INTRODUCTION TO THE DISCIPLE'S HANDBOOK
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In his first letter to Corinth Paul presses a very important foundation point in the first two chapters. This particular emphasis stressed the difference between a Spiritual message contrasted to a conceptual one. In chapter 1 verse 17 he states that his gospel emphasis is not based upon words of human wisdom but in power generated from the cross of Jesus. The cross of crucifixion is where the exchange of righteousness was made. The cross of crucifixion is where the sacrifice was made. The cross of crucifixion is where God paid the price in blood for every sinner. This doctrine of the cross does not end with a man's death but with a divinely-powered resurrection. Thus the doctrine that Paul speaks of includes the death and the resurrection of Jesus. It was Jesus who was crucified, dead, buried and resurrected. The holiday we call Easter fulfilled the Passover, Unleavened bread and First Fruits. It is truly unfortunate that so few Christians understand the Jewish roots of Christianity, including the fact that Yeshua and most all of the first disciples and apostles were Jews. Jesus (Yeshua) rose from the dead, ascended on high, took captivity captive, and gave gifts to the human race. Paul's statement of the cross does not address sorrow or loss, it addresses rather, victory, effulgence and power. The resurrection speaks of the power of an endless life. It speaks about the Father's plan to extend grace and peace to every man, woman and child. It speaks about the ability to become a new creation in Christ.
God
requires faith on our part. Paul,
again in the same letter speaks to the matter of making Spiritual
realities manifest, "I did not come teaching and preaching with
enticing words of man's wisdom but with demonstration of the Spirit
and of power that your faith should not stand upon man's wisdom but
upon the power of God. (1Corinthians 2:4,5) The
Spiritual life first begins to manifest, because of the grace of God
and secondarily by acting in faith. The gospel states with respect
to the Kingdom of God that we are all pressing into it. (Luke
16:16) The Lord stands at the door knocking, the action of faith opens
that door to him. Again, grace is the initiatory cause, it is God's
hand in matters concerning our life, stirring, directing and empowering.
Grace is the hand of God outstretched to us, beckoning; he bids us
to come forth. We respond to him and we press in to the world of Spiritual
life that awaits. The
hand of grace is outstretched in love. Grace speaks of loving kindness,
compassion and giving. This love is caring and constructive in nature.
Love builds the bonds of faith and defines the character and the parameters
of the spiritual life. It
is not knowledge that defines the spiritual life although there is
a knowledge component. Scripture reminds us that knowledge ultimately
has the affect of "puffing up" our egos. There is an adverse relationship
to our character when knowledge becomes pre eminent in our orientation
to God. We will always find "knowledge" being closely linked to "religious
systems". It is a realm defined by expertise and expertise is usually
defined by knowledge.
How much do we have to know before we become Spiritual? I
began to describe the Apostle's doctrine by mentioning doctrinal content,
followed by emphasizing the power that God provides, through his Spirit,
to empower our lives and relationships. The
attribute of spiritual relationships may lie closer to the center
of Spirituality than any other factor. The apostle's doctrine has
fellowship and relationship within the very heart of it. Here is a
glimpse into the New Testament church of the Book of Acts, "They
continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship and
breaking of bread, and with prayer." (Acts, Chapter 2:42)
The
apostles who knew the way of God fully through first hand experience
were to guide the novices into the same area of common experience;
the community expands, the Kingdom of God is entered by more and more
converts. A community is being built and stands in the midst of a
world of unbelief, carnality, and unrighteousness. God calls us into
a family-like community in which God is not only glorified but
in which God continuously interacts with the community. True fellowship
is what this community is about. There is a sense of family, it is
characterized by the joy of redemption (salvation, the first step
in pressing into this community.) This intimate fellowship of believers
is the closest thing to heaven God has for us on earth. We share a
common mind, a common testimony, a common hope. We are baptized into
one Spirit and into a common destiny. This community is redemptive
owing to the fact that the smoke and tarnish of this world can not
endure in the presence of the Living God, neither can the things which
defile the flesh stand in his presence. We
come together in this community of faith where we find restoration,
strength and edification. We come together in fellowship to repair
the bumps, bruises, and blemishes that life in this world inflicts
upon those who are "not of this world."
THE MATTER OF "MINISTRY" AN
INTRODUCTION TO THE POWER OF PARADIGMS
"Who are we? Where
do we go to seek wisdom and the answers to the secrets of life?
Worldly Wisdom Worldly
wisdom extols and rewards self-exaltation and individuality Godly
wisdom (the Truth) says deny yourself take up your cross, die to
yourself.
Worldly wisdom would suggest there is one God who is simply called by many names. Godly wisdom (the Truth) though there are many gods there is but one God who is above all and we can hold no god higher than He. Worldly
wisdom presumes that God is essentially impersonal.
Worldly
wisdom believes that all of the human race are automatically
"children
of God" 1Cor:1:19:
For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring
to nothing the understanding of the prudent. (KJV)1Cor:1:21:
For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God,
it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save
them that believe. (KJV) 1Cor:2:14: But the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness
unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. (KJV) The Paradigm of Religious Wisdom All
formal religions feature some if not all of the following descriptions
of the way they minister the Truth of God to people. pulpits
and pews In
the religious paradigm a formally trained priest or clergy "officiates"
over the "services" In the Jesus, Spirit-led model of wisdom there are paradoxes to the natural instincts or wisdom of man the least shall be greatest in the kingdom; greatest are servants
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PARADIGMS Paradigm of Religious Wisdom In
the religious paradigm the religious life centers around a "church
house" In
the Jesus, Spirit-led model of wisdom man in his natural self can
do
WHY
WE GATHER AS A BODY
Jesus is the living "head of the church" for all believers. He has designed a way for us to follow him, even as the original twelve disciples followed him. They walked at his side, discoursed with him, and were both witnesses and partakers of his spiritual ministry. They new his voice; saw his power; and marveled at his wisdom. They new him! Though I fear that few nominal Christians are able to say they know him. Yes we have heard about him, but do we know him? Perhaps the greatest thing to be revealed in the "gospel" is that we not only may know him, but have fellowship with him and partake in his nature and his ministry. In the gathering of believers in a place of meeting can we say that we leave that meeting, knowing him better? Can we say that we have heard his voice, felt his presence, or were Empowered by his touch. ALL
BELIEVERS ARE CALLED TO MINISTER? It would be good for unbelieving eyes to see what things can and do happen in a place of meeting. God can make his glorious presence known; lift people out of their fears and oppression; bring joy and healing; restore broken hearts and broken relationships and save peoples souls. Church liturgy was put together in a time far past, perhaps following shortly after the kind of glorious kind of fellowship described above. There may have had good intentions. Perhaps of preserving some of the truth or glory of those earlier days. Maybe they wished to insure the manifestation of God's presence and to provide a platform to disciple those who needed to under stand the truth of Christ's eternal ministry. The Bible shows that God's presence can not be captured and preserved. The Israelites of Old tried to do so, but when God's Glory departed it was gone they were left with a lifeless idol. The temple remained the glory was gone. The brazen serpent remained but the manifestation of its power was gone. God's continued glory and fellowship with us is determined by the hearts of those who gather to worship him. With passing years catechism remained but the glory had been lost. The ritual remained and the liturgical trappings remained but the presence of God vanished. Ritual happens, I believe, when men try to duplicate a behavior which once brought forth the glory of God through faith. Elements
that remained were vainly held and became a substitution for God's presence.
"Ministry" became the focus of a very small body of liturgical experts,
called the priesthood or the clergy, when it was always to be the domain
of every believer. Just as God wishes each believer to be a ministering
priest, he wishes us to become a true worshipper. What is this
true worshipper and what is worshipping the Father in Spirit and in
Truth? (John 4:23) God is always looking for True Worshippers. He looks
at the hearts he does not regard the man with the religious uniform
over a common person whose heart is open. He does not favor a cathedral
over a location which has been made ready on the inside of us. As Jesus
told the woman at the well of Samaria, it is not where you worship,
not this mountain or another mountain, but what and how we worship.
He said to her that some do not know what they are even worshipping
but the truth is that salvation is connected to worship, it is through
the foundation of the Jews. The time was coming, Jesus explained, when
men and women women would worship the Most High God in Spirit. Those
who do not have this Spirit can not have the revelation of God of which
Jesus spoke. Every
Believer Becomes a Disciple - DISCIPLESHIP
IS NOT JUST ABOUT PARTAKING OF THE LIFE OF GOD BUT TO PARTAKE IN THE
MINISTRY OF Yeshua (JESUS) Jesus
is the living "head of the church" for all believers. He has
designed a way for us to both know him and follow him, even as the original
twelve disciples followed him. Maturing
as a disciple, is God's exhortation to all believers; that we no longer
be a novice and a baby in the faith but that we attain "unto the
stature of a 'mature man' even the stature of Christ." (Ephesians
4). The exaltation of a single voice in the role of authority to
disciple us may be limited and limiting. Pulpit ministry is an unfortunate
self- perpetuating legacy of 17 centuries of the "Church"
age. Those who in fact have experience in Christ's life and ministry,
made possible by the power of the Holy Spirit have a title in the Word
of God; these individuals are called "elders." Certainly
church denominations use this same term within some context of their
doctrines. But those who Jesus calls elders may differ from what religious
traditions might label as elders. The apostle John, the disciple who
Jesus loved, begins his letter by talking about Spiritual experience
as the qualification (credentials) that we must look to and lean upon.
He noted what he had seen, touched, looked upon, and handled in the
Word of life. (1John1:1)That which was from the beginning, which
we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked
upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life, these things
we declare unto you - -; Ministry Edifies, Strengthens, and Blesses Discipling
pertains to the edification and maturing of the body Christ. This need
not be the formal sort of ministry experienced as the normal Saturday
or Sunday fare in a typical congregation. In the form presented by the
apostles it is the living, pure, peaceable, and entirely informal sharing
of the life of Christ and the acknowledgment of the revelation of the
Word of Truth, among believers. We pass through various stages as we
grow. Just as in the natural, we begin as babies, then children,
the strong young 'men', then mature sages expressing the character and
spiritual nature of Jesus Christ. So is it in the matter of Spiritual
growth. The Bible shows how we each are called to minister
our individual Spiritual gifts to one another. (Rom.12; 1Cor.12. 1 Cor.
14, and 1Pet 4:11)
Individuals have various of testimonies and experiences, some have more, some less. There may be some with musical gifts which enhance worship and some with less of that ability. Some may have verbal skills, some less. Some with practical kinds of skills, some not so much. Some may be working through personal tragedies or rejection, while others have already had healing in these areas. All need to be encouraged to participate at some level so that leadership skills may be fostered in each. The dynamics of fellowship changes from week to week as fewer or more people are present at a house or meeing place. I believe fellowship should never turn into something that is impersonal or formalistic. However it often becomes that especially when everything is controlled by one leader. Those unfamiliar with such kinds of fellowship need to experience what things can and do happen in a place of meeting where the Spirit of God is given liberty! God can make his glorious presence known; lift people out of their fears and oppression; bring joy and healing; restore broken hearts and broken relationships and save peoples souls. The Holy Spirit administers just such actions. (See link to Why We Gather ) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxJESUS MINISTRY IS A MODEL TO SPIRITUAL LIFE Disciples, Practice and Learn the "Disciples Way" The foundation of the life of Christ is laid by becoming a disciple of Jesus. Just as Jesus set about making disciples in the time of his earthly ministry so he continues today. (John 8:21 ; 17:20) The Great Commission is about discipleship. Too often, the Christian world has made the life of the Bible remote and impersonal through religion . It has made Peter, James and John or John the Baptist into icons or religious super heroes. It is too easy to lose the sense that Peter, James, Paul and Barnabus and the host of others are our brothers and our teachers. Though now having run their race, they shared the same life of trials and faith as we ourselves. In our minds Bible days were entirely another time, another kind of faith life , another dispensation. This is not the case. Religious tradition places men on pedestals.This should not be the case because it is contrary to every apostolic and Christ-uttered teaching. God does not show favoritism nor does he show respect of persons. s many that have received the gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the Grace You
may be interested in checking out the writing of Frank Viola and George
Barna
A Religious spirit in the form of rulership, control or formalism, continuously stalks the believer with the aim of transforming God-life into dead religion. Church liturgy was put together in times past, perhaps following just after the kind of glorious fellowship described above. Liturgical forms may have started with good intentions with the hope of bottling up something very good and worthwhile, perhaps to preserve some of the glory of an earlier day. If only God's manifest presence could be captured and preserved, but alas it can not. He is moving on as the pillar of cloud moved ahead directed the sojourners in the wilderness in the book of Exodus. The Bible demonstrates that God's presence can not be captured and preserved. The Israelites of old tried to do so, but when God's Glory departed it was gone they were left with a lifeless object (an idol.) The temple remained, the glory was gone. The brazen serpent remained, but the manifestation of its power was gone. A cistern remained, the fount of living water was gone. God's continued glory and fellowship with us is determined by the hearts of those who gather to worship him. With passing years catechism remained but the glory had been lost. The ritual enactments remained and the liturgical trappings but the presence of God vanished. Ritual happens, I believe, when men try to duplicate a behavior which once brought forth God's 'glory' through waiting upon Him in faith. As God's presence leaves it is replaced by religion. Elements and doctrines that remain are a substitute for God's presence. "Ministry" follows a similar transition. Leadership becomes the domain of a very small body of liturgical experts. It has come to pass that the priesthood or the clergy only is trained and authorized to govern and rule over the flock of God. But in the new covenant as it was presented to the saints, discipleship is the domain of every believer. Here
is a paradigm re-think: Abolish the Laity! God wishes each believer
to be a ministering priest,
E
Book 1: Resources:
Understanding Home Fellowships Frank
Viola Sid
Roth Barna's
Book: "Revolution" Sid
Roth Guest: Guest:
Jim Rutz
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