God and Satan both want the same thing. They both want to kill you, only for different reasons.
Satan wants to kill your effectiveness for the Kingdom of God. He does this by enticing each new believer to remain aloof from body life. He really doesn't care about what happens after we die; he just doesn't want us, while alive, to disturb his kingdoms in this world by being part of a cell group that reveals Christ's Presence, Power and Purpose.
God wants to kill everything in you that He cannot use for His Kingdom purposes. One thing is certain, he must kill you to the idea that you can exist in the Kingdom apart from body life. Entering the kingdom requires us to die to self, for in this new realm we "look not to our own interests, but also to the interest of others."
The Kingdom of God is all about community. Believers who never find themselves bonded (“baptized”) by the Spirit to fellow body members are not living a normal spiritual life. Becoming a part of a community that exists as the body of Christ is the launching of His reign in you.
The folly of evangelistic appeals is the emphasis on the "ladder" that takes us from "downstairs" to "Upstairs," from the life of darkness to the life of the Kingdom. We talk about passing from death to life but never explain that this new life begins after we die to the old one.
We focus on the new birth without expanding what the new eyes must see: the Kingdom! Too many have been "born again" without any explanation about what the new life, joined to fellow body parts, involves. Thus we have thousands of pews every Sunday filled with disconnected body parts! It is ghastly!
I resent the parachurch teaching about every Christian having a “Quiet Time.” The idea that I have a “personal” time with God every day is a horrible obstruction to Kingdom body life. Instead, we need to approach the Throne as a body member, meaning that we bring our community of body parts into each communion with Christ. We are sensitive to His relationship not only with us but with us along with the other members of the body we are joined to by the Holy Spirit.
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"By this do we know that we have passed from death unto life; because we love the brethren"...
ReplyDeleteLove is all there is. When you live outside of Love you live in darkness. "God IS Love"...
You're right--they didn't "get" him when he was on Earth in physical body any more than they do today. His message was, is and always will be LOVE. He broke their church laws and said that all the commandments were summed up in this: "Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God with all thy heart, mind, etc. and thy neighbor as thyself." So, everyone must love us, Ralph. ;) Ha!
I have never considered the "quiet time" recommendation by my denominational friends to be a direct replacement or substitute for entering into Christ's presence and pursuing his purposes with other believers in a biblical community.
ReplyDeleteSo for the sake of argument, are you saying you do not have any devotional time with the Lord and only seek his face with others in your cell group?
I too want to know a bit more concerning your view on "quiet time." Why do you resent an emphasis towards it? This is one of the most important times in a believer's day. It is also one of the weakest area in his life. Most have almost no quiet time of any length to speak of. They rarely pray, read God's word, or intercede for others. Empasizing it doesn't necessarily de-emphasize body life. They should go hand in hand together.
ReplyDeleteDan
Devotional time with the Lord is not just a moment when we close the closet door and come before the Lord. Concentrated periods of prayer should be a part of every believer's life. What I am stressing about the "Quiet Time" issue is the declaration of independence we make when we build a hedge around "just me" and go before the Throne of God. He lives forever in Community: "the divine dance of love" takes place forever between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. How, then, can I approach a God who lives only in Community and separate myself from the other members of His Body I am attached to, not by my doing, but rather by the activity of the Holy Spirit who has baptized me into this sacred community of body parts that is inhabited by the Triune God? ("In Him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily.) What think you?
ReplyDeleteI see your point, but I stand by my original thought. Recommending that people have a quiet time with God each day does not mean the person doing the recommending has no regard for communion with the Godhead in the midst of a biblical community of other people. You seem to feature the latter while bashing the first and there is both room and a necessity for both.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, the time one devotes to prayer and Bible reading and meditation each day is also part of the dance with the Trinity in community. It should not be the only thing a believer does by any means though.
The objection I raised earlier was not so much what you were stating, it was what you neglected to add to balance your statement, making it an easy target for disagreement.
Dr. Neighour, I'm wondering what this "devotional time" looks like when it's done in the context of body life?
ReplyDeleteCould you site some examples? It's a new idea to me.