Archive for October, 2011


Deep Presence

Filed Under: Church Life, Discipleship, Jesus is Lord, Meeting Together, Simple Church, Spiritual Life, Viral Christianity by rossrohde — 10 Comments
October 28, 2011

We can meet him anywhere.

Every once in a while God encounters a group out of nowhere. It is like he was standing on the sideline and the next thing you know we are in His deep presence. I’ve experienced this many times, probably most of us have, if we are paying attention. My friends and I had that experience the other day and I’d like to make some observations about that experience.

My friends meet twice a month as a simple church. One week a month we meet in one of our homes and another time we meet in the same coffee shop, which is a central location for our far scattered group. We meet in a coffee shop just down the street from the San Jose Mission in Fremont, CA. The mission is one of the famous string of missions established in Early California by Spanish missionaries. It was one of those beautiful California October days; warm but not hot. It was sunny, so we sat outside on the patio in the shade. In other words, it was a beautiful, pleasant setting.

We were having our typical conversations, talking about God in our lives, what we were doing, what He was doing, chit chat, just a little of everything really, when my friend Babs asked a question, “Do you think spiritual growth only comes through suffering?” It was at that moment that God went from omnipresent to very present. Most of you know what I mean, He is always there, but suddenly His presence was palpable. Honestly, I was too into the moment to actually notice, but my wife, who has the gift of discernment, pointed it out to me later. Looking back, it was obvious.

What was that like? The conversation took on a higher level of focus. We were all involved, we were all engaged, although we probably came from different perspectives, we were safe and accepting of each other. This, in turn, allowed for transparency as we talked about deep issues like thoughts of suicide, long term depression and the need for medication. It was not the sort of conversation we would have with people who would have felt the need to put us back in the box. In a word, it was not the sort of conversation we would have had with people we didn’t trust. Our body language went from relaxed to attentive. We went from flowing between two or three conversations at once, to one clear focused conversation. And, we were ministering to each other; or better said, God was ministering to us through us. We were talking about real life, not mere doctrinal theory. We weren’t really looking for simple solutions as much as we were willing to be with each other and love one another. And it was very natural, real and genuine. It was safe.

We can’t make that happen. We could all go back to the same place, at the same time of day, in the same weather and discuss the same topic. But, lightning wouldn’t strike twice; or better said, God would choose to remain omnipresent by we wouldn’t notice him as very present. Sometimes this happens in the midst of singing/worship. Sometimes it happens in the midst of prayer. Sometimes it happens when we are in ministry together. Sometimes it happens with the folk talking in the kitchen but the people in the living room miss out. My point is that we can’t make this happen and we can’t reduplicate or plan it.

But we can create an environment where it might happen and often will happen. So what is that environment? First, it is safe. Our group has different political leanings from pretty far left to pretty far right and some points in between. But we love one another; and we won’t stop loving one another if we end up being on polar opposites of divisive issues. In other words, we treat each other like family. Second, we are willing to minister to each other because we love one another. But, that is different than wanting to “fix” each other. Third, we are disposed to God being in our midst. We want Him there. We long for him to be among us. But we know that He is Lord and we are not. He will come in deep presence when He chooses. We aren’t trying to manipulate God any more that we are trying to manipulate each other.

I’d like to make one last observation about that experience. Our conversation was our worship. We were in the presence of God. His Spirit was ministering to us through us. He was very much involved. And that was worship. Worship in the Bible isn’t just singing; it is living life in the presence and under God’s lordship, individually and corporately. This was just one lovely experience of corporate worship.

  • Have you ever noticed God moving from omnipresent to very present? Does that idea bother you?
  • What are common elements you would note in the experiences you’ve had with deep presence? Do you think the pleasant setting contributed to God’s presence or was superfluous?
  • Why do you think we don’t experience this more?
  • Why can’t we plan or manufacture God’s deep presence?
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Tough Situations

Filed Under: Biblical Meditation, Church History, Recommended Books, Spiritual Life by rossrohde — Leave a comment
October 21, 2011

This is an actual FARC guerrilla. My friend saw something like this.

A friend of mine was a missionary in Colombia about 25 years ago during some of the worst violence there. One day his bus was stopped by FARC guerrillas. Everyone was forced off the bus at gunpoint. Since he was a gringo, they immediately wanted to know what he was doing in Colombia and why he was in this rural area. He told them he was a missionary trying to help the people. They immediately stuck a gun in his face and proclaimed their hatred of American missionaries. In the past, FARC had kidnapped and martyred American missionaries, so this was no joke. “Are you really a Christian? Because if you are, we are going to blow the back of your head off.” He was being asked to stick up for his faith by his actions, in a life or death situation.

What would you do in that situation? We all have fantasies of heroically sticking up for our faith. But every day we are given the same test. How are we doing? What test am I talking about? I’m talking about the test that Jesus told us about in Matt. 25:31-46. In this famous parable of the sheep and the goats the difference between sheep, who went to heaven, and goats, who went to hell, was what they did; specifically for “the least of these.” Jesus said we would be judged by our works.

“Wait, you are talking about works salvation.” I can hear your thinking from here. “Haven’t you ever read Eph. 2: 8-9?” [1] Yes, I have. I love that passage. And I have read it in the context of Eph. 2:10 as well. Here’s Eph 2: 1-10 for further context, if you would like. I am talking about salvation by grace, which can be verified by the life we live; the way we act.

That is exactly what Jesus was talking about in the parable of the sheep and the goats. True faith, true belief, will play itself out in the way we live. It will particularly play itself out in the way we treat those who are at the bottom of the pile, what sociologists call the disenfranchised. Agreeing with or even proclaiming correct doctrine won’t get you to heaven. It will just show you know some facts about biblical doctrine. Real faith can be spoken about, but it is lived day by day; not merely talked about. Here is a similar situation that the early Christians experienced in the 2nd Century.[2]

Would you get the card?

So let’s replay my friend’s scenario in Colombia and the same type of scenario that Jesus gave us in the parable of the sheep and the goats. America is taken over by an anti-Christian government. You are pulled before a judge. He says that he has heard rumors that you previously talked about being a Christian. Are you a Christian or not? He will send out the FBI to check not only on what you have said but how you have actually lived out your beliefs. If it is just talk and church attendance you will receive a “get out of jail free card.” On the other hand, if the FBI can track down instances of you actually living your faith by helping others, particularly the weak, in the name of Jesus, and if this is consistent behavior; he is going to throw you in jail and throw away the key. Would you get the get out of jail free card or not?

Don’t complain to me if these parameters seem unfair. You are going to need to talk to Jesus about it. Perhaps you should.

  • Why do you think Jesus set the parameters by what we do instead of what doctrine we agree with?
  • If you ever had a fantasy about being brave under persecution did you ever think you are in the same situation every day?
  • Do you really think these kinds of things can’t ever happen in the West?
  • If you were in the situation the early Christians faced before Pliny the Younger, would you offer a prayer with incense and wine to Trajan’s image and curse Christ? Does your day to day behavior reflect your answer?
[1] Believe me, I’ve had this conversation before and the response is almost always the same from American Evangelicals.

[2] I develop this story of Pliny the Younger and the Emperor Trajan further in my upcoming book Viral Jesus which comes out Feb. 2, 2012. You will be able to buy it here from the blog.

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I or i

Filed Under: Biblical Meditation, Jesus is Lord, Meeting Together, Spiritual Life by rossrohde — 2 Comments
October 18, 2011

Where the King is we should also bee.

This morning at 3 AM God woke Tony and Felicity Dale out of a sound sleep and spoke to them about the Church. What he spoke to them was important and confirmed even by the date mentioned in a specific passage in the book of Haggai, October 17th, the day of the communication. You can read about what God spoke to them here.

As I meditated on what God was speaking to Tony and Felicity I began to feel he was speaking to me about how we in the Western church are. I’m not pointing a finger at anyone without having three fingers pointed back at me. That is, this applies to me as well.

We have become a church which is focused on US, ME and MINE. That is, we want God to come where we are and bless what we are doing. We tend to be Christians for what is in it for US. We want God to show up in what WE are doing. If He doesn’t WE are disappointed and feel He has let US down.

But the Kingdom of God doesn’t work like that. It works exactly the opposite of that. Here’s how the Kingdom works:

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. (Matt. 6:33).

This is just the New Testament version of what God was saying to Israel in Haggai. We seek HIM. We long for HIS righteousness. We want to live in HIS righteousness, not just know about it. And as a consequence of moving our life in alignment with HIM, HE takes care of us. We can trust HIM to do so, but it requires taking our focus and effort off of what we are doing.

We need to go where he is, not invite Him to what we are doing. His presence is found where He already is. That’s why even Jesus said: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.” (Jn. 5:19). We…I, need to quit inviting Jesus to my party. I need to quit seeking that Jesus bless what I would like to do, or even more carnal, just bless ME. If i focus on HIM, seek HIM, seek to live the righteous life that is found by living in the power of HIS Spirit and HIS control, then i will have everything i need.

I think this has a corporate expression as well. We gather in churches (simple or congregational) and don’t experience the power of God. Then we wonder where He went; why He didn’t show up. WE are inviting Him to OUR party. we need to seek HIM and find out what HE wants, not ask him to come among US so WE can have what WE want; even if what WE want is to experience His presence.

The analogy of the bees

Christian corporate life should be like living in a beehive. The bees seem to have a powerful corporate life. The “collective consciousness” is more important that what any one worker bee wants or thinks. In fact, the worker bee would willingly give his life for the good of the whole. In this analogy, Jesus is not only the queen bee, around which the colony’s life revolves, He is also the “collective consciousness” of the hive itself. HE runs the show. It revolves around HIM and what HE is doing, what HE wants, where HE is. And, if I, an individual worker bee, am willing to submit, even sacrifice my life for the good of the whole; live the life of the hive (righteousness) instead of do what I want and expect the hive to go along, then I will have everything I need. But to experience the powerful life of the presence of the King, I need to sacrifice all and live life on HIS terms.

  • Are you living life by what YOU want or what HE wants?
  • If you were in court, accused of being self centered, what testimony could you give, in your defense, which would give evidence that you were living on God’s terms? What would the prosecution bring up to give evidence of a self centered life? Keep in mind that in court only what was actually done counts. Good intentions mean nothing. Which set of evidence would be more convincing? Would you be guilty of the crime of self-centeredness or be acquitted because your behavior was clearly God focused and God directed?
  • Does the analogy of the bees, the idea of Christians having a “collective consciousness” make sense to you?
  • Have you ever experienced community life that had more to do with this “collective consciousness” controlled by God, rather than humans? What was that like?
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Biblioidolatry

Filed Under: Biblical Meditation, Jesus is Lord, New Covenant, Our Covenant With God, Spiritual Life, Viral Christianity by rossrohde — 10 Comments
October 7, 2011

See what I mean?

The other day a couple of friends and I were having lunch together in Oakland, CA. One of the many topics we touched on was biblioidolatry. What is biblioidolatry? It is when we make an idol of the Bible. Most of us in our minds would imagine this looking perhaps like someone placing a Bible on a pedestal and praying to it. But it almost never takes that form. It is much more dangerous and subtle than that. Most commonly it takes the form of thinking the power for living comes from following biblical principles. In doing so, we have replaced the role that only belongs to Jesus, the Word, with concepts from the written word. The power is not in the Bible, it is in Jesus. It is not in the written word, it is in the Living Word.

Why do we do this? I think there are a number of reasons. First, if we don’t actually have to follow Jesus but only “biblical principles” we are still in control. We chose which principles we are going to apply. We chose how we understand those principles. And, even more fun, if someone doesn’t apply a biblical principle the way we do, we get to judge them. But, if we understand how the new covenant works, it isn’t the written word that guides us. It is Jesus, the Lord, who is the Word who became flesh. He speaks his laws into our heart and mind, but not as some written code (Heb. 8:10). Living by a written code is living in the old covenant, not the new. We obey Him, not “it.”

A second reason we are so intent on actually living by the written word instead of obeying the Word is because our culture is obsessed with ideas. We’d rather talk about doctrine than actually put it in practice. We usually don’t do this intentionally; it is built into our cultural habits. Think about school from grade school to university. How were we taught? Wasn’t it usually by hearing someone talk about an idea, a fact, or a concept? We usually try to teach our faith this way, by preaching and giving classes instead of walking with each other along the way (Deut. 11:19) It isn’t very ineffective. That’s the difference between teaching our faith like it is a school subject and actual life on life discipleship. Discipleship has more in common with teaching someone how to change a spark plug than it does a seminary class. I say all of this to point out we have been trained by our culture to think in concepts instead of living life in the power of God. And the result is that we often put more confidence in doctrine (facts from the Bible) than in Jesus himself. That’s biblioidolatry.

Another reason we tend to be biblioidolaters is that it is easier to be judged by what we say, or believe to be true, than what we do. This, most likely, is subconscious. This is actually just an outgrowth of the other two reasons mentioned above. But Jesus isn’t going to judge us by how correct our doctrinal ideas were. When he separates the sheep from the goats he is going to judge us by our works (and no, that isn’t works salvation) Just read Matt 25:31-46. How can that be? It’s simple. If we are the real thing we will live like it. Talk is cheap. We can easily be judged by our works because if Jesus is truly living in us, His Spirit will flow out of us like rivers of living water (Jn. 7-38-39). All Jesus has to do is judge how we lived, to see if there was evidence of the Holy Spirit within.

What good then is the Bible? It is wonderful in every way. While in itself it has no power to change us, it can point to Someone who can. It can’t save us, but He can. It can be a beautiful mirror which shows us how we are living, but the power to live the Christian life still comes from Jesus himself. The Bible just helps us see if we are on track. We don’t need to worship the Bible. We shouldn’t expect it to give us principles to live by. Rather, it gives us access to the Person who wrote those principles. The Bible expresses those principles to help us make sure we are living in the Spirit and not in the power of the flesh. So let’s be filled with the Spirit of Jesus. Let’s walk in the power of Jesus. Let’s worship and honor Jesus, the Living Word, who became flesh and dwelt among us. Let’s be grateful for the written word and deeply appreciate it. We should read it until it saturates our soul. But the power for life still comes from Jesus. He himself said I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (Jn. 14:6). That cannot be said of the Bible.

  • Do you agree with me that we American Christians have a tendency to be biblioidolaters?
  • Can you think of other reasons why we tend to do this?
  • The 1st Century Christians didn’t have the New Testament, yet they often lived powerful, spiritual lives. How did they do that without the New Testament? Do you think it could have anything to do with actually living according to the new covenant, in the power of Jesus?
  • Ever wonder why the 1st and 2nd Century Christians turned the world upside down and we are losing ground? Could it be that we are looking for our source of power coming from the Bible rather than Jesus?
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Testimony of a Religious Junky

Filed Under: Christendom, Jesus is Lord, Meeting Together, Spiritual Life, Viral Christianity by rossrohde — 4 Comments
October 3, 2011

This religious junk really pulls you down until you find yourself in really bad places.

My name is Ross. I am religious. I took my last shot of religion two weeks ago, but have been sober since. I want to tell you my story, and I’ll try to be as honest as possible. I took my first shot of religion when I was 16 years old. I got my first dose from my sister. Then for almost a year and a half afterwards I didn’t have much access to religion. My sister was away at college and had given me my first fix (along with a beautiful encounter with Jesus). I was on my own. I didn’t know where to get my next fix. So at that stage mostly I had Jesus and an old Bible, and that little bit of Evangelical religion my sister gave me.

All of that changed when I went to college. The first week I was there I was introduced to some people who had a serious religious habit. They introduced me to some heavy stuff. Within weeks I was seriously hooked. I learned that I had to have “quit times,” were I read the Bible every day out of religious duty or God would not be pleased with me.

I was trained to believe that my form of Evangelical religion was a better, purer brand of religion than the dangerous smack like Roman Catholic, Pentecostal and Main Line Protestant. These people were seriously addicted to religion, and their religion was bad. We, on the other hand, knew how to handle our religion. In fact, we were in denial, which is one of the first signs of addiction. We honestly didn’t think we were actually religious at all because we were using the pure stuff, with no dangerous additives.

These religious junkies introduced me to religious prayer. Prayer was a duty. There were only four types of prayer that were really acceptable. We could remember these acceptable religious prayer forms through the acronym ACTS: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication. Any other form of prayer was a dangerous adulteration to the pure stuff. There were dangerous religious additives I was told to avoid, when having a good snort of pure religious prayer; Pentecostal/Charismatic speaking in tongues, for example, was pure poison! Any other form of prayer was probably some Roman Catholic mystical gobbledygook that was not only dangerous but silly. It was always best to stick to the pure high grade stuff.

My fellow religious addicts told me I had to go to church every week because that was where I could score a better grade of religion. Since I was already hooked, I did as I was told, and frankly I wanted my next fix. These church meetings were where one could get some heavy stuff. The main dose there was the religious church service. This was a heady cocktail of religion that included pews, pulpits, powerful titled leaders called pastors, some elders, deacons, a set religious patterns called the order of service, some mindless singing and Sunday School. There were many other religious ingredients in this cocktail, but I think most of you are probably religious addicts too. Hopefully you are on the road to recovery. But recovering religious addict or not, you know exactly what a religious church service feels like.

My habit got so serious that the church service cocktail was no longer satisfying. I wanted to score some real heavy stuff. I was told that the really good stuff was reserved for the clergy and missionaries. And, in order to be clergy, I had to go to a Bible college and then seminary. These were places where I could indulge my religious habit without limits. I went to a Bible college and learned every religious form known to Evangelicalism. I was now not only scoring my religion, I was shooting it straight into my veins.  What a rush it gave me. When I was doing religion I thought I was really pleasing God. I was on a serious high that made me feel superior to all those foolish non-Christians and even the bad Christians who didn’t “do” the right brand of religion.

But soon the high wore thin. I needed an even heavier fix. Where could I get it? I was told the only way to really get a religious rush, at my level of addiction, was to become a pusher. I could sell my brand of religion as a missionary, I would be paid to indulge my habit and I could get some really high grade religion for free in the process.

I found a truly religious mission organization that was into some heavy smack. They did their Evangelical religion by using business methods. When a religious junky is on the business method high, he nearly goes crazy thinking that by using business methods the junky can actually control God’s agenda or at least do God a series of big favors. The stuff made our heads so muddled that we actually thought God liked us to do this junk. When you are doing it, it feels so good. It made us feel so superior. But for a serious junky like me, that high can only last for so long.

Then a strange thing happened. Even the best religion wasn’t satisfying me anymore. It all began to feel hollow. I’d do all the religious stuff, quite times, dutiful religious prayers, going to church services, selling my religion to others, even being up the religious distribution chain by being the boss of other religious missionaries; but I couldn’t get high any more.

One day I found myself talking to Jesus once again. It had been so long since I had actually connected with him and not just some religious form or duty. I just told Jesus I loved him. With all that heavy religion I was doing, it had actually been a long time since I had told Him that from the heart. Soon I found that I wanted to seek just Him without the religious trappings of Evangelical religion. The more I sought Him, and not religion, the more satisfying my encounters with Him became.

He opened my eyes and showed me that he never wanted all this religion in the first place. He took me back to the Bible. I read it, not out of duty, but with a passionate desire to find Him in the pages. I began to realize that as I read His Spirit was actually opening my eyes and speaking to me.

This is what he showed me. He never designed Christianity to be a religion. The more religion we humans add, the farther it actually drives us from God. Jesus just wants us and He wants us to have him. The religion gets in the way of the relationship.

That was sixteen years ago. My journey out of religion has been a long and hard one. Every time I think I’ve finally kicked the habit, the Holy Spirit shows me another claw religion has on my soul. But, the more I put aside my religious habits, the more I encounter Jesus. Now I have a new community of fellow recovering religionists. We are helping each other find and stay focused on Jesus. It is beautiful, simple and deeply spiritual.

That’s my story. If you are religious, I hope you can find a group of fellow religious junkies who are on the path to recovery. But, most importantly, recovery will never happen unless you seek Jesus, only Jesus, nothing more than Jesus. He is the only source of power that is capable of shaking the monkey off our backs. And the more you follow Him, the more your faith will become deep, intimate and personal. And, coincidently the more it will look like the early followers of Jesus we read about in the Bible. They were focused on Jesus, not religion.

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