The Church is Christ

Is this the New Age concept that Christ lives in each human being? According to this view all we have to do is to discover the "divine spark" that is in each of us. This is not what we mean when we say that the Church is Christ. No, this is what Paul called the mystery of the ages in Colossians 1:26-28 "the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. For to them God would make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, so that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." and in Ephesians 3:1-6 "For this cause, I, Paul, am the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you nations, if you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given to me toward you, that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I wrote before in few words, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the nations should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partaker of His promise in Christ through the gospel." In short what Paul says here is that Christ lives in all people who have come to faith in Him whether they are Gentiles or Jews and together, this group of believers form the 'fellowship of the mystery'(Ephesians 3:9) or simply the Body of Christ!

Now back to the idea of the church as Christ. Christ(Greek) or Messiah(Hebrew) means "Anointed One" and as believers we know that Jesus came as the 'anointed one' in the individual physical body of the man from Nazareth. In John 12:20-24 Jesus prophesied that this one man would become much more through His death and resurrection. " And there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the Feast. Then these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, Sir, we want to see Jesus. Philip came and told Andrew. And again Andrew and Philip told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit." Jesus made it quite clear that His death and resurrection would introduce a new order for humanity and in future Jesus will only be seen in the "much fruit" of His death-His Body! This truth took further shape on the day of Pentecost when Jesus, as the Life-giving Spirit returned to indwell His followers and suddenly the world was faced with thousands of "little christs" doing the works of Jesus!

Through the experience of the new birth, that birth from above or as some call it the 'born-again' experience, Christians have Christ placed in them and they become "partakers of the divine nature"(2 Peter 1:4). This does not mean that the individual Christian can run around claiming to be divine but it means that in their corporateness and in their organic oneness with the Head, the Church expresses the nature and attributes of Christ. Paul explains this in 1 Corinthians 12:12; "For as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ." Paul therefore says that Christ is one body with many members! The Head Jesus plus His body is now the Christ, God's anointed vehicle in the earth to bless the nations and so fulfil His promise to Abraham made so many years before.

Treat your brothers and sisters with respect and honour for Christ dwells in them and have made them part of His glorious expression in the earth!

The true Church

How do we determine what the true church is? Many churches and denominations claim, or at least imply that they represent the true church of Jesus Christ, not to talk of the many sects/cults that claim the same!

I believe that the true church of Jesus Christ is Catholic, but so much more than the Roman Catholic or Eastern-Orthodox churches. It's catholic because it is universal and includes members from all nations on the earth. The true church is Charismatic, but it's so much more than the charismatic movement. The true church is charismatic because the church is endowed with many divine gifts and abilities by her Head! The true church is Pentecostal, but so much more than the worldwide Pentecostal church. The church is pentecostal because without the Holy Spirit there is no real life, just dead formalism and dogma! The true church is also reformational but so much more than the Reformed churches and so much more than even the reformational movement. It is reformational because it is in a constant process of reforming and developing into the ultimate purposes of God! Is the house church movement or as some call it simple churches or organic churches with their emphasis on strong and intimate relationships perhaps the true church?

It is clear that various denominations and churches have emphasised aspects of doctrine and practice which you would expect to find in the true church. Things like the authority of the church, the gifts of the Spirit, the importance of the proclamation of the Word and the importance of authentic relationships. Unfortunately, when one aspect of the truth becomes the pet doctrine of a movement or church, Jesus loses His pre-eminence and the people of God suffers as a result. What will the true church look like?

Let us reflect once again on what the Head of the church has said about the true church. Jesus said to Peter that His church will be build through revelation knowledge about Him.(Matt.13) Paul expounded on this truth by saying that the church is build on the foundation of apostles and prophets with Jesus the chief cornerstone.(Eph. 2:20) What is the apostolic foundation? A revelation of Jesus Christ! The true church is where Jesus is revealed, whether through two or three or through two or three thousand! Jesus told Peter that he has become a rock because of the revelation about His person and the same Peter afterwards refers to the believers as "living stones". The true church therefore, are those who have become "little rocks" because of the revelation of Jesus Christ in their lives. This is the living Temple of God in the earth that He indwells and through whom He will display the fullness of His glory. What does this mean in real everyday experience?

How will we recognise the true church? Jesus will have His rightful place as the Head of the church at every meeting of the believers. There will be a humble waiting on the Lord together to find His mind for every decision and this presupposes authentic relationships between the members. Those kind of relationships are not the result of finding common ground in terms of likes and dislikes or of a charismatic preacher or lively praise and worship, but it is based on the common revelation of Jesus and the intention to see Christ in one another! Those kind of relationships come through the proclamation and revelation of Christ in the believer and as that revelation of Christ unfolds within the believer there is a desire to share this Christ with others! The true church lives in the realities of scriptures like Galatians 2:20- "I am crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me" and Colossians 1:27- "Christ in you ,the hope of glory" but especially Galatians 4:19 where Christ is formed in them to such an extent that no place can be found for legalism, carnality or superficial Christianity! How do we reach this standard in the church?

True apostolic ministry will breathe, eat, sleep and sometimes preach Christ! As they preach Him the Living Word, the Body will BECOME rather than DO and all the doctrines, beliefs and practices will fall into their right place. Look for those ministries who refuse to accept titles of apostles, prophets or pastors and who preach one Message-Christ Jesus and Him crucified! You see, the church is really Jesus the Head alive and present through His body and in that sense the true church is now the Christ in the earth!(1 Corinthians 12:12)

What is blind faith?

We do find amongst many religious people a blind faith because of cultural factors. If you grow up in a very religious area or country you may get religion in with your mother's milk and may not question your own beliefs until you leave home and that's when the fun and games begin. In certain cultures though, the power of the religion is so strong that even questioning it is seen as a gross sin with the result that you rather not dare make any contradictory sounds lest you lose your life!

However, blind faith is not unique to religious belief: Science teaches cause and effect but some naturalist scientists say that the universe needs no cause, for example, Bertrand Russell said of the universe; "it is just there". Do we accept that premise by blindly believing it, or must we exercise our "faith" in the idea that science may one day find the answer? What if this answer is the same as the one already revealed by God in the Bible? We find the same kind of argument about the clear evidence of complexity and design in nature and biology but Richard Dawkins says that things "just appear to be designed" . We all have a sense that some things are right and some things are wrong, but the atheist says that it must be a result of evolutionary processes. In other words, there is no ultimate lawgiver! We use the laws of logic everyday in debate and argumentation but if there is no god where do they come from and who has determined that they are "laws" indeed? In recent years science has made wonderful discoveries regarding DNA which is a complex code full of information. So we have this information within all life but no "information giver"? It will appear to me that the real proponents of blind faith is not only to be found in fundamentalist religions but also in(very influential) parts of the scientific community. It is unfortunately true that scientists who dare to digress from the blind faith (assumptions) of evolutionary science will not get an audience in the peer reviews and their articles will not be published in scientific journals- just because they do not subscribe to the prevailing world view of the age, namely naturalism-how scientific is that?

Is true faith blind? I believe Christianity is a reasonable faith based on real historical events, e.g. the resurrection of Jesus, His existence, etc. There are also powerful arguments for the existence of God based on what we observe in nature, in humans, in the galaxies and in the laws of logic and morality as mentioned before, but at the end of the day we cannot know God through reason because God has chosen to be known by revelation, that inner intuition or knowing that comes to the heart of the searching human. Revelation is not blind faith!! Revelation is rooted in an experience of something or someone bigger than ourselves. God wants a relationship with His creatures, not a philosophical or even theological discussion! For this reason He sent Jesus in visible real flesh- and- blood form to this earth to testify and demonstrate Him. After Jesus' death and resurrection he became a Life-giving spirit in order to indwell all who accepted His redemption. This happens by revelation and once this happens you "know that you know" and you do not need any other evidence! Is this blind faith? Oh no; it's the kind of faith that says like the blind man said after Jesus healed him from his blindness; "All I know is that I was blind but now I see!"

Opinions, Faith and Tyranny

We live in a time where everyone seems to have an opinion. From young children to older people have opinions and while there is nothing wrong with opinions in themselves, we find ourselves on dangerous ground when these opinions become sacred and untouchable. Someone said "Opinions are like armpits, everyone has them but some stink!"

As someone who works in an educational environment, I am amazed at how strong this post-modern thinking of not daring to question a person's opinions has infiltrated young minds. Is this perhaps linked to the idea that there is no ultimate truth and that we all need to find our own truth as we go along in life because all opinions(beliefs) are equal? This is of course a world view or belief system in itself! This makes you wonder whether we have any right to question the ideas and opinions of Hitler, Stalin, racists and pedophiles? Or are certain opinions and beliefs more equal than others?

This trend could lead(or has it already?) to a new kind of tyranny where no real debate is encouraged and where no opinion can be challenged for the fear of being branded as a bigot or being intolerant! Just look at the reaction(and name-calling!) these last few months over the leaking of e-mails that indicate that all may not be well with the "science" behind global warming!

It also has serious implications for education because good teachers should have the right to challenge existing beliefs, ideas, opinions and views in order to cultivate skills of debate, analysis and evaluation. Children need to learn how to make informed choices, they need the basic human right to have the opportunity to be confronted with alternative world views in order to critique their own world view in an academic way. It's a myth to believe that children grow up without a world view. From my experience as a teacher I can say that the prevailing world view amongst most children goes something like this; "There is no ultimate truth; my opinion is my absolute right; fun and cool are in and cheesy is out, and the only value of education is to get a good job so I can make money".

In the absence of well informed parents and the increase of dysfunctional families, the media has probably become the biggest influence when it comes to the communication of world views. Sadly, most programs like documentaries, films and comedies seem to be driven by naturalistic, narcissistic and humanistic world views. Programs like Discovery Channel, to name one, have a powerful effect on especially young minds, because the theories of naturalistic world views are presented as fact! This in itself would not have been a major problem, but in the prevailing climate of intolerance these views are not scrutinised thoroughly enough in peer reviews and scientific journals. This is because the naturalistic world view was very successful in separating "scientific fact" from religious faith-in Huxley's words "not to allow God a foot in the door"

I believe that the Christian faith is deeply rooted in logic and that truth is able to stand on its own feet, and if given the opportunity in a climate of tolerance and critical examination it will pass any test of the mind and of the spirit! Let us beware of a new medieval darkness where only the acceptable world view of a small insider group of "intellectuals" control what is believed about life, morality and science! The danger signs are already there; try to challenge evolutionary theories, theories about global warming, views on homosexuality etc. The backlash is almost as severe as when you critisise the religious extremism in Islam.

Jesus said that the truth about Him shall make us free! Let us as Christians proclaim this truth with conviction but not in word only but especially by expressing Him who is the ultimate truth. Let us believe that Jesus' prayer in John 17 will be answered "Father, I pray that they be one...so that the world will know"

Redefining Christianity 3

Christianity has in many instances become a book-religion. In an attempt to stay true to the doctrines of Christianity the Bible as a book has taken the place of the Spirit. Jesus' warning about the "yeast of the Pharisees' is relevant in this regard. Many Christians have become slaves of the letter instead of followers of the Spirit. Jesus is known "after the flesh" as a historical person, but not as the Life-giving Spirit who indwells His Body now! His warning to the Pharisees and Scribes is now as relevant as ever; "You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you'll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me!"

Some Christians make a big thing about believing every word of the Bible as the Word of God, and the fact that they see the Bible as "inerrant, infallible, and eternal', but than go right ahead and declare that, for example, the gifts of the Holy Spirit were only valid until the Canon was determined by the church, or that infant baptism is scriptural! In other words, what they mean when they talk about the Bible being inerrant and infallible is actually that their interpretations of the Bible are inerrant and infallible! At the same time they ascribe qualities to the Bible that actually only belongs to God.

Anyone who truly loves the scriptures, but even more so the Lord of the scriptures, will find that Christianity is a lifestyle infused and directed by the Spirit. After Jesus emphasised the importance of a deep and intimate relationship with Him, He said in John 6:63 "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life" Did Jesus stop speaking to His disciples after His ascension? Paul made it clear that Christ was the life in us(Galatians 2:20) and when defending his apostolic authority he said in 2 Corinthians 13:3; " since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you. " The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to help us hear the indwelling Christ speak. In this process He uses the lives of the ancient believers, and the words of Jesus and his apostles as related in the scriptures! Listen how Paul describes his ministry and the effects of the Spirit in the lives of believers; "Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at you. Christ himself wrote it--not with ink, but with God's living Spirit; not chiseled into stone, but carved into human lives--and we publish it. We couldn't be more sure of ourselves in this--that you, written by Christ himself for God, are our letter of recommendation. We wouldn't think of writing this kind of letter about ourselves. Only God can write such a letter. His letter authorizes us to help carry out this new plan of action. The plan wasn't written out with ink on paper, with pages and pages of legal footnotes, killing your spirit. It's written with Spirit on spirit, his life on our lives! (2 Corinthians 3-3-6) And this is how Paul describes his preaching and teaching; "and my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God."

It is not only in "organised religion' that we find this pharisaical approach to the Bible, but also in some so called "Biblical Churches" where an attempt is made to do church perfectly according to the 'blueprint' in the Bible. The true blueprint can only be discovered by following the leading of the Holy Spirit or to put it differently; to listen to the voice of the Head Jesus Christ and do only what He instructs. In this process He will follow the principles that He has revealed (and is revealing) through the apostles and prophets! I believe He is still using the Living Word through the mouths of true apostles and prophets to build His church on the revelation of Himself as the chief cornerstone. This is the kind of church and lifestyle that is supported and exemplified by the Bible!

Redefining Christianity 2

It is with a bit of a heavy heart that I write this blog as I have just learned about the "Lakeland goings on". I know it has been in the news for some time but for various reasons I did not know about it. Many self-appointed "prophets" will no doubt jump on the bandwagon and try to score cheap "political points".

My burden and concern for God's people revolves around the realisation that all this is so unnecessary if only we can buy into the kind of church Jesus is building and if we can only rediscover the Message the early Christians preached through their lives! Before I am accused of romanticising the past, I must say that many of the problems we face today were faced by the pioneers of the faith. I think here of false gospels, greedy, manipulative leaders and obsession with angels. In this blog I want to look at the Message that we miss in Christianity today, with the prayer that those thousands of sincere Christians hurt by the sins of those supposed to lead will not only be comforted but also be inspired by the richness of the Word that was entrusted to us .

We do not have to look much further than Paul's writing in Colossians to reflect on the heart of the message that made up the DNA of the original church. First of all Paul reminds the Colossians that the Message they received revolves around the Person of Jesus Christ and that this message changed their lives because it/He works IN you! He reminded them how the Word brought purpose to their lives. "God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. He's set us up in the kingdom of the Son he loves so much, the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating. We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God's original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels--everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him." (Col. 1: 13-16). There is no purpose for anything in this universe outside of Christ!

Paul continues to give us hope when he makes it clear that Jesus' Church is not in disarray; maybe the human version of His church is; maybe the Babilonian counterfeit church is in disarray; maybe organised religion is, but the Church which Jesus has been building for the last 2000 years is still pure, organised and on track to become the Jerusalem which will shine forth the heavenly qualities of Christ! "And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body. He was supreme in the beginning and--leading the resurrection parade--he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he's there, towering far above everything, everyone. " ( 1:18) Than Paul wrote these dynamic words, "Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe--people and things, animals and atoms--get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the Cross." What an insight into the true nature of the cross! What an insight into the true nature of God's kingdom! The cross affected the material and the non-material worlds, it brought an integration of the spiritual and the material realms! To the Christian all ground is indeed holy ground and every bush is indeed a burning bush! God is everywhere and therefore, whether I play, work or attend a Christian meeting I am first of all a CHRIST-one!

In the following verses Paul summarises the Gospel so clearly and yet this message is not often heard in the Christian world. In these words Paul brought together the past dealings of God with His people, the present activity of God and the future hope of Christians in a few words. "This mystery has been kept in the dark for a long time, but now it's out in the open. God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, therefore you can look forward to sharing in God's glory. It's that simple. That is the substance of our Message. We preach Christ, warning people not to add to the Message. We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less." ( Col. 1: 26-28) Oh, that every person who preaches about the Old Testament, the covenant, the temple or Israel will relate it to "Christ is in you"; that every person who preaches about salvation will relate it to "Christ is in you"; that every person who preaches the baptism will relate it to "Christ is in you"; that every person who preaches about the baptism in the Holy Spirit will relate it to "Christ is in you"; that every person who preaches about the Church will relate it to "Christ is in you" and that every person who preaches about the return of the Lord will relate it to "Christ is in you" or if you cannot, shut up, and learn some more!

In the next chapter Paul deals with various excesses which threaten the purity of the Christ-Word. He touched on Mysticism, Gnosticism, Philosophy and Legalism and he made it clear that the answer to all these false doctrines was the simple mystery of Christ living His Life through believers in their everyday lives! Look how he confronted the desire for the Gnostic secret. "I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God's great mystery. All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in that mystery and nowhere else. And we've been shown the mystery! I'm telling you this because I don't want anyone leading you off on some wild-goose chase, after other so-called mysteries, or "the Secret." ( Col. 2:2-3) Simple, isn't it? Paul also warned against intellectual philosophical rationalisations, " Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that's not the way of Christ"( Col. 2:8) Philosophy means literally "the love for wisdom" but no search for wisdom has any hope if we do not realise that Wisdom is a person and that person is Christ! Lastly, Paul deals with mystics and legalists in one sweeping blow as he instructs the believers not to allow anyone to boss them around, either through pious sounding council or any other religious hocus pocus! "He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets. So don't put up with anyone pressuring you in details of diet, worship services, or holy days. All those things are mere shadows cast before what was to come; the substance is Christ. Don't tolerate people who try to run your life, ordering you to bow and scrape, insisting that you join their obsession with angels and that you seek out visions. They're a lot of hot air, that's all they are. They're completely out of touch with the source of life, Christ, who puts us together in one piece, whose very breath and blood flow through us. He is the Head and we are the body. We can grow up healthy in God only as he nourishes us. So, then, if with Christ you've put all that pretentious and infantile religion behind you, why do you let yourselves be bullied by it? "Don't touch this! Don't taste that! Don't go near this!" Do you think things that are here today and gone tomorrow are worth that kind of attention? Such things sound impressive if said in a deep enough voice. They even give the illusion of being pious and humble and ascetic. But they're just another way of showing off, making yourselves look important. "( Colossians 2:16-23)

What a simple yet profound Message we have! What an honour to know the Reason for the existence of the universe wants to express His character of Love, Wisdom and Power through undeserved ones like us! Come Lord Jesus and find in us a willing people!!

Redefining Christianity 1

It is clear that Christianity is in need of a radical redefining because over time the concept has become associated with practices that has little or nothing to do with Biblical Christianity. Most of what people see as Christianity is a mixture of the 'churchianity' of the dark Middle Ages and the evangelistic revivals of the previous eras. Even where some ministers of the Gospel see some of the new things God is doing, they find it apparently difficult to make the transition in their minds from the Christianity they know to what Jesus really wants. It is indeed necessary for those who want to see His purposes come to fulfillment to die to themselves, including their present ministries, churches, income, status or whatever gives them identity and to trust Jesus completely to raise up 'their' ministries in His own time and manner.

In the process of redefining Christianity, concepts such as the Word of God, heaven, hell, Kingdom of God, apostle, prophet, church, pastor, etc need to be redefined as well. This does not mean we define them according to popular tastes to fit more 'modern' mind-sets. No, we define them according to the Bible and the practice of the First church. The ' church' was the Ekklesia or 'called out ones'- those who responded to a Word about Jesus being raised from the dead who now lives IN believers through His Spirit. A better description for the church would probably be, 'The koinonia in Christ' or the 'In-Christ koinonia'. The early apostles and prophets never went out to 'plant' churches, they were propelled by the indwelling Christ to proclaim a Message. The fruit of the message became known as the Ekklesia! The 'Word' was the Message about a Person, Jesus Christ! For the first 100 years or more the believers did not have a 'Bible' other than the Scriptures (the Law and the Prophets)- the Apostles and Prophets spoke a living, dynamic and authentic Word. The Word was authentic because the Living Christ Himself was speaking through them, something He still does, if allowed.

The early ministers preached Christ, not about Him! 'Heaven' was a spiritual, dynamic dimension of living that could be entered in the present by faith in the Living Word; it was not a future physical place of 'golden streets and mansions'. It is the realm where God's presence is experienced in fullness and the only thing that prevents us from experiencing it in it's fullness now, is the fact that we are still hampered by our physical limitations.

In future articles we will pick up on some of the other concepts in Christianity which need to be redefined according to their original meanings.