Experiencing God

Alan Hermann

Experiencing God

What is the first emotion that you experience when you think of God?
There are many answers to this question. Some are helpful and some dangerous but none are neutral.

Probably the most dangerous place of all to be in, is to answer, ‘nothing’. If the thought of God brings nothing to our heart then we desperately need to spend time with Him strengthening our relationship.
There are two seemingly opposed answers that are in fact complementary. They bring together apparently differing emotions to build one glorious whole. Neither is greater than the other. Both are important on their own but together they make a far greater whole. In no particular order they are ‘awe’ and ‘love’.

Awe by itself can, if misunderstood, lead to servile fear or a sense of worthlessness. We can begin to see God as mighty but distant and lose the precious truth that we live from within His eternal hug.

Love by itself can become seen as sloppy sentimentality as we lose sight of the fact that God is our friend but not our mate. Together they show the awe filled grandeur and power of the One who loves, as well as the tender Father heart of the Creator and King.

To live the full life we need to experience the fullness of God. His hug is warm and His arms are strong.

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2013 update: 

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Intentions of an Ecclesia

Full Dutch article / Uitvoerig Nederlands artikel: Intenties van de ecclesia

The Greek word for “church” is “ekklesia” which simply refers to those who were "called out" for an assembly or meeting. It was a non-religious word. It just referred to a group of people. In this case, the group of people who were followers of Jesus.

In several of our articles you shall be able to find that Church is not an organization, building, or meeting of any kind. In the real sense of the word it should be simply a group of people who follow Christ.
When Jesus said "I will build my church." it simply meant that he was going to form a called out group, or crowd, or fellowship, or assembly.

Language is something which changes in time, so naturally we do have tot follow it and take the word 'church' in the meanings how people look at it today. But we also have to show them that it means more then just one meaning they want to select.
It’s very helpful to define “church” clearly. We do have to make it clear it does not mean only the sort of building specially made for worship. We can also use the word fellowship, or gathering, or brethren, or saints, or disciples.

At the beginning of our Contemporary Time table (or Common Era = CE) Jesus gathered with his followers in the open nature and in synagogues. In the first century CE ther was no formal membership, just a love-commitment to God and each other that brought people gathering together.
The purpose of those who wanted to follow Jesus and became believers was to find same-minded people and to go with the message of the Hope which was given to them by Jesus Christ the Saviour. Sometimes apostles were present, many times not. Sometimes elders were present, many times not.
The church really is the followers of Jesus who engaged in gathering and going.

The disciples of Christ and their followers came together to experience God in their midst and that is what we still have to do today. They sit not back and wait for a pastor to preach them a sermon or for a music leader to sing them a song, or just for elders to pray. they came together to enjoy the presence of each other and to participate in an assembly to praise the Lord. they knew how Jesus went everywhere proclaiming and demonstrating the reality, love, and power of the Kingdom (healing the broken-hearted, setting captives free, proclaiming God’s acceptance, etc.) and were aware what sort of task their Master Teacher had given them.

Jesus took the Gospel to the streets and told everybody to go out in the world and to spread the Good News.

To be able to spread that news we do not stay 'binnenkamers' (or) inside the room. We have to bring the word outside. This means that church, first of all, needs to transition from being a “come and see” place to a “go and be with the lost” movement. We need to go where people are already hanging out and be prepared to have conversations with them about the great love of our lives.

A meeting for brothers and sisters in Christ can take place everywhere other people are. so you can come together in pubs, shopping malls, restaurants, parks. You could say we need church where people are already hanging out. We need a church in every mall, every Carrefour, Bijkorf, Sainsbury or Tesco. Churches can go where the people are, churches can start quickly anywhere and reproduce rapidly. In this way, the church becomes what it is meant to be: a “going” movement.

The homosapiens is created not to be on his own. People were designed to need each other and rely on each other. People were designed to learn and grow from loving interaction with other people.

That should also be the intention of gathering: being together under the wings of Christ Jesus. Coming with like-minded people together to find ourselves in a loving relationship with other believers enabling each other to begin to live life in a new way, a more freeing way.

Having small groups of people coming together in formations at public or private places you could call them house-churches but we would prefer them to call ecclesiae (the plural form of ecclesia/ekklesia). Coming together they all should have the same intention, showing each other their love for God and their believe in the son who was willing to die for us. Gathering they should share the love for each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.

The Ecclesia then can become the place where we have people to encourage us when we need it and  have people to build us up. It should be the place where we have the awesome gift of having a support structure to rely on when things get tough.

The one ecclesia does not have to be an exact copy of the other ecclesia. Everybody is different so every ecclesia may be different as well. Every situation is different so every service may be different.
We do not need a set of Common Prayers or a missal to follow a strict order of service.
Creating community that is safe and that reflects God’s own love does not just happen. Someone has to risk being vulnerable and saying, “This is who I really am.” We are spiritual and human, both.
As a family we should feel life around us and be aware of what is going on in the world but also in the brotherhood. We should recognise the differences of character and the differences of situations. Our humanness should be shared in common with all. Sharing our humanness does not make us weak—it makes us close to other humans. It allows us to fulfil the biblical command to “accept one another as Christ has accepted you.” Someone has to be deliberate about taking the risk to take the masks off. In this environment of acceptance, others will do the same and true community will develop.

We should be making room for people to share. And by creating a nice atmosphere we can help each other to come loose.
There needs to be times during meals, gatherings, get-togethers where people have space to share their lives. Daring to share your live with other is one aspect of accepting the others as your brother or sister.
Good relationships are built on the inevitability of conflicts that are faced and resolved to the point where the relationship is even stronger. Relationships are made to grow us. We must deal with the real issues of hurt, pride, anger, communication, and forgiveness.

Making an ecclesia is opening yourself up to other whatever their position in life or what their interests are. Being interested in what they do, read, watch on television, etc. makes part of the togetherness. In it we do have to accept that we can be close to someone or closer to somebody else. But we also should be aware that not all relationships are going to continue to be close, even when they are good. Being part of a transformational family should be at the heart and soul of what it means to “be” the church.

It are the gatherings of believers who “are” the church and reach out to bless their neighbours and restore neighbourhoods. Each ecclesia should be a little heart of a community. the blood cells of the Parish which supports the oxygen.

Together we do have to try to work together so that we get clean fresh blood every day of the week a whole year through.

Which food, the quality and quantity depends on choices, but in every community the most precious food and main dish should be the Word of God. Everything should be centred around the Bible.

We can encounter many different ecclesiae but for all of them the highest priority should be the Love for the One and Only Elohim God Almighty Jehovah/Yahweh and His Word, plus the spreading of the Gospel, the Good News of the Saviour Jesus/Yeshua, the Messiah, his return and the Kingdom of God.


How and what 'you can eat' to get the best intentions you can read in:
An Organic Church in the line of what God wants
What to expect from a Christadelphian meeting?


Please do find more about the Ecclesia in:

• Several articles concerning the essence of an Ecclesia
• What and why ecclesia
• The Ecclesia in the churchsystem
• Reasons to come to gether
• Love for each other attracting others
• What makes a consecrated Christian
• and look out for the coming articles on the difference between church and ecclesia on 'Christadelphian Ecclesia'.
• The Truth
• Love for each other attracting others
• What makes a consecrated Christian
• Jesus Christ being dispatched as the Figurehead of a Religion

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In Dutch you can find / In het Nederlands:

Aangeraden lectuur: Wat en waarom ecclesia

&

• Omtrent bijeenkomen en vergaderen
• Opbouw van een ecclesia
• Tonen elkaar lief te hebben en zo anderen aantrekken
• Opbouw van een ecclesia en verbonden kosten
• Een moment voor jouw en God
• Essentie van dit christendom van mij
• Trouw blijven aan de leer van je kerk
• Jezus Christus weggezet als de leider van een religie
• Een richtlijn om zich van het verkeerde af te houden

Lees meer over Ecclesia in de artikelen van de Christadelphian Ecclesia.

Church sent into the world

David Bosch writes, “The involvement in the world should lead to a deepening of our relationship with and dependence on God, and the deepening of this relationship should lead to an increasing involvement in the world.” Tod Hiestand writes: " the individual church must see itself as sent into the world, it must also see itself as sent into the world along with the church catholic."

The mission of the church is derived from Jesus' call to gather together. also the apostle Paul called us not to neglect our own congregational meetings which form the church, (Hebrews 10:25)
The church’s call to be a “sign, witness and foretaste” of the coming Kingdom may not be overlooked.

God has sent the church so that in His mission His “love and attention are directed primarily at the world". God has given His son as the foundation of the Church.

We are all part of the world but God and His son Jesus have given us the task to distantiate from the worldly matters. The church that “goes” is the church that finds its primary identity detached from the world and set apart as holy.  The separate and untainted church rightfully understands that it needs to be a witness for the gospel.
Missiologist David Bosch writes: “Spirituality or devotional life seems to mean withdrawal from the world, charging my batteries, and then going out into the world. The image is of an automobile that runs on batteries only.”
Jesus light of Israel, but also for all people, states the need for us to remain set apart in their sentness, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”(John 17:18) We can hope to reap which shall only be possible if we properly reflect the teachings of Christ Jesus. Christ means ‘Messiah’, the  anointed one. He was anointed in order " to preach the Gospel" (Luke 4:18); and we too have been anointed insofar as we are in Christ, the anointed one (2 Corinthians 1:21). Therefore as He was ordained a preacher of the Gospel to the world, we too share that honour (as we do all His honours, to some extent). He was anointed (‘oiled’) by God in order to give the oil of joy to His people; He shared His experience of anointing with us, and we must go out and do likewise (Isaiah 61:1,2) (cp. Luke 4:18).

Isaiah’s description of the beauty of Christ’s preaching in (Isaiah 52:7) is quoted by Paul concerning every preacher of the Gospel (Romans 10:15); the “he” of (Isaiah 52) is changed to “them” in Romans 10. And Paul is quoting this Old Testament prophecy about Jesus to prove that we are all “sent” to preach the Gospel. The validity of our commission to preach is quite simply that Jesus Himself preached; in this way we are all personally “sent” to preach, simply because He was sent to preach. As the Father sent Him, so He sends us.  We should be ambassadors for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20) and we should show the world that we are united in that one Body of Christ. Jesus prays that they would remain unified, “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” With Jesus’ prayer as a foundation for understanding the nature of the church we see that the Church finds itself in the world, yet set apart and unified.

We as brothers and sisters in Christ do have to be unified if we desire to have an effective witness in the world and to build a true church of Christ. We can not be monads or private disciples going our own way, out of love for our fellow believers we do have to share the love of Christ and our own love with the whole community.

We need to speak out against the suburban value of extreme individualism and call Christians back to community. We should prepare the ground, fertilise the field, and plant Bible based structures.

We need to deconstruct the value of consumerism in a way that leads instead to sacrificial living and we need to understand how our individualism and consumerism lead us to neglect the hurting and needy people in our neighborhoods and cities. We cannot stay together in a closed or isolated cocoon. It can help everybody if we can move from an individualized witness to a more robust and powerful communal witness.

Jesus was not about sending his disciples out by themselves into their individualized world to “share the gospel” so that people could “go to heaven when they die.” Rather, he was sending them out to be a communal, public witness to the Kingdom that he was announcing and inaugurating. We need a Church that rejects the lone ranger mentality and lives in sacrificial and compassionate community.

(Based on ideas from Todd Hiestand and Duncan Heaster)

A Living Faith #10: Our manner of Life #2

A Living Faith

Our Manner of Life

Prev. A Living Faith #9 Our Manner of Life

 

Having explored in some measure a broad overview of some of the attributes of character that disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ must develop if they are to truly be his disciples, it is time to draw our thoughts towards a conclusion. Jesus in his prayer as recorded in John 17 has this to say:

“This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” John 17:3 

This sums up the crux of the matter. The whole purpose of life is not to have existence for the sake of living, but rather that the created order of things fulfils the purpose of its creation. The purpose of Yahweh was not that we should have life merely to exist, but that we, as created beings, give Him pleasure by reflecting His Divine Glory. Yahweh has graciously extended His love toward you and me; He has invited us to be part of His great divine family. Because of our response by accepting baptism and becoming ‘in Christ’ we have been adopted into that divine household. Adoption has brought many joys, many privileges, many hopes, but also an immense responsibility. 

The wise man wrote:

“Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come... .. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:1, 13-14

Now is the time of opportunity. Now is the time to seek Yahweh. Now is the time to keep His commandments. The commandments govern and guide all aspects of daily life and continuing the line of thought about personalising those commandments some areas to examine could be:

•         My place in the Body of Christ and my Ecclesia.

•         My private and public worship.

•         My relationships with my brethren and sisters. What is true fellowship?

•         My relationships within my work and with other people in general.

•         My character and behaviour

All things are open to the sight of Him who created us, it is easy to deceive oneself but Yahweh sees all, our every thought and action is known to Him. He knows our frame, He knows our sorrows and joys, our motives are laid bare before Him. Our love may be feeble and faith frail, yet mercy triumphs over judgement (James 2:13).  If we truly love the Lord our God, if we have a living and active faith holding fast to that which so good, then with David we rejoice:

“O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.” Psalm 139:1-4

Surely with such lofty thoughts in mind our hearts are filled with awe and indeed David continues:

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it. (v6)

Thus we are brought to realise our own imperfection and limitations. It is not within man to guide his own footsteps, nor within us to foresee the path must we take. Yahweh knows what is best for each of His children; His goal is not our present comfort, but our eternal welfare. All present joys and sorrows are transitory and ephemeral, only having meaning within the context of Yahweh’s plan and purpose with His creation. 

How great a love has the Lord our God and Father bestowed upon us that we should be His children (1John 3:1). Is your love for Him such that with David the heartfelt response comes:

“Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.” Psalm 119:97

“How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!” Psalm 139:17

Only a living and active faith will look deep inside the inner person and know the honest answer.

  Andy Peel

Next:  ‘My place in the Body of Christ and my Ecclesia’.

Let not sin reign in your mortal body

SOMETHING TO CHEW ON

Many sincere Christians express dissatisfaction over the fact that they continually fall short of perfection. Many admit continual failure in the spiritual life, repeating sins again and again, giving way to habit patterns contrary to the life of Christ. When they read the command of Christ, Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5:48), they feel both condemned and discouraged.

  In almost all great revivals believers have sought in one way or another to attain to perfection of living. They have longed for it, prayed for it, and worked for it. But the testimony of all great Christians is that they have never attained to it; that  the more they strove and the closer they came to Christ, the deeper was their sense of inadequacy and inherent sinfulness. While their lives bore testimony to victory over sin, at the same time they felt a deeper sense of their own need and unworthiness. Ask Peter, James, and John. Ask the noblest souls that the Christian church has ever seen, the most zealous men that mankind has ever produced. With one accord they exclaim with the Apostle Paul: “I have not yet reached perfection, but I press on, hoping to take hold of that for which Christ once took hold of me. My friends, I do not reckon myself to have grasped hold of it yet. All I can say is this: forgetting what is behind me, and reaching out for that which lies ahead, I press towards the goal to win the prize which is God’s call to the life above, in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 3:12:14.

  All the true believers who have come to know the saving power of God testify that the only perfection, the only sinlessness, they have ever seen or known has been that of Jesus Christ, the only perfect and sinless man: and that Jesus is the whole of their salvation, the whole of their righteousness and perfection. To be a genuine Christian means faith in Christ, fellowship with Christ, faithfulness to Christ, and fruitfulness for Christ. Man has no perfection and no righteousness of and in himself; he must trust wholly and solely in Christ.

  One of the hindrances to living the Christian life successfully is failure to understand what the Bible teaches about the nature of sin and perfection. A grave misapprehension lies at the root of much of the false teaching on this subject. In applying the term “perfect” to believers, the Bible never means “sinless.” There are at least nine different Hebrew words and six Greek words translated “perfect.” Noah is said to have been perfect in his generations.” Gen. 6:9. Of Asa, the king of Judah, we read: “But the high places were not removed: nevertheless Asa’s heart was perfect with the Lord all his days.” 1 Kng. 15:14. “If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.” Jam. 3:2. “We speak wisdom among them that are perfect.” 1 Cor. 2:6.

  The Bible writers do not say that these men were sinless. The meaning of “perfect” in these instances is that of spiritual maturity, ripeness in spiritual understanding, completeness in response to God. A “perfect” Christian is one whose heart and mind are permanently committed to Christ. Noah, Abraham, and Job were all declared to be “perfect” men. Yet the history of their lives shows that they were far from being sinless.

  If one’s view of sin is shallow enough, sinless perfection would not be an impossible achievement. It is a defective view of sin that leads to a wrong understanding of perfection. If sin simply means a deliberate, wilful doing of what is known to be wrong, then no Christian should commit this kind of sin. But if sin includes also a man’s state of mind and heart, man’s bias toward sin, (as an indwelling tendency), then perfection presents a totally different picture.

  Some Christians believe that it is possible in this life to reach a point in spiritual development where the sinful nature is completely eradicated and, therefore, no longer operative. The Bible does teach that the genuine Christian life is one of uniform and sustained victory over all known sin. The normal Christian experience should be one of victory and not constant defeat. Paul says: “Likewise reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, ... and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid” Rom. 6:11-15.

  There is one truth that every believer needs to learn who would fully enjoy complete salvation in Christ. It is the need to abide in Christ, to look continually to Christ, to depend wholly on Christ and his righteousness. God’s method of salvation is not eradication of a sinful nature, but the counteraction of it by Divine power through the Holy Spirit. Only by the continual counteracting presence of the Holy Spirit is it possible to be victorious over sin and the sinful nature within us.

  It is fatal to believe that if only we could become totally surrendered to Christ, the sinful nature would be eradicated. The law of sin and death continues to operate within us. It is something that remains in us as long as we live. Victory over all known sin does not mean sinlessness. It does mean the glorious opportunity in Christ to strive successfully against all sin and overcome it. But this is an experience that must be maintained day by day through fellowship with and surrender to Christ. The Christian life is a lifelong battle. So long as the believer abides in Christ, real holiness and victory are possible. What we have in the everyday life is the counteracting power of God against our sinful tendencies and our sinful natures.

  

 In this earthly life there is always a conflict between the flesh and the Spirit. Paul again says, “This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that you cannot do the things that you would. But if you are led of the Spirit, you are not under the law.” Gal. 5:16-18.

  The greatest men in the Bible never claimed sinless perfection. They were all painfully aware of the fact that they were sinners throughout their lives. So long as a man is in a state of sin with a sinful nature still present in him, he will confess himself to be a sinner. The Christian always recognizes himself to be a sinner in need of Divine grace. The Apostle John says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” 1 John 1:8-10.

  We find here the most solemn warning against the doctrine of sinless perfection in this life. The indisputable meaning of this passage is that the man is a self-deceiver who claims for himself what the Apostle John dared not claim. The truth is not in him. The doctrine of sinless perfection leads to the conclusion that both Christ and the Holy Spirit are unnecessary once this state of eradication of the sinful nature is reached. Wherever the professed Christian claims to have the sinful nature eradicated in his life, there is a corresponding loss of true dependence upon Christ. There is a break in the only saving relationship that man needs for victory. This allows people to sin and call evil good. It discourages those who strive to be like Christ, but fall short of this false idea of perfection.

  Christ is our sole perfection, our sole righteousness. In ourselves we are never sinless. But so long as we look to Christ, sin and self cannot prevail.

  The pretension to sinless perfection at any time in this earthly life is the root of spiritual pride and self-righteousness. The Christian does not deny that the new life in Christ is capable of a new righteousness, of victory over sin. But he insists that it is not his righteousness, not his victory, but Christ’s.

  There will be no point in spiritual achievement in this life where one may rest with the certainty that he will sin no more, or that he does not stand before God as a sinner in need of Divine grace and power. The Christian knows that there still remains in him a fountain of evil, a depraved nature.

 Salvation by grace alone means that absolute perfection and sinlessness cannot be realized here and now. Righteousness by faith means that we look continually and exclusively to Christ, that we look away from ourselves and any hope in ourselves altogether in order to live by him alone. Genuine salvation directs us at once to Christ, to the only perfect life lived here on earth, and to his redemption through the Cross. Jesus Christ is absolutely central. Man’s victory over sin is exclusively the work of God in Christ, the continual control of the life by the Holy Spirit, that through daily union with Christ we participate in his holy life. The righteousness of Christ that saves us is not the beginning of a new self-righteousness but the end of it.

 John Aldersley