We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19)
This is not the blog I meant to write, but before I get to it a related diversion.
I didn’t do preacher training in any formal setting, but I picked up on the styles of those that I heard. As I grew up there was one familiar tactic used by preachers which may have been the case, or may have been used on the pretext of making you sound spiritual. In the setting the preacher would take his stand at the holy pulpit (after all it’s what the Apostle Paul would have wanted, right?) and opening up his enormous Bible (the bigger the Bible the more spiritual you were, remember) he would look out at his expectant audience.
At that time he would in sombre tones announce that the Spirit had laid it on his heart to change the message he was about to preach. From here in inspired and excited rhetoric he would wend his way through the new message to the awe and amazement of the audience climaxing with such gusto that surely it deserved a further half an hour of the altar call as we repeat Just As I Am. Those convicted by God’s new message would duly step forward to receive their healing/blessing/deliverance/time to shine in front of everyone with a couple of Holy Ghost shoulder dips and somersaults.
(I’m working through some stuff, so forgive any sign of cynicism. I do believe a lot of those messages were Spirit inspired and people responding to it were genuinely convicted. Of course there is also the real likelihood … OK reality that for some it never resulted in genuine life transformation, give it a few moments and they were back to their ‘normal’ post-Spirit selves.)
In any case, the point of the diversion is that having studied this method I also employed it on one or two occasions where I detected that plan A for whatever I was about to deliver was inappropriate, but as God would have it here was a suitable replacement I’d prepared earlier.
In this instance, though, the scheduled blog entry has not been replaced with one that I prepared earlier, but with what’s come urgently to mind to type about. You will of course be shocked to realise it has to do with yet another Frank Viola book. (I know, I know ‘Can you quit it with the Viola references? Don’t you read anyone else? Where’s TD Jakes? Or John Piper? Or Rob Bell? Or Billy Graham? Or Myles Monroe? Or Benny Hinn? Or John MacArthur? Or Brian McLaren? Or Joyce Meyers? Or Rick Warren? Or insert other famous Christian writer here?)
Having finished Reimagining Church I naturally go onto read the next book in the series he’s writing about concerning the inspiration for his understanding of how church should be namely the organic variety. As it happened, someone recommended the series, maybe it was Arthur, maybe it was Alan, even a possibility of it being Lionel. Either way someone recommended it, so when pay-day came it was my delight to invest in the series, so don’t be surprised if you hear more about this and the next one in the series as time goes by. If I’m reading good material, then I’ll want to share what it’s saying.
So, finally, onto what the change in the scheduled blog was about. I had it in mind to blog some more on some of the things that I came across in Reimagining Church. Yet I was so taken with the opening chapters in the follow-up From Eternity To Here that I just had to blog something on what it released in me.
There could be plenty of things I could talk about concerning what I’ve read already, but I’ll endeavour to keep it brief with one or two things that jumped out and throttled me into submission. (I did tap out I’m not ashamed to say … well if I didn’t I wouldn’t be writing this now, would I?)
The theme of the book consists of four of the most important metaphors the Scriptures use for the church namely the Body, the Family, the House and the Bride. The narrative starts with the Bride and as I got reading it and felt Frank’s heart (good how you can get all informal on these blogs n it?) about what was revealed to him about God’s bigger plan it made me look carefully at two things.
First it reminded me of the love that I have for my wife. As I may have indicated on this blog in a manner showing no sense of shame or reluctance, I consider Authrine Elizabeth Dryden to be the most beautiful woman in the world. I am fully convinced that the love I have for her can only come from God. This conviction comes from the overwhelming desire to see the best in her against all odds and despite any factors that should put me off her. I am convinced above and beyond anything else that there is such a rich tapestry of beauty in her that is released and is yet to be released that just to be a witness to that is a dream come true and to be given the honour of seeing her and loving her so deeply it makes sense that I’d want to be with her for the rest of my life to share in that beauty and encourage it further.
As I read how Frank related the relentless pursuit of Jesus for His Bride and noticed how my love for my bride was but a shadow of His love for His Bride it cemented in me the need to continue to pattern my love for my wife after Jesus’ love for His.
Further still, though, there was the sense in which that love that Jesus has for His bride is based on letting her see herself as he sees her. For me that’s a huge issue. I’m only too aware how my wrong self-perception either elevates me beyond my position or more often never allows me to realise the position I have … in Christ. That failure is the ultimate frustration as I now bear witness in endeavouring to help others in their journey of life. You see something in them of supreme value, something worth fighting for and celebrating and the other person refuses to see it that way and lingers in their own poor self-image. I’m not on about raising people’s self-esteem, I’m on about realising people’s God-esteem … in Christ. That is to say I’m on about people recognising who they are … in Christ and accepting that and living in the light of that fact.
I am a beneficiary of a number of crucial men pouring into my life the need to view myself as God views me forsaking my own poor self-image and no longer living by the opinion of others, rather standing in the conviction of the creation that God has made in me and how that fits into the larger Body of Christ and likewise how that enables me to serve and operate in the light of that knowledge. All by the incredible realisation of the amazing love of God in Jesus Christ. This incredible realisation is an ongoing revelation – I think I get it one minute, but then another minute I see it in fresh ever increasing ways bringing me ever more on my knees in tearful adoration and gratitude to the sentiment of looking beyond faults and meeting needs.
That then relates to another astute point that Viola makes in his book linked to the scripture up top. I am not giving Jesus back anything that originated in me. I am only giving Him back that which He has poured into me. He loved me so much and that it ignites, imbibes in me His own love that fulfils and warms me and enriches me to the overflowing extent of giving it back to Him.
This is why I concur with the sentiment summed up in the song Stevie put together that likewise for the love of God I would do anything and being a recipient of that love I can do all things that I’m called to do, because He gives me that strength.
Oki-doki, no altar call on this occasion and all being well I can return you soon to the scheduled blog.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
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