Are You Part of a Timely Movement of the Spirit?
Good Morning Friends,
Somewhere along the line, it became popular to work at following Jesus while avoiding organized religion. But Jesus never gave us the option of giving up on His Church. This idea of transforming lives and accomplishing the will of God collectively cannot be in isolation. It can start there but that is not its ending. To love Jesus and hate others just does not cut it. To gain understanding we look to the founding of the Church as described in Acts 2 and it is really pretty amazing. But a cursory look at Paul’s letters to churches really paints a less idyllic picture. Extending the love is not easy. There are all sorts of pitfalls. I hear no arguments from people when I say that the church has its share of problems. But friends, let us face this reality…it is impossible to follow Jesus if we reject His church. The problem is that we do not understand on a practical level the role of the called out assembly in the continuation of God’s plan of redemption. It is a movement…a wave not a particle. Ultimately it is a relationship not an institution. What is key is that this movement toward His Kingdom to come and the Church Universal are to be inextricably intertwined with life itself. It is as a great river of converging reformations that blend grace with evangelism in a new reformation that frees us. It is about the Word becoming flesh in us…it is not about studying the Bible so much as living in its message for our time and place. Are You Part of a Timely Movement of the Spirit?
Scripture: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free,
Luke 4:18 (NRSV)
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
Acts 2:42–47 (NRSV)
Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’
Luke 9:62 (NRSV)
Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future — all belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
1 Corinthians 3:22-23 (NRSV)
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’
Acts 1:8 (NRSV)
Finally, all of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind.
1 Peter 3:8 (NRSV)
Message: History is witness to many different kinds of movements. And sometimes the Holy Spirit witnesses to it as well. A movement is the progressive, unfolding, transitioning body of beliefs that seek to alter and change society. Sometimes they are social movements and sometimes political and for some, but not all, they are spiritual as well. As we look at the last century we can see the Zionist Movement which resulted in the Jews having their own land called Israel. We can see protests which gave birth to the Civil Rights Movement. I think that we as the Church, as the Body of Believers must remember that even though we must sometimes operate as an institution, the Church of Jesus Christ is still ultimately to be a movement. But unlike all other movements this one called Christianity understands that if society is to be changed, first man has to be changed. It is easy to look at the church we know, see its distortions and end up justifiably disillusioned by institutions that have commoditized love. It is easy to react to a dysfunctional church with incredulity…an emotion we should not too quickly dispense. And that brings me to the conviction that we need a new reformation. I have come to the conclusion that God’s love and creativity shapes our souls and that a collective creativity in community worship can help to support that experience, but is no substitute for living it. We all have had experiences that have changed and shaped our lives. I expect that most of them occurred outside Sunday worship. Some of them are fun and others serious but the ones that shape us are all powerful. It is here in these experiences of work and family and for me in prayer as well, that I have discovered that there is a difference between trusting and trying….human effort and God’s grace but that on occasion they do cross paths. Friends, if Jesus has changed us then we need to act like it. If we have been saved by grace and we are growing in grace and by grace we are extending to others a witness of our experience then perhaps we are the start of a new reformation. We have been freed to be saturated in a culture of God’s language and history that permeates the world like salt and light. We have been freed to have a faith that is alive. Perhaps right now we are part of a movement that is helping to create the future by risking in love to free others.
Pray we have been set free to live in freedom’s spirit. Pray that we understand our faith experience involves our mind, emotions and will in the act of doing. Pray we rejoice in the power of the Word made flesh. Pray we start right but not finish wrong. Pray we do not fall prey to legalism or to the institutionalization of Christ. Pray we do works of God but not add them out of context as an obligation on a path to sanctification. Pray we live in grace. Pray that we realize that we cannot redeem ourselves. Pray that the Holy Spirit helps us to live in grace. Pray we recognize the source of the supernatural work in our lives. Pray we see the powerful workings of God in our midst. Pray we never take credit for what God has done. Pray we come together to share in grace we have been given. Pray we realize we have been blessed to be a blessing. Pray that we are united together because of the work of Jesus and not our own work. Pray our hearts are encouraged and strengthened by every good deed and word we do and say in and through the love of God. Pray we are not just hearers of the Word but doers as well. Pray that we experience life and worship as a collective prayer that shapes our souls in God’s continuing plan for His creation. Here we discover that it is not the church that has a mission but that the mission of God that has a church. Pray we realize that this is more to be more than a renewal, liberation or an evangelic movement. Pray we are a collective demonstration of spiritual growth that happens when we are God’s agent in the world. Pray we be the Body of Christ together patterned after the incarnation reality of God sending His Son holding it all together in love. Pray we realize that the movement is not from outside to inside the box but from inside to outside until the box edges are no longer discernable. Pray we start imagining where we live now as such a place of heaven on earth. Pray we stop complaining about secular culture and start creating a Christian one, one day at a time, one family, one community, one church at a time…one by one.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 