Are you not entertained?

Amos Chapter 8 is a warning to Israel about their dishonesty in raising the prices of the wheat, meaning the hungry cannot afford it.  God is always championing the cause for honesty, integrity and truth.  In God's rebuke we can see that not only are the prices being raised but the wheat has the discarded parts also.  In other words it is the sweepings or the chaff that are added to the weighed portion.  If you bought 2 kilos of potatoes and when opening the bag it had half a kilo of soil, I would be contacting the supermarket!  How does this become important to us today?

In the Old Testament we find God speaks to Israel about matters that will impact believers in the New Covenant.  Often what we see as Old Testament pictures become principles for us.  In this story 'grain' is the word of God.  An ox is not prevented from eating the grain while it works and Pauls likens this to the worker deserving to be paid.  So what we have is the ox is the worker and the grain is essentially what feeds the ox.   Here the word of God is 'food.' Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Peter and John all use the picture of food being the word of God.  

God's worker 'eating' the word of God and passing on 'food' for the hungry is the picture of the modern preacher.  In turn he gets paid for doing so.  When many of todays preachers pass on 'food' to the hungry, that 'grain' is full of discarded chaff and sweepings up: dust.  Most messages will contain some element of grain: God's word.  But there seems to be lots of chaff / dust in the form of things that are not going to feed people.  On top of this there are appeals for love offerings that increase all the time.  

5 saying, “When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great and deal deceitfully with false balances,

So it does not escape God's scrutiny when the scales are off balance.  Is this what we are seeing today?  We definitely see preachers entertaining and talking about nonsense from the front.  Those  hungry for Gods word get hardly fed yet pay high prices for the ministry.  I'm not saying humour and illustrations or being creative are wrong.  I just wonder if these vehicles for a good message are now the message.  Are you not entertained?

Gary Ward

What Jesus wants.

 I suppose its a big claim to be able to relate exactly what Jesus wants.  But it's not hard based upon the scriptures to get a ballpark of what he wants to accomplish in our lives.  'Discipleship' would be a sound byte that describes what he wants.  Following Jesus with our hearts bowed low?  Does that sound right? I think it does!  However these terms are meaningless if applied wrongly.  

25 years ago I began what would become an exit from systems and structures in 'church.'  It started with the realisation that 'ekklesia' in the first century was not recognisable in our church practices.  Here are just three things that are hard to do if 'industry' is our practice over 'family.' 

1. Meeting in intentionally small groups in a home means close fellowship, brothers and sisters who are focussed on the welfare of the group more that expansion of the group.  

2. Having the Lords supper as a meal also strengthens these bonds.  Families drink and eat food together!  

3. No prominent titles or ministries also removes the subtle spiritual hierarchies that emerge without scriptural reasoning.   

This is a brief description of the difference we get when we return to the scriptural practices recorded in the first century by the Apostles.  Why is this important?

If we are going to follow Jesus we must be carrying our own cross.  That is 'discipleship' according to Jesus.  It is my observation that church systems and structures offer elements that don't help a believer go 'to the death of self.' Instead they bolster identities and vocations that are pulling away from Christ centred following, towards 'self.'  The first century ekklesia was designed to remain Christ centred and not raise the opportunity for the flesh to rise up.  For a number of years I was in the system of church and I learned how to make things all about me and then simply paint 'Jesus' on it.  

When we commit to the 'death of self' we place ourselves directly in Jesus hands.  If He is spending the time trying to wrestle man-made practices off you there little room for His work through you.  If Jesus is going to 'build His Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it,' we should probably let Him!  Practicing church the way the Apostles did is not simply obeying what Jesus said, it is a revolution of what it means to give your life away to the Lord.  So am I saying I'm a better disciple than those who go to 'system' church?  No!  I'm simply stating that because I don't do 'system' church I know how bad I am at being one.   

Hurt in the hands of the Lord

My dad died about two and a half years ago.  Like with any death, it rattled me a little but I did not grieve.  My grief was outplayed while he was alive because of his absent celebration of me as his son.  He was uninterested and emotionally inert as a dad and it left me having to negotiate some wounds.  Jesus can fix this but there are some tricky things to negotiate for anyone who has been deeply hurt in any way.  

One of the things the lord has to do when he wants us to walk in authenticity is to have us experience the cross.  The cross leads us to death to self and Jesus said to be his disciple we have to be carrying our own cross (Luke 9:23).  This involves suffering and trials.  About 24 years ago my journey got very bumpy and it looked like the heavenly Father was just like my earthly father.  I had experiences that deeply wounded me and I couldn't reconcile why the Father would have me feel like He also has little regard for me or my wellbeing.  I spent a lot of time in a paradox:  I know that God is loving and caring and values me.  My combination punch for feeling low is reading Ephesians ch1 and Psalm 139 - Boom! 'This is the actual truth despite how I'm feeling.' But if these glorious scriptures are true, how is it that the Father has allowed this? It seemed to be another father who, for no reason, chooses to have me feel alone, abandoned and wounded.  'What was happening?'

It turns out that what God was doing was taking me through necessary surgery!  Unfortunately to do deep 'heart' work he has to pull out the rugs from underneath us and this looks like orchestrated harm from the Father.  But the way to see this is through eyes of faith!  The author of Hebrews speaks of the Word of God is like the implements that cut up the animals on the alter in the Old Covenant (Heb 4:12).  When God gets to work there must be a dividing of us from the world.  This is so God can work His will and purposes through us going forward.  I've had a fair few experiences where the Lord gets down to business in this way.  My hope is that Jesus who is inside of me can get out a little easier because of this work.  

Of course the greatest example of this is Jesus' finished work at Calvary.  It was brutal. Isaiah says God 'crushed' Jesus to gain the means for him to be able to rescue us.  If Jesus did this and we follow him, it is a high calling to be treated seemingly brutally and to feel utterly crushed sometimes.  If you feel like God is not acknowledging a deep hurt in your life because the hurtful things continue, always remember this: in Gods hands pain and suffering is a honourable high calling!  Why?  Because you are being treated as a son.  It is an indication that God can trust you with pain and suffering because your love for Him is genuine (1 Pet 1:7).  As we dwell on these truths, the emotional impact of feeling crushed is replaced with the Joy of knowing it pleases the Lord when He can do what's necessary in us then through us.  Grace and Peace.  

Gary Ward