TUGGING AT GOD'S HEART

TUGGING AT THE HEART OF GOD

                This past Thursday morning a big 18 wheeler backed up to the gym next to the church and unloaded an entire truck load of food on pallets. We set up long lines of tables and then we, along with people from surrounding churches and a group of prisoners began breaking down the pallets of food and putting it into grocery bags.

                Then yesterday, we distributed the food to about 200 poor people that had lined up outside the church. Letting in one course after the next, we brought the people into the dining room to feed them as our worship team played and sang for them. It was all very well organized and color coded so that each family received the appropriate amount of food as we called out their numbers and each family received a wagon load of food (amounting to about 4 big paper grocery bags along with drinks of some kind and bread.

                There was a tent set up outside for special needs, like jobs, furniture, appliances or prayer, where people could be put in touch with other charities that supplied needed items. It was a monumental task made easy by so many volunteers from the community. Even the guys from the prison have been coming there to help for several years and so they jumped in knowing just what to do and how to help organize everything. It turns out that they really love coming to the church every month for this distribution of food called the Bridge Ministry.

                We know that ministry to the poor tugs at the heart of God. When Jesus started His mission on earth He announced His purpose by quoting Isaiah 61 saying: The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord…”

                In addressing the rich man Jesus said to him: “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” Paul always reminded people in the first century churches to remember the poor and James taught saying: “This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” James 1:27

                Why do we go to church? There are so many different denominations and so many opinions as to what makes up the right religion, the right day, the right food, the right clothing, the right doctrine and on and on it goes. But Jesus came to minister to the poor, to heal the broken hearted and to set captives free. And many of the people He set free were actually bound by religion… manmade rules and regulations all pretending to represent God in some way. But Jesus represented His Father by working outside the system of men. He ministered in the street and in the field and by the shores of Galilee.

                Do we really attend church so that we can argue in favor of this doctrine or that or is it so that we can rub shoulders with the poor, the destitute and the needy? Are we there to “Get a blessing” or are we there to GIVE a blessing? Are we there to be served and entertained and spoon fed, or are we there to love and to serve others?

                If Christians maintained the right kind of fellowship with the Lord, having an intimate prayer life at home, they would come to church bursting with the Spirit of God, to bring their light to the congregation instead of crawling to the altar, to get their dead spiritual batteries re-charged.

                You can always tell the mature members of the church because they are encouraging, praying for and blessing everyone around them. They help to bear the weight of ministry. They participate in the various functions of the church with joy and eagerness. Meanwhile the religious folks will sit back and judge saying, “Well I just don’t think you attend the right church. They teach this or they don’t teach that.” Or “I don’t think you are doing this right or that right.” But again we have to ask why we attend anywhere? Is the church merely a repository of information, or is it a place that is alive by the Spirit of Christ?

                Bonnie and I have been learning over the past 6 or 7 years to live by divine appointment. We try to do only what we see the Father doing and say what we hear the Father saying and we studiously avoid the politics of the church because we see that Jesus did the same. He didn’t concern Himself with their politics or their gossip. He was on a mission to do His Father’s will and His Father’s will was to walk with the Spirit of the Lord upon Him and to preach good tidings to the poor, to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, to open prison doors for those who were bound, to bring recovery of sight to the blind and to heal deaf ears both spiritually and physically.

                In our own minds we create a Jesus after our own kind. We like to think that He was quiet and subdued and pious. We hear Him in our minds, on the shores of Galilee speaking His soft and gentle words… listen people; how do you preach a sermon to 5000 people outdoors with no sound system? And the crowds were pressing Him so tightly that He finally had to get into Peter’s boat and back it off from shore a bit so that He could be seen and heard.

                Everywhere Jesus went the local demons were flushed out of hiding and they would act out throwing people on the ground or whatever and Jesus had to deal with them. Ministry is often messy. Demons must be cast out and lepers healed and blind and deaf people healed and sickness and diseases healed and all the while the religious types are standing in the shadows judging every move and looking for loop holes or mistakes. They were far more concerned about the letter of the Law than they were about the suffering of humanity that Jesus was ministering to.

                Can you imagine them being so picky as to say that Jesus was working on the Sabbath even as He simply told the man to stick out his withered hand? Religion can blind people and demons love to hide in religious people masquerading as pious saints when in fact they are full of dead men’s bones.

                True Christianity is much more than book learning. It is much more than theoretical knowledge. It is not enough to become a repository of information. I could sit here day after day writing my articles and telling everyone what should be, but it would be just so many empty words if we weren’t also involved in church, in the community, rubbing shoulders with the needy, praying with people, playing on the worship team, serving in the kitchen       , sewing clothes for Ethiopian refugees… getting our hands dirty with the work of the Gospel.

                And what good would it do to argue doctrine with people if I didn’t also know how to have an intimate relationship with Jesus through His Holy Spirit… how to live by the Spirit and how to minister under the anointing of the Holy Spirit? And what good would it do me to share my ideas with others if God was not also giving me a deep and profound love for those I minister to, both on the internet and those with whom I rub shoulders? Would I not be just a clanging cymbal?

                Jesus came, for one thing, to demonstrate living faith as opposed to theoretical religion. Nicodemus came to Jesus to discuss doctrine scholar to scholar, teacher to teacher, but Jesus cut right to the chase saying: ”Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3. But this was highly offensive was it not?

                In effect Jesus was telling Nicodemus, saying: “Everything you are and everything you have become in your life must die… and in its place you must learn to live by My Spirit.” This is the nitty gritty of the Gospel. This one thing strips all that we call religion with all of its facades away by saying: “That which is flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” John 3:6

                Again we find ourselves in Romans 8, for Paul takes up right from there and tells us saying “…and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells I you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. Demons can hide in your religion, but they can’t hide from the Holy Spirit.

                I learned this many years ago. I grew up on the front seat of evangelism. I heard the message hundreds maybe even thousands of times. Back in those days it was all about doctrine and not much about Christ. At about 40 years of age I became disillusioned and went into the world for a time. But after a time I became hungry for the real thing and I began attending a Spirit filled home meeting. I attended for a while and then finally asked them to[pray for me. The people gathered around me and laid hands on me praying in the Spirit when suddenly a huge and menacing demon rose up inside of me and threatened to destroy me if I tried to kick him out.

                This scared me out of my wits and also shocked me because I had no idea such a thing was in my life. I backed out of the prayer and thanked them and left, but now I knew that whatever my religion had been up to that point, I had never really been born again. I struggled with this for a couple of weeks and then one day, up on a mountainside, I gave my heart fully to Jesus Christ.

                But I told Jesus that I had tried turning over a new leaf so many times that I was sick of it. All it ever did was to make me legalistic and judgmental and I told Jesus that unless the New Birth was something different than I had experienced before, this would be a very short conversion. So I gave my heart to Him lock stock and barrel and He graciously came into my heart like warm oil flowing into me and a great peace and a sense of His presence flood over me and the first thing Jesus asked me was: “Do you want me to get rid of that thing?”

                I said “Yes.” And that huge menacing demon that had threatened to destroy me came out and flew away like a windblown leaf. I have never seen anything as pitiful and frightened as that demon was. He could not get away fast enough.

                For the first time I experienced the power and authority of Jesus Christ and how eager He is to deliver us. Satan was absolutely no match for the Spirit of Christ. There is power in the name of Jesus.

                I believe that we are fast approaching the final harvest when Jesus is going to pour out His Spirit with a power seven times greater than Pentecost. It will be the early rain and the latter rain together. (Joel 2:2326) And we who aspire to be among God’s remnant people must stop playing church and we must learn to live by the Spirit and not by the flesh. If we are like Nicodemus was we will never be able to handle the power of God that is coming much less minister that power to the lost.

                Like a kid on a bicycle we may scrape our knees, or make mistakes, but that is all a part of learning how to ride. Likewise we may not have everything right yet, but we are learning daily how to live by the Spirit rather than by the flesh. We are learning how to yield to His work in us and through us and we are learning how to apply all of this where the rubber meets the road… among people both in the church and in the community

                “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For the anxious longing of Creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.” Romans 8:14, 19. For God has provided something better for us, so that apart from us they (The Old Testament saints) should not be made perfect.” Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” Hebrews 11:40, 12:1.

                “Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from past ages and generations; but has now been manifested to His saints to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you the hope of glory. And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom that we may present every man complete in Christ.”  Col. 1:25-28

                We can learn many things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.” Col 2:17 Let us become His disciples and take up our cross and follow Him. Mt. 16:24