ken castor

Generational Transference in the Bible: The Early Church (Part 3)

 

         In the Early Church, generational transference was not shaped by program or certain methodologies, but on a simple truth of discipleship to Christ.  To the Corinthians, Paul wrote, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”^[1]  To the Philippians, Paul wrote, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me- put it into practice.”^[2]  There is inherent within Paul’s practice and training of leadership an understanding of modeling discipleship.  Paul expects a leader to serve as an example of appropriate pursuit of Jesus.  The expectation is a significant calling of leadership, a high standard of excellence in heart and behavior.  To the Ephesians Paul wrote, “Live a life worthy of your calling.”[3]  A lack of biblical leadership qualification creates an environment ripe for strife within a local church. “Too many churches suffer,” Wilkes suggests, because those recruited to lead “are not biblically qualified.”^[4]

         The biblical pattern involves the selection of mature people to the process of generational transference of ministry leadership who will then share the mission of the church with others.  The onus of leadership in the church is equipping the next generation for ministry who will in turn raise up others to continuously pass the message of Jesus from one person or community to another through all ages.  The strategy of generational transference is summarized by Paul as “what you have heard me say, entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.”^[5] 

         The early church instructed those selected as recognized leaders within a congregation to exhibit deep personal character founded in a heart for the Lord.  Both Paul and Peter instructed that the “elder” leaders or “overseeing” leaders, were expected to be “above reproach” in their lifestyle.  According to Paul, this recognition includes being a husband to one wife, temperate in attitude, self-controlled in behavior, respected by others, hospitable to others, able to teach, mature with alcohol and money, with a track-record of success in the home and an ability to promote faith in Jesus.  High-impact leadership responsibility is entrusted to those who have exhibited a deepening faithfulness to the Lord over time and have earned a good reputation in the context of the wider community outside the church. 

         Regarding “deacon” leaders or “serving” leaders, Paul suggests a similar high standard of qualifications.  They must be worthy of respect, sincere, responsible with alcohol, humbly honest, firm in spiritual faith, and unashamed in their lifestyle, and responsible with their family.  Paul encourages Timothy to “test” these individuals according to these character and behavioral measurements so they will have the opportunity to prove themselves worthy of the high level opportunities.^[6]  None of these qualifications involves talent or gifting except for the call for some capacity of teaching skills.   

         As the early church progressed, ministries all across the Roman Empire became shaped and steered by successive waves of reliable people who had been entrusted with the task of spreading the Gospel and creating community.  The simple environment of interdependence of leadership in the early church evidences the manner by which God intends to perpetuate leadership in the church.  For instance, Epaphroditus is raised up as a leader among the church in Philippi and then commissioned to serve alongside Paul. 

            The last chapter of the book of Romans stands for all time as a testament to the interdependent ministry network that became integral to the transference of faith in the first century.  The list of names reads like a who’s who of the early church: Phoebe, a “serving leader” or “deacon” in Crenchea was a great help to many people, including Paul.^[7]  Priscilla and Aquila dramatically impacted numerous churches by preparing and releasing leaders like Apollos.^[8]  Young and old, Greek and Jew, male and female; the church has always exhibited the facet of integration in the make up of its leadership.  And others like Andronicus and Junias, Urbanus, Apelles, Tryphena and Tryphosa, Erastus, Gaius, Lucius, Jason, Sosipater, and Tertius, just to name a few, were considered by Paul as proven and emerging leaders in the early church.^[9]

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^[1] 1 Corinthians 11:1

^[2] Philippians 4:9

[3] Ephesians 4:1-2

^[4] Wilkes, 192

^[5] 2 Timothy 2:2

^[6] 1 Timothy 3:1-13.Titus 1:6-9; 1 Peter 5:1-11

^[7] Romans 16:1-2

^[8] Romans 16:3-5; Acts 18:2-3; 18-28

^[9] Romans 16:1-27

vitiated

I just learned a new word from John Calvin... while reading his commentary on 1 Corinthians chapter 13.  Calvin gives this mouthful:

"This, then, is the most excellent way, when love is the regulating principle of all our actions.  And, in the outset, [Paul] proceeds upon this- that all excellencies are of no value without love; for nothing is so excellent or estimable as not to be vitiated in the sight of God, if love is wanting."

Miraim-Webster says that "vitiate" means "to make faulty or defective : impair<> 2 : to debase in moral or aesthetic status <a mind vitiated by prejudice> 3 : to make ineffective <fraud vitiates a contract>"

Without the full presence of love, in other words, Calvin suggests that everything is made faulty or defective, that everything is debased in moral or aesthetic status, and that everything is made ineffective.  The lack of love is vitiating to everything else.

Perhaps a truer word can not be spoken.  1 john 4:8 says that God is love.  If something is devoid of love, it is devoid of God, and therefore it is left incomplete or purposeless or in disrepair. 

In a marriage, where love is left wanting, the relationship is vitiated.  In a friendship, if love is left wanting, the communication and joy is vitiated.  In a society, where love is left wanting, there is vitiation.  People get broken by the lack of love.  People are debased, pushed down, objectified, neglected and abused when love is lacking.

Think for a moment what love truly is:  Love is patient, love is kind.  Love rejoices with the truth.  Love always protects, love always trusts, love always hopes, love always perseveres.

And think for a moment what love is not: Love is not boasting, love is not envious, love is not proud.  Love is not rude, love is not easily angered, love is not a record-of-wrongs keeper, love is not delighting in evil.  Love is not ever failing.

If only we embraced love, our lives would not be so vitiated.

life-giving smell

What is the greatest smell ever? 

My first thought is of the thanksgiving turkey roasting in the oven when I was a kid.  I also recall Buschardt Gardens in spring, or even a Fenway Frank in July.  These smells are associated with some of the best moments of my life-- memorable times with my family at home, holding hands with my wife in the overflowing gardens, and getting stuffed on horse-lip-meat at the 2nd best ballpark in States with my good friend Nate.  Great scents have a profound impact on us.  They draw us in (or are drawn into us), flood us with wonderment, and immediately fill our senses with life.

A follower of Jesus is supposed to smell great like that.  2 Corinthians 2 talks about how Christians are a "life-giving perfume" and a "sweet fragrance".  The idea is that we have within us a beautiful aroma that naturally pours out.  So when others encounter us they are instantly drawn to a level of wonderment that fills them with life.  In our "smell" is the Good News of Jesus.

Honestly though, I have to point out that too many Christians have too often smelled like rotting fish.  In the noses of many people, Christians absolutely stink.  We have left them with the stench of crap in their nostrils... causing them to wince and recoil... spoiling their appetite for God.  Instead of attractive aromas that people remember and treasure we can be disgusting scents.  So into the rose-smelling Good News of Jesus we mingle the waft of dead fish. 

As the Spirit of God works within us, 2 Corinthians 3 says, people who are being transformed by Jesus become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more.  The life of Jesus, which Ephesians 5 compares to a sweet-fragrance, pours forth from us... and as a result, provides this world with fresh, clean life-giving air to breathe in deep.  So take a bath today... or let Jesus wash the stinky feet of your heart... and life fresh and clean for others.

The Naked and Broken Leader 6.0

Embracing Our Nakedness and Brokenness 6.0

“I leave you with the image of the leader with outstretched hands,
who chooses a life of downward mobility.
It is the image of the praying leader, the vulnerable leader, and the trusting leader.
May that image fill your hearts with hope, courage, and confidence
as you anticipate the new century.”
- Henri Nouwen {1}

         

The pursuit of true spiritual leadership forces a full embrace of follower-ship.  Until one is willing to be led by Jesus, they cannot fully embrace spiritual leadership.  Jesus will involve a very painful process.  Jesus walks a very difficult road... and asks us to follow him. Definitively, salvation is secure... but an immediate remedy for suffering is not.  Our Savior was a Suffering Servant.  Our Lord wept.  Our Lord bled. 
          The foundational spiritual leadership principles of nakedness and brokenness are difficult to comprehend, especially in the process of being exposed and restored.  To promote these principles as pursuits seems unreasonable.  To say that the benefit package of spiritual leadership includes such options as anguish, persecution, meekness, selflessness, uncertainty and even execution seems a terrible way to market a leadership theory.
          When Henri Nouwen went to work with the L’Arche community, he claimed it was then that his identity was truly exposed.  Reflecting on his experience working with mentally handicapped, he wrote:

These broken, wounded and completely unpretentious people forced me to let go of my relevant self- the self that can do things, show things, prove things, build things- and forced me to reclaim that unadorned self in which I am completely vulnerable, open to receive and give love regardless of any accomplishments.  I am telling you this because I am deeply convinced that the Christian leader of the future is called to be completely irrelevant and to stand in this world with nothing to offer but his or her own vulnerable self.  That is the way Jesus came to reveal God’s love.  The great message that we have to carry, as minister’s of God’s Word and followers of Jesus, is that God loves us not because of what we do or accomplish, but because God has created and redeemed us in love and has chosen us to proclaim that love as the true source of all human life. {2}

          The contrite heart is the key to spiritual leadership.  For it is in the broken heart that God has room to walk around and restore according to his will.  The Christian community that allows God to bring exposure and healing will become a real community where real people will find restoration.  For it is in our weakness that God’s light and strength and power are made evident.  God’s power works best in our weakness.  For when we are weak, then we are made strong in God’s unlimited power. {3}   But it is a high calling - to follow Jesus and to love the way he loved, to treasure and shine the light of Jesus in these perishable bodies. {4}
          Being a follower of Jesus implies that we step in his steps, listen to his voice, and respond to his call.  We are to pattern ourselves after him, learning to do what he does, speaking into life the way he speaks, healing and reconciling and reconnecting people to God.  Dallas Willard teaches that for the Apostle Peter as for each of us, that we are to truly follow someone and be their disciple, then there is one absolutely essential condition.  We “must be with that person.”  By walking with Jesus we will learn how to walk after him.  Willard simplifies it further: “To follow him meant, in the first place, to be with him.  If I am Jesus' disciple, that means I am with him to learn from him how to be like him." {5}
          A follower of Jesus is bound to get turned and bent and directed in uncomfortable ways.  The path won’t always make sense and many of the turns will, bluntly, hurt.  But the soul of the leader who is being led by Jesus is more able than any to still resound with the praises of heaven!  Even though we may walk through the valley of the shadow of death and stroll in the presence of enemies, Jesus will guide us along right paths and bring honor to his name.  And as we pursue Jesus, goodness and mercy pursue us. 
          So, whether we are to become a Stephen or a Philip or whether we are included in a Hebrews 11:1-35 list or a Hebrews 11:36-38 list, we are to pursue Jesus by stripping off every weight that slows us down and by dealing with any brokenness that hinders our progress.  We are to follow Jesus. {6}   Spiritual leadership, as said before, and as Henri Nouwen has so eloquently stated, “is not a leadership of power and control, but a leadership of powerlessness and humility in which the suffering servant of God, Jesus Christ, is  made manifest.” {7}
          Because Jesus followed after you, you are to follow after him.  Because he came for you, sought after you, walked around looking and calling for you, found you, loved you and fought for you to his death, you should follow him. 
          Jesus loves you.  And you love him.  Don’t you?

{1} Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus, 92-93
{2} Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus, 30
{3} 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
{4} 2 Corinthians 4:7
{5} Willard, Dallas.  The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God
{6} Hebrews 11:1-40; 12:1-4
{7} Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus, 81-82. (San Francisco: Harper, 1997), 276.

119 Kaf

         At this point in Psalm 119, the writer has already written more verses than exist in any other psalm. Most people who read the Bible have never actually read all the way through Psalm 119 because it takes so much endurance!  I remember one teenager who told me that reading this psalm was like torture!  I told him that's exactly what the writer of this psalm felt like too!  The writer is crying out to God- "Why do I need to keep going through this, God!?!  I don't feel like I can keep on going!"
          Weariness can be exhausting!  And it is in that fact that Psalm 119 is so real.  The writer of this psalm is not singing about the glories of his own spiritual life.  When he talks about God's word being sweet to his soul, he is not glorifying himself.  He is singing from the depth of the hardship of his circumstances.  He cries out to God- because he is homesick for God's way and God's commands to reign in his life.  And so he presses on.
          The mark of a follower of Jesus is that in the face of "I-can't-keep-going" pressure there is the presence of an unreleasable grip!  It's not that a Jesus Follower never lets go of God... its that God never lets go.  His presence and his hope and his life is continual.  And so in the midst of turmoil, the heart of the psalmist is empowered.  In this way, a Jesus Follower is able to hold on to faith.  God gives hope even in the midst of hopelessness.  A follower of Jesus, the apostle Paul said, can be pressed on every side by troubles, but not crushed and broken.  A follower of Jesus can be perplexed, but refuses to give up and quit.  A follower of Jesus can be hunted down, but never abandoned.  A follower of Jesus can get knocked down, but is empowered by God to get up again and keep going (2 Cor 4.8-9). 
          And so, half-way through 119, here is the letter Kaf, verses 81-88 (from The Message):

81-88 I'm homesick—longing for your salvation;
      I'm waiting for your word of hope.
   My eyes grow heavy watching for some sign of your promise;
      how long must I wait for your comfort?
   There's smoke in my eyes—they burn and water,
      but I keep a steady gaze on the instructions you post.
   How long do I have to put up with all this?
      How long till you haul my tormentors into court?
   The arrogant godless try to throw me off track,
      ignorant as they are of God and his ways.
   Everything you command is a sure thing,
      but they harass me with lies. Help!
   They've pushed and pushed—they never let up—
      but I haven't relaxed my grip on your counsel.
   In your great love revive me
      so I can alertly obey your every word.

Re: communion 7/9

Re:pentance

When Communion loses its place as an effective symbol in the Corinthian church, Paul loses his patience!  Divisions, self-absorbance and gluttony[1] had infiltrated the community of believers in Corinth, forcing Paul to write a scathing admonition to them.  “But when I mention this next issue [of the Lord’s Supper], I cannot praise you,” he writes.  “For it sounds as if more harm than good is done when you meet together.”[2]  Paul then soberly decrees:

“It is not the Lord’s Supper you are concerned about when you come together… If anyone eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily, that person is guilty of sinning against the body and the blood of the Lord.  That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking from the cup.  For if you eat the bread or drink the cup unworthily, not honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself.” (NLT)[3]

Communion, when misapplied or mishandled by the church, fails to offer Christ’s invitation to properly re:member.  Too often we pharisaically exclude from the Lord’s Table those people who have not yet “accepted Christ” while we eat the bread and drink the cup with division and arrogance in our own “saved” hearts.  Jesus invites sinners to the Table!  He levels the field through his own humility, serving each one of us with his garments as a towel.[4]  It is no coincidence that Jesus washed the feet of his followers before the Communion meal.  This simple act of humble service symbolized the extreme love Jesus has for others and it urges us to be of like mind.  The act re:calls the re:action of Zacchaeus, filthy with sin, who accepted the invitation to enter into humble communion with Jesus.  So moved by Jesus’ invitation, in fact, Zacchaeus re:pented and re:conciled himself to everyone else and, in so doing, gained salvation.[5]  Another dreaded tax collector named Levi did the same.[6]  Simon the Pharisee, haughty with religious pride, in contrast, ate and drank God’s judgment upon himself.[7]  To Simon’s dismay, Jesus invites every sinner to dine and find communion with him.[8]  Vander Zee shares that “since eating was an act of fellowship and acceptance, to eat with sinners was to accept them as friends and companions.”[9] Clapp concurs saying, “the Lord dined at an open table… This was to his contemporaries one of his most shocking and objectionable behaviors.  They understood what it meant: it signaled acceptance, friendship and empowerment of the tax-collector, the Gentile, the whore.”[10]

But when the Lord’s Supper is diminished in its practice, disunity, rather than community, prevails.  Just as a song can be sung from the lips without engaging the heart, so the acted rite of communion does not guarantee one’s genuineness in relationship with God or one another.  A fractured Church made up of individuals who focus on their own selves fails to recognize that “we have all been baptized into Christ’s body by one Spirit.”[11] 

So Paul urges the Corinthian beleivers to reconcile themselves to God prior to joining with one another.[12]  He also urges them to reconcile their actions with one another when they gather to “do this in remembrance” of the Lord Jesus.[13]  Vander Zee notes that through the practice of Communion we deepen our relationship with one another in the Body of Christ.  “In Paul’s understanding,” he says, “the Holy Spirit creates deep relationships in the body of Christ by our participation in the Lord’s Supper.”[14] While there are many parts to the body, there is only one body. [15]

As a primary ministry leader for the young adults among Brentview Baptist Church in Calgary, I am responsible to encourage and facilitate unity.  In her pastoral collaboration with Eugene Peterson, Marva Dawn describes that “one major function of the pastor that seems unnecessary to the world is to equip the congregation for its reconciling work in society and to make sure that congregants remain reconciled with each other.”[16]  For this reason, I am ever more convinced that the implementation of a re:newed practice of Communion should contribute impressively to the continually deepening formation of a community reconciled with God and others. 

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[1] 1 Corinthians 11:18, 21

[2] 1 Corinthians 11:17

[3] 1 Corinthians 11:20, 27-29

[4] “Before the Passover celebration… Jesus got up from the table, took off his rove, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin.  Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel he had around him.” John 13:1, 4-5 (NLT) 

[5] Luke 19:1-10

[6] Mark 2:15

[7] Luke 7:36-50; 1 Corinthians 11:32

[8] Mark 2:13-17

[9] Vander Zee, 141.

[10]             Clapp, Rodney, A Peculiar People: The Church as Culture in a Post-Christian Society (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 108.

[11] 1 Corinthians 11:25 (NLT)

[12] 1 Corinthians 11:31

[13] Paul instructs the Corinthians to wait for each other rather than arriving early and gorging on the meal and becoming drunk on the beverage.  1 Corinthians 11:33

[14] Vander Zee, 43.

[15] 1 Corinthians 12:20

[16]             Peterson, Eugene and Marva Dawn, The Unnecessary Pastor: Rediscovering the Call (Grand Rapids, MI: 2000), 219.

Re: communion 6/9

~Re:telling~

“Last Supper” is actually somewhat of a misnomer.[1]  The so called “last” supper of Christ, on that Passover night when he would later be kissed by Judas and arrested, was to become for his followers the “first” supper meal in an eternity of feasting with our Savior.  In fact, it wasn’t long before Jesus was eating with his disciples again.  Shortly after the resurrection, Jesus supped with two disciples in Emmaus.  Even though Jesus was the guest, Luke reports[2] that he took a small loaf of bread, asked God’s blessing on it, broke it, and then gave it to the two men.  John tells us of a time when our resurrected Savior prepared fish and bread for four of the disciples.[3]  The introduction to the book of Acts begins with a casual mention of Jesus eating a meal with his followers before he ascended to heaven.[4] 

A few weeks later, at Pentecost, this small band of spiritual brothers and sisters was joined by thousands.  They joined together in devotion to prayer and to the teaching of the apostles as well as to fellowship with one another.  In this context, as God began his massive re:gathering of his scattered people, these thousands of early Christians communed, Luke tells us, by sharing in the Lord’s Supper.[5]  Their unity together was unlimited. They shared their wealth, their possessions, their time and their homes with everyone as there was need.  They worshipped together in the Temple every day.  And, Luke informs us, “they met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity- all while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people.  And daily, God gave salvation to more people who then became a part of this incredible group.[6]

“Keeping in mind these references to the breaking of the bread after Christ’s resurrection,” Vander Zee contends, “ensures that we will not mistakenly assume that the Lord’s Supper merely carries the somber mood of the impending crucifixion.  Yes, we eat and drink to ‘proclaim the Lord’s death,’ as Paul puts it.  But we also do so ‘until he comes,” which puts us in the mood of joyful anticipation.”[7]  Similarly, Kreider writes that “nothing should obscure the overarching emphasis of truly thankful prayers that express joy in God’s salvation, in the advent of God’s reign.”[8] 

Such joyful unity is essential within the Christian community.  Communion is an absolutely integral component of the re:formative work of the Holy Spirit throughout history.  Communion is the ultimate, interactive portrayal of the breaking of Christ’s body so that the Church could become the Body of Christ on earth.[9]  From his slaughter comes our hope!  “This is my body, which is given for you,”[10] Jesus said.  And “this cup is the new covenant between God and you, sealed by the shedding of my blood.  Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.” 

Communion draws us together as a body.  “We all eat from one loaf, showing that we are one body,” Paul comments.[11]  Christ’s body was broken so ours could be re:stored.   As one entity the many parts come together.  Kreider explains that “as we come to his table again and again, we learn to bring more of ourselves, to receive more of him, to experience the deeply joyful solidarity with others at the Lord’s table with us.”[12]

  As Paul reminded the fractious Corinthian church, “Now all of you together are Christ’s body,”[13] so he also encouraged the Ephesian believers, “We are all one body, we have the same Spirit, and we have all been called to the same glorious future.”[14] Oh, how God desires to commune with us!  Through his blood shed and his body given, we are enabled to share with him our very lives.  As a result, we also participate with one another in an eternally profound fellowship.

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[1] Vander Zee concurs, cf. 155.

[2] Luke 24:30

[3] John 21:9

[4] Acts 1:4

[5] Acts 2:42

[6] Acts 2:45-47

[7] Vander Zee, 156-157.

[8] Kreider, 33.

[9] 1 Corinthians 11:26

[10] 1 Corinthians 11:24 (NLT)

[11] 1 Corinthians 10:17 (NLT)

[12] Kreider, 22.

[13] 1 Corinthians 12:27

[14] Ephesians 4:4