Fighting for Unity in the Body

   I find myself weary today, it has become increasingly alarming at the divides that are being produced in the modern church era. It seems that more and more we as Christians are becoming more concerned with a political agenda than the people around us. A fire for the Word and connecting people with Jesus is being replaced with a fire for idealism, politics and social problems. I heard Tony Evans say recently that "the White House has divided God's house." This divide that has occurred does nothing to solve social problems, fix government issues or reach the lost, but it has drawn the battle lines through the Body of Christ and wrecked havoc on the message of who Jesus is.

   When I say the battle lines have been drawn it is because the pride of our position has caused us to draw away from the saints with a different position and launch attacks at their values, even using the Bible and "God's will" as ammunition against the very people Jesus died for. When a new Christian arrives at a church they have a few groups to choose from; the liberal group, the conservative group, the conservative homeschool group, the conservative public school group, the professionals, the lower class, the educated, the uneducated, those who love guns, those who think guns should be controlled. We have placed so many boundaries on what a Christian does socially that we have missed the primary issue, who a Christian is spiritually. We stand in our camp, edify each other, not in Christ but affirming our social ideals, and pop shots at anyone who dares have another position.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. ~ Hebrews 10:24

   I believe the primary cause for concern is by taking our stance on these issues and proclaiming them to those around us we cause ourselves and others to take our eyes off Jesus. In this sense we have allowed the enemy to accomplish his task, breaking our locked gaze with Jesus and turning them to the things of this world. Once he has our eyes on the world he can slowly manipulate our cares and affections into things that lead further and further away from Jesus. And woe to us if we become the tool that removes the gaze of others from Jesus! Social issues are the stumbling block of this age, they are some of the dissension Paul so fervently fought against in the early church. I believe this is worse, Paul mostly attacked dissension in doctrine, we choose dissension in government ideals and social hot topics.

For it has been reported to me that there is quarreling among you my brothers, what I mean is that each one of you says, "I follow Paul," or I follow Apollos," or "I follow Cephas" or "I follow Christ." Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? ~ 1st Corinthians 1:11-13

But I brothers could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still carnal. For while there is envy, strife and divisions among you are you not still carnal and behaving like mere men? ~ 1st Corinthians 3:3

   Do I have opinions and thoughts about what is right and good in our country and homes? Yes! But for the sake of other believers I restrain my social opinions in hope to present the glory of Jesus to all who will hear. By stating my personal convictions boldly on political topics or social problems I will immediately lose a percentage of people who will no longer hear truth about Jesus from me, and worse possibly cause bitterness and strife between us. By restraining my convictions I remain free to edify and encourage a wider range of believers, pushing them towards Christ, which is far more important than convincing them of good ideals.

   In all of this I do not want to minimize those God has called to impact government, or to alter society for His purpose, but our primary concern will always be leading other to Jesus and if that means I can no longer have a verbal political stance so be it. Pushing others to Christ is the greater work and I want to remove everything that hinders the message of the beauty, majesty and love of this Man. 

   I think it is interesting the time period Jesus came to earth, the Jews were oppressed by a Roman rule, they were occupied by the army of an enemy and yet Jesus did nothing to resist the authority, or start a movement against the governing force. Instead He preached the kingdom of God, healed the sick and cared for people regardless of nationality, belief system or allegiance. He was unlike anything the believers in God thought He would be, He encouraged people to submit to the evil rule physically but submit to God spiritually. In fact they tried to trap Him with social issues such as taxes but He said submit to them and give to God what is His. 

   A few questions I ask myself before I publicly declare personal convictions on social topics:

- Could this remove the gaze of others from Jesus?

- In the scope of eternity is this really important?

- Will this topic block people from hearing Jesus from me in the future?

- Is this where I want to stake my ground?

   I want what I say to encourage people into knowing Jesus, not convincing them of my social opinions. I want to see people of every government party, family values and financial status unified in the pursuit of Christ. I long for the day when every tribe, tongue and nation declares boldly and proudly our love and affection for Jesus, this is what I want to produce in others.

Mourning for our Bridegroom

     Recently I have had a groaning within my soul in ways I have not ever experienced. As I continue to encounter my own weakness, the injustice on the earth and most of all the physical absence of the One my soul loves, my internal chemistry has been altered. I have found myself daydreaming about His nature and eternal attributes, fascinated with His Word and longing for nearness. I feel as though I have become a stranger within this frame; the internal reality deep within me has taken control of my mind and made me live as one in a dream. His presence has invaded every aspect of my thought life and I find myself yearning for something indescribable. I have entered into this strange paradox of joy with weeping, happiness and suffering, contentment with a starving desire for something beyond my control. I can only hope that I have begun to encounter exactly what Jesus was describing in
Matthew 9:15

And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast."

   I have seen a few couples in which the husband is in the military and he is sent on deployment, I have become fascinated with this reality as I see the truths between Christ and His Bride. The absence of a woman's husband has disrupted her existence. She is no longer emotionally stable, each day that passes is a painful encounter with a persistant reality; "He's not here!" There is no consolation for her torment, she can only find short lived activities to occupy her mind, but once the excitement of an activity ceases, the wound is back. This is not the kind of wound that clots and scars over, it is a wound that never heals, it becomes infected and shoots pain with every movement of the body. This wound demands attention and does not subside, each moment of every day it throbs in agony. The bride is able to talk to her husband occasionally, which is joyous and much sought after, but it does nothing to cease the pain the next day, in fact it only serves as a reminder of the pressing truth; "He's not here!" The loneliness of the bride invites darkness as the light of her life is far away. Her brief encounters with him brings a much need light and joy to keep the darkness at bay, but the darkness persists and will not be eradicated until his return.

   The husband may be able to fulfill some of his roles from a distance such as providing for the family, giving leadership advice and sending affirmation but his bride truly desires his embrace, to feel his presence and to rest under his protection. The bride is not longing for a partner or companion but her completion, only by his side does her soul encounter freedom and joy. 

   While her husband is delayed the bride feels vulnerable, exposed and weak. His absence tears at her assurance of his affection and her faith is tested with the flames of uncertainty. Her life has become a false reality and the duties she has been left to manage are overwhelming. She does not have the strength to carry on, yet hope drives her, it compels her to excel and she finds his absence unbearable, but one thing strengthens her inner being, hope. This hope has become the anchor in her soul; one day he shall return and all the wrongs will be made right, every wound will be healed and every tear wiped away. The core of her existence will find rest within his presence. Even so, come Lord Jesus.

   

Psalm 27:4, David's threefold mission statement

The more I study David's life the more I long to be like this guy. He is really so right on so many crucial things. I would like to address David's faults first because this topic comes up often when I engage people in conversation about David. So I would like to vindicate the "man after God's own heart" before I begin on His mission statement.

The biggest accusation I encounter when bringing up the topic of King David is his grievous sin of murder and adultery. The enemy has done a swell job in discrediting David's life, and often he uses our own sin as an idea of disqualification for our lives. But what we find in David's life is the glory of our own life. David's sin did not disqualify him from being the man after God's own heart. If sin ever disqualified us the cross of Christ was in vain. What we see so clearly in David's life was that he did in fact sin, yet his desire and longing was not to dwell in sin, and not to be separated from God by sin. Psalm 51 describes in great detail David's repentance and desperate hope for forgiveness. The introduction to Psalm 51 tells us "A psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba." So we know this is David's heart after His fall. David did not allow his shortcomings and previous failure to knock him out of his pursuit of God. Because David understands the heart of God, "Have mercies on me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitudes of Your tender mercies." Psalm 51:1," he is able to repent and resume the pursuit of God.

The second thing we must remember is that we are all equally guilty of murder and adultery. Jesus makes it clear in Matthew 6:21-26 that murder begins in the heart, and also in vs 27-28 adultery begins in the heart. Humanity acts on wicked thoughts according to the amount of power we have. In other words, if we have little power to control the physical repercussions of our actions our murder is expressed through slander, manipulation and the attempt to destroy any character, image or reputation of another person. King David had unlimited power according to the minds of men, and simply acted on his wickedness according to his power. We also act on our wickedness based on what we can realistically get away with in the physical realm. We fear the punishment of prison so we would not commit murder but we will launch attacks by any means possible that will not damage our reputation or status. With this in mind, knowing that God is looking at this heart reality, not the full growth of our sin, we know that we like David have also murdered, committed adultery and done all other forms of wickedness within the confines of our thoughts.

This leads us to the question; How could David be a man after God's own heart?

The answer I believer lies in Psalm 27:4, I think of it as David's threefold life mission statement

One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord, And to inquire in His temple.

This really is a statement of what David wants to do with his life in three expressions. He says;

- I want to be close to You

- I want to gaze upon Your beauty 

- I want to hear from You

Could it be that this is the basis of why we exist at the very core of our being? What if in our attempt to maintain the activity of Christianity we have discarded the breath of our existence? God did not call David the man after His heart because of his works, leadership, or moral standing, it was based solely on the internal desire of David to be with God, to gaze on His beauty, and to hear from God. David was so dead on with God's intended purpose for Humanity,( See Our Created Purpose) he was desperate for these three things. And in his desperation to be close to the Lord, God blew his mind with revelation and prophetic knowledge of who He is. God brought David into the depths of His heart and unveiled His love to David because of His desire to know God personally and deeply. The Psalms are littered with David's cry to know God and the expression of what he found in the encounter. 

O God You are my God; Early I will seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory. Because Your love is better than life, my lips will praise you. -Psalm 63:1-3

I want my life to center around this theme of being close to God, gazing on His beauty, and hearing from Him. It is the source of life, and the only thing that will sustain the human heart.