Unity (The Countdown: 2 Days)

The last two roots are the cornerstones of this entire series. The one I will discuss tomorrow is a perception of life, a principle of how to live. Today's root is a crucial part of the last three roots. Because this root is so crucial to who I am as a person, I will not be writing much about it. I have decided that I would rather let the scripture speak and let the Holy Spirit enlighten.

The fourth root is unity.

First here are just a few verses from the Bible that highlight the importance of unity.

Colossians 3:12-14

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

1 Corinthians 1:10

Now I urge you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all say the same thing, that there be no divisions among you, and that you be united with the same understanding and the same conviction.

Both of these verses highlight the importance of unity. Now I want you to think of the local congregations in your area or the churches you have attended in the past. Then ask yourself these questions:

• Does this congregation strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, and live in peace? 2 Corinthians 13:11
• Does this community exist in an atmosphere of harmony, sympathy, brotherhood, kindness, and humility? 1 Peter 3:8
• Does this church make every effort to keep itself united in the Spirit, binding itself together with peace? Ephesians 4:3

Now lets take this one step further.

Ask yourself these questions, but this time, instead of asking them about the local congregation or the church you attend, ask them about yourself.

The reason why the church does not act in the way the Bible demands we act, is because we do not function or act in unity.

Why do we not strive for unity?

I think its because too many of us have either never read or taken to heart Romans 14:1.

"Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters."

How many believers can you think of that follow this principle? The principle of the weaker brother is so important to keeping unity within the Church. Romans 14 continues in this way:

"Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand. One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat."

We do not live in unity because we are self-seeking. We must remember that "none of us lives for ourselves alone." We don't even die for ourselves. As Christians we have heard the precept described in the end of this chapter

We need to examine this chapter again and take it to heart. There needs to be a return to unity in our daily lives so that we can bring it back into the church and allow the world to see the Truth.

Discernment and Wisdom (The Countdown: 3 Days)

In my last blog, I discussed the idea of a law of love. Now there is one concept that needs to be constantly tied into a law of love. The third root is discernment.

One thing that I have noticed that separates humanity from animals is wisdom and discernment. God has given the gift of wisdom and discernment to all of humanity but it is two leveled. First every human can discern situations. We all have the ability to look at something and try to figure out the best course of action. At the base level of discernment and wisdom, is the idea of problem solving. This is something all of us have the ability to do. But everything changes when we receive the Holy Spirit. Once we have God's Spirit within us, we gain a new perspective on everything. Many times businesses will bring in an outside consultant to view the company because they are not familiar with it and are able to offer wisdom from outside of the current setting. This is exactly what we have access to as Christians. No source of wisdom, no self help book, no website, can offer wisdom from something beyond what exists within the earth. God, through His Spirit, allows us to have a perspective that is beyond anything we can ever experience. This perspective brings a wisdom that is much sought after by the world, we are able to discern situations and bring God's light and wisdom into any situation. But in addition to God's Spirit, we also have His word. A physical representation of His character, that we can carry with us, study, read, and share with others. These are two tools we must learn to use. The church must begin equipping others to utilize discernment in every situation. This allows God to enter into our everyday life and helps us to truly follow after Him and His path for us. We are ignoring one of God's greatest gifts to us if we do not use the discernment of the Spirit. In the same way, we must read and study the Word of God, not only the Bible but also Jesus, in order to know who God is and be able to hear His Spirit. Our discernment will not be rooted without the Word of God and the Word of God will not truly be alive and adaptable without the Spirit and the discernment it brings.

The Four Letter Word (The Countdown: 4 Days)

One of the founding fathers of the Christian Union and subsequently the Church of God denomination is RG Spurling. While I was taking my Church of God history class, God brought me a book written by Spurling. The Lost Link begins with Spurling discussing what he believes to be the ultimate law, and that is a law of love. Love is the second root God placed on my heart.

This blog will probably be shorter than the others this week because love is such a vast topic. But when praying about the idea of love, God gave me three things to share. The first is Spurling's idea of a law of love. Spurling points out that the Bible expresses God's desire to write His law onto our hearts. Spurling then infers that the Christian law is not an outward law. Then he writes this "Thus the two tables of stone on which the ten commandments were written were a figure of God's writing the new law in our hearts and minds. Hear the blessed Redeemer saying, 'A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples' Here He makes love the great discerning law. Therefore we see that love is the law upon which the Church was based, written by the Holy Ghost."

Spurling goes on and calls out churches. "I now call upon all churches to know if you can show me the law of love as a discerning law, that is do they know and fellowship each other by the law of love? Do they do unto others as they would have them do unto them? Has every member equal rights and privileges to read and understand and practice God's word as they see it?" Spurling continues to state that we must make sure that the things we practice do not violate the teachings of the New Testament. Spurling rounds out the chapter with a fantastic model of the law of love in the form of a railroad metaphor. I highly recommend that you go and read this and allow God to speak to you through it.

Love should be our motivation in everything. Many of the issues in Church, jobs, family situations, and all other aspects of life would be avoided if we listened to what Jesus described as the 2 most important commandments. Many times in Jesus' preaching, he reflected questions back to the heart of the issue and made those around him evaluate how to live. But here, Jesus answers directly.

The second aspect of love that I want to share is that worship is love expressed. We know that faith and works go hand in hand. We must have both. It works the same way with love. We must not only feel it, we must also express it. Our love for God can be expressed in worship through many different ways. Even this blog could be seen as an expression of my love for God. The important thing to remember is that we must have a way to release our feelings of love for God. Without an expression of love, both the recipient and the lover forget about love. So I urge you to find how to express your love for God. Even evangelism falls into this category. One of our motivations to share what God has done is our love for Him.

The third and final aspect is prayer. Prayer is love utilized and spoken. Prayer can be joyful, difficult, dowsed in tears, or spoken with laughter; but we must remember that prayer is always motivated by love, even if this love if for ourselves (which is not always a bad thing). When love motivates our words, God looks at our heart and knows what words cannot express.

The law cannot exist without love.

We cannot worship without love.

We cannot pray without love.

Love is the central part of all of this and it is our duty to take time to understand what love is. But we must start with the 2 commandments that Jesus spoke and allow these commandments to be our motivation.

It Is The Blood That Binds Us (The Countdown: 5 Days)

Introduction

This year will be the 125 year anniversary of the roots that were established at Barney Creek by the Christian Union. These roots later grew into the Church of God. During these next five days I will be discussing 5 principles that God has placed on my heart. Also throughout these days I will be praying for the Church of God. After taking a class and reading the definitive book on the history of this denomination, I have been led to believe that they have forgotten their roots. So while I reflect on what I believe are the roots of the denomination this week through prayer and fasting, I will be discussing the 5 roots that God has shown me that exist within my own heart.

I will not go into many theological discussions on this subject because this particular series of blogs are not theological arguments. These 5 roots are things that God has placed in my heart and that I desire to see the Church function in. It is my belief that without these 5 roots (in addition to others) the Church may not be functioning how God intends. It is also important to point out that congregations must be contextualized to meet the need around them. That being said, these 5 roots are the needs in my spirit. These needs cry out to be met in a community of other believers.

Communion and Reconciliation

Communion is the first of these five roots. Jesus desired for us to take communion. This was to be a physical application of a Spiritual covenant and principle. There is only one other act in scripture like this, that is required of Christians and that is baptism. Both of these are a spiritual expression of something that is unseen. These acts allow us to confirm our beliefs to ourselves and those around us, both seen and unseen. Now baptism is the first step of reconciliation of humanity and God. When we make that first commitment, we confirm it through the physical action of baptism. Communion should be our continual act of reconciliation not only to God but also to others. 1 Corinthians 11: 27-29 says

" So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. "

This is the basis of a two fold reconciliation. First is humanity's reconciliation with God. Second is Humanity's reconciliation with each other. Both of these are a Christian's responsibility. In this scripture, we are implored to examine ourselves before we take communion. We are also asked to discern the body of Christ. In other words. we must not be holding a grudge or ill feelings against anyone in any way when we take communion. Then we must also discern what is happening within our community of believers (the body of Christ) before we partake.

Now Comes the Judgment

I think we have fundamentally disobeyed God in either one or two ways when it comes to communion. First we do not partake communion enough. We constantly set reminders of things we must accomplish such as to do lists, alarms, and post it notes, but how often do we remind ourselves of Christ's sacrifice. Not only that but communion also reminds us that we are not alone. Through communion, all Christians are bound together. We all participate in this ritual. Apart from any other doctrinal issues or arguments, we all have received the gift of life through Christ's sacrifice. I see no reason why we should not participate in communion at least once a week. Any time Christians gather for a spiritual reason, we should participate in communion. This will allow us to see any issues we may have with those around us, as well as thorns and sins within our own heart. How can we expect the world to participate in reconciliation with an unseen being (God) if we can not even reconcile with those who worship the same God as us? Second, we have forgotten the importance of self-reflection and discernment of the Body of Christ. This process of self assessment, especially in a spiritual way, is incredibly important. 1 Corinthians 11 is fairly clear of the judgment that will come if we do not examine ourselves before taking part in communion. God desires for us to use this time to take a moment out of our life and really look at our own heart in the light of His love, His sacrifice, and His standards. When we take communion, we should first remember the sacrifice of Christ and the love expressed through this sacrifice. Second we should examine ourselves. Look at the state of our heart and listen to the Spirit's words concerning it. It is during this time that if we have any grudges or ill feelings toward others, we should seek reconciliation before partaking. God will be faithful to lead us into how we should bring about reconciliation. This is one of the reasons He gave us His Spirit. Third and possibly most importantly, we must discern the state of the body of Christ. This establishes a sense of community and unity. Without this step, we are not truly experiencing communion.

Now before I get too judgmental, I must admit that I do not participate in communion as often as I should. Part of this is not my fault though. The community that I am currently a part of, has reduced taking communion to 4 times a year. But to all who read this, I encourage you to pursue God's heart in this subject. Next time you gather with your friends, even if there are non-believers there, should you take communion? Should you participate in a short time of remembrance and reconciliation? God's Spirit will lead you and will give you wisdom as to when we should bring this sacred act into our everyday life.

Final Thoughts

Why does it seem like the Body of Christ, the Church, our local congregation lacks unity, community, and reconciliation? Why do those within our church have estranged relationships, grudges against those both within the Body and outside? God will judge us if we do not begin actively seeking to reconcile our relationships with others. God desires us to commune with one other. God desires us to exist within a community. God desires for us to experience communion.

Playing the flute for Snorlax

One of the hardest things within my life to deal with is laziness and boredom. It is sad how both of these go hand in hand. Because of laziness, we do less and have more free time. Through this free time, our laziness builds and soon we begin shirking even more and more of our responsibilities. Eventually boredom becomes a daily problem and suddenly we are using energy to find ways to fill our free time, but only ways that entertain us in the way we want to be entertained.

As a Christian, this will kill and destroy us. James 2:14-26 is one of the most often cited sections of scripture but many times we forget to apply the principle in different parts of our life. In these verses we are reminded that faith without works is dead and works without faith is meaningless. Our faith, our relationship with God is dead if we do not have a form of works to accompany it. Laziness comes in and steals our joy, kills our motivation, and destroys our life. And soon we have robbed Christ of one of His most important gifts to humanity. This gift is not life. This gift is not abundant life. This gift is the chocolate river in Willy Wonka's factory. It is winning a lifetime supply of pizza. It is a life giving water that never runs out. It is life MORE abundant.

Imagine you are walking down a new path, during a long and exciting journey. You are exploring new places and finding new friends. But then, you look up and there is something blocking your path. This is how you meet Snorlax. The only way to wake up Snorlax is take time to find the Poke-Flute, then you must go and play it for him. After he awakes, you are free to continue on your journey. (Or as anyone who has played Pokemon knows, you spend the next 2 hours attempting to catch him.) We need to find what our Poke-Flute is. What can wake us from our sleep of laziness and boredom?

The Bible is very clear on this subject. Ephesians 5:14-17 says

"Awake, sleeper,

And arise from the dead,

And Christ will shine on you."

Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

This blog actually began because I struggle with this problem. I have had a very difficult finding friends during the past few years. This difficulty was only compounded through massive amounts of schooling and becoming a stay at home dad. Luckily, I have a large amount of family members who have filled most of this time, as well as a loving wife who saw this laziness/boredom and urged me to start a blog. The worst part of my laziness though was my rejection of God. He was constantly playing a Poke-Flute for me. He was speaking to me saying, "Arise. Stop sleeping. Accept my gifts, live life, and seek after me. Remember my greatest commandment. Love others and love me. Laziness has no part in this love. Seek my kingdom first. Seek me."

I believe these are the steps, the Poke-Flute for our generation.

1. Wake up!
2. Accept Christ's gift of abundant life. This is done by accepting Him and the sacrifice of His life.
3. Love God.
4. Love Others.
5. Seek after God and His Kingdom.

The last three all tie into the idea of not seeking after your own joy. Many times, boredom arises because we are attempting to find something that will make us happy or bring us joy. This does not occur when we are around others or in the presence of God. When we are around others, we do not care only about ourselves. Our desire is to enjoy the time with our friends. Our love for those around us counteracts boredom because we are no longer seeking after something just for our self.

God's plan for our life is greater than anything we could create. Through our trust in Him, our love for Him, and our seeking after this plan, we will be just like Snorlax when he hears the Poke-Flute. We will wake up from our sleep, from our boredom, from our laziness, and begin to actually live life.

Reddit, String Theory, and Why We Were Created

I have an issue. Whenever I find something funny, exciting, or awesome, I must share it with someone. The typical recipient of all of this is my wife. Many times she does not understand why she must stop whatever she is doing to watch this movie trailer, this youtube video, read this post on Reddit, or whatever else has created joy and laughter within me. I truly can't help it. I have an overwhelming desire to share the things that bring me joy with others. This applies to food, movies, music, family members, board games, even spiritual matters such as discernments, victories, and even just scripture.

But what if God is this way as well.

I am currently reading through a devotional that will apply various aspects of cultural (theology, history, philosophy, science, literature, arts, and contemporary culture) into a seeking of truth and God. The very first devotional revolves around the idea of string theory, creation, and a Christian theory of everything. There were two things that really stuck out to me from this devotion.

First why are we created. This has always been a struggle for me but today I believe God has shown me one possible answer. This idea is commonly used as a source of conflict between beliefs. Many ask how God can love us when He was so vain as to create people just to worship Him. But what if this was not His reason for creation. We know that God, the Holy Spirit, and the Son create an eternal community. We also know that God delights within this community and within Himself. Sam Storms, the author of the devotion puts it best. " The Father rejoices in the beauty of the Son and the Spirit, and the Son revels in the beauty of the Spirit and the Father, and the Spirit delights in that of the Father and the Son. God is his own fan club." Now back to my problem. What if God is like me? Or rather, what if I am like God? What if this innate desire to share my joy and the source of my joy with others is something He experiences? I think He does and I think that is why we were created. Sam Storms confirms this thought and writes it beautifully. "God created us out of this eternal community, this overflow of mutual love, delight, and admiration, so that we might joyfully share in it, to God's eternal glory. God doesn't simply think about himself or talk to himself. He enjoys himself! He celebrates with infinite and eternal intensity the beauty of who he is as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And we've been created to join the party."

This idea can revolutionize how we live. If we begin to realize why we were created, the way we live our life and our priorities will be viewed through this lens.

My second response also flows out of a struggle within myself. How do we enjoy God? The idea of finding joy within God has been difficult for me these past few weeks, months, and maybe even years. But I think God is finally showing me the beginning of finding my way into His joy. One of the best places in scripture for this subject is Psalm 16. This Psalm is one of six Psalms known as a Michtam, what we have translated to mean a Golden Psalm. The odd thing is that all of the other Golden Psalms are sequential, Psalms 56-60. This one stands alone. The last three verses of this Psalm says:

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will rest in hope.
10 For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
11 You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

The first thing I noticed is that we need to go back and see what the therefore is referring to so we can see why the writer's heart is glad. In the previous verses, the writer says he will bless the Lord and that he always sets the Lord before himself. These two things create hope within us. Through this hope our heart is glad. Then we can skip ahead to verse 11 where we can begin to chip away at the idea of enjoying God. Verse 11 explains that in God's presence is the fullness of joy. So one way to enjoy God is to be in His presence. This creates a circle that we must attempt to enter, in one of two ways. We can either experience God's joy and thus be thrust into His presence or we can be in God's presence and then experience God's joy. I think its also vital to point out the idea of God's presence in light of community. Jesus said that where two or more are gathered, He is in our midst. This means through community with other believers, we can very easily enjoy God. We should be quick to apply this to our ideas of the institutional Church. This should be one of reasons we fellowship with others and one of the reasons why we attend a congregation. Life grows stale without joy and through community with other believers we can enter into God's joy and God's presence. So maybe if we want to take time to enjoy God, one of the best ways is to spend time with those who also gather in His name and desire to enjoy Him as well.

Through The Eyes of Redemption

I love media. I spend many hours reading, watching, listening, and playing all the many different forms of media. You name it and I have probably done it. I read books through my phone, watch movies through netflix and blockbuster, play videogames, experience board games, read comics and manga. I love the ability that media has to influence my emotions. Then these emotions challenge me to think, to dwell over how my redeemed spirit and mind should feel about these emotions. All these forms of media not only challenge my spirit to engage with the Creator but give me a greater range of allegories to draw others into His arms. One quality that I do not see outside of God but I constantly see in media is the idea of being redeemed. Redemption can only exist with one person being stronger, smarter, bigger, BETTER then the other. You have to above someone to be able to redeem them. The ultimate archetype for this is God. There also has to be a willingness by the one redeemed. You can not be redeemed out of something that you feel is the best for you. You must realize that you need redemption to be redeemed.

This is the mindset I have when I view media. I look for something that engages my soul, my mind, my heart or points to an ultimate idea of redemption. In the future I plan on writing on different forms of media from this point of view.