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Originally Posted by Redeemed
One of the things I remember that shaped me was the sense that what I did mattered - that I was a member of the body and I could either add something to it (build with gold, etc) or take away from it (wood, hay, stubble) by how I lived privately, and how I "functioned" in the meeting, how I served. My individual experience of Christ made a difference. It made a difference whether I spent time in the Word, it made a difference whether I obeyed, it made a difference what I looked at, etc. I think I still believe that but I don't hear that kind of message so much.
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This kind of view is not without some basis, but I find it incredibly limiting and self-centered. Am
I going to make it? Am
I going to be approved? Am
I going to be over five cities, or two, or endure "many stripes"? Etc, etc.
Now, fear of the Lord is indeed the beginning of wisdom, and it is wise to measure ourselves against the Lord's standard. But this view is largely void of Christ. We pay the minimal lip-service to Jesus, to remind ourselves that we are redeemed, then we tackle the big bad old world the same way we used to. Agitation, effort, and eventual collapse.
If you go into many church meetings, Lord's Recovery and otherwise, they collectivize this experience, and reinforce it. They have the obligatory mention of Jesus Christ, the Lord of all and Savior of the World. They thank the Father. They bless the Holy Ghost. Then they get down to the real business of the meeting, which is "the ministry", "the campus (or some other) work", "the training", "the teaching", "the new way/move of the Lord", "the building of the Body", etc.
Very, very little revelation of Jesus Christ. It's all me, me, me, writ large.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Redeemed
In the place where I now fellowship, there isn't the same kind of emphasis on serving one another nor the importance of your own individual "contribution." There is an emphasis on reaching out to the community, to the unsaved, to the world, but not so much to the people in your life, to the Christians next to you. There isn't much of a sense of being built up together or arriving together at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (and I'm sure I couldn't begin to say what that would look like!)
I'm wondering what others experience now?
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I used to tell unbelievers about Jesus Christ, and believers about the "Recovered" church. Now I tell unbelievers about Jesus Christ, and I tell believers about Jesus Christ. I think we have barely begun to comprehend this Man Jesus, whom God in His love and mercy sent for our salvation. We barely know Him. Why do we change the subject so quickly? I think to change focus is a great loss.
Let me put it to you this way. Can you exhaust the Christ? Can you plumb His depths? Can you see to the fullest His relationship with His Father? No? Then why consider any other subject? He was, is, and remains, the way home to our Father. There is no other way. Jesus is the way. All that other stuff will resolve itself, and manifest itself, if we step more fully into the life of the Master who ever stands before us.
The emphasis on "building the Church" is a complete waste of time. It only builds Babylon. As I said earlier, Jesus will build His church, and I can guarantee He won't use wood, hay or stubble. If you try to bring it to Him He will say to you, "Get away from Me, all you evil-doers." ~Psalm 119:15