Posts Tagged ‘Kingdom Of Heaven’
Patrick Roberts asked:
The Spirit and the flesh do not go together easily. To the person whose heart is affected by this world, God’s heavenly answers seem too inconvenient to accept without at least a little tweaking.
But this is the height of unreasonableness, that anyone might scoff at any answer God gives them directly. God demonstrates His blameless grace by answering men’s prayers, even if His answers aren’t what men were hoping for.
If we humans, as a whole race, have passed down and improved on anything throughout the generations, it has been an aptitude for rejecting God’s straightforward answers. So we should seek the Spirit’s help for praying, not only to petition effectively, but also to accept His answers unconditionally.
God’s answers will always reflect the fact that He knows better. This is a good thing because our minds and hearts are naturally saturated with the insanity of sin.
God is already telling those of us who dare to listen how to approach Him, dwell in Him and how to live in general. All the inconvenient answers that we need to hear are already close at hand. For example, right when I start getting interested in praying about this terrible, fallen world around me is the time that God’s grace bursts every self-righteous bubble I’m using to keep myself comfortable. Around the time when I get my religious diplomas framed and ready to hang on my church wall is the same time that God comes in to crash my party by informing me that neither diplomas nor walls have much to do with the kingdom of heaven.
However, in Christ we church professionals have the opportunity to press past ourselves and onward toward maturity. Because He is the Lord over this reality, we can embrace our true spiritual conditions, surrender ourselves to Him and let Him move us on from here.
Christ is commanding more truthful introspection, not because we need more attention for ourselves, but because we ought to be realistically humble in our dealings with the Almighty. If we’re sure beyond a doubt that we’re full and complete and content with ourselves as a western church, then our first order of business is to embrace God’s unmistakably devastating brand of self-emptying and self-death. When our old selves are completely annihilated in Christ, then we will be free to move on from our distracted crawls, toward a more mature, Christ-centered walk.
In light of God’s nature and my experience thus far, I am convinced that we western churchgoers possess barely enough spiritual motor skills to put one spiritual stone on top of another. But, as for now, let’s be encouraged that even the most rudimentary motor skills can be developed over time, through active practice.
I don’t mean that we westerners don’t have all the right answers. On the contrary, we pride ourselves in having all the right answers. But have we tried these right answers?
Truly, we are a well-educated bunch. But have we ever put our education to work?
We may have read all about the mechanics of putting one spiritual stone on top of another, to the point that even conducting a church service sounds simple enough. Most churchgoers are content to know the right answers so they can… what? Why, of course, go back to church again. And next Sunday? Go back to church again.
We westerners are a people who prefer ask our peers about “how we are doing” rather than ask Christ. We would rather crowd around each other for mutual encouragement, regardless of God’s opinion of us. That Christ is literally available to field every one of our questions might even seem silly to many churchgoers.
When we need confirmation for our work, we look inward at ourselves. And, when we want something tangible, we manufacture something to fit the bill. But this is contrary to sincere, Christ-seeking experimentation. And these things also point toward this general truth, that we are a spiritually underdeveloped people.
Mind you, if the lines of communication between you and the Lord are wide open, then you need not panic in any case. In fact, if you are on the same page as Christ, then you don’t even need me to tell you not to panic because He is already your direct Source of encouragement.
A simple truth is that God is no fool. He is not mocked by us little people. If wise men cannot be easily duped by people who claim to be something they aren’t, how much less can any mortal person deceive the Lord Omniscient!
But He will endorse a church that is on the same page as He, so that the world’s attention will be drawn to the people who draw attention to Christ. He approves of either all or none of a person’s life so that those who are His are thoroughly His, whether they work or play, eat or drink, speak or sit quiet.
No matter how many right answers we have accumulated for ourselves, the truth is that we western churchgoers cling to religious distraction before we cling to Christ. We would clutch our predictable shiny things rather than inherit heavenly treasure in Christ, even if this treasure applies to our lives right now. But blessed is anyone out of whose hands the Lord pries these things.
by Patrick Roberts. Find his book and additional material at www.BooksByPatrick.com
The Spirit and the flesh do not go together easily. To the person whose heart is affected by this world, God’s heavenly answers seem too inconvenient to accept without at least a little tweaking.
But this is the height of unreasonableness, that anyone might scoff at any answer God gives them directly. God demonstrates His blameless grace by answering men’s prayers, even if His answers aren’t what men were hoping for.
If we humans, as a whole race, have passed down and improved on anything throughout the generations, it has been an aptitude for rejecting God’s straightforward answers. So we should seek the Spirit’s help for praying, not only to petition effectively, but also to accept His answers unconditionally.
God’s answers will always reflect the fact that He knows better. This is a good thing because our minds and hearts are naturally saturated with the insanity of sin.
God is already telling those of us who dare to listen how to approach Him, dwell in Him and how to live in general. All the inconvenient answers that we need to hear are already close at hand. For example, right when I start getting interested in praying about this terrible, fallen world around me is the time that God’s grace bursts every self-righteous bubble I’m using to keep myself comfortable. Around the time when I get my religious diplomas framed and ready to hang on my church wall is the same time that God comes in to crash my party by informing me that neither diplomas nor walls have much to do with the kingdom of heaven.
However, in Christ we church professionals have the opportunity to press past ourselves and onward toward maturity. Because He is the Lord over this reality, we can embrace our true spiritual conditions, surrender ourselves to Him and let Him move us on from here.
Christ is commanding more truthful introspection, not because we need more attention for ourselves, but because we ought to be realistically humble in our dealings with the Almighty. If we’re sure beyond a doubt that we’re full and complete and content with ourselves as a western church, then our first order of business is to embrace God’s unmistakably devastating brand of self-emptying and self-death. When our old selves are completely annihilated in Christ, then we will be free to move on from our distracted crawls, toward a more mature, Christ-centered walk.
In light of God’s nature and my experience thus far, I am convinced that we western churchgoers possess barely enough spiritual motor skills to put one spiritual stone on top of another. But, as for now, let’s be encouraged that even the most rudimentary motor skills can be developed over time, through active practice.
I don’t mean that we westerners don’t have all the right answers. On the contrary, we pride ourselves in having all the right answers. But have we tried these right answers?
Truly, we are a well-educated bunch. But have we ever put our education to work?
We may have read all about the mechanics of putting one spiritual stone on top of another, to the point that even conducting a church service sounds simple enough. Most churchgoers are content to know the right answers so they can… what? Why, of course, go back to church again. And next Sunday? Go back to church again.
We westerners are a people who prefer ask our peers about “how we are doing” rather than ask Christ. We would rather crowd around each other for mutual encouragement, regardless of God’s opinion of us. That Christ is literally available to field every one of our questions might even seem silly to many churchgoers.
When we need confirmation for our work, we look inward at ourselves. And, when we want something tangible, we manufacture something to fit the bill. But this is contrary to sincere, Christ-seeking experimentation. And these things also point toward this general truth, that we are a spiritually underdeveloped people.
Mind you, if the lines of communication between you and the Lord are wide open, then you need not panic in any case. In fact, if you are on the same page as Christ, then you don’t even need me to tell you not to panic because He is already your direct Source of encouragement.
A simple truth is that God is no fool. He is not mocked by us little people. If wise men cannot be easily duped by people who claim to be something they aren’t, how much less can any mortal person deceive the Lord Omniscient!
But He will endorse a church that is on the same page as He, so that the world’s attention will be drawn to the people who draw attention to Christ. He approves of either all or none of a person’s life so that those who are His are thoroughly His, whether they work or play, eat or drink, speak or sit quiet.
No matter how many right answers we have accumulated for ourselves, the truth is that we western churchgoers cling to religious distraction before we cling to Christ. We would clutch our predictable shiny things rather than inherit heavenly treasure in Christ, even if this treasure applies to our lives right now. But blessed is anyone out of whose hands the Lord pries these things.
by Patrick Roberts. Find his book and additional material at www.BooksByPatrick.com
Patrick Roberts asked:
Ambitious churchgoers tend to assume too much about their own spirituality as they plan for their far off, unknown destinations. At the same time, they assume too little about the far-reaching effect of Spirit-led obedience right where they already are.
I myself cannot go abroad in good faith, because I would be wandering (maybe fleeing) away from an unreconciled home base. If all I know is this religious culture, then I’m in no condition to go elsewhere and tell other, far-off cultures about the kingdom of heaven. I say this not according to any fleshly unit of measurement, but from experience and God speaking to my conscience.
I’ve never planted a church in the United States, where I would assume that it should be easy! How can I go to another, hostile land under the label “church-planter” if the Spirit of God has never taught me how to plant a church in my own country? Again, this is not a discouraging new law, but rather an encouraging mindset that might lead us toward reconciled living and true, Spirit-led service.
Here in the United States, lots of people have already heard about Jesus and yet a single Christ-follower is extremely difficult to find. Are God’s people here at all, or are there only cold buildings with pointy towers and stained glass? This country offers freedom of speech for all people, supported by the Constitution and even defended by the U.S. government, yet there is between little and zero sincere proclamation of God’s groundbreaking gospel, to either individuals or publicly to the multitudes.
Missionaries desire far-off locations while they still feel that speaking to their next-door neighbor about Jesus Christ is a terrifying prospect. Granted, many churchgoers are sincere, but many only force themselves to speak to their neighbors about Christ out of religious duty or because they might feel bad if they didn’t. Even on the home front, when outreach-minded churchgoers “share their faith,” this often springs from sanctified guilt-tripping or because “their pastor told them to do it.”
Constitutional law frees our mouths to speak out loud if we should so choose, but the Spirit of God has not made us free to speak spiritual truth with our daily lives.
Excuse my childish thinking, but why not try preaching the gospel here for starters? Call it a warm up for the “big game” across seas if you’re still are stuck on thinking that God is impressed with man-made, political boundaries.
What, I wonder, is so intriguing about other countries? And why do we suppose that our stale American faith will work so much better in another country, where the culture and government and language are openly opposed to the gospel?
Mind you, I don’t want to ask myself these questions. All this talk about being faithful right where I am is unwelcome news for me and my impressive plans for God. I do not want to hear that God’s kingdom also applies to the United States and I don’t want to come to grips with the fact that Christ is fully God in my own hometown. I don’t want to hear that I should sincerely seek God’s kingdom in the U.S. as a matter of first priority simply because I am American. And I really don’t want to hear that God’s kingdom is bigger than me or anything I can figure out on my own.
by Patrick Roberts. Find his book and additional resources at www.BooksByPatrick.com
Ambitious churchgoers tend to assume too much about their own spirituality as they plan for their far off, unknown destinations. At the same time, they assume too little about the far-reaching effect of Spirit-led obedience right where they already are.
I myself cannot go abroad in good faith, because I would be wandering (maybe fleeing) away from an unreconciled home base. If all I know is this religious culture, then I’m in no condition to go elsewhere and tell other, far-off cultures about the kingdom of heaven. I say this not according to any fleshly unit of measurement, but from experience and God speaking to my conscience.
I’ve never planted a church in the United States, where I would assume that it should be easy! How can I go to another, hostile land under the label “church-planter” if the Spirit of God has never taught me how to plant a church in my own country? Again, this is not a discouraging new law, but rather an encouraging mindset that might lead us toward reconciled living and true, Spirit-led service.
Here in the United States, lots of people have already heard about Jesus and yet a single Christ-follower is extremely difficult to find. Are God’s people here at all, or are there only cold buildings with pointy towers and stained glass? This country offers freedom of speech for all people, supported by the Constitution and even defended by the U.S. government, yet there is between little and zero sincere proclamation of God’s groundbreaking gospel, to either individuals or publicly to the multitudes.
Missionaries desire far-off locations while they still feel that speaking to their next-door neighbor about Jesus Christ is a terrifying prospect. Granted, many churchgoers are sincere, but many only force themselves to speak to their neighbors about Christ out of religious duty or because they might feel bad if they didn’t. Even on the home front, when outreach-minded churchgoers “share their faith,” this often springs from sanctified guilt-tripping or because “their pastor told them to do it.”
Constitutional law frees our mouths to speak out loud if we should so choose, but the Spirit of God has not made us free to speak spiritual truth with our daily lives.
Excuse my childish thinking, but why not try preaching the gospel here for starters? Call it a warm up for the “big game” across seas if you’re still are stuck on thinking that God is impressed with man-made, political boundaries.
What, I wonder, is so intriguing about other countries? And why do we suppose that our stale American faith will work so much better in another country, where the culture and government and language are openly opposed to the gospel?
Mind you, I don’t want to ask myself these questions. All this talk about being faithful right where I am is unwelcome news for me and my impressive plans for God. I do not want to hear that God’s kingdom also applies to the United States and I don’t want to come to grips with the fact that Christ is fully God in my own hometown. I don’t want to hear that I should sincerely seek God’s kingdom in the U.S. as a matter of first priority simply because I am American. And I really don’t want to hear that God’s kingdom is bigger than me or anything I can figure out on my own.
by Patrick Roberts. Find his book and additional resources at www.BooksByPatrick.com