Our group is a special group, I don't question that. We have it pretty good in this fellowship of assemblies. It's not a terrible place to be as some would say, neither is it a cult as some have claimed. We are made up of the children of God, people striving to do what's right as a result of the work that Jesus has done in their lives.
To say that we are the restored church however is just not true. I think that the majority of people in this group believe that we are striving for restoration, but we're just not there yet and this is a good goal (Phil 3:12). It brings a sense of purpose to our group and yearning for more than we have today when we consider ourselves this way. I don't know anyone who believes that we are already where we need to be, have everything we need to have, and are already the restored church made manifest. Simply put, we all have a way to go to get to where God wants us.
The truth in the last two paragraphs can be summed up by saying that to get where we need to go, we will have to change. Does anyone deny this? I don't know really. Are we welcoming change? I think not. In the Des Moines meeting last year, several ministers spoke out about fearing change, being slow to change, or being cautious about changing. I realize that some change is negative, and change just for it's own sake can often be exactly that, but if we adopt a spirit of intransigence, we will miss out on the leading of the Lord.
I'm reminded of the person trying to hold sand in his hands. The tighter he bears down, the more sand slips through his fingers. We are at this phase as a group. We are trying to hold on so hard to the things that make us special, the blessings that still have are starting to just slip away. We need to be willing to change.
I'm also reminded of the children of Israel in the wilderness who were always looking back to how good things were in Egypt and never how good things were promised to be in the land of milk and honey (Numbers 11:5-6). If God is going to lead us into a full realization of a restored church, He can't do it if we are stuck defending our position, unwilling to change. Let me take that a step farther. If God is going to lead our leaders into a full realization of a restored ministry, He can't do that if they are stuck defending their position, unwilling to change either. Bro. Atwell said in a sermon way back in 1983 that if in our Christian walk we can look around and see the same issues around us that we have always seen, it's because we have stopped journeying. I don't ever want to get stuck in a position where I've stopped progressing and the only positive thought I can think is how good God used to be when I was still under His covering.
We sing a song about wanting to move when God moves if we move, but I ask everyone in our group, is that what we're doing? I submit instead that we are either waiting to move or don't really have moving on on our agenda. I want to be willing to move on with Jesus, and the only way for that to happen is for us to allow it to happen.
Brothers and Sisters, There Must Be Change.
Showing posts with label change. Show all posts
Showing posts with label change. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Some Things Never Change
I once asked a man how often we as a group take a look at our standards and make sure that everything we were being taught was actually still relevant and update those items that weren't relevant anymore. He replied that we never update the standards because they were Biblically based and that meant that they were correct and you don't change something that is correct. He also implied that any standard that we taught had always been relevant and would always remain relevant.
This discussion happened over a decade ago and it was one of those "aha!" moments for me. His answer got me thinking. Ever since I've always wondered just how true that the statement that everything that will ever be relevant would always remain relevant really was. I've always wondered just how change effects us here and now in our Christian walk.
Jesus never changes (Heb 13:8), but does that mean that nothing ever does? I wondered this and searched the scriptures and found some things that I question whether or not they are still relevant.
You knew that there was going to be one example dealing with clothing, so I'm going to get it out of the way. Currently I'm wearing 100% cotton clothing other than on my feet. My socks are a poly-cotton blend, which are a sin (Lev 19:19). As a matter of fact many of the articles of clothing that we wear, regardless of whether they are modest or not, are sinful. Sure, these socks breathe and my feet don't sweat like they do in some of my Holy socks (no pun intended), but they are still a sin. I have found a Biblical solution though and plan to correct the situation very soon (Matt 18:8).
Today I ate lunch at a Chinese buffet, and ate three little skewers of crab meat. They were tasty little abominations (Lev 11:10), but fortunately for me I found out that they were actually imitation crab made out of whitefish. Still it did look like crab so I think it was technically still a sin (1 Thess. 5:22).
I live in Michigan and the economic troubles here are greater than those just about anywhere else. I've always got an eye out for alternative sources of income and I think I found one (Exodus 21:7). Sure, it might not be a recurring stream of income, but at least it's one less mouth to feed right?
Keeping with the economy, I've noticed that more and more people in my church are working non-traditional schedules. I've also noticed that more and more you hear about the person who is missing church because they had to work. Now I know that we have to kill these people (Exodus 35:2), but the thing I've always wondered is how?
Should we be exempting our children who attend school from playing football (Lev 11:7-8)? What about all the good Christian men who shave? When we use the verse Lev. 19:28 to state we shouldn't have tattoos, why does Lev. 19:27 get overlooked when it tells us not to trim our beards? Lev. 19:26 means your steak must be well done and that even medium-well is out. Does this verse doom Holy people to dry steak?
Am I being silly in bringing up these absurdities here? Maybe just a little bit, but only to make a point. If you are going to make a statement that everything that has ever been relevant will always be relevant, then these scriptures are definitely relevant. They are at least as relevant as the old standard that made it a sin to drink soda from a bottle. At least the items I'm bringing up are Biblical (though that term is subjective).
If you are going to make a point of being under the law, you must take it all; you can't pick and choose (Gal 3:10). Of course we are not under the law now, at least not if we are led by the Spirit (Gal 5:18). So in going from being under the law to being led by the Spirit, things have changed, at least once.
We have changed how we do things outside of this massive shift from the law to grace as well. Let's face it, life is changing all the time. Let me tell you that just over the last few years I've seen pay phones, department stores, and dial-up modems become much less relevant to today's society. Carriages will never be the standard of transportation again. The majority of people no longer live on farms. Newspapers will eventually become a nostalgia item because they are on their way out of the mainstream. Why is all of this true? Things change.
It was the Greek philosopher Heraclitus that said "The only constant is change" [1]. Isaac Asimov said "It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be ..." [2]. Why is it that these men, one of which was a professed atheist, have a better grasp on how people work that we seem to? What is it holding us onto the idea that change is evil other than righteous indignation?
This post is not meant to address any particular standard at all and is merely addressing the question of should our standards ever change. I'm simply going to sum up by asking you a question. Just how far should we reject change? Should we just plant our feet and stand our ground every time the word is even mentioned or should we find a way to accept it, deal with it, learn from it and come out on the other side of change better than we started?
Just one additional thought. There definitely are some timeless truths that really shouldn't change, but when you lump everything together and make blanket statements that nothing should ever change, when that very blanket statement ends up being questioned these timeless truths are questioned as well. I know that Gal 5:9 is talking about sin and not classification, but the point of it certainly applies.
References:
[1] http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heraclitus
[2] http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov
This discussion happened over a decade ago and it was one of those "aha!" moments for me. His answer got me thinking. Ever since I've always wondered just how true that the statement that everything that will ever be relevant would always remain relevant really was. I've always wondered just how change effects us here and now in our Christian walk.
Jesus never changes (Heb 13:8), but does that mean that nothing ever does? I wondered this and searched the scriptures and found some things that I question whether or not they are still relevant.
You knew that there was going to be one example dealing with clothing, so I'm going to get it out of the way. Currently I'm wearing 100% cotton clothing other than on my feet. My socks are a poly-cotton blend, which are a sin (Lev 19:19). As a matter of fact many of the articles of clothing that we wear, regardless of whether they are modest or not, are sinful. Sure, these socks breathe and my feet don't sweat like they do in some of my Holy socks (no pun intended), but they are still a sin. I have found a Biblical solution though and plan to correct the situation very soon (Matt 18:8).
Today I ate lunch at a Chinese buffet, and ate three little skewers of crab meat. They were tasty little abominations (Lev 11:10), but fortunately for me I found out that they were actually imitation crab made out of whitefish. Still it did look like crab so I think it was technically still a sin (1 Thess. 5:22).
I live in Michigan and the economic troubles here are greater than those just about anywhere else. I've always got an eye out for alternative sources of income and I think I found one (Exodus 21:7). Sure, it might not be a recurring stream of income, but at least it's one less mouth to feed right?
Keeping with the economy, I've noticed that more and more people in my church are working non-traditional schedules. I've also noticed that more and more you hear about the person who is missing church because they had to work. Now I know that we have to kill these people (Exodus 35:2), but the thing I've always wondered is how?
Should we be exempting our children who attend school from playing football (Lev 11:7-8)? What about all the good Christian men who shave? When we use the verse Lev. 19:28 to state we shouldn't have tattoos, why does Lev. 19:27 get overlooked when it tells us not to trim our beards? Lev. 19:26 means your steak must be well done and that even medium-well is out. Does this verse doom Holy people to dry steak?
Am I being silly in bringing up these absurdities here? Maybe just a little bit, but only to make a point. If you are going to make a statement that everything that has ever been relevant will always be relevant, then these scriptures are definitely relevant. They are at least as relevant as the old standard that made it a sin to drink soda from a bottle. At least the items I'm bringing up are Biblical (though that term is subjective).
If you are going to make a point of being under the law, you must take it all; you can't pick and choose (Gal 3:10). Of course we are not under the law now, at least not if we are led by the Spirit (Gal 5:18). So in going from being under the law to being led by the Spirit, things have changed, at least once.
We have changed how we do things outside of this massive shift from the law to grace as well. Let's face it, life is changing all the time. Let me tell you that just over the last few years I've seen pay phones, department stores, and dial-up modems become much less relevant to today's society. Carriages will never be the standard of transportation again. The majority of people no longer live on farms. Newspapers will eventually become a nostalgia item because they are on their way out of the mainstream. Why is all of this true? Things change.
It was the Greek philosopher Heraclitus that said "The only constant is change" [1]. Isaac Asimov said "It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be ..." [2]. Why is it that these men, one of which was a professed atheist, have a better grasp on how people work that we seem to? What is it holding us onto the idea that change is evil other than righteous indignation?
This post is not meant to address any particular standard at all and is merely addressing the question of should our standards ever change. I'm simply going to sum up by asking you a question. Just how far should we reject change? Should we just plant our feet and stand our ground every time the word is even mentioned or should we find a way to accept it, deal with it, learn from it and come out on the other side of change better than we started?
Just one additional thought. There definitely are some timeless truths that really shouldn't change, but when you lump everything together and make blanket statements that nothing should ever change, when that very blanket statement ends up being questioned these timeless truths are questioned as well. I know that Gal 5:9 is talking about sin and not classification, but the point of it certainly applies.
References:
[1] http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heraclitus
[2] http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov
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