No Ordinary Thaw

Why do we not speak with that same simplicity, that same urgency and that same absoluteness [as Paul and the early Christians]? I believe it is because we do not believe it as absolutely as Paul did, nor do we live as if we believe it. We are simply not occupied with the things that are eternal, and therefore we are unable to persuade men.¹ We need to press mankind to come to terms with eternity even though they will accuse us of being dogmatic, narrow-minded and intolerant, and yet that will be enough to intimidate many of us to silence. There is nothing more embarrassing and intimidating to the modern Christian than to be considered narrow and dogmatic.² It did not, however, intimidate Paul. Eternity is not a narrow concept. The world needs to be disturbed by people who cannot contain themselves, who are beyond the issue of taste, politeness and good manners, who burn with the reality of eternity and who take every opportunity to express the things that are Divine.

Our absoluteness is the very height of offense to a world that is relativistic and pluralistic. They do not want to be told that there is anything that is absolute, that there are only two alternatives, but they need to be told, not by people who bring (only) the correct doctrine but by those who come with a burning conviction. Do we really believe that God has fixed a day when He will judge the world in righteousness? Our apostolic task is to bring an unwanted and unwelcome message to an indifferent world, and it is a message we can only bring in the same proportion that we can demonstrate it. It is not enough to be “correct.” We have to come to them, as it were, from the eternal place.

Art Katz – The Challenge of Living an Authentic Christian Life

(all emphasis mine)

1 We’re not even persuading our own children in most instances. I include myself in this.

2 This is why the threat of slander is often satan’s final “trump card” whenever his “kingdom” is finally and actually being threatened.

Follow me, as I follow Christ.

– Paul of Tarsus (1 Corinthians 11:1)

In contemplating things in my own life and things I have had pointed out to me by others, I’ve had to confront aspects of leadership that may be required of me as to spheres for which I will be held accountable (eg. leading household, children, etc.)

One aspect I’ve had to consider is the specific pathway into “leadership” and one thing I am discovering more and more, as a bedrock for leadership, is the simple basic aspect of being a fantastic follower. I’ve noticed that the people I know in my own life who I consider “excellent leaders,” if I had to boil away all the upfront perspectives and views on who they are and why they are what they are… I’ve noticed that at base, one important, simple aspect of their lives is… they simply fantastic, stable, loyal followers. Followers of Christ. Immovable. Unchangeable. You don’t always have to get after them and “remind” them of their commitments and what their life and direction should be. They lead by following. Following fantastically. Lighting the way. Paving the path. Taking the hits. Doing the upfront work, without complaint and without notice and without drawing attention to themselves. Always reflecting Christ in their simple, base life choices.

This way of all-out following has a direct correlation to why Jesus said “Call no man ‘master,’ ‘teacher,’ or ‘father’…” No “titles.” The “Gentiles do it that way,” Jesus said. But “not so with you.” Don’t do it that way. There’s a reason why. It interferes with following. God’s Way is following, surrender, emptying. More on this last point another time. It’s a whole topic unto itself. But what a concept of “leadership” is wrapped up in the simplicity of fantastic following.

I’m currently reading an absolutely fantastic book which I’ll disclose and review here soon. What incredible word poetry the author is using to correctly (re)paint and recalibrate my view of the Kingdom amidst a world and society that has had lost to it — through a methodical “dumbing down” — of the Reality of the Kingdom of God from Heaven. But more on that later.

Here is a quote from the book, something that the author said after reading the New Testament scriptures for the very first time that has just mesmerized me since reading it:

I was struck by the Apostolic Grandeur of the scriptures…

I was struck by that quote. It’s like he stated something I have only all-too-rarely sensed and should have continued to feel every time I read them, but again, because of the “religiousness” of our “modern society,” the invention of the printing press (and now the “ePrinting Press” — the internet), we loose the sense of rarity and awe this person felt due to the (perceived) commonality and (very perceived) “familiarity” in our society (though actually the OPPOSITE is true…) and the ease with which the scriptures can be accessed.

But do we really realize just how rare the scriptures actually are? Are we struck by the enormity of them? Not just what they teach, but… I can find no better words than the ones I just quoted… Are we struck by the Apostolic Grandeur of them??!!

For those who may be unfamiliar with how the Bible was “formed”… how it was “put together”… how it was “decided” which books were “from God” and which were not… I can find no better description. That sense of Apostolic Grandeur is exactly what the “early church fathers” used in determining what was “from God” and what was not. There was a sense of rightness, a sense of awe, a sense of “other-worldliness,” a sense in which “these words, though spoken by men and one man in particular” were not just any other “religious words” — like from Confusious or something — but that they really were wrought from another Realm.
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I recently received this MP3 clip spoken by the late Art Katz. It’s got to be in the top three things I’ve ever heard because… the implications for what it means — if you have eyes to see and ears to hear!! — are so huge.

Here is a quick quote to ponder:

There are a couple of words that need to be restored… one is “fellowship”… “Fellowship” has become some kind of easy, soft, pappie, slap-on-the-back and chuck-under-the-chin “how ya doin’, brother?”…

Art then proceeds to properly redefine “fellowship.” It’s a whole lot more than what most of us have been brought up to think. If you can excuse me for saying so, most of what we call “fellowship” is a cheap, cotton-candy substitute for the real thing. And why shouldn’t satan invent and push such a definition on us? His “kingdom” is only threatened by the Real Thing. So, he does his “work” by changing definitions. And we are the losers for it.

This isn’t just about “fellowship.” This is about a missing Reality in the world today (by and large) of an intertwined, resurrection, “daily in public and from house to house,” “all things in common,” kind of unified Life that Jesus prayed about in John 17 that is absolutely necessary for turning the world upside down now as it once was as depicted in Acts. Missing “fellowship,” missing truth (which is way more than just “doctrine”), missing Reality and missing Expression of all of those things are what are discussed in 30 short minutes.

I hope you’ll listen to the clip, pray through it, and see if you can see the picture repainted in God’s Way. Only through the Reality of the Kingdom as God intended — and not a watered down version that suits our fancies and lifestyles — can His Glory really be manifest in the earth.

Related

• The Church Prepared for the Return of Christ

I normally don’t post twice in one day (or even in one week), but this was so totally jaw-droppingly real — when I read it, was like “YYYYEEEESSS!!!” — I had to post this today. Just terrific:

A child kicks its legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough… It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again,” to the sun; and every evening, ‘Do it again,” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daises alike: it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.

–G.K. Chesterton

Man, if that doesn’t just tickle you to the bone, if that doesn’t just resonate with you as “Yeeessss!!” I don’t know what will.

There actually is a progression of Spiritual Life that John alludes to in 1 John 2 that depicts our lives spiritually as progressing from children, then fathers, THEN Young Men. He wrote it twice to make sure we wouldn’t miss it. The spiritual progression of men and women is from childhood to fathers/mothers (taking responsibility in God’s house) THEN to Young Men and Women — warrior/priests who are absolutely taking it to satan and busting him in the chops (1 John 2:12-14).

The progression is toward who God is. And God is Young.

Related

• Children, Fathers, Young Men

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us… The most pretentious fact about any man is not what he at any given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like.

–A.W. Tozer

Or put another way, the closer one’s conception to the Reality of God, the closer one is to the highest purity, perfection, satisfaction, holiness, and Christ-likeness. Who God “is” is already set. God is Who He Is. God said that: I AM WHO I AM It is not within our prerogative to decide who God will be. But only to align our thoughts and perceptions to Who He Actually Is. Nothing else matters.

And when we’ve seen Jesus for who He is, then we have also seen God for who He is as well (John 14:1-6).

I was absolutely floored to find out today that buried in some of Martin Luther’s writings, as far back as 1526, he was of the opinion and thought that the only real church was that which was not publicly celebrated where any pagan off the street could come in and “participate” and “go through the motions” and no one would ever know.

But instead, Martin Luther advocated the same kind of life for those living in his 14th century as what was practiced in the 1st century. That is, as in Acts 2… “Daily in public and from house to house” where everyone was bound together by sacred oaths and who had no need of pomp or fluff or traditions of men where a “religious show” was put on. But rather that men would gather together spontaneously, on their own (because they truly were born a second time and weren’t merely responding to en event on the calendar where anyone can “show up” for a few hours and “look good” — but an actual kind of life that not only would allow those truly born from above to recognize the merely religious and the pretenders, but that they should do something about them.) A place here men were taught to “obey all that [Jesus has] commanded” and not just passed along “information” about God.

He said that the only reason he didn’t follow through on living that way was (1) he didn’t see the kind of leadership (ie. Ephesians 4 giftedness) to pull it off, and (2) because, like in today’s world… he didn’t see anyone around who really wanted to live that way.

Check this out. Some comments are in order since the translation into English is a little archaic and the idioms don’t quite carry over:
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Recently revealed, personal thoughts of a once super rich and famous person, “adored” the world over:

I know there are a million people worse off than me [and] that I should do all that I can for them, but at the end of the day I have to live with myself [and] emotionally at the moment I am upside down [and] confused (so boring for those around me) [and] putting on this act is desperate, but if it keeps people off my back then surely it must be worth it. (emphasis mine)

Just an interesting perspective when the enemy uses all the electronic media at his disposal to “convince” us that the grass in greener if we were just rich or famous or a movie star or… This person had everything at his/her disposal, practically, and anything he or she could have ever wanted. This person’s desperate death in a desperate search for love while running from way more than the people who were chasing him/her at the time proves otherwise.

Always good for me personally to hear, so I thought I’d pass it along.

I was shown this full page ad today that someone recently took out in a New Zealand newspaper:

Dear Christians: I am a Christian, and I am going to be real with you.

Brothers and sisters, “Christianity,” as our experience and history show, is a lie. [He simply means that what we commonly call "Christianity" today... isn't. Not that the Truth of Christianity itself is a lie, but simply how it's being expressed and represented as God's Heart and Mind... is a lie.] Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world, and He prayed that all His followers would be One. God answered Jesus’ prayer… but since Acts something’s gone seriously amiss. Jesus said a divided kingdom would fall. Christianity’s history proves its nature: competing for members, money, power and prestige using worldly methods and systems and measuring success against worldly standards. This is not Jesus’ Kingdom any more than its 10,000 schisms equal One Faith. This is not “one love, one mind, one heart, one accord.” This kingdom is Babylon and her daughters. King Jesus isn’t schizophrenic.

The Old Testament foreshadowed our times. God raised up many saviours to Israel: Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, Hezekiah, Josiah, and Zerubbabel; but upon each of their deaths the people fell away. The apostles of Jesus guided their generation, but upon their deaths the people fell away. For those with ears that hear, the last eighteen centuries correspond to Israel’s Babylonian captivity, at the end which God called His people back home to Jerusalem. He is calling His people home again today. That stirring energy deep inside — if you feel it — what is it?
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From a recent email encouragement and book excerpt:

What was the “church life” like in AD 30-70? It was identical, really, to the “disciples’ life” during the last three years of Jesus’ physical existence. That experience of intimate fellowship had simply been transplanted geographically to the cities and villages of the Roman Empire.

According to Luke, the gospel that he wrote described what Jesus “began to do and teach” (Acts 1:1). The book of Acts, then, was what Jesus continued to do and teach, after His ascension. This time He was “doing and teaching” through His people, the ekklesia.

First century believers, then, saw themselves as continuing the life that the earliest followers had enjoyed with Jesus on the hills and highways of Galilee and Judea. They were still His spiritual family, “seated in a circle around Him” (Mark 3:34). They still hung on His every word. They still built their lives on the foundation of putting those words into practice. Acts 2:42-49 is really only a description of several thousand people putting Matthew 5-7 into practice together.

The “religion” of Christianity is in truth only meant to be the “religion” of Jesus. It is nothing more — and certainly nothing less.
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