What is Jesus doing right now?

With every good reason under the Sun, preachers and Bible Teachers lead us back to Calvary to help us get better at discipleship.  I fully understand why.  In that act the Lord offered himself to become sin.  Born not after Adam by the virgin birth, Jesus could rightfully offer himself in our place. If you are familiar with Romans 5 you will find that all the human race was incorporated into Christ as he died on the cross.  He was Judged and God's wrath was poured out on Him... yet this also happened to us by this act.   Because He took this on our behalf we are Justified before God.  That means we are free from the penalty of sin.  However we only access this when we believe on Jesus finished work and then we are incorporated into the Resurrection.  Such Joy!  

That is not all the story.  When we find difficult times of struggle and fall down time and time again we can think of the cross and remember we are saved and sin cannot have us dragged before the great white throne... it is finished.  However not many are looking ahead to the focus of our lives as followers of Jesus.  If we only audit the Cross we can miss what is really going on.  

However you break bread, the intention is we remember Jesus' death at Calvary (and its Glorious consequences), but also the coming Kingdom.  The Crucifixion ends the Old Testament era which had its purpose.  The coming kingdom begins a New era of Jesus coming to reign for a thousand years on Earth.  So this places us in the age of the Gentiles or as many say, 'the age of the church.'  To be accurate about this age it is actually when the New Covenant God made with Israel has been handed over to the Gentiles because of Israels unbelief.  Whichever way up it lands, we relate to Jesus in a particular way in this age.  

To save us we have the cross.  But the ongoing saga in this story is not to just free us from the penalty of sin.  It is also to free us from the power of sin.  This is why we have access to the Risen, Glorified Lord!  More accurately, He also has access to us and wants to do something very specific as we walk this out. He wants to bring about scenarios in our life where we are confronted by our own willfulness, the areas where we simply love sin over God.  This is the Sanctification process and is all about freeing us to live up to the Holiness and Righteousness Jesus has credited us with and imputed to us when we bowed our hearts to him.  So this process springboards from the work at the cross but is dependent on the actual life of Jesus as he now is... Risen, Glorified and Lord of all.  This is whom we can access!

How we engage and access this process is our 'faithfulness.'  Many Christians are under the impression for various reasons that they are to look to the cross when they are in times of struggle. While that will center us on the reason for our new birth, it does not directly help us get to grips with overcoming.    When we understand that Jesus is Glorified and wanting to excavate our hearts, we can focus on Him, Risen, now, alive and predisposed towards our being set apart from this world. We can then experience the work of the Holy Spirit bringing turbulence to our lives to shake up the party! These times are supposed to be difficult as Peter reminds us in chapter 4 of his first letter, 

12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 

One day this age will end and Jesus will return and snatch the true church away.  This will be the Glorification, completing the process of Redemption for the Church.  So the cross means Justification, Jesus' Transforming power is Sanctification and future Glorification completes the three elements of Salvation.  

Let's access the Lord  as He is... sat on His Fathers Throne with all power, Authority and Dominion given to Him so you and I can cast our hearts before Him and offer our lives to be dealt with as He desires.  If we can remain in this place we will receive a reward that is eternal.  

Come Lord Jesus (but first make me a vessel through which you can be glorified)

Amen

  

The issue of balance in writing...

Earlier today I posted a blog about authentic calling etc.  I've now take the blog down as some issues with it were pointed out.  I stand by the heart of the message but not the way it was written. It's tricky when you feel the burden to stand against the end times tide.

People who embark upon the call to reformation are not detached from the emotional and psychological impact of the task.  I love Jesus' Church (people not buildings) but am also conflicted when I see and am subject to the things that seem to leave Christ dethroned or men wrongly glorified. So to post nearly 100 blogs that hopefully demonstrate a firm challenge to the church in love takes some effort.

So if you read the last one ( The joy of minimal audience) and thought it was a bit snarky or over accusative, I ask for your forgiveness and I'll try to convey the heart of reformation better next time. There are many forces against this work and If you in some way support the idea that someone needs to address the issues we see occurring in all things 'church' please pray for us.  It isn't a critical or bitter spirit that drives this, it is a leading from the Lord to be willing to shun comfort and social acceptance to speak into the issues we have in these end times.

A while ago I read a blog who readily admitted that the church makes him angry.  I can relate. However in my relaying of the reforming of church practice I (we) must carefully assess whether the Sword of the Spirit is for healing or amputation.  When the Lord is directing it, it will be healing but when it is me I can only amputate. I obviously don't want to do that.

Until next time... Blessings in the Risen, Glorified Lord Jesus

Gary Ward

Geocentric or Heliocentric?

A big debate has been gong on about the operation of our solar system and indeed, our Universe.  The problem is whether the accepted model that the planets orbit the Sun or whether the Earth is the centre of the Universe remaining still while everything revolves around it.  What an outlandish claim! That's what I thought when I came across it all but apparently there has never been conclusive experiments to prove any model either way.  Seriously!  But even suggesting you can cope with the idea of a stationary Earth places you well and truly in dum-dum category.

What I am intrigued about is not that I believe the Earth is centre of the Universe... to me it doesn't have to be... it is a lovely picture to see all things revolving around and depending on the great light. I am concerned that there has been a general push towards the earth revolving around the sun... less suggestion that we are unique and special in the Universe as the Bible suggests.

I'm also concerned that Christians 'make' things true to suit their position.  It would be nice to conclude that the Earth is stationary in the Universe and everything revolves around it but to be insistent about it is doing what science has been doing for years -  marketing something that they don't really know the answer to in order to fit their agenda.

So this post is about the fact that we are fed an agenda by...

I don't know who or what is behind this but maybe its the same people who want us to see the western countries bigger than third world countries and so alter the map.  Maybe it is those who want to bolster a no-God agenda and tell us we are a coincidental chance rather than a design by a designer.  School didn't teach me the consistent patterns throughout Creation.  In recent years Quantum Mechanics, the erosion of the Evolution Theory and evidence that we may be the centre of the universe sat stationary as the point of it all, is killing atheists.

I recently posted this on an atheist thread:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/wall-street-journal/is-science-showing-there-really-is-a-god/story-fnay3ubk-1227167151847

One atheist responded:  " even though this is true, that there are incredible odds against it... IT (evolution) STILL HAPPENS... can't you see it?

er... no.

Gary Ward

The experts speak...

In a recent article I was describing my 'weird' Theology.  The fact that it concerned Ecclesiology not Theology I let go.  However I did state that the experts (me not being one) generally agree what the practices of first century Church were.  To recap, Jesus had told the disciples to 'this do' when they met together to remember Jesus.  The Apostles went on to do just that... they met in homes and had food and drink when they met to remember Jesus.  The Paul shows us in Chapter 11 that this was to be the practice 'until the Lord comes.'

This is not just my opinion.

That a gathering of believers would not 'this do' is because they are doing church according to history, not scripture, and the solution is to transition back to Jesus' command.  Here are the experts reading the same scripture and reaching the same conclusions.  If you don't know who they are Wiki them:

Donald Guthrie:  'A Lion Handbook the History of Christianity'

"In the early days the Lords Supper took place in the course of a communal meal.  All brought what food they could and it was shared together."

John Drane: 'The New Lion Encyclopaedia"

"Jesus instituted this common meal at Passover time at the Last Supper shared with his disciples before his death.  The Last Supper looks back to the death of Jesus and forward to the Second Coming.  Throughout the New Testament period the Lord's Supper was an actual meal shared in the homes of Christians.  It was only much later that the Lords Supper was moved to a special building and Christian prayers and praises that came from the Synagogue service were added to become a grand ceremony."

Drane : "Introducing the New Testament"

The early church observed the Lord's Supper as an exclusive community meal."

Canon Leon Morris:  "Commentary on 1 Corinthians (Tyndale) IVP

(1 Cor 11)... "reveals that at Corinth the Holy Communion was not simply a token meal as with us but an actual meal, moreover it seems clear it is a meal where each of the participant brought food."


I Howard Marshall:  "New Testament Theology"

"The Lords Supper was observed by his disciples at first as a community meal Sunday by Sunday"

Four experts, 5 quotes.   There's much more.   It is difficult to find anyone of the stature of these giants who reads the New Testament and doesn't agree with them.  If you are gathering and not partaking in a full meal it is because you accepted the church practice you were born into as 'legit.' For 15 years, much to the anger of my contemporaries, I am delivering the Reformation of Church Practice.  It is my conviction that the Lord is saying, 'Give me back my Church' to leaders who are in a place to return to authentic New Testament church practice and thus allow Jesus to be the Head.

I reject the idea that any other way of gathering is 'error.'  You can't be in error if you don't know what is out of place.  However, if you receive this information and do not research the possibility that it is correct you condemn it before investigating.  The reason a person would not pursue a possibility that they need to change something based on even a hint that God may be telling them something is bigger problem than the way they meet together. It means they are unable to be taught.  It is not me who is ultimately able to correct that.

So in conclusion, ekklesia, according to the New Testament was home based, centred around food and drink with open and equal sharing (1 Cor 14:26).  Jesus said 'do this,' the Apostles did it, Paul corrected a Church who were doing it and the experts confirm it.  What are you going to do about 'it?'

"For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup,(we have found to be a full meal) you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes."   Paul the Apostle (emphasis and clarification mine)

resources for further reading:  Beresford Job  "Biblical Church,"
                                                 Frank Viola "Pagan Christianity?"
                                               

A response to my 'weird' 'Theology'

A couple of months ago a prominent Minister and former Youth Leader colleague publicly called my Theology 'weird.'  Since reading this in a thread on Facebook I set about my usual practice of not caring whatsoever.  However, I've had a nagging prompt to set the record straight about why I don't do the done thing and try to ... ahem.... plant a church.'  In this account for my walk with the Lord and 'what He is doing' the accusation that my Theology is 'weird' will be brutally assaulted by the facts.

Fifteen years ago I was called out from denominational Christianity to pursue the Lord's leading.  It became clear that I was being sent to research and practice 'Biblical' church.  I have researched and explored the idea that the ekklesia gathering in the first century was supposed to be maintained and not changed from how they met.  Here is the rationale:

At the Last Supper Jesus told the disciples to 'do this' (when they meet to remember him).  So the Lord anticipates a few things in this statement.

• Firstly He anticipates a distinct gathering specifically to remember him.  
• Secondly He anticipates that when people gather to remember him, they will do what He and the disciples were doing at the Last Supper, eating and drinking in a family environment.  

We cannot separate the fact that Jesus used broken unleavened bread and wine as representing His broken body and His blood.   How do we know that Jesus meant 'this do' was meeting in a family home around food with Christ central and not just referring to the bread and wine?  After all, if he did mean 'do this' as 'breaking bread and sipping wine,' you can meet any old way as long as the bread and wine were present as many churches practice today.

God uses 'feasts'
There are three main reasons why we know Jesus meant 'this do' to be a full meal in a family environment and not just the symbols.  Firstly this was Passover which included the feast of unleavened bread.  The Lord had stopped the Passover and told the disciples that he will not drink of the final cup which was the fourth of four cups.  He said that he will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom comes which is begun with the marriage feast of the Lamb and his Bride, the church.  Passover was a feast anticipating Messiah (after they arrived in the Promised Land) but now, having served it's purpose it was set aside for the New Covenant.  Because God seems to use feasts, Passover, The marriage feast in the coming Kingdom, it stands to reason that Jesus would tell believers to eat a feast when they meet to remember Him.  There is no doubt that a loaf and wine is present at the meal but it stands to reason that 'do this' means 'do what you are doing here.'

The Apostles and the Early Church practice
It is not enough to say that Jesus meant 'eat a meal' just because God designated feasts for the Old Covenant and the coming Kingdom.  What we have to do is examine what those who were there did, having heard Jesus say 'this do...'  The most prominent scholars all agree that the first century Church met exclusively in homes around a feast with bread and wine included.  There were no presenters or presidents in this gathering and it was the practice in persecution and when the church wasn't under persecution.  They did it on purpose! Don't forget this was the occasion when believers meet specifically to remember Jesus.  They prayed together and evangelised in other places but that was not specifically meeting to remember Jesus.  So those who heard Jesus say 'this do...' actually went on to do that which they were doing in that room around food with Jesus central to the discussion.  They categorically did not separate the bread and wine and gathered any old way.  All well and good but is there evidence where we can see that meeting to remember Jesus involved a meal and that was 'church' and nothing else is?

Paul in 1 Corinthians 11
To recap, Jesus has said 'this do...' (specifically when believers meet together to remember Him).  Then the Apostles go on to 'do this....' when starting churches.  Now we come across Paul who underlines what the love feast is while correcting the church.  Some believers had been gorging on the food and getting drunk before others arrived.  This cannot happen unless there is enough food and drink to do so.  Ipso facto this was the full meal Jesus commanded believers to do when they meet together.  Here is a very simple breakdown of what 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 is saying:

11:17-22 The problem.  Note the amount of food or drink needed to abuse the Lord's supper
11:22 This is the Church of God according to Paul so we are observing 'church.'
11:23-26 Paul was told by Jesus to pass on these instructions.  See 1 Cor 12 Study 'paradosis' (Gk)
11:26  This is the instruction to keep doing church this way until the Lord comes
11:23-32 Don't mess with the Lord's Supper!
1:33-34 When you gather to eat (to remember Jesus) This IS church

So Jesus commanded it, The Apostles who were there did it and Paul was told by Jesus to pass on this practice!  As I was relaying 15 years ago the Lord had me pursue this form of meeting together.  With this calling came a crash course in why people meet in community buildings with sips of wine and corners of bread.  History has distorted the practices we see in the Bible and that is a far more involved discussion that this document.  Suffice to say that the practices Paul described were superseded by man's idea of gathering.


Did Jesus model rejection of Man's truths?

What we have is the drive to go ahead and do the 'done thing' for church versus the commitment to carry out biblical directives.  So that this becomes crystal clear to everyone, let us observe Jesus wage all out war on the 'done thing.'  In Jesus time the scribes (soferim) had developed 'fence laws.'  These were designed to stop someone before they broke the 613 Laws of Moses.  Later, at the time of Jesus the Teachers of the Law had done something that caught Jesus' full attention.  They had taken the Law of Moses and the fence laws and made them authoritative, from God.  So the Teachers of the Law taught that the thousands of fence laws were LAW and were building another set of laws so you didn't break the original fence laws of the soferim.  This is what Jesus referred to as 'The Tradition of the Elders (Matt 15).'

Jesus was actively opposing the Teachers of the Law and we see this demonstrated when Jesus healed a blind man on the Sabbath.  The tradition of the elders said this was wrong to heal on the Sabbath but also if you inject wine into the eyes or use spit with mud it is worthy of death!  Now this still appears in the Mishna.  Jesus made mud with spit and placed it on the blind man's eyes.... on the Sabbath!  THEN he told the man to wash the mud off in the Pool of Siloam at Tabernacles.  The Pool fed the ceremonial waters in the Temple... they would have had muddy water flow into their ceremony!  Jesus purposely, actively and constantly broke the Traditions of the Elders - Man's laws - and it made them furious.

What did you do?

As I relay this account of my actions and practices I can only say that I've followed Jesus in not doing the things Man says but rather, purposefully, actively and constantly done what God says in his word.  Is that weird or is it weird to do things what man has done whilst saying 'I'm following Jesus?'  We all have to stand before the Lord and give an account of what we did.  I can only account for me, my calibration to God's design as revealed in the New Testament.

That people will stand before Jesus and tell Him they spent their life involved with a church practice derived from Man is probably the weirdest thing I can think of right now.

Apostolic? #2

Whenever I write or speak about the subject of Apostolicity I get three responses.  Here are the responses and my replies:

1.  Whats wrong with people going doing some good, trying to fix this dark world?

There's nothing at all wrong with people doing good.  Social action is a natural by-product of being a new creation.  We get the compassion and a heart of love for the brokenness we encounter.  What really needs to happen is for believers to discern where they fit into the Lord's scheme of things.  We all see need but depending on your calling, you will respond differently.  You get those who feel to represent God in this world is to meet needs.  You also get those who are supposed to render themselves under God's preparation meeting needs because that is the done thing. Then there is the rarity where a person has discerned that their walk is not really..er... normal.  Refer to Apostle? #1 for clarity about this.

So.. Social Action: YES!  but when we do social action don't just slap an 'APOSTOLIC' label on it because it sees some success.  The Apostolic sending will be much about the removal of spiritual forces to provide an open heaven.  I have worked at several projects that help young people who have experienced challenging circumstances.  The comings and goings of that work have helped shape and craft me in God's preparation... but none of it demonstrated God's 'gone-before' to usher in the unmistakable work like we see in Acts.  Too high a benchmark?  Not really.

2 So you seem to know a lot about this subject... where are your Apostolic works?

OOOO Points lost!  If you are looking for works to underline Apostolicity you are barking up the wrong tree.  God's preparation is the signature of God so for a long time there is absolutely no sign of signs. The work is going on behind closed doors at the backside of the desert as the Man 'tends the flock of Jethro' (menial, routine work).  Obviously one day there will be a sending that will see how God has gone before but then the above question will not exist.

As a sideline, you can tell when a work is NOT Apostolic.  Believers get vision and strategy to fill rooms.  The more gimmicky the message and mission, the more people you get.  In order to keep a thousand people happy you can't bring Teaching that is bible based.  over time the 'tail wags the dog' and we have Laodicea where 'the judgement and opinions of the people' rule.  Here are 5 signs that you are doing a good work but it is not a sending:

1.  You have to pray God into the project
2. There are no signs and wonders
3. Your church is a product of History not Scripture
4. 'End-times' is not a priority
5. The Enemy yawns at you

3. I went to Bible College and served under a Man of God... that's Biblical!

It can work that way but Apostolicity is exclusively Jesus' excavation of a man's life in order to be able to work through him.  Too many Bible College students get alongside a Pastor or someone well known and be an intern-like apprentice.  Let's be clear... there were no Bible Colleges back in the first century but that is not to say that a level of training is a good thing.  Problems begin when, like at my Bible College the Tutors announced that we were the 'future generals of the Church!'

When people talk about the Paul and Timothy relationship there was clearly some level of passing on of practice etc.  In fact the word 'paradosis' is mistranslated in many version of the Bible yet it is clear this was the context.  the idea that there was some official ranked situation is fictional, especially because 'people following people' was the explicit problem at Corinth.

IF God is purposely leading you into many years of obscurity, un-hearalded, lonely, trail-filled, barren and frustration... you can begin asking the question.  I cannot see how being in public ministry, preaching, people knowing about your ministry, the identification as a 'man of God' is getting you to the end of yourself.


Gary Ward

Apostolic? #1

One of the biggest crisis in the Church is the subject of  "Apostolic." I grew up spiritually in a Pentecostal environment and an 'apostle' was someone who planted churches.  What has been clouded over years is what an apostle actually is and how do we know someone is apostolic.  We need to be acutely aware that 'apostlicity' is a central theme for the New Testament and Jesus was clear that there needs to be an authenticity around the apostolic (Rev 2:2).

Paul was clear at the start of his letters to underline that his sending was from God not man.  I want to demonstrate that many have self categorized themselves as Apostles but are not.  Paul was not an Apostle because of what he did, it was because of what he was!  Of course, what he did was because of what he was, but the first consideration of 'am I an apostle' is what you are.  What God has made you is the central issue.  You know you are apostolic by the way your journey had been like the journey of Paul or Moses.  The process of how the Lord has designed your walk tells you you are being prepared form a sending.

If this is NOT your experience... it's no big deal... you are simply not called to walk this walk.

I've written before about the experience of Moses being a shepherd and this came about because he stepped out too early to save his people and killed the Egyptian. This act was the springboard for his preparation to become the man God would send to free the entire nation who wanted to be free.  The 40 years of shepherding was designed to make Moses a man who was utterly emptied of self.   No-one can really describe what this entails because it is a tailor-made experience that only comes about by the preordained will of God for a person.  The pain and trauma of this experience is engineered to have your life calibrated only towards the Glorious Lord Jesus.

What issues forth from the Apostle does because of who he is in God.  What people do when they want to see an apostolic work is produce something that bears the marks of their perception of Aposolicity.  So we see works such as church plants that have been done because the starting point was the Man of God wanted to work Apostolically according to his understanding.  The actual Apostle works differently.

When a man has been sufficiently prepared he is sent but the work that he is sent to do, God has gone before him and my main text here is Acts.  There have also been men in history who have been Apostolic and allowed God to prepare them in the backside of the desert.  Over time few have been willing to undergo this preparation and have gone off to do a work that they perceive as God's will.  The result is a group of people trying to produce a work when where the Apostle is concerned he has no place trying to do anything for God.  He will not move until the Lord sends him for he has gone through the process of realizing he has no stakehold in God's work.  They see that they are incapable of doing God's work and that notion becomes the most ridiculous notion... that we can do something FOR God?

So an Apostle IS the person God will send to a preordained work of God where someone wanting to display the Apostolic will try to produce it.  Authenticity will be seen when the Apostle sees the works of God and not a group praying God into a project.

Can you wait upon the Lord for his preparation or do you have to do the done thing?

Gary Ward