I Chose Freedom

 

God is spirit, and those who are worshipping Him must be worshipping in spirit and truth.

John 4: 24, Concordant New Testament 

These days I bristle at the thought of sitting through another boring sermon.  The thought of that raucous worship band makes me run for the exit.  It's not that I'm anti church, I'm anti institutional church.  I am anti mainstream, cookie cutter theology church.  I have sat through enough Sunday morning sermons to know what the message of the local brick and mortar church is.  I've been there.  As I sit here this morning writing, my mind flashes back to the days when it was simply expected that I was to be in church on a Sunday morning.  This is what Christians do.  This is where we listen to the latest notion that the head pulpit pounder has conjured up.  Yet the underlying message is always the same.  God sent Jesus to die for our sins, but be mindful that you also pray for His forgiveness.  If this sounds like a double standard, you're right.  I agree that Jesus died for my sins, but this is where the institutional church lost me.  If Jesus became sin on my behalf {2 Corinthians 5:21}, why do I continue to ask the Father for forgiveness?  If Jesus died to sin once for all {Romans 6:10}, must I continue to seek the Fathers forgiveness?  In the end, I chose the freedom of Christ Jesus over the traditions and rituals of the mainstream church.  For it is in Christ that I have discovered true freedom.  Freedom in knowing that I and the Father are one {John 17:21}.  The freedom in knowing that I now live as Christ Jesus who lives within my flesh body {Galatians 2:20}.  I no longer need to seek the nearest church on Sunday morning in order to feel closer to God.  I chose the freedom of knowing that I am now one with the Father.  Many Christians will spend this Sunday morning on their knees in front of church altars desperately seeking to be closer to the Father.  I suppose that I would somehow be seen as a disgruntled believer if I were to point out to these Christians the freedom which I have found in Jesus.  Perhaps it's no wonder that the mainstream church is losing members at an alarming rate.  Perhaps there are more like me who are seeking the freedom of Christ.  

If ever, then, the Son should be making you free, you will be really free. 

John 8: 36, Concordant New Testament 

Freedom in Jesus means that I am no longer beholden to the man created religious system found in the institutional church.  Those traditions and requirements are behind me.  In fact, I believe that it is these traditions and requirements which Jesus took to the cross with Him {Colossians 2:14}.  It is not by tradition or requirement that someone will come to know Jesus as I have.  It is not through traditions and requirements that one will find the freedom which is in Christ Jesus.  Don't get me wrong, I think that the church is a good starting point for someone looking to know about Jesus.  Yet the freedom of knowing the indwelling Christ will not come from any Sunday sermon preached there.  Knowing Christ within you will only come by the revelation of the Father.  This is how I came to know the Lord within me (of course, ME no longer exists).  The freedom found in Jesus is available to all of the Fathers children.  He allows us the freedom to seek it out for ourselves. 

~Scott~ 

Not In My Church!

 

'For I hunger and you give Me to eat' I thirst and you give Me drink; a stranger was I and you took Me in; naked and you clothed Me; infirm am I and you visit Me; in jail was I and you come to Me.'  "Then the just will be answering Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we perceive Thee hungering and nourish Thee, or thirsting and we give Thee drink?  And when did we perceive Thee a stranger and take Thee in, or naked and we clothed Thee?  Now when did we perceive Thee infirm, or in jail, and we came to Thee?'  "And answering, the King shall be declaring to them, 'Verily, I am saying to you, in as much as you do it to one of these, the least of My brethren, you do it to Me.'

Matthew 25: 35-40, Concordant New Testament 

It seems that we Christians have gotten the true meaning of the church confused over the years.  Even today, our brick and mortar church building fill up each Sunday with those who see themselves as 'Gods people.'  They, and only they, are blessed enough to be referred to as the church.  Well, believe it or not, I think that Jesus would have something different to say about that.  See, the church has never been a church of believers, but the body of Christ Jesus as a whole.  As we sit in our pews each Sunday, we are the body of Christ.  It is Jesus Himself who sits at the head of His church {Colossians 1:18}.  I mention this for one simple reason, because the church of Jesus has over the years lost its way.  The church as we know it has forgotten the meaning of the parable of Jesus we find in Matthew 25.  The parable where Jesus speaks of Himself as destitute, hungry and in prison.  Now, you may ask yourself, when was Jesus in jail?  He wasn't, but as He did many times to explain His lessons, He used metaphors and parables.  Why would Jesus feel the need to portray Himself as unwanted and destitute?  Because, as He explained to those who were listening, "As you do it to the least of My brethren, you do it to Me" {Matthew 25:40}.  Now, that may be a well known verse to many modern Christians, but knowing a verse and putting it into practice are two entirely different things.  I can recall being in church one Sunday morning while a gay rights protest was taking place outside the building.  These protestors believed, correctly, that many so called Christians did not want them around.  That day, I heard more than one church member proclaim, "Not in my church!"  Your church, really?  One term that I hear bantered around in Christianity every now and then is the term "unchurched."  For the longest time I saw this as referring to those who for one reason or another chose not to go to church.  No, I believe that the unchurched are those individuals whom we DON'T WANT within the four walls of our churches.  The homeless, those with alternative lifestyles and those struggling with addictions of one substance or another.  Here in Portland, Oregon, there is a street mission in our downtown area known as the Union Gospel Mission.  This is where you will surely find the unchurched, if you bother to look.  

And He is the head of the body, the ecclesia, Who is sovereign, firstborn from among the dead, that in all He may be becoming first. 

Colossians 1: 18, Concordant New Testament 

In my employment, I am usually subjected each day to the effects of the homeless population of our city.  The trash, needles and human waste are simply a normal part of our daily duties.  For this reason, I came to dislike the homeless.  Yes, I am a Christian and I didn't like the homeless, go figure.  Then I met Heather.  She was a homeless young lady I came across not too long ago who was struggling with addiction and life on the street.  In that moment, instead of approaching her with anger for her condition, something in my heart compelled me to see the human side of this young lady.  Her story touched me, she wanted to see her family again but not in the way she was living.  Before my job took me away, I prayed with Heather that she would find the healing she needed.  I can guarantee that Heather was part of the unchurched of our society.  These are the people who are crying out to be accepted by others.  Traditionally, the local church has been seen as a haven for those who are down and out.  It's the church where people go to when they have nowhere else to turn.  Maybe it's the expectation that Christians will spread the mercy of the Lord.  In a perfect church, that would be the case.  In a church seeing Christ Jesus as the head of the body of believers, there would be refuge for the unchurched and unwanted.  Can you imagine a closet drunk or abuser walking into a church one Sunday morning and hearing Jesus proclaim, 'NOT IN MY CHURCH!'  Of course, that would never happen, but that is what we as believers are doing to the body of Christ.  I guess there really is no perfect church.  

For ritual clean and undefiled with God the Father is this; to be visiting the bereaved and widowed in their affliction, to be keeping oneself unspotted from the world. 

James 1: 27, Concordant New Testament 

~Scott~ 

The Fear Of God

 

Fear is not in love, but perfect love is casting out fear, for fear has chastening.  Now he who is fearing is not perfected in love. 

1 John 4: 18, Concordant New Testament 

How much do you fear the Lord?  How much do you fear the fire and brimstones of His anger?  Well, in conversation with a good friend and coworker this week, it became clear to me that he certainly serves the Lord out of fear in some ways.  He fears of losing his salvation if his sins are too great.  I get it.  I spent a good deal of time within churches who taught that God indeed could be angered to the point of taking it out upon the children He loves.  This was part of the mainstream church theology which I grew up in.  So, in a way, I can emphasize with my friend in how he is feeling.  But do these fears of ours hold any merit?  Is God a Lord who is short tempered depending upon which sins we commit?  Is the anger of the Lord so on edge that He may one day deprive us of our salvation if we don't fly right?  Some who live in the fear of the Lord might tend to believe in this way of thinking.  I do not.  If we were to place these ideas we have about God upon our earthly parents, we would see Him as engaging in child abuse.  Is this the loving God we know?  The larger question is, does God desire for us to live in fear of Him?  For the answer to this I turn to one of my favorite passages in the book of John.  A passage which clearly shows us the true nature of the Lord we serve.  We know from the apostle John that God...is love {1 John 4:8}.  He loved us enough to send His only Son to die for us {John 3:16}.  He loved us enough to create us in His ow image {Genesis 1:27}.  This is the love of God personified.  Yet, far too many Christians fight the daily battle between what the church teaches and the love we find in the Lord.  I've been there.  The fear that I would be cast into a lake of fire if God became angry with my mistakes.  The fear that even after showing His love and mercy at the cross that He would seemingly cast me aside.  This was my fear of the Lord.  

For God gives us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self control. 

1 Timothy 1: 7, Concordant New Testament 

Do you imagine a God who lords over us with intimidation?  To me this is not love at all.  Are we compelled to love God simply because we are afraid of what He may do to us?  Or do we love Him because He loved us first {1 John 4:9}?  This love which the Father has for us has always been.  This love which the Father has displayed for us knows no end.  There is nothing which we might ever do which will do away with the love which He has for His children.  His love endures all {1 Corinthians 13:7}.  The notion that Gods love is conditional is a negative lie espoused by the church.  It simply is not true.  So we fast, tithe and suffer through a life of fear of what God might do to us if we stray from His ways.  Instead of being thankful for His love and mercy upon us, we live in fear of Him.  I suggest that this has never been the way in which the Lord wants us to live.  How is it that we can be one with Christ and the Father if we fear Him?  Has God sent His Son to cleanse us simply to lord over us with fear?  Or, out of His love for us has He released us from the chains of slavery to sin which once bound us?  I would suggest that we have never served a God of anger but a God of endearing love who desires His children return to Him.  

Perceive what manner of love which the Father has given us, that we may be called children of God!  And we are!  Therefore the world does not know us, for it did not know Him. 

~Scott~ 

Mansions Of Glory

 But the serpent said to the woman: Not to die shall you be dying; for Elohim knows that on the day you eat of it your eyes will be unclosed, and you will become like Elohim, knowing good and evil.  Then the woman saw the tree was good for food, that it brought a yearning to the eyes and that the tree was desirable for gaining insight.  So she took of its fruit and ate.  She also gave some to her husband with her, and he ate. 

Genesis 3: 4-6, Concordant Old Testament (The Pentateuch) 

There is a story that is told of an elderly man who once offered a woman his mansion, which contained one hundred rooms.  The woman, perhaps knowing that this might be a offer too good to be true, inquired of the kind gentleman what the catch was.  "No catch," said the man.  "However, the only thing I ask is that you never enter the room at the top of the stairs, the one hundredth room of the house."  The woman thought this was an odd request, but accepted the mans offer nonetheless.  In time, the elderly man passed away and the woman was left alone by herself in the mansion.  Also with the passage of time, her curiosity burned over the room at the top of the stairs.  What was its secret?  Why had the old man forbid her from ever entering it?  Eventually her curiosity got the best of her and one day she climbed the stairs towards the forbidden room.  As she stood at the door of the room, her hand on the doorknob, she again pondered the old mans warning.  Slowly she turned the knob until she gazed upon the interior of the forbidden room.  Imagine her surprise when the room the elderly man had insisted she never enter contained...nothing.  It was exactly the same as the other rooms in the mansion.  The moral of this story, of course, is that even though we may be curious about such things which we have been warned are not beneficial to us, our own curiosities may eventually lead us into that forbidden room we were once warned about.  Adam and Eve had the perfect life in the Lords creation.  Some might say that they were in paradise.  They had it all, food, drink, everything they would ever need.  More than that, they also had a relationship with their Father creator.  But there was an issue.  Along with His paradise He had created, God instructed Adam and Eve that they must never eat of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden {Genesis 2:16-17}.  Now, to be totally honest, it wasn't the curiosity of Adam and Eve which eventually led them into the fall in the garden.  The prodding of the serpent (AKA Satan) was the final nail in the coffin of their perfect life in the garden.  The lie of Satan convinced Eve that once she ate of the forbidden tree that she...would be like God the Father.  Not knowing any better, Eve bought into the lie and took of the forbidden fruit.  Adam, well, he was simply along for the ride at that point.  

With Christ have I been crucified, yet I am living; no longer I, but LIVING IN ME is Christ.  Now that which I AM NOW LIVING IN THE FLESH, I am living in faith that is of the Son of God, Who loves me, and gives Himself up for me. 

Galatians 2: 20, Concordant New Testament 

(Italics added for those questioning the meaning of this passage) 

I've done quite a bit of thinking of the actions of the first couple in the garden.  They truly had all they would ever need, God had assured them of that.  Yet apparently Eve, with Satan's prodding, somehow came to believe that she could actually be like God.  Eve had to have known who God was, she and Adam communed with the Father on a regular basis.  However, what Adam and Eve did not know is that they were already like God.  Both had been created in the image of the Lord {Genesis 1:27}.  Yet all Adam and Eve knew was their benefits of living in the garden, they were unaware of how they came into being...but God knew.  Like the old man warning the woman never to enter into the forbidden room, God cautioned Adam and Eve never to take of the fruit of the tree He warned them about.  The rest, as they say, is history.  Adam and Eve bought into the lie that they were somehow separate from God.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The apostle Paul reveals to us that it is Christ who "LIVES IN ME" {Galatians 2:20}  Yet, if Paul has been crucified as he rightfully claims, how can Jesus LIVE IN ME?  The only thing left of Paul was his flesh vessel.  There was no Paul, yet he claims that LIVING IN ME IS CHRIST.  For the sake of conversation with those who will not answer questions, who is the "me" Paul is referring to?  The "me" which Jesus not inhabits.  Yet Paul adds something important to his iconic passage of the indwelling Christ.  He stakes the claim that "I am living in faith that is of the Son of God."  Paul knew that he lived as Christ Jesus who now dwelled in him.  Going down rabbit holes of scripture seeking the key to some forbidden room to unlock the meaning of Paul's verse is a fools errand...and we are anything but.  We have died to our old nature.  Christ Jesus has now  filled that void left empty within us.  It is not I who live, but Christ lives within me.  

So that, if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: the primitive passed by.  Lo!  There has come new!

2 Corinthians 5: 17, Concordant New Testament 

~Scott~ 

Contemporary Jesus

 

"Remember, the people who know me are the one who are free to live and love without any agenda."

William P Young, The Shack 

I was contemplating the other day how the world looks at Jesus.  How is it that you look at Jesus?  When you think of Him, what is that first thing that you think of?  Well, many well meaning people get stuck on the idea of a contemporary Jesus.  That is, a generic, stripped down version of the Jesus who you think you knew.  When I think of Jesus, I think of the indwelling Christ who lives in me.  I was assisted in this revelation by the words of the apostle Paul.  Paul writes in Galatians that it is Jesus who now lives within him {Galatians 2:20}.  This is who I think of when I think of Jesus.  Yet, it wasn't always that way.  I used to follow the leader and adhere to the contemporary version of the risen Lord.  I saw Jesus as being holy, kind and loving.  This, in a nutshell, is the essence of the contemporary Jesus.  Jesus is looked upon for His love and mercy, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.  However, there is so much more to Jesus than just this contemporary belief.  One can very well know about Jesus and yet know nothing OF Him.  If you know more about Jesus than you know of Him, you may be following a contemporary Jesus.  Contemporary Jesus is easy to understand.  We simply know the attributes which Jesus possesses and celebrate Him as a result of these.  Jesus is admired because He is loving.  Jesus is to be revered because of His mercy.  All of these are true.  There is no disputing that this is the man He was.  However, when we peel away the shell of the contemporary Jesus, we're left with the man few have ever known.  Few know that it is Jesus who became sin on account for all {2 Corinthians 5:21}.  Fewer still know that it is Christ Jesus who put that sin to death once and for all {Romans 6:10}.  This is part of the true nature of Christ which few people have yet to realize.  I suggest that the contemporary Jesus is built around the narrative and theology of the story of Jesus as taught for centuries by the mainstream church.  The Jesus which I know is more than a story.  

Who, being the effulgence of His glory and emblem of His assumption, besides carrying on all by His powerful declaration, making a cleansing of sins, is seated at the right hand of the Majesty in the heights. 

Hebrews 1: 3, Concordant New Testament 

Is the belief in a contemporary version of Jesus a bad thing?  Not always.  I can testify that believing in the contemporary stories of Jesus eventually led me into a deep relationship with Him.  However, it all began with my understanding of who Jesus was.  I know that Jesus was my Lord and savior.  I knew that He bled and died to free me of my sin nature.  So it is that I had a early understanding of who Jesus was.  I would not discount the preaching of the personality and works of Christ, as this may in fact lead others to desiring a deeper relationship with Him.  However, the issue which I continue to see is the teachings of the church centering on the popular version of Jesus only.  Maybe this is what keeps the pews filled on Sundays.  Paul wrote to the church at Corinth that he had fed them with milk and not solid food as they were not able to handle much more{1 Corinthians 3:2}.  I see this in the mainstream church of today.  Paul spoke to those in Corinth as carnal rather than newborns in Christ Jesus.  He saw the church at Corinth as carnal, filled with envy and divisions amongst the body {1 Corinthians 3:3}.  Does this sound like any church you've had the opportunity to be in?  This is where the contemporary Jesus is spoken.  However, I would rather have someone know about the life of Christ than know nothing of Him.  We can trust that in His timing, the Father will reveal His Son unto them.  

As recently born babes, long for the unadulterated milk of the word that by it you may be growing into salvation, if so to be that you taste that the Lord is kind.  

1 Peter 2: 2-3, Concordant New Testament 

~Scott~ 

Master Of Disaster

 

And He is saying to them, "Why are you timid, scant of faith?"  Then, being roused, He rebukes the winds and the sea, and there came a great calm.  Now the men marvel, saying, "What manner of Man is this, that the winds as well as the sea are obeying Him?"

Matthew 8: 26-27, Concordant New Testament 

My friend shared a story this week of how he was visited by the local chapter of the Jehovah's witnesses.  Their question to him was if he thought that the Lord was behind the recent rash of wild fires on the Island of Hawaii.  To his credit, my friend did not engage these door to door salesmen in their conversation.  The question is not if the Lord was the cause of the devastation, but what He is doing through His people in the midst of it all.  Instead of looking for fire and brimstone, we should be looking into how God is leading even more of His children to return to Him.  Yet the mainstream church narrative will continue to be that somehow God has become upset with this current world and that He, in turn, is wreaking havoc upon a population of sinners.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  When we pull back the curtain of the institutional church message we find not a God bent on destruction, but a Lord who desires His children to return to Him.  Jesus Himself relayed the desire of the Father in the garden.  He spoke of Gods children, that being us, being one with He and the Father {John 17:21}.  Forget what you've heard about the wickedness and destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.  This is not the true nature of the Father.  The true nature of the Father is one of love {1 John 4:8}.  I suggest that God would rather lead one of His children to return to Him than punish them for wrongdoing.  Jesus explains that there is more joy in heaven over a single sinner who returns to the Lord than for 99 people who need no repentance {Luke 15:7}.  The desire of the Lord remains that all should return to Him {John 3:17}.  

For I am reckoning that the sufferings of the current era do not deserve the glory about to be revealed for us. 

Romans 8: 18, Concordant New Testament 

There is no doubt that the Father is always involved in each and every aspect of the world we live in, including the weather.  Every time I hear some ultra liberal climate change believer spouting their so called science, I think of Job.  Jobs friends were puzzled as to why he continued to praise the Lord in the face of his tragedies.  His family almost wiped out and his crops destroyed.  Even his wife advised him to "curse God and die!"{Job 1:9}.  Through it all Job remained faithful.  In the end, God challenges Job with a dose of reality.  The Father inquires of Job if he alone knows of the wonders of the Lords creation.  Has he seen the storehouses of snow and hail?  Has he indeed seen how the winds are divided? {Job 38:22-30}.  What climate change believer has ever seen the climate in the way the Father has?  I suggest that such people are simply alarmists spewing a point of view.  It is the Lord who has created the heavens and the earth.  The Lord saw everything He had created, and it was good {Genesis 1:31}.  Despite all of the advances in modern technology, we fail to comprehend the true nature of the climate which surrounds us.  Of course, there is a good reason for that.  They fail to understand because they have never known the Lord {1 John 4:5}.  God is indeed in control of all that surrounds us.  Our question should always be, what is it that He is showing us through all of it?  What opportunities will there be for believers to share with the victims of disaster the love and peace of the Father.  THAT is the question we need to be asking ourselves.  The crisis is not in the liberal ideas of climate change, but in revealing the Father through us.  

For this I entreat the Lord thrice, that it should withdraw from me.  And He has protested to me, "Sufficient for you is My grace, for My power in infirmity is being perfected."  With the greatest relish, then, will I rather be glorying in my infirmities, that the power of Christ should be tabernacling over me. 

2 Corinthians 12: 8-9, Concordant New Testament 

~Scott~ 

The Sin Narrative

 

Who Himself carries up our sins in His body on to the pole, that, coming away from sins, we should be living for righteousness; by Whose welt you were healed.  

1 Peter 2: 24, Concordant New Testament 

As my good friend and I were having a discussion on sin this week it occurred to me.  One of the main places where we continue to hear of the narrative of sin is from the pulpits of the mainstream church.  It seems that our downfall continues to be a good topic to bore congregations with.  Yet, I mention our downfall in the past tense, as the work of Christ Jesus upon the cross has done away with our former sin nature.  That's right, through Jesus our sins are forever blotted from sight.  We are no longer considered sinners, but justly saved through the love and grace of our heavenly Father.  But not according to the church.  Like a constant CNN Donald Trump news loop, the institutional church continues to hammer home the point that we are sinners needing forgiveness.  One can imagine the message this sends to Christians who hear this message.  My experience with a Christian coworker has convinced me that the sin narrative is alive and well.  For each and every conversation we have had concerning Jesus has included his belief that we are sinners still in need of the Lord's mercy.  I get it.  Until I was free of the narrative, I also believed that I was a sinner as well.  It seems almost ludicrous to harbor the belief that Christ gave Himself for the forgiveness of our trespasses yet still hold on to the belief that we remain sinners.  According to scripture, all have sinned {Romans 3:23}.  Also according to scripture, Christ died for the forgiveness of our sins {Romans 6:10}.  Notice that the apostle Paul is the author of both of these observations.  Was Paul double minded?  Hardly.  Indeed, all have sinned and were deserving of the grace of the Father.  His grace has been demonstrated through the death of Christ Jesus at the cross.  

Being justified gratuitously in His grace, through the deliverance which is in Christ Jesus.  Whom God purposed for a propitiatory shelter, through faith in His blood, for a display of His righteousness because of the passing over of penalties of sins which occurred before in the forbearance of God. 

Romans 3: 24-25, Concordant New Testament 

So, what is the benefit of continuing to replay the sin narrative?  What possible gain could the church expect from continuing to claim that our sin haunts our past?  As near as I can tell, continuing speak the sin lie could somehow convince an unknowing believer that they need the church to somehow gain acceptance with the Lord.  Because we are sinners, we need to be in church.  Because of our sin, we need to ask forgiveness from the Lord.  In a twisted way, repeating the sin narrative puts people in pews, which is the overall objective of the mainstream church.  Yet the truth which has set us free of our former nature has been exhibited through Christ Jesus.  We are no longer defined by what we once were, but by who we are.  Who are we?  We are children of the living God who have been redeemed by His love and grace from that which was done before {Romans 3:25}.  We are no longer slaves to the lie of the institutional church which continues to claim that we are but sinners.  The gift of the Lord, through Christ Jesus, has cleansed us of what once was.  The truth of the living Christ is what now defines us {Galatians 2:20}.  

For the One not knowing sin, He makes to be a sin offering for our sakes that we may be becoming God's righteousness in Him.  

2 Corinthians 5: 21, Concordant New Testament 

~Scott~