The Separation Imperative

Jeremiah 10:2 "Do not learn the ways of the nations."
Exodus 23:13 "Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips."

I think we are heading in the wrong direction. It's taken me awhile to figure this out, but God has been patiently relentless, pounding it into my heart as He allows me to work through it. He is getting me to a place of holy separation.

Our church culture is, in the name of evangelism, embracing and assimilating into the culture of the world. I have piggy-backed onto this movement for many years - hey, who doesn't want to save the lost - and I think I'm wrong. I can feel in my own walk that I'm wrong, as I struggle with the effects of this working through my own spiritual life. Simply put - I am not of this world anymore, and when I get into it, it gets into me, and I feel completely out of sorts as a Christian. No good to anyone, including myself. Jeremiah 10:2 states, we are not to be learning their 'ways.' Their way of life - their 'gods' - should not even be on our lips. Ephesians 5:12 says that it is 'shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret' - so why would we ever tolerate it, never mind enter into it?

When you learn their ways, you quickly enter into their means, their intentions - and ultimately into their true heart. This is an ugly place where we really should not be dwelling. We think separation causes us to lose our ability to testify in this world. Wrong. Assimilation causes us to lose our ability to testify.

I know that this is an unpopular thought in the new church movements. Believe me, I've bought into the impact by assimilation mindset in the past and the fruit has tasted awful. I've seen two negative consequences:

1. My mind, being saturated with these worldly things under the guise of more effective evangelism, has become a stagnant pool. I know, emerging proponents will say that this is my fault and they may be correct - but it is what it is.

2. The 'salvations' have been very shallow and program/people-dependent. As long as you're being like them, they'll listen - but they leave upon the first sign of anything that's intolerant or goes against their own feelings or core beliefs. This is because they haven't abandoned anything to reach for holiness, they've had their way of life catered to.

I do not say this lightly, because I am desperate for the lost to be saved. I say this after years of study and personal experience - but mostly I say this after feeling the pressure from God to allow Him to fully separate me from this world - so that I can be a better witness of the Truth. Please don't get me wrong - I'm not saying separate from the world and focus solely on your own personal holiness. I'm saying that if we strive for personal holiness, we will have a true picture of God to offer to the world - not simply a neutered version of Him.

Separation Power - Fleshing Out the Surrendered Life

I have noticed that there are Christians out there who are tired of the mediocre, tired of the average Christian life that interlocks with the world and has no separation power. So my answer, over and over, to these people is to jump in with reckless abandon. To surrender all to Christ and not look back. To walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh.

Well, they need more than that. I've come to realize that I've fallen into the pastor's lazy way out of a real question. Not that reckless abandon and surrender are not what's required, but it avoids the issue of how to do it, what it looks like. They become catch-phrases that leave the seeker wondering what to do next. It's almost like saying "I'll pray for you" when someone comes to you with a problem. It sounds nice and pious, but it leaves them with the still-empty feeling that they came in with.

That's why I'm glad that this is a blog - with the opportunity for give and take. So I'm throwing the question out there. How does one practically experience or even begin the surrendered life? I know that Elisha burned his plow and slaughtered his oxen - he was making sure that he was never going back. James and John left their boats - their means of business. The men of Ephesus in Acts 19 burned their pagan scrolls in the public square. They put very real stakes in the ground and left all to follow God. Josiah knocked down the idols, burned them, and ground their ashes to dust. Then he literally scattered Israel's old, powerless, compromised way of life to the wind.

But what about us? How do I scatter my putrid stagnancy to the wind? For anyone who reads this, help me out here. Throw out some of your thoughts and experiences as to how we get the flesh out and walk only in the Spirit - tell me how you think that this is fleshed out in the day and age that we now live.

Is it as simple as making a statement that you are now fully surrendered? As methodical as getting up every morning and reading your Bible? As potentially legalistic as cutting out the things (and people) that you feel are hindering your walk and living what you think the lifestyle should look like?

Although these may eventually be aspects of the surrendered life, it has to be more than that. Give me some help. I need to know, and it is wonderfully obvious that I am not alone. There are many out there looking for this separation power.

Nehushtan - Only a Vessel

Numbers 21:8 The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live."

II Kings 18:4 He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan. )

John 3:14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up.

As stated in my last posting, when Jacob finally came full circle in Genesis 35, he returns to Bethel, renaming it El Bethel. He is no longer going to worship the place. He is going to worship the God of the place.

This is much more important than it sounds at first. The place is not going to be honored. The experience is not going to be placed above the God who gave him the experience. It's an easy trap to fall into. We worship - or at least overly acknowledge - the place of our encounter with God, not the God of our encounter.

Think about it - how many places become idols? How quickly something or someone that should be honored becomes something or someone that is worshiped. The Nehushtan, or bronze snake, was used by God to bring healing to the Israelites in Numbers 21. It did not bring the healing - it was a tool, a vessel used by God. But over time, of course, it became an object of worship. We are so tangible and finite that we simply can't help but cling to the vessels that God uses.

Mary - a vessel used by God to bring healing (Jesus) into the world - becomes an object of worship. In Acts 14 the people of Lystra want to worship Paul when he brings healing to the crippled man. Paul immediately does what I believe Mary would do if she were around today - he deflects all attention to God. "Men," Paul says, "Why are you doing this? We too are only men . . . bringing you good news." And if the Nehushtan could talk - he would have said the same thing. "Look to God - I'm only a vessel!"

But we are so locked in to experiences and places that we flock to Toronto, Kansas City, Rome, Willow Creek, Mars Hill, Times Square, etc - looking for a repeat. The US is having the same problem in that churches are flocking to Purpose Driven principles, new philosphies, new methods - all with the hope that these will bring the healing. Churches and denominations are being lifted high, being worshiped instead of being places of worship. All we end up doing is stealing their staleness.

I have an idea - let's do what Jesus said. Let's lift Him up and allow Him to draw people to Him. Hezekiah eventually had to smash the Nehushtan into pieces so that God could be lifted up. If these other places or people become objects of worship, then God will ultimately do the same to them.

Honestly, I need a spiritual healing, and I'm tired of turning to books or churches or ministries or denominations or men. God is clearly telling me to seek Him and put all the other things aside for awhile. They have their place, and they may be used in the process, but they have become the object instead of a vessel to reach the object. In the terminology of Ezekiel 47, He is telling me to cast everything off, allow it to be washed in the River, and if it is useful it will be brought back to me cleansed. If it is not - let it drift away.

At the Mercy of the Current

Ezekiel 47 "I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the Temple . . . ankle-deep . . . knee-deep . . . up to the waist . . . a river that no one could cross."

It's time for men and churches to start unloading their baggage. It's time for purity and holiness - and victory. We have been running on fumes for far too long - thinking that it's the normal Christian life, when it's not. The normal Christian life is to be Spirit-fueled, and we're settling for far less than is available. The only way that this can happen is if we move on down the river and find the deepest point and jump in.

The water of the Spirit is flowing from the Temple, from our Savior, and we have a choice where to stand, and our choice determines our walk. If we stay upstream, standing in ankle-deep "water" - our walk is not affected at all. We still can move under our own power and do what we like. Our lives and the life of the church is unchanged.

If we move downstream a little, the water becomes knee-deep. Now it begins to affect our walk - but only a little. We can get where we want to go on our own and our baggage is still manageable. Though I'm a little uncomfortable, I can still do my own thing. Our church can still move at the pace of its own agendas and methods.

Further downstream it's up to our waist. Now I have to make some decisions. Do I plow ahead on my own strength or do I go with the flow? If I've reached this point, my life is being altered by the flow - but I can lift my bundle of agendas and methods over my head and I can make it on my own. If I try enough, under my own strength, I can still manage to get this done.

But wait - all the way downstream, it's over my head!! If I enter here, there is no turning back. I'm at the mercy of the current. When you are in the 'current' you have to abandon the past. I have to jettison my baggage, all those things that I think are necessary for my survival - and let the current take me where it may. There's no way that I can hold onto anything here! This action requires reckless abandon. For a person - or for a church. Are we truly willing to let everything go - jump into His Spirit - and let Him take us where He will?

That's the decision every church faces. Too many, sad to say, stay ankle-deep, so that they can manage their own walk and keep their own methods. They are at the mercy of the current - the current trends and mega-church ideas and books. But if you read on into Ezekiel 47, you see that it's at the end of the River - where it empties into the Sea - that is where the salt water becomes fresh. That's where the real changes take place. When you're in over your head.

How many Christians though, how many churches, are willing to get in over their head? To surrender to the current moving of the Spirit? The past is so comfortable! Pray for me - I'm jumping in - and I want to take my church with me.

El Bethel - Worship the God of the Place

Genesis 35:7 "There he built an altar, and he called that place El Bethel"

It's time for church revolution. It's time we start renaming our places of worship. I'll start: From now on, Community Baptist Church will be El Community Baptist Church. Why? Because it's time we started worshiping the God of our churches, and not the institutions and denominations themselves.

In Genesis we read of Jacob's journey to truly becoming Israel. It's a long process and I believe that chapter 35 is where he finally becomes that man. He buries the household gods, sanctifies his family, and makes a stand. He renames Bethel (House of God) to El Bethel (the God of the House of God). This is a key step. No longer will he worship the place or the experience, he will worship the God who made that experience possible. That is the key stage for any ministry.

Our churches today are still caught up in worshiping experiences, methods, buildings, ministries and personalities. We are caught up in a Cult of Christian Personality. We follow trends and programs, books and methods, and worst of all - we follow men. These have become our means of measuring success and attaining worldly recognition. We need a radical overhaul - a fire sale. Everything must go. Every treasure we've built up on earth needs to be burned and the ashes scattered to the wind.

The key for Jacob was that he didn't try to recreate his first experience at Bethel - He came and offered himself up completely new and expectant of new experiences. Our churches need to stop trying to recreate experiences and programs and pray for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This can only start when we totally let go of all our baggage, all of our preconceived ideas of 'church' and simply let God go to work through us.

Read Ezekiel 47 - it's the perfect illustration of the step of total abandonment to God. I'll explain further in my next posting. For now - pray for an open mind to be willing to do what God wants to do. Look directly at Him. Don't be like the beggar in Acts 3 who had to be told to focus. Look clearly into the face of Jesus and let Him be the God of our churches.

The Man and The Mission

Luke 19:10 "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."

I read an interesting letter to the editor in my local newspaper tonight. In it, the writer was denouncing the musicians who pen these anti-war songs yet then claim that they are for the troops. The writer, an ex-Marine who served in Viet Nam, states that ultimately it is not possible to be ‘for the man but against the mission.’ They are inseparable, because a military person must be sold out on the mission or he will not be effective. You cannot honestly do the man justice when you denounce his mission - because it is who he is. It's a weak attempt at trying to have it both ways.

I agree. And you can't separate Jesus Christ from His mission. You can't claim that you love His teachings, His compassion, His radical upheaval of the established religions, His confrontation with the political authorities, yet then say that you don't support His mission to save sinners who are going to a very real hell. The salvation of the lost is who He is - it was His stated purpose for coming to earth in human form.

He did not come to be compassionate, He is compassionate by nature. He did not come to establish a new religious thought or system, that's something we've done. He did not come to make a kind and loving people, because that was not the problem. He came because people are by nature deeply rooted in sin and are dying in it. If you try to wrap other missions around Christ but deny the inherent sinfulness of man and the reality of judgment and hell, you miss who He is and why He came. You can't have it both ways - a Savior for people who don't need saving.

Is There A Doctrine In The House?

We have two interesting viewpoints emerging in our current church culture. On the one hand, we have the men and women who are preaching about the promise of prosperity for the church. They are giving sermon after sermon on attaining everything you need right here and right now, and it is your right (as a Christian only) to have it. Our destiny is to have the world! I find this interesting, because in Psalm 73:25, the psalmist writes that "the earth has nothing I desire besides You."

On the other hand, we have the Emerging Church, which has as one of its main goals the 'social' gospel. The message here is that our purpose is to get into the world and address the problems of poverty and disease. I must admit, while personally I like the 'prosperity' movement, spiritually I can't help but be more drawn to the 'social' movement. It appeals to the Christ in me.

Brian McLaren, the leading voice in the emergent movement, has a new book out called: “Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crisis and a Revolution of Hope.” In it, he cautions “against a spiritual need-centered belief that neglects imminent physical and social concerns.” In his earlier book, he argues that “faith is more about a way of life than a system of belief, and being authentically good is more desired than being doctrinally right.” So while he had me with his opening hook, he loses me when he loses doctrine. Why? Because doctrine simply is truth expounded, and it is the truth that sets me free. And I want to be free.

I find this conflict interesting in light of the passage in Acts 3, which addresses all of these issues. Right off the bat, Peter and John confront and meet the physical needs of the beggar. They have to, or he (and the crowd) may never listen to the message. This is a principle clearly seen in I Kings 19, as we see the way God dealt with the depression of Elijah. Before confronting the spiritual problem, you may have to deal with the physical situation. Without rebuking him for his spiritual demise, God simply fed Elijah and told him to get some rest. Meeting the physical need of a person is obviously extremely important. So, of course, I do see this point. It's nothing new or emerging. It's been God's way since Adam.

But if that's all it is, a 'felt-need' being met, then it's just as wrong as the prosperity gospel, maybe even more so. Its danger lies in that it gives a false sense of spirituality - when all it is is a physical need met. Ultimately, we are to point to the only thing that matters, a right relationship with God through Jesus Christ – His only expressed means of salvation (doctrinally-speaking).

The end of Acts 3 reveals the point of the story – Peter tells them that “When God raised up His servant, He sent Him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways." The blessing is in the spiritual need being met. Not silver or gold, and not the physical healing. The spiritual need is the epicenter of everything else. Any focus on the material that eliminates this as the focal point, whether it’s the greedy preacher accumulating wealth on earth or the emerging man with the heart of gold reaching into the deserts of the Sudan, is missing the mark.

Why? Because Christ came into the world to redeem lost souls. Feeding the hungry, healing the sick, clothing the naked, visiting the poor – are all wonderful ‘new creation’ offshoots of this spiritual healing. At least they should be (and this is where I think the Emerging Church has an edge over the traditional churches.) But again, the point is that we are in a spiritually sick world that manifests itself in physical sickness - and if that spiritual need is not the primary need, then everything else is like a band-aid on a cancerous tumor.

In Luke 5:20 - 24, Christ forgives the paralytic that is lying before Him on a mat. The man's four dirty, sweaty friends must be wondering why they spent all that time digging through a roof to get him there. But Christ knows what matters. The man's spiritual state far outweighs his physical problems. It's almost as if He has no intention of healing the man. But to show that He can forgive, He heals. Not vice versa. Spiritual forgiveness clearly outweighs physical need. It's the only true answer to any problem in the world.

It was the answer to these people in Acts 3. It was the answer to the thief on the cross - who never did find his physical need met. It’s the answer to the starving African mother and the political prisoner in China. It's the answer to the Christian who wants his best life and he wants it now.

Spiritual healing is the only thing that matters. Why? Because, as David experienced in Psalm 32, being in sin sucks the everlasting life right out of you. And being in Christ sucks the everlasting sin out of you - and in the end, that is what matters. As Christ told His disciples when they returned from their first missionary trip: "Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." (Luke 10:20) When all is said and done, there's heaven and there's hell (again, doctrinally-speaking).