of the universe.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the government-spirits, against the authorities, against the cosmos dominators of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly realms.

Most Christians don’t think that much about the details of this insight. They are aware of being attacked occasionally by an evil being, but they will mostly have been dealing with an ordinary evil spirit. Evil spirits are not omnipresent like the Holy Spirit, so most Christians will not have encountered Satan (the accuser), because he is busy elsewhere. They don’t think much about how the activities of government-spirits and cosmos dominators affect their lives.

In the last few posts, I have tried to explain how a cosmos dominator Death worked during the Old Testament age. He controlled thousands of spirits who submitted to his authority. Paul had explained that Death had a legal right to act between the time of Adam and Moses (Rom 5:14). The law was given to curtail his activity, but he was able to continue to be effective when kings and rulers fell into sin.

Christians should not need to worry about this cosmos dominator, but unfortunately, he is still at work in the world. When Jesus was arrested by the Jewish leaders, they placed him in the power of the spirit of Death.

He was delivered over to Death (Rom 4:25).

Jesus totally defeated all the spiritual powers of evil on the cross. His victory included the defeat of Death.

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over him (Rom 6:8-9).

Followers of Jesus have died with Jesus, so they share in his life. Paul is emphatic that Death no longer rules over him, and therefore no longer rules over those who trust in Jesus. The spirit called Death should not have any legal rights in the church, but unfortunately, its leaders have frequently given him a place that he does not deserve.

• When Peter dealt with Ananias and Saphira, something was wrong because Death was able to intervene, and two followers of Jesus needlessly died.

• Paul must have opened himself up to the spirit called Death before he encountered Jesus, because he engaged in ferocious persecution of Christians (Acts 8:3; 9:1). When he came to faith, he seemed to get free of the spirit and never came under its control again.

• Paul warned that if the church and its leaders fail to understand the way that Jesus wants his body to function, Death can gain a stronghold.

  Those who eat and drink without recognising the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have succumbed to Death (1 Cor 11:29-30).

  This not just thinking right about the biscuit and grape juice. The fact that people are dying suggests that something far more serious is going on. Jesus and the Holy Spirit have given us instructions about how his body should function. If church leaders ignore those instructions, the spirit called Death can gain an influence. This is one reason, so many Christians are dying of sickness before their time has come.

  For example, every church in the book of Acts is led by a team of elders. The one-man-band leadership model that has been adopted by the modern church cannot provide adequate spiritual protection for the people of the church.

• During the season leading up to the time when the Fulness of the Jews comes to trust in Jesus, Death will be released upon the earth and do terrible harm. When the fourth seal was opened, a horse went out into the world.

  Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power to kill...(Rev 6:8).

  This terrible evil spirit will bring terrible suffering on earth and destroy the lives of many people.

• The final spiritual power of evil to be destroyed is Death.

  The last enemy to be destroyed is Death (1 Cor 15:26).

  Death will be destroyed at the end of the age, when Jesus has become all-in-all and has handed his kingdom over to the Father (Rev 20:14).

All Christians and church leaders should be alert to the activities of the cosmos dominator called Death. They should ensure that their spiritual protection is adequate when he is at work (See Personal Protection).

Whereas Satan uses legal authority to gain control of people, Death relies on ruthless and brutal power to establish a stronghold. Whenever, the people of God lose their spiritual protection, Death is able to elbow his way in and establish control of the situation.

Death does not work on his own, but enforces his power through a host of evil spirits who have submitted to his authority. When the people of God lose their spiritual protection, Death pushes his way in. Sickness often comes first because Death has many spirits of Death under his control.

The complete series is at Death Restored - Death Defeated.

Ecclesial Minimum

Apart from the presence of the Holy Spirit, the following are essential for a church.

• Followers of Jesus who are committed to each other, living close together so they can do the one another stuff.

• Christians who have been serving Jesus for a while watch over those who are just beginning to follow Jesus and encourage them to listen to the Holy Spirit and obey him.

• Four or five leaders with gifts that complement each other (one who loves sharing the gospel, one who is prophetic and several who are shepherds). They are committed to loving each other, so they can serve Jesus in unity.

• These leaders watch over the other people, warning of danger, and encouraging them to follow the leading of the Spirit.

• Leaders replicate their ministries in those they are watching over.

• The best leaders are sent out (apostled) to establish a new church. The people they have taught can quickly step up and take over as leaders in their place.

• Leaders who have been sent out exercise authority/influence by looking back to the churches that sent them.

Church

People sometimes ask why am I not a member of a church. The basic reason is courtesy.

When I was pastor of a church back in the 1980s, God confronted me about the way that his church is organised. I discovered that the pastor-leader model that I was engaged in does not exist in the New Testament. That was quite disturbing.

After a detailed study of the New Testament, God gave me a vision of how he wanted the church to function. I published a book called Being Church Where We Live describing what God has shown me thropugh my studies. People have critiqued my book on the Church, because it is too hard, but no one has been able to show that it is inconsistent with the New Testament. This creates a dilemma for me in participating in a church (I also resigned from my public service role before publishing my last two books, for a similar reason).

If I join a church, courtesy required me to remain silent and support the pastor’s vision. I have done more theological study than many pastors, so it would be unfair for me to push my views and undermine the pastor’s vision.

I tried this courteous option for nearly twenty years as a member of an apostolic church. I remained quiet and gave my full support to the leaders’ vision. These leaders understood my position, but were happy to make use of my gifts when appropriate. However, when a new pastor was put in with more of a pastor-centric drive, I could see it would become too hard, so to avoid conflict, we decided to move on before he arrived. The people and elders sent me out with their blessing and some prophetic encouragement.

Now at the age of seventy-one, and the situation on earth becoming urgent, I am not prepared to sit and remain silent anymore. I want the freedom to speak what I believe, without the fear of offending a pastor to whom I have submitted.

I am not willing to put my energy into a vision that I believe to be wrong. Other people might be able to put their head down and give their support, but my calling has a visionary aspect. I think a lot about how things should be done, both in my working and in my private life, so it is too hard for me to sit and remain silent.

I realise that not belonging to a church is not ideal, but it is the best option at this time (I also realise that a pastor-leader model provides very little spiritual protection). I understand the risks involved, but I accept them because I want the freedom to serve God without undermining my pastor by explaining that his role is not biblical.

I have never had a fallen out with a pastor, and have several good friends who have continued in that role.

If a pastor wanted to make radical change in the way their church was organised, I would be willing to join and support them, but I have not been invited yet.

Throw Out the Playbook

A few weeks ago, I heard a pastor on television say that the “clock determines the play”. At beginning of the ball game, the coach sticks to the standard plays, but with a few minutes to the end of the game and a few points needed to win, the coach needs to throw out the playbook and do something radical and unexpected by the other team. He said the players need to put their bodies on the line.

The pastor applied this to the current situation in New Zealand, but his proposed play was not that radical. It sounded like more of the same.

He is correct that the times are challenging. So, it is probably is time to throw away the modern church playbook and do something radical that will reach our communities. The pastor said the people should put their bodies on the line. I suspect it would be better if the pastors put the body of believers that they control on the line, and let them do something radical for Jesus.

See Doing Church during a Crisis

Crisis-proof Church

God didnt create the coronavirus, but he has used the Covid19 shutdowns to expose inability of the church to operate through a crisis. Failure to learn what he is trying to teach us will leave the church in a dangerous place.

The enforced shutdown has been a fairly trivial crisis, but the church has been fairly ineffective through it, because its people are so scattered that they can only relate to their neighbours one-on-one. The lockdown should have been a time of opportunity when many people were shaken and fearful, and some were feeling the pain of losing their jobs, but most Christians did not know their neighbours well enough to share openly with them. And their neighbours could not see the body of Jesus functioning, because that only happens when the church meets on Sunday.

God is using the current bad situation for good by giving the church a trial run of hard times (without being life-threatening for most people). Here is a truth that we cannot afford to ignore. A church that can only meet by people driving to a church building once a week will not be viable in hard times. The irony is that most Christians believe that there could be hard times ahead, but they ignored their fears and opted for a good-times-only church.

The Covid19 shutdown has demonstrated that the operating model of the modern church is only viable in good-times. The current crisis is a mild, temporary trial, but the church has struggled to function effectively. The crisis has not produced a flood of new believers or healings from sickness. Pastors have used information technology to keep preaching to their people, but this at best, has only been a holding action. They are exhausted, but they feel like they are barely holding ground. Most Christians feel cut off and alone and are frustrated with watching a church service on their television.

The Covid experience confirms that the good-times model of doing church is extremely fragile. If it cannot cope with a relatively short shutdown, how could it cope during a serious persecution or deep economic crisis. Leaders of the church would be foolish to ignore the warning and carry on as if it has not happened.

Most are hoping that the crisis will soon be over, so that their church can go back to normal, but they are missing what God is saying in this season. Any expectation that the situation will return to normal is a false hope.

Things will not return to normal.
This is not a new normal.
It will not even be a new normal adjusted.
We are returning to an old normal
where life is uncertain,
as it is for most people in the third world
and was for most of human history.
We are returning to the old normal
where the world was wrecked by frequent epidemics
that get ahead of human efforts to control them.
The new normal will not return us to good times.

When this crisis ends, life will not go back to normal. The problem in the western world is that we have lived through seventy years of relative peace and quiet. The modern church operating model functioned quite well in that situation, but our peace and prosperity has given us a false sense of security. It has also been an effective tactic for the spiritual powers of evil, because it has produced a complete lack of awareness of their evil activities and the influence of events in the spiritual realms.

In many western nations, this lack of awareness has been made worse by the large number of people that have turned away from God. Over the last fifty years, there has been a massive decline of faith. Things still seem to be OK on the surface, but as God has been squeezed out, the spiritual powers of evil have been inadvertently allowed in. They are getting greater freedom and ability to work evil in this part of the world, so they are unlikely to stop.

Unfortunately, the spiritual powers of evil are not content with distracting people from God. They love to steal, kill and destroy, so they will have a go at achieving this whenever they get an opportunity. They were behind the GFC and the coronavirus, and have noticed how effective these events were for hurting people and disrupting society. These were not by any means their best efforts, so I expect that if there is a return to “peace and security”, it will not last long, because they will have another crack at destruction and harm.

From their perspective, the coronavirus has been really successful, so they will try it again when the time is right. They might try something different first, but they will try an epidemic again sometime, and it will probably be worse.

Assuming that when we are through this crisis, everything will go back to normal is serious a mistake. The bible teaches that trouble and tribulation are normal for the church. Jesus said,

In the world you have tribulation (John 16:33).

If Jesus said we will have tribulations, why would be happy with a way of doing church that is only viable in good times?

Persisting with a church model that is only viable during “peace and plenty” is naïve. No serious business would develop a product that can only function under perfect conditions. Rather they design products that can operate under adverse conditions. Christian leaders should be thinking in the same way. We urgently need a way of being church that can cope with good times, hard times and tribulations.

All church leaders should be asking the following questions:

• Could the church that I lead function in a serious epidemic (we haven’t had one yet)?

• Could the church that I lead function through a really serious economic depression?

• Could the church that I lead continue to operate effectively through serious state persecution with pastors being arrested and church buildings being locked?

• Could the church that I lead function effectively through a period of social and civil breakdown, or a serious collapse of law and order?

If they cannot answer these questions honestly with a “yes,” they should think seriously about how well they are preparing their people for the future.

The first disciples who were trained by Jesus were able to operate effectively through periods of persecution and social disruption. Maybe we should look more carefully at the church model that worked so effectively for them.

Our way of doing church can be disrupted by something as simple as having to stay at home, so a really serious crisis would cause terrible difficulties. I suspect that future troubles will bring serious economic, political and social disruption. Therefore, it is more sensible to prepare for the worst, and be pleasantly surprised, than to “hope for the best” and be caught short.

God wants his people to be prepared, so they can continue to be effective in sharing the gospel and expanding his kingdom, regardless of what is happening in the world. God has promised to establish his kingdom on earth, but it will likely have its greatest advance during tough times. He needs his people to be prepared for crisis and equipped for victory.

I explain how a church can be strong and effective during a crisis, yet also able to cope with victory and rapid growth, in my book Being Church Where We Live. For the next three days, the Kindle version of this book is available in the Kindle bookstore.

Entertainment Industry??

Clergy in New Zealand are complaining because movie theatres are allowed to operate under Covid19 restrictions, while churches have been kept shut by the government. I am puzzled why they are comparing what they do with movie theatres, as it implies that they see themselves as providing entertainment that people turn up to observe.

When the Prime Minister announced the situation, she said that church “meet for fellowship”. She did not spell it out, but that means personal contact:

• Listening intently to someone who is struggling
• Hugging someone who is hurting.
• Talking to people who need encouragement
• Sharing a word of knowledge with someone.
• Praying for someone who is sad.
• Laying hands on someone who is sick.
• Casting out demons.
• Giving to someone who is in need.

This kind of fellowship cannot really take place with two metres separation under social distancing rules. Gathering large groups of people together while remaining socially separated is only sensible if the people are just listening to a pastor preach and praying or a music group worshipping.

Jesus said that people would know his disciples by the way that they love one another. He seemed to have more in mind than passive listening at a distance from other people (see One Another Stuff).

According to our TV news last Sunday, a church in New Zealand gathered with people sitting in their cars in the car park, with security staff checking that they stay in their cars. They watched a big screen with worship leaders singing and the pastor preaching. If that is what some Christians need to do to keep them strong in their faith, that is fine with me, but I wonder what impression people watching the news get. People watching stuff on a big screen gives a false idea of what it means to follow Jesus and belong to his body.

Hidden Church

I went for a walk through the city a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that the church has disappeared from sight. Once churches were built on the corner of busy streets with a tall steeple that made them stand out. Now all the lively churches meet in converted warehouses or office blocks. These are usually on back sections, because the land is cheaper and there is plenty of room for car parking.

The result is that most residents of the city never see the church in action. To see the church operating, they would have to go into a building that is off the track, where they would never usually go.

This contrasts with Jesus who conducted his activities in the market places and open places in the villages and towns that he visited. People could see him heal the sick and open the eyes of the blind. It was hard to deny that something was going on.

The people the city meet Christians, but they usually meet them while they are on their own. Christians are always more effective when they are working pairs, but that is something that most citizens of the city never encounter.

Attend or Follow

When a person comes to faith in Jesus, the standard instruction to the new Christian is to join a good church. The unspoken assumption is that if they attend a church meeting each week, they will be fine (ie meetings save?) But they will not be fine. Millions of Christians have attended meetings for years and years, but remained immature and in ineffective. Issues that should have been resolved in the first few months of following Jesus continue to weigh them down for the rest of their lives.

Better advice would be to tell the new Christian to find someone to follow (this is Pauls approach). If the new Christian has a pastoral nature, they should find someone who is effective in that gifting and follow them around until they have become effective their ministry. If they have an evangelistic calling, they should find an effective evangelist and follow them until they have become an effective evangelist. If the new Christian has a prophetic bent, they should find an effective prophet and follow them until they have learned how to be an effective prophet. If they are confused about their calling, and choose the wrong person to follow, it will soon become clear. They can switch a different person to follow when their calling becomes clear.

Following a more mature Christian is a far more effective strategy for a new Christian wanting to learn the Jesus stuff, than joining a church and attending meetings. We should stop telling new Christians to join a church. Instead, we should say, "Follow me!" or "Follow Fred" or "Follow Freda".

Institutions

The modern church is a bewilderingly complex array of structures and activities. There will usually be national, regional and local organisations. At each level there will be a variety of committees, dealing with all sorts of activities. There is a complicated range of ministries: bishops, cardinals, ministers elders, deacons, pastors, priests, administrators, etc.

The church produces magazines, minutes, agendas, vision statements, strategic plans, tenets and doctrinal statements. It owns worship centres, halls, office blocks, training colleges, cars and superannuation funds. And the scene is further complicated by the duplication of all these activities across the various denominations. On top of all this, there are a wide variety of para-church organisations specialising in missions, youth work, children's work, evangelism, Bible distribution etc. The modern church is a large, unwieldy and complex organisation.

Most of the activities and structures that make up its complexity are not necessary for its essential work. The church has become so complicated that people cannot see the wood for the trees. And yet we find it hard to imagine a church without all these things. We need a radical change in our understanding of the church.

The institutionalisation of Christianity has severely weakened the church. It has also left elders frustrated, because they are unable to fulfil a true spiritual ministry. Fortunately, this form of church is dying, and people are instinctively going back to meeting in small groups in their homes.

The main responsibility of the church is to bear witness to Jesus Christ. However, all the peripheral structures and activities of the church stop people from seeing Christ. For most non-Christians, a church building is part of a strange institution, which they do not understand. They will only go into it if they really have to. In contrast, they will be quite happy to go into another person's home. If churches go back to meeting in believers' homes, people will feel free to join them. To be successful in evangelism, the church must meet in the homes of believers.

More in Being Church.

Church and Kingdom

To understand the difference between the church and the kingdom of God, we must grasp the importance of territory in God’s purposes.

When the followers of Jesus living together in one place engage in spiritual warfare, they can force all the spiritual powers of evil out of that territory. Once they achieve victory, this territory belongs to Jesus, not to the spiritual powers of evil.

Within this territory, there will be two types of people.

• Citizens of the Kingdom who given their allegiance to Jesus.
• Residents living within the territory, but who have not given allegiance to Jesus. Most of them just keep their heads down and try to remain invisible. A few will be outlaws, looking for a chance to rebel against the King, but they will be outnumbered.

Jesus is the king of everyone living and working within that territory.

An ekklesia is a gathering of the citizens living in a place (Act 19:39). In terms of the Kingdom of God, the ekklesia is all the citizens of the Kingdom (those who have given allegiance to Jesus) living in that piece of territory. Not everyone living within that territory is a citizen.

Citizens are a body of followers of Jesus, who are:

• rescued by Jesus
• in allegiance with him
• living close to each other, and
• walking in the Spirit

The citizens (ekklesia) in this piece of territory engage in the following activities.

• proclaiming the good news
• loving one another
• serving each other through giving and sharing
• celebrating the Lord’s Supper
• prayer
• eldership
• discipling new believers
• prayer
• spiritual defence of the territory against all spiritual attacks.

Citizens can operate in the spiritual realms. They can go into the king’s presence because the King is their brother and friend.

Residents live within the territory of the king, but they are not citizens, because they have not yet given allegiance to the king. They only know the king by hearsay. They cannot go into his presence, because they are confined to the physical realms of life.

Residents are not interested in the activities of the ekklesia listed above. However, because they belong to the Kingdom, they are entitled to the following benefits.

• justice
• security and protection
• economic support

The King cares about all residents of his kingdom. He wants them to prosper, so they do not rebel against him.

Kingdom Communities serve citizens and residents, although most of the work will be done by citizens because they are committed to the king and his kingdom. Residents will also be glad to receive:

• education
• employment
• sanitation
• healthcare.

Kingdom Communities make human government redundant. Political power takes plenty, but has nothing to offer, because what the Kingdom Community delivers everything better.

For more see Government of God.

Locked in Criticism

A big group of Christians (some still in and many who have left) feed off criticism the institutional church, but are not willing to do anything different for the Lord. I was not interested in feeding that group.

I agree that the instituitional church has massive problems, but I am not so quick to pass judgment on the people still in it. Many love Jesus, so I do not know what the Lord will do with them. I would not advocate that they all leave now. The institutional church is not a safe place to be, but being alone in the world is not safe either. Some are probably safer where they are, while there is nothing viable outside for them join, and no successful model for them to adopt. Standing alone in the world is hard, and not every follower of Jesus is called to do that.

When it is all shaken down, we will be surprised at who is left standing on the rock. Many who are currently in the institutional church will survive. Many who have left the institutional church, but got so locked in criticism that they failed to build something new will not survive. I do not try to decide in advance who will be where.

Social Architecture (20) Church

Following Jesus example, the church should be restoring Tens, Fifties and Hundreds in the places where we live. Every church should be attached to a particular locality. Ideally, there should be one Church at each location and each location should have one Church.

In my book, Being Church Where We Live, I described how a church should function as a local community. Each church should be led by four or five elders, each with a different gifting, submitting to each other to produce unity. Each elder would provide oversight for about five or six families. If all the families overseen by one elder lived close to each other in a local community, they would become a Ten. This group of connected families would be able to fulfil all the functions of Tens, as described above.

If the church had five elders, each providing oversight of a Ten, the entire church would be a Fifty. If specific needs arose, a couple of local churches could link through their leaders to become a Hundred. The leaders of the Hundred would ensure that the justice, protection and welfare are provided to everyone living in their community.

If Christians moved back to a more biblical model of church, Tens and Hundreds would be restored back to our communities. However, we would have to get out of their cars and auditoriums and move closer together.

A neighbourhood church could be a unifying factor in modern urban society, if Christians formed Tens and Fifties in the places where they lived. They would restore cohesiveness to the neighbourhood.

Surviving Persecution

Thinking about persecution got me wondering. What are the conditions under which persecution strengthens the church? Here is what I came up with.

1. I presume that Church will survive better if they are prepared. Christians who just presume that persecution will make them stronger without taking actions to prepare will be caught out.

2. The Holy Spirit must be free to move. The Church in Acts 5,6 grew stronger when facing persecution, because he was able to work signs and wonders in public places (not just at the front of a church meeting).

3. Christians who have learned to walk in the Spirit will deal with persecution better. Peter and Paul got out of prison in quite different ways. Peter got up and followed the angel (Acts 11:6-11). Paul stayed in prison when the earthquake blew the doors opened and preached to the jailor (Acts 16:26-28). They took very different actions, but because they did what the Spirit had told them to do, they both got out of jail. Survival during persecution depends on hearing the Spirit speaking, and obeying, whatever the circumstances.

4. Christians must be living close enough together that they can support each other. This was the situation in China. The population was so concentrated that Christians could still interact with each other, despite the persecution. It will be different for American Christians isolated in their suburbs with no gas in the tank.

5. Christians with strong relationships with other Christians in their neighbourhood will cope with persecution much better, because they will know who they can trust. They will be willing to sacrifice for each other. Peter wrote to Christians who faced persecution and advised them how to prepare.
   

   Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins (1 Pet 4:7-8)

   Those who have learned to love one another when times are good will be better equipped to love and support each other if times get tough. I hope that persecution does not come to the church in the West, but if it does, I expect that those who have prepared by building with strong relationships with one another to cope the best.

6. Churches that depend on professional leaders and activities in church buildings will be vulnerable. If the pastors are arrested and the church doors locked, as happened in China, their flocks will be confused and not know what to do. Christians focussed on one leader and one building will struggle. To survive during persecution, the church will need to be organised as a network, which can continue to function, even if some parts of the network are taken out.

7. Integrity will be critical during persecution. Daniel’s enemies struggled to find a fault with which to accuse him
   

   The administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent (Dan 6:4).

   Daniel had not been corrupt or negligent in his duties, so they decided the only way to get at him was to charge with something to do with this religion (Dan 6:5). So they trapped him with a law against praying.

   Looking at the recent history of church leaders in the United States, a persecuting government would not have much trouble coming up with charges of corruption or negligence against them. Dealing with persecution will be much easier, if all they can charge you with is praying.

8. The response to persecution probably depends on where the culture has been and how familiar people are with the gospel. People in America turned back to God during the Great Depression, because there was a strong residual faith, so it was natural for them to turn to God in a crisis. The Global Financial Crisis produced a different response, although some people faced serious economic losses. A Christian culture can deteriorate to a point where turn back to God in a crisis stops being the natural thing to do.

   People did not turn back to God after the Christchurch earthquake. The churches are now weaker than they were before. I presume that the Christian culture had been declining for much longer, so it never occurred to people to call out to God. And because the church was already weak, and its buildings were damaged by the quake, they did not have the resilience to reach out to the world. Nothing in this life is automatic.

9. Christians who are focussed on self-fulfilment will struggle during persecution. The book of Revelations speaks of those who overcame,
   

   because they did not love their lives to the death (Rev 12:11).

   These Christians did not love their own lives. Their love for Jesus was so great that they were willing to die for him. It will be too late to develop that love when persecution comes. It is hard to see how a therapeutic church living in narcissistic culture with a rescue gospel and a rapture hope would not love their lives unto death, if they faced that choice.

   Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego know that God could rescue them from the fiery furnace, but they did not care whether he would do that or not. They just wanted to honor him, because they loved him (Dan 3:17-18).

10. During persecution, Christians must know that God can be trusted. Jeremiah experienced years of hostility and rejection from his people, but he did not sink into self-pity and bitterness. Instead he turned his trials into love for God and compassion for his people. So when the king persecuted him by throwing him into a muddy well, he knew that he could trust God.

11. Those who have learned to love their enemies will be better placed to deal with persecution. Peter explained the correct way to respond to persecution.
    

    Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing (1 Pet 3:9).

    This will be hard to learn when persecution strikes. Wise Christians should learn to do these things during the good times when it is easier. We can miss these opportunities, if we respond to insults with self-justification and indignation.

12. Persecution usually comes from governments, but Peter explains that it is actually a spiritual attack.
    

    Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings (1 Peter 5:8-9).

    These Christians were being persecuted, but Peter wanted them to understand that the attack came from the powers of evil. Christians round the world undergoing the same kind of attacks are also under attack from the enemy. They should respond by resisting him and standing firm in their faith.

    We need to learn how to stand strong in our faith and resist the devil and love those who hurt us. We resist the spiritual powers, not the political powers.

13. Christians who follow a good-time prosperity gospel will be poorly equipped to cope with persecution. Paul prayed that he would share in the sufferings of Jesus (Phil 3:10). This prayer is out of fashion these days, but those who have suffered for the gospel will cope better with real persecution when it comes.
    

    Rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed (1 Pet 4:13).

    I notice that American church leaders tend to yell back, when they are criticised by the modern news media. There is a lot of self-justification and not much rejoicing in the suffering of Jesus.

Having said all this, the church should not focus on preparing for persecution. That would probably lead to retreat from the world and create negative attitudes too people. Rather we should focus on serving Jesus and preparing for the victory of his kingdom. Fortunately, the Christians who obey Jesus and walk in the Spirit and seek the victory of the Kingdom, will also be prepared for persecution, if it should come. In my book called Being Church Where We Live, I describe a different way of being church. The aim is to develop a model that can support the victory of the gospel and coming of the Kingdom of God. A bonus with this approach is that it is also persecution proof should that happen.

Persecution and the Church

Last week in a post about Christian Culture in America, I commented that in such a violent country it could lead to nasty persecution once people realise that Christians are a weak minority. There might be a lot of revenge to implement.

One commenter responded that “Christianity spreads best while Christians are being persecuted”.

This is a nice thought, but it is not universally true. Assuming that persecution will strengthen the gospel is wishful thinking. I learned this from the Christchurch earthquake. Christchurch was a city a strong but declining Christian heritage. A severe earthquake was just the thing that you would expect to shake up the church and open people up to the gospel. Yet the opposite occurred. The shaking has weakened the church, because it was not prepared to deal with a crisis.

Christians can respond to persecution in four distinct ways.

1. The church often responds to persecution by accommodating with the political powers. It survives, but it becomes irrelevant. It finds a place of safety by retreating from the public square and becomes a cultural ghetto isolated from the rest of society. When it is stops being a threat to the dominant cutlure, it can be ignored. The Coptic Church in Egypt is an example.

2. In many situations the church has been wiped out been persecution. That has happened in many places at different times throughout history. The city of Carthage was a strong Christian centre in the early days of the church, but there is no church there now. Augustine was an important leader and theologian in Africa during the fifth century. The church in Algeria where he was based is long gone, destroyed by a hostile culture.

3. The church often responds to persecution by taking up weapons and fighting back. This happened in many places during the Reformation. Persecution led to war between the political authorities and Christians leaders and their followers. Often Christians were on both sides of these destructive and violent wars. Unfortunately, when Christians engage in war, the gospel sufferer.

   If Christians in the United States are persecuted in the future, the violent, warring military spirit is so strong, that there is a high risk that they will respond to persecution by getting out their guns and starting to fight. A fight between Christian warlords and their followers would be disastrous for the gospel.

4. The church can respond to persecution by becoming stronger and growing. The New Testament Church was strengthened by persecution.

The fourth option is the best option, but we cannot just take it for granted. We must not just assume that it will happen.

Persecution is not a trivial issue. Even if those who are prepared survive and are strengthened, and the gospel spreads rapid, there will be huge collateral damage for Christians who are not prepared.. The pain of those who are confused and do not understand what is happening will be terrible. We cannot be glib about their situation.

Thinking about persecution got me wondering. What are the conditions under which persecution strengthens the church? I will list some in my next post.

Kingdom and Church

Is the Kingdom in the church? This seems to be the wrong question. People are looking at the same thing from a different perspective, and think that they are looking at different things.

The church is people, their relationships with each and with Jesus. By the grace of the Spirit, the Church represents Jesus in the world.

The church is people, and people are dispersed throughout the world, so the church has no boundary. Therefore it is meaningless to say something is outside the church. We can talk about place where the church is not present, because no Christians go there. The church needs two more people to be present in any place to be the church there. That limits its presence in the world.

The Kingdom of God is authority, and Jesus exercise of authority through the Spirit. The boundary of the Kingdom is fluid, depending on where and when that authority is acknowledged and God’s will is done.

The Kingdom just needs one person with authority, to hear the voice of the Spirit and obey to be present in the world. That means the Kingdom can be found anywhere there is authority and people following Jesus.

Whose Standard?

When I read the following word I smile, and wonder if Paul chuckled to himself, as he wrote them.

As the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything (Eph 5:24).

Most church leaders would say that Paul is setting a high standard for women. They must do everything that their husbands command.

When teaching on this passage, they seldom comment on how well the church obeys Jesus. The answer would be “sporadically”. Most churches do their own thing. They follow the distinctives and beliefs of their denomination. They seek Jesus guidance when things go wrong, but most the time, the leaders know what needs to be done.

So if wives were to submit to their husbands like the church submits to Jesus, they would obey him occasionally, but most of the time they would do their own thing.

The standard is much higher for husbands, as Jesus gave his life for his church, yet allows it do what it likes most of the time.

Empire to Kingdom of God (11)

The churches continue to grow.

Two new churches come into being in new neighbourhoods.

Empire to Kingdom of God (8)

The new church is modelled on the one that sent it, but reflects the people who belong to it.

Prodigal Christianity (7) Church

The seventh signpost is the church as a place of community with Christ.
Fitch and Holsclaw discuss alternative views on the relationship between the church and the kingdom.

One view is that the kingdom does not come in fullness until Jesus returns in glory. The gospel of the kingdom is for the future, and the gospel of the cross is for now. The problem with this is that the Kingdom is over personalised.

This approach to gospel, scripture, and mission sequesters the kingdom of to the interiority of our hearts.

Because this gospel is about me, it can become narcissistic.

The alternative view pushes an understanding of the Kingdom that goes beyond the church.

The problem seems to be too much Kingdom and too little cross.

Fitch and Holsclaw discuss the incarnational approach of Hirsch and Frost.

Christians are to enter the world by identifying with the people around us, getting to know, understand and live in that context.

They say that “missiology precedes ecclesiology. Fitch and Holsclaw warn that this could separate us from Jesus by separating us from the church.

They say that we are not church planters, we are the church. Dave advocates,

Churches should send out three or more leaders (or leader couples depending on whether they were single or married) into a neighbourhood context to get jobs live relationally and begin the rhythms of life in Christ there. This would require a commitment to a place, humble living in a neighbourhood, and going to places on the margins, not the most affluent places where large churches already exist. It would require being sent as missionaries through a discernment process at a local church.

Fitch and Holsclaw list practices that shape a community people in this kingdom within a neighbourhood.

1. Hospitality of the table and baptism.
2. Proclamation
3. Reconciliation
4. Being with people on the fringes and with children.
5. Fivefold ministry gifts
   

   When the apostle, the teacher, the evangelist and the prophet function together in mutual submission one to another in dependence on God, the authority of the Lord is made manifest in a community.

6. Kingdom Prayer

These practices will create a different church.

Because of this submission to these practices, each one of these communities will necessarily be the humble, vulnerable and incarnational expression of God coming into the world.

Instead of a volunteer association sending well-trained professionals out into the world to do God’s mission, communities are shaped in a way that incarnates Christ in the world for God’s mission. Whenever such communities come into being, sin is overcome evil defeated, and death not longer holds power. The Kingdom is breaking in. This is what witness looks like, and we contend that these communities will engage the most difficult issues of our day. They will not shrink back.

These are good practices, but it sounds more like the church than the kingdom.

Church Governance (11)

The Letter to Timothy lists the qualifications of an elder. The standard is high, but the reason is different from what we often think.

The common view is that elders must be of good character, because they control the church. Paul’s words are used as a checklist for deciding who is good enough to be given so much power. It is assumed that elders need to be of good character, because they have power and authority.

The opposite is true. Elders have no power and authority over the church. They need to be of good character, so that that younger Christians will freely submit to their oversight and welcome their advice on how to hear and follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Unless they have good character, people will not submit to elders them, no matter how long they have been Christians.

If apostles need to appoint elders, because they are moving on to something new, they should not look for people who tick the boxes on the character list. They should look for Christians that people in the church love, trust and submit to, because they are kind and wise, and authenticate what they are already doing by acknowledging that they are already acting as elders.