Let us consider that any attempt at duplicating the New Testament church today would simply be restoring a poor imitation of the original, unless one restores the spirit of thing. The restoration of any specific church spoken of in the New Testament would be to restore a pale imitation of the ideal. The ideal church is one which Jesus desires his followers to seek. The ideal is a journey and not a destination.
There were no perfect churches during the First Century nor have there been any throughout the centuries, up to and including the current one. There is an ideal that no church in history has attained or achieved. Every church is comprised of imperfect individuals redeemed by the sacrifice of the "one and only son of God." This redeemed community should be a redemptive community.
It is this essence of the original, which gives it its substance and prevents it from being an ethereal apparition devoid of any real heart and soul. Nevertheless, the Spirit of Christ living in the individual members of the body of Christ will create a living; functioning, vibrant, giving, caring and sharing body like the one called for by the New Testament. While it will not be a perfect replica of the ideal in worship or service it, will bear its essence, nature and character because it is filled with its spirit and that Spirit is the Spirit of Christ.
Will this path leads home? Finding this elusive course is difficult. It is, nevertheless, this path that each of us should desire, that is to say, all those who wants to be a Christian like the ones who walked with Jesus. It is this simple, earnest faith that calls out to the soul set free by the blood of Jesus. Everyone who seeks to be shaped by the amazing, unfathomable grace of God will be moving in the direction of the Spirit of God.
Isaiah speaks of the joy of the redeemed and streams in the desert in chapter 35. He continues to tell of a highway that will be called the "Way of Holiness," and only the "redeemed will walk there." It is along this path that we hear the lonesome cry of a lost soul wandering across the desert of despair, seeking the golden city, the Zion of God. It is on this highway that we hear the echoes of the mournful sound from quivering lips, a woeful lament with tears stained cheeks and blood red eyes, whispering “Jerusalem, Oh! New Jerusalem,” holy city of God.
It is the challenge that faces this deeply flawed follower of Jesus. This is the yearning of the heart set free. It is a longing for a simple New Testament fellowship whose worship and service flows from a personal spiritual relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Would not the realization of a fellowship like this in our time, be at least in some measure, the restoration of New Testament Christianity?
Where, oh where can a redemptive community like this be found? The search and the journey continues for this one lonely and deeply flawed traveler. Which direction do I go or path shall I follow?
Bob
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
"A Long Walk Home" #4
There is also, one might suggest, a fundamental flaw in the vision of a more perfect version of Christianity that is simply locked away somewhere in the past and awaiting the discovery by honest seekers. Going back in time even if one can find the path, is a difficult if not impossible task. The lament of the atomic age and often heard refrain is, “it is impossible to put the genie back in the bottle.” The same could be said of any quest to restore primitive Christianity.
Trying to separate fact from fiction about past events and practices is fraught with its own unique, difficult and dangerous perils. It is difficult not to view the past through the “rose colored glasses” of historical traditions or current practices. These current practices and historical traditions that have almost become a part of our religious genome. We all quite simply run the risk of becoming prisoners locked away and confined behind the bars of our own practices and presuppositions.
If the way forward for a Christ centered community can be found in finding a way back to a simpler Christ centered life how are we to find this path? Is it possible then that the path to this Christ centered life can be found only by an inward journey? This solitary journey by individuals seeking to be more Christ like, must be a journey into the heart and life of God. It must begin with an inner transformation, a Spiritual Direction which begins on the inside and is fully seen on the outside, in ones life.
For the church the way back to New Testament Christianity would be found in each person’s own personal spiritual journey. It is a walk in the Son. The course that is charted by keeping one eyes on the “bright and morning star.” It is a transcendent and transforming event accomplished only by the living presence of Jesus Christ. This course, to a more Christ like life, must be a Christological walk led by the Spirit into the heart of God.
This path if followed, would be a truly life altering and spiritually transforming journey. Let me suggest that is only a truly transformed people who will produce transformed churches. Restoring, recreating or transforming churches without first restoring, recreating and transforming lost, broken human beings would seem to be an impossible task.
We were created to be social creatures, called to live in community. Scripture clearly points this out as early in human history as the garden of Eden. However, we do not enter the kingdom as a community we enter as individuals and (added by God) become members of a redeemed community (the body of Christ). Should restoration begin with an attempt to recover or redeem a flawed institution or to recover lost sheep and redeem lost souls.
Each member of the body must serve its own unique function for the good of the entire body. Also, it should be noted that, the members do not derive their life or purpose from the body (each other) but from the head. The body derives its identity from the head not from individual parts (members). The members uphold and support each other and a structure for support and growth but not the life force.
When the primary relationship (the one with Christ) is in tact then the secondary relationships (that with each other) should be healthy, holy, healing and hopeful. This transformation does not begin with the community. It begins with the individual and ends with a transformed community. It is not the restoration of an institution, pattern or system, but rather the restoration and redemption of the organism known as the "Body of Christ."
It is only a transformed people who can accomplish the mission of becoming a truly transformed community.It is this community of redeemed individuals who are committed to continuing the mission of Jesus Christ. That it is a continuing mission is revealed by Luke in the Book of Acts when he writes of his first book about, “what Jesus began to do and to teach”). This continuing mission was carried on by a hand full of flawed followers of Jesus.
It has been a continuing mission throughout the ages as men and women of faith have boldly gone where those of faith have gone before. This mission is to seek out the lost and share a message of hope and restoration with all people wherever they may be found. This was true of the mission in the first century and it remains true in this or any future century. We become missional by embracing and embodying the mission not by our buildings, programs, other self-centered indulgences or ventures of self-absorption. Then, we share in the life of Christ we share the continuing and on going mission of Jesus Christ.
This idea and vision of restoration is predicated upon the assumption that New Testament Christianity is more about the nature, character and essence of being Christian than it is about the forms, functions and mechanics of doing church. If this presupposition is even remotely correct, then our corporate spiritual destination will be determined and dictated by our personal Spiritual Direction.
When a Spiritual Direction becomes the goal and reality, every relationship and fellowship will be founded upon and determined by the primary and ultimate relationship. That is to say the beginning and end of all relationships, the one with God almighty the giver and sustainer of life. When we are moving in the direction of Christ, when the Spirit of God guides our path, even though we are imperfect, we will be continuing and restoring the mission of the early church.
Could this be what it means to be a redeemed, restored and transformed follower of Christ and community?
Bob
Trying to separate fact from fiction about past events and practices is fraught with its own unique, difficult and dangerous perils. It is difficult not to view the past through the “rose colored glasses” of historical traditions or current practices. These current practices and historical traditions that have almost become a part of our religious genome. We all quite simply run the risk of becoming prisoners locked away and confined behind the bars of our own practices and presuppositions.
If the way forward for a Christ centered community can be found in finding a way back to a simpler Christ centered life how are we to find this path? Is it possible then that the path to this Christ centered life can be found only by an inward journey? This solitary journey by individuals seeking to be more Christ like, must be a journey into the heart and life of God. It must begin with an inner transformation, a Spiritual Direction which begins on the inside and is fully seen on the outside, in ones life.
For the church the way back to New Testament Christianity would be found in each person’s own personal spiritual journey. It is a walk in the Son. The course that is charted by keeping one eyes on the “bright and morning star.” It is a transcendent and transforming event accomplished only by the living presence of Jesus Christ. This course, to a more Christ like life, must be a Christological walk led by the Spirit into the heart of God.
This path if followed, would be a truly life altering and spiritually transforming journey. Let me suggest that is only a truly transformed people who will produce transformed churches. Restoring, recreating or transforming churches without first restoring, recreating and transforming lost, broken human beings would seem to be an impossible task.
We were created to be social creatures, called to live in community. Scripture clearly points this out as early in human history as the garden of Eden. However, we do not enter the kingdom as a community we enter as individuals and (added by God) become members of a redeemed community (the body of Christ). Should restoration begin with an attempt to recover or redeem a flawed institution or to recover lost sheep and redeem lost souls.
Each member of the body must serve its own unique function for the good of the entire body. Also, it should be noted that, the members do not derive their life or purpose from the body (each other) but from the head. The body derives its identity from the head not from individual parts (members). The members uphold and support each other and a structure for support and growth but not the life force.
When the primary relationship (the one with Christ) is in tact then the secondary relationships (that with each other) should be healthy, holy, healing and hopeful. This transformation does not begin with the community. It begins with the individual and ends with a transformed community. It is not the restoration of an institution, pattern or system, but rather the restoration and redemption of the organism known as the "Body of Christ."
It is only a transformed people who can accomplish the mission of becoming a truly transformed community.It is this community of redeemed individuals who are committed to continuing the mission of Jesus Christ. That it is a continuing mission is revealed by Luke in the Book of Acts when he writes of his first book about, “what Jesus began to do and to teach”). This continuing mission was carried on by a hand full of flawed followers of Jesus.
It has been a continuing mission throughout the ages as men and women of faith have boldly gone where those of faith have gone before. This mission is to seek out the lost and share a message of hope and restoration with all people wherever they may be found. This was true of the mission in the first century and it remains true in this or any future century. We become missional by embracing and embodying the mission not by our buildings, programs, other self-centered indulgences or ventures of self-absorption. Then, we share in the life of Christ we share the continuing and on going mission of Jesus Christ.
This idea and vision of restoration is predicated upon the assumption that New Testament Christianity is more about the nature, character and essence of being Christian than it is about the forms, functions and mechanics of doing church. If this presupposition is even remotely correct, then our corporate spiritual destination will be determined and dictated by our personal Spiritual Direction.
When a Spiritual Direction becomes the goal and reality, every relationship and fellowship will be founded upon and determined by the primary and ultimate relationship. That is to say the beginning and end of all relationships, the one with God almighty the giver and sustainer of life. When we are moving in the direction of Christ, when the Spirit of God guides our path, even though we are imperfect, we will be continuing and restoring the mission of the early church.
Could this be what it means to be a redeemed, restored and transformed follower of Christ and community?
Bob
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