HOLE-HEARTED FELLOWSHIP

The Greek word koinonia, translated “fellowship”, carries a very strong sense of fellowship, and is greatly maligned by churches today.  Koinonia means: “a relationship between individuals which involves a common interest and a mutual, active participation in that interest and in each other.”  In the New Testament koinonia is translated “fellowship” and used to denote our fellowship with Jesus four times, our fellowship with God three times, our fellowship with other disciples four times and our fellowship with the Holy Spirit twice.  Koinonia is also translated “communion” twice in First Corinthians 10:16: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?  The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?”  During communion we are fellowshipping with the blood and body of Christ: the relationship is between the assembled believers, the common interest is our relationship to our Savior, remembering His blood and His body, and we are mutually and actively participating in that interest, and sharing it with each other. 

In koinonia, we fellowship with God and we share that fellowship with other believers who are fellowshipping with God.  Fellowship actively engages both the physical and spiritual realm, but since contextually the common interest is always God, the core, the essence of fellowship is always spiritual.  When Luke says in Acts 2:48 “they continued steadfastly (i.e., to persist obstinately in) in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and prayer”, he is not talking about some secular hobby, activity or interest for koinonia is always God centered.  True koinonia in the body of Christ will always have a vertical (God) and a horizontal (other believers) component.      

The twenty first century church equates size to both satisfying the great commission and evidence of God’s blessing... as if getting a lot of people into a building meant something. The dynamics of size are suffocating to true fellowship, leaving a hole in the heart of the church. Small groups... man’s creation, are substituted for koinonia in an attempt to appease man’s need for fellowship. But fellowship without the vertical component... without God centeredness is not fellowship at all and will not satisfy the hungry heart.  

“FOR THIS IS THE WILL OF GOD”

This phrase appears only three times in scripture, giving clear indication of God’s expectations:

“Worry always, pray occasionally, in the good things give thanks; For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (1 Thess. 5:16-18) Wrong! This may very well be how some saints profess their faith to the world, but it is not the will of God. We are to be joyful, glad-hearted and happy continually. We are to be unceasing in prayer, praying perseveringly. And we are to be thankful and give thanks to God for everything -- no matter what the circumstances may be – be thankful, for this is the will of God for all who are in Christ Jesus.

“For this is the will of God, your prosperity: that you should enjoy life’s pleasures.”(1 Thess. 4:3) Wrong! Many saints have bought into the misplaced love of “Your Best Life Now”, but it is not the will of God who warned the desire for riches and worldly pleasure would suffocate our faith. We are to be consecrated, separated and set apart for pure and holy living, abstaining and shrinking from all immorality. We all should know how to possess, control, and manage our own body in consecration and honor, separated from the glitter of the world.

“For this is the will of God, that you should take good care of Self, ignoring the needs and criticism of men, for you are free to live as you choose.” (1 Peter 2:15-17) Wrong!

We are to be consumed with doing good, living good and honest lives as servants of God. We are to show respect and bestow honor on all people, love the Christian brotherhood and reverence God always, recognizing our freedom in Christ is the liberty of bondservants… love-slaves of the Most High God. In this way we silence the ignorant charges and ill-informed criticisms of foolish people who attack us for our faith.

If we are actually going to live God’s will we will need to change, change dramatically, for it is impossible to live out the will of God with our old nature, Self, running things.  We must quit being conformed to this world -- fashioned after this age and adapted to its external, superficial customs – and be transformed (changed) by the entire renewal of our mind: In short we must let the Holy Spirit make our mind new again with the mind of Christ. When we put on the mind of Christ – His nature -- we will be able to prove for ourselves what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the things which are good and acceptable and perfect in His sight. (Rom. 12:2) Living the will of God is Christ in me, living out His life through me. Nothing short of this will please the Father.

LOVE-SLAVES OF THE MOST HIGH GOD

LIAR… LUNATIC… OR LORD…

The Bible is emphatic about one thing: Jesus is either a Liar, a Lunatic, or Lord! The specific claims recorded in the Bible as spoken by Jesus Himself declare He is one of these three, Liar, Lunatic, or Lord. Jesus claimed to be the Son of God who came to earth to die in substitution for sinful man that those who believe might be reconciled to Father God. Now either he was a Liar... deceiving, knowing full well this was not the truth, a Lunatic... delusional in believing as true that which was not true, or Lord... the living truth demonstrating the greatest act of love the world will ever witness.

There are many folks who are not comfortable calling Jesus a Liar or Lunatic, who are equally uncomfortable calling Him Lord, which has such an “I’m the Boss” ring to stubborn stiff-necked people who want to be in control. They want to fill in the right side of the equation by calling Him a “Teacher”, “Rabbi” or “Prophet”, or simply a “Good Person”, anything to get around the dreaded word “Lord” and its inevitable implications of sovereignty, authority, power and control. But Jesus’ own words demand we limit the equation to one of these three choices: Jesus = Liar, Jesus = Lunatic, or Jesus = Lord.

Now some will refuse to choose, as if indecision can save them from the truth, but Jesus said: “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.” Notice the two fold commitment demanded by our Lord. Anyone who isn’t “with Me”... definitely on My side, is “against Me”... opposes Me. And, he who “does not gather with Me”... work with Me to advance My Kingdom by gathering in lost souls, “scatters abroad”... works against Me by drawing people away from My Kingdom. With God there is no neutral corner... no place of safety without commitment. With God no commitment is commitment... the wrong commitment.

So we... every person to ever cast a shadow on planet earth, are confronted with a threefold choice of who we believe Jesus is, Liar, Lunatic, or Lord, where indecision is a losing option. I did not write this for those who believe that Jesus is a Liar, Lunatic, or anything else but Lord, for their fate is sealed. No, this is for the benchwarmers, who are trying to hide behind indecision, fearful of commitment to Jesus as Lord while knowing He is not a Liar or Lunatic. My message to you is simple... Don’t be deceived... It simply won’t work... You can’t hide any longer. God’s Grace is here for you now... today, but it will fade as your indecision turns into blind deception, and you will be lost! The Father is calling you today... right now... to proclaim Jesus as Lord of your life... Lord of ALL...

CALLING ALL BENCHWARMERS

VERSES WE WON’T FIND POSTED ON REFRIGERATOR DOORS

Though the fig tree does not blossom and there is no fruit on the vines, Though the olive crop fails and the fields provide no food, Though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will be jubilant in the Lord, I will rejoice in the victorious God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, my personal invincible army; He makes my feet like the feet of deer, And enables me to walk over my “mountain” of trouble and suffering, And to make spiritual progress. (Hab. 3:17-19) When adversity finds our address, and it will, it is time to put our praise on, to “Count it all Joy” and rejoice in the Lord. To be “Jubilant” means to feel and express great happiness, to be  overjoyed, exultant, triumphant, joyful, ecstatic, rapturous… We are talking about all out unrestrained uninhibited worship here. This is how we tap into the invincible strength of our victorious God: The joy of the Lord is our strength. We make the journey through trouble and suffering -- we climb the mountain of Bad -- in order to make spiritual progress.

Consider the work of God; for who can make straight what He has made crooked?  In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: surely God has appointed the one as well as the other... (Ecc. 7:13-14) God appoints both prosperity and adversity, and we can’t change the crooked... the adversity, only God can change His “work.”

Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity? (Job 2:10) “Adversity” is from the Hebrew words “ra/raah” and means “the entire spectrum of bad.” God appoints both good and bad.

He knows the way I take, When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandments of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food. (Job 23:10-12) God’s testing produces good, for only gold that is smelted – purified by melting – is minted!

The “work of God”, no matter how we view it, has a divine purpose, our transformation. God appoints… ordains, both good and bad -- willing good and allowing bad – bringing balance to the extremes in measured proportions unique to each saint. You see, God is at work in each of us, willing and working in us of His good pleasure… our perfection. The brightest prosperity – prosperity of the spirit – is found during our darkest adversity as the indwelling Spirit of the living God molds our carnal nature into the beautiful nature of Christ.   We should therefore rejoice, and “Count it all joy.” What God has done… He has done best!

CONSIDER THE WORK OF GOD

SEEING GOD

(“See”, from the Greek word eido, means to perceive, experience, know…)

Some behold God where countless others look and don't see God at all. David was that kind of man. Where his presumptuous priest and his scornful wife could only see a gilded box and frenzied crowd, he could see God. This has to be deepest reality, to see God, glimpsing what remains after all else is shaken out and burned. We tend to respond to the breaking in of “deepest reality” in many ways, resorting to bureaucracy, policing, aloofness, scorn, pride, false humility, ridicule, or... some of us may just dance!

I know a lady who dances in church. No matter what style of music, no matter what song, no matter how much those around her disapprove, no matter how hard or easy her life has been -- scorned or loved, entertaining or envied -- she worships with all her might, her face upturned and radiant, her arms spread angelic... cruciform, an instinctive gesture of relinquishment and acceptance, her body alive with God hunger. She dances because she sees God. Right there in the midst of a multitude of people preoccupied with Self-life, anxious to get through the service so they can go home feeling good about themselves, this lady finds the table God has prepared for her in His presence, and surrounded by the enemy, she dances...

Uzzah was presumptuous: Our role in worship is not to keep the Almighty from mishap or embarrassment. He takes care of Himself. Any kind of God-handling is risky at best and deadly at worst. Michal was scornful: Our role in worship is not to keep ourselves from embarrassment, to protect our death-grip on prideful propriety, prescribing etiquette that maintains our dignity at the cost of honoring God. Worship is for God... not us, and without passion leads to barrenness. Between these extremes... between death and barrenness, in a steep narrow place, David found God’s table and David danced, a little bit of Shimmy, a little bit of Twist and a whole lot of Locomotion, David leaped and twirled in wild‑limbed abandonment. There’s something about seeing God during worship that can drive even a king to “get down.” Undignified? Well... yes. Repulsive? To some... to the ones who only see God on walls under glass, framed and hung. But isn’t this the point?

Worship is all about Seeing God... His Presence... His Face, perceiving and experiencing God... beholding God. Christ rent the veil of separation on the cross, creating a doorway of opportunity into God’s holiest place, His presence. Sometimes we never find the veil, other times we find the rend and peek through. But there are times when we pry the rend apart stepping through the veil into Him, and we dance or pogo or go prostrate or wave or vibrate or sob or run or shout…The exuberance within will demonstrate when we truly See God, producing energetic and prolific manifestations flowing out of bodies not yet fully equipped for divine engagement...

Worship still resides in that steep narrow place between the presumptuous -- those who want to protect God from mishap or embarrassment, and the scornful -- those who want to protect the dignity, sanctity and propriety of worship with watchwords like modesty and moderation, who in reality are protecting themselves. Both want to legislate worship, but worship is a dicey thing, always wanting to push beyond man’s opinions and is, by its very nature, well… freestyle. As long as scriptural propriety is maintained, whether one backstrokes, breaststrokes, dog-paddles or just floats is between them and God. The living water of God’s corporate worship-pool should provide the freedom to splash around without legislating how to swim; even a half-naked king should feel welcome. And somehow, in the unfathomable mysteries of God, our flailing about in His worship-pool ascribes and declares His worth – the true meaning of the old English “weorthscipe” from which we derive the English word “worship” -- and brings delight to the Father’s heart. Go figure that one out!

BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART

FOR THEY SHALL SEE GOD