Righteousness & Justice Kiss

“You are the blackest white I have ever met!”

2007-04-01T15:38:00.000-07:00

“You are the blackest white I have ever met!”
A Journey Toward Wholeness
Pastor Ron Thaxton

“Why do you do what you are doing?” I was sitting by the bedside of Rev. James Mitchell, Sr in the Intensive Care Unit of Thomas Memorial Hospital when he unexpectedly asked me this question. Rev. Mitchell is a retired Black Baptist Preacher who had been an essential part of the Pastors’ Prayer Movement in our city until age began to slow him a little. My initial response was decidedly inadequate, “I don’t know?” It took me a moment to catch the full grasp of what he was saying to me. And even now, a few days later, I am still struggling with an adequate answer to his question–for it involves the call of God on my life.

“God, why did You do this to me?” This is a question I often ask. You see, I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with an emphasis on Accounting. I liked it because when you got to the bottom of the columns and they didn’t add up properly you could always go back and figure out why. Numbers are like that. They are predictable, following set patterns. They are easy to reconcile. On the other hand, there is nothing predictable about people and they are never easy to reconcile. Sometimes I think God has a slightly cruel sense of humor–at least where I am concerned.

For the past thirty-five years, my wife Nancy and I have had a burden for the reconciliation of the Body of Christ. A major portion of our time, energy and resources have gone toward this objective. My subsequent response to Rev. Mitchell’s query was to say, “So that we all act like we are on the same team.” That is true, but it was still grasping for answers. He was probing for something deeper–maybe it was God telling me it was time to do a checkup on my motivations?

As the Psalmist, David pleaded, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” Psalm 139:23-24 NLT This is always a healthy posture to maintain. It will keep us continually revived–totally dependent on Him. If we stray from this attitude, He is faithful to bring us back to this place of stark objectivity.

Why did He put men and women of faith such as Rev. Mitchell in my life? If I were to start a list it would go on and on. He knew that there was something that needed to be added–awakened possibly–if I was to get beyond the reconciliation of numbers to the ministry of reconciliation. “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:...” 2 Corinthians 5:18 NIV If we in the Body of Christ are unreconciled among ourselves then we invalidate the very ministry bequeathed to us by Christ through His suffering and ascension.

As I have listened to the stories - not the complaints - of my friends in the minority community in our city, I have heard a sound–a call to action. It is the doing of justice. Authentic justice is the testimony that enmity has been dealt a death blow and peace has been ushered in. Peace is the fertile soil of reconciliation. “For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,...” Ephesians 2:14

There can be no lasting peace without the doing of justice. Covetousness is the root cause of strife–someone or some group attempting to improve themselves at the expense of another. This is injustice. Authentic reconciliation must fully incorporate the doing of justice. If one continues to benefit in any manner at the exploitation of another, peace is impossible. The problem will only be compounded for further angst - confusion and frustration - will be added to the equation.

Some may say, “Well, it’s really all about love.” And I would agree. But love makes demands. Actually there is nothing any more demanding than love. The Scripture tells us that we are to owe no man anything but love. Therefore, love creates a debt–and a debt demands payment.

“Pay all your debts, except the debt of love for others. You can never finish paying that! If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill all the requirements of God’s law.” Romans 13:8 NLT All other forms of debt can be satisfied, yet the debt of love is so great it can never be fully quelled. This is not a debt toward God, but toward our fellow man. It is the horizontal member of Christ’s Cross - the level line in the building of the House of the Lord - and it calls us to do justice.

This was the great motivational force in the life of the Apostle Paul, “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.” 2 Corinthians 5:14 NLT He had died to all desire for personal aggrandizement. He only wanted to be identified as a bond-slave of Christ. This truly great man who at one time could make his case for personal worth by exalting his accomplishments at the expense of others, no longer had any desire but to be identified with Christ in His suffering. He had found his wholeness and his glory in Christ and Christ alone. “for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh,” Philippians 3:3 NASB

“You are the blackest white I have ever met,” was Rev. Mitchell’s comment to me as I prepared to leave his side and allow him to drift off into healing sleep. “I take that as a compliment,” was my response. I believe that what he was saying to me was that I had begun to bear his burden–to even identify with it. “Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2 “If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing well.” James 2:8 NASB

This is what motivates me to return to Africa again and again–to share with our struggling brothers and sisters just a little of our abundance. They do so much with so little. I am continually exhorted by their faith. What they seldom understand is that I, we, need them as much as they need us–maybe even more. I never fail to issue this plea, “Uganda! Pray for America! We do not have what you have and our money cannot buy it! Uganda! Pray for America!” Without them we can never be whole–we can never experience true reconciliation.

Yet, it is not the plight of the disadvantaged alone that provides the clarion call to action. It can never be! If it is, it will cause us to become misguided. Our focus can become man-ward and we end up worshiping the creature rather than the Creator. “Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to believe lies. So they worshiped the things God made but not the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever. Amen.” Romans 1:25 NLT Yes, if we glory in our accomplishments–no matter how noble, we have succumbed to idolatry.

We only dare to exalt what God is exalting. To attempt to exalt what He is not exalting is to be in trouble with Him! We would rather be in trouble with the Devil, then to be in trouble with God.

His glory - the full revelation of His glorious manifold wisdom - must be our sole pursuit. Our conviction is that His glory can only be fully and adequately revealed through a Church that is whole. It is one that is reconciled within itself. “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Ephesians 3:10-11 NIV The word manifold here can also be translated as variegated, many-colored, multifaceted or the one I like the best - many-splendored. Each facet of the Church gives expression to a characteristic - a splendor - of the Glory of God, but it is only when these facets are joined together is the full revelation of His Glory made known to all–even to powers and principalities in heavenly places.

Only this true light is able to dispel the darkness clouding the minds of unbelievers. “Satan, the god of this evil world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe, so they are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News that is shining upon them. They don’t understand the message we preach about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.” 2 Corinthians 4:4 NLT

This is evangelism at its greatest height–extreme evangelism! This is the call of God on the Church in the City. Her debt of love is to reveal His Glory to a watching and waiting world. After I had prayed with Rev. Mitchell my words to him as I stood up to go my way were, “I love you.” Did he and I always see eye to eye? No, not at all! Did that matter? Not in the least. I needed him if I were to be whole–and he needed me. Our debt of love demanded that we transcend anything momentary that might hinder our eternal purpose.

Rev. Mitchell’s prayer and hope in the twelve years that I have known him is that the Lord would not take him until he was able to see boys and girls, black and white, rejoicing together in the streets of our city. Now, at eighty-eight years of age, that hope is closer than it has ever been.

“For the vision is yet for the appointed time;
It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
For it will certainly come, it will not delay. Habakkuk 2:3

As we conclude this chapter of our odyssey let us turn to our Lord’s prayer for us: “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.” John 17:22-23 NASB

Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy

2006-12-10T01:38:00.000-08:00

“Restore our fortunes, Lord, as streams renew the desert.
“Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy.
“They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest.”
Psalm 126:4-6 NLT

As I walked out of Grace Bible Church this past Wednesday morning at the conclusion of a gathering of our local City Impact Roundtable one of my pastor friends approached. Preceded by a period of fervent prayer, we had just experienced another intense encounter–deepening the relationships with one another and further clarifying our hope to see verifiable transformation come to our community. He remarked to me as I leaned against my open car door, “Ron, I would’ve liked to have shared also, but I would have broken down in tears.” He continued, “All that we have labored for these many years and longed to see is coming to pass!” What we had just experienced was a group of pastors and ministry leaders willing to lay aside all personal ambition and group identification that the very least - the smallest child - might experience the richness of salvation in Jesus Christ–and that He might be the only one to receive the glory and honor!

I have adapted a saying in this regard. “We must lay aside our logos for the Logos (the Living Word) and our egos for the Ego Eimi (Ex. 3:14 - I am He or I alone am God!).

Our fortunes are being restored in our city–we are being renewed as the streams of living water give hope to our barrenness. David’s great Psalm on the unity of the brethren concludes with this verse: “Harmony is as refreshing as the dew from Mount Hermon that falls on the mountains of Zion. And the Lord has pronounced his blessing, even life forevermore.” Psalm 133:3 NLT

The tears are as the dew of Hermon, the birthplace of the River Jordan, eventually becoming a torrent of living water giving refreshing to all that it nourishes. The dew rises up from the earth - the harmonious prayers and petitions of His faithful ones - and once it is joined with the rain from Heaven it becomes the River of Life. When the Father sees this genuine humility, especially among the pastors in a community, He will exult it by adding to it His Nature. There (at the base of Mt. Hermon), Jesus revealed to them (His disciples) his purpose to build his Church and to go to Jerusalem to die and be resurrected (Matt 16:18-21). It is at the base of the mountain that the various waters spring forth and join in confluence to produce a single mighty stream. “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, The holy dwelling places of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she will not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns.” Psalm 46:4-5 NASB

My relationship with this pastor began more than thirty years ago as we both wore the blue and burgundy of the United States Postal Service. It was deepened as we stood together on the platform of Charleston’s historic First Baptist Church in 1995 for our initial Concert of Prayer and God broke our hearts for one another and for our city. As we wept together, God showed me that I could go nowhere without him! We can go nowhere without relationships such as this!!! He became my door of invitation into a great adventure–my rich journey into the culture and values of the African-American Church in our city.

And there are many other relationships like this throughout our city–deep bonds forged in the midst of adversity, but heralds of a new day of refreshing. Misunderstandings have been and are being turned into Ebenezers in this path toward wholeness. They are “spiritual markers” on the road to transformation.

There is a warning from the Prophet Hosea: “You have cultivated wickedness, you have reaped injustice, . . . ” But with it a hope: “Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the Lord Until He comes to rain righteousness on you.” The tears are softening the ground hardened by injustice that it might be broken up to receive the righteous rain from heaven. Then the fruit will spring forth to the praise of His glory!

This is the Father’s eternal plan in His Son: “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. This I command you, that you love one another.” John 15:15-16 NASB

“Father, we are tired and weary of being about that which comes and then goes and produces no lasting results. We pray that You would build in us that which would endure to the praise of your glory. Do it here, in our city, now, we would be so bold as to ask! Amen”

What Is The Missing Link In Cityreaching?

2006-12-10T01:35:00.000-08:00

What Is The Missing Link In Cityreaching?

“If you do these things, your salvation will come like the dawn. Yes, your healing will come quickly. Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind. Then when you call, the Lord will answer. ‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.” Isaiah 58:8-9a NLT

In the title of this article, I did not ask if there was a missing link in cityreaching. My question is: “What is it?” We cannot ignore the fact that something is missing!

We have been involved in 30 years of city and statewide prayer ministry! In 1976 we were gathered on the steps of our State Capitol to pray, worship and preach. Our hopes and expectations, along with those of many others in our city, have been ascending to God. The Golden Bowls of the Book of the Revelation (5:8; 8:5) are being filled with the smokey fragrance of the incense of the prayers of God’s faithful ones. There have been many victories, but we are not seeing our city get any better! There is a war yet to be won.

Other leaders on a national scope are also coming to grips with this reality. What we have been doing is not working. It is not accomplishing the desired results. We cannot keep doing what we have been doing and expect different results.

We don’t want to try to conjure God, but what is it that attracts God’s attention–what does He notice? He says He will seek out - He is looking for - those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. What is this true worship? What will cause the bowls to be finally tipped over and poured out upon our city–the answers to our prayers? Are we just to make more noise–or are we to do something different? Do we continue to pray more - yes!? But does our praying need to take on more of His nature? He is not only holy, He is also whole. He is not only righteous, He is also just. Is there something else therefore that needs to be added? Is the smoke of the incense too light to tip the bowls? Must there be something weightier added to the balance’s bowl that will finally cause it to be tipped toward sustainable transformation? “Woe to you, . . . For you . . . have neglected the weightier provisions . . . : justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.” Matthew 23:23

Isaiah tells us plainly that there are things we must do! “...the kind of fasting I want calls you to free those who are wrongly imprisoned and to stop oppressing those who work for you. Treat them fairly and give them what they earn. I want you to share your food with the hungry and to welcome poor wanderers into your homes. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.” Isaiah 58:6-7 NLT

The Lord through Isaiah calls His people to give heed to the injustice that surrounds them. It exists when an individual or group profits at the expense of another. “A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, But a just weight is His delight.” Proverbs 11:1 Injustice gives our enemy a cause to continue fighting. If we will remove the burden, we will deprive him of his ammunition - his ability to continue to wage war. “If you remove the yoke (of injustice) from your midst, . . . ” Isaiah 58:9 NASB “Stop oppressing the helpless . . . ” NLT

The pursuit of righteousness alone can result in a smug self-satisfaction which is deadly. It is the exact opposite of humility. How many of our prayer events focus solely on becoming more righteous without even a nod toward justice? They are often fueled more by human determination than by the Spirit of God. This is what Isaiah was prophesying against–a spirit of religion that was of no value against fleshly indulgence.

“Yet they seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways, As a nation that has done righteousness and has not forsaken the ordinance of their God. They ask Me for just decisions,
They delight in the nearness of God.” Isaiah 58:2 NASB What is wrong with this? The Lord says that they expected Him to give just decisions while the Scriptures are abundantly clear that it is our responsibility to do justice! Righteousness is imparted–justice is imputed! Righteousness denotes our relationship with God–while justice is the benchmark of our relationship with our fellow man. Yet the two are inseparable! Together they are the foundational pillars of His throne–His divine authority (Psalms 89:14; 97:2).

The doing of justice must be added to the righteous prayers before the balance is tipped toward transformation. This is what the Father is looking for. This is what will attract His attention!

I believe the decision of the Council at Jerusalem (Acts 15) was the pivotal moment in the life of the early church. Their decision to do justice and righteousness thrust the Church onto the world stage and prevented it from becoming just another isolated enclave within Jewish society. (I have written more on this elsewhere.) It would seem that today the church has slipped back into this morass and has become an isolated enclave within society as a whole. We are maintaining our existence as a subculture rather than as the advancing counterculture we have been commissioned and equipped to be.

This decision by the Council at Jerusalem was precipitated when God’s attention was attracted by a God-fearing Gentile and He sent His angelic messenger to the House of Cornelius. “And fixing his gaze on him and being much alarmed, he said, ‘What is it, Lord?’ And he said to him, ‘Your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God.’” Acts 10:4 NASB (The purpose of alms is to correct injustice.) And from another translation: “Cornelius stared at him in terror. ‘What is it, sir?’ he asked the angel. And the angel replied, ‘Your prayers and gifts to the poor have not gone unnoticed by God!’” Acts 10:4 NLT

The Lord took notice of Cornelius the Centurion because he was a God-fearer and his prayers (righteous acts) and alms (doing of justice) ascended to heaven as a lasting memorial–that is, their efficacy is enduring and continual. We have done many things on a citywide basis that have emphasized the principle of righteousness, but we have not yet done anything on a citywide basis to rectify injustice. We believe that this is the missing ingredient which will cause those Golden Bowls filled with the hopes, dreams, visions and petitions of His saints in this city to be finally poured out as citywide transformation!

The doing of justice on a citywide basis - calling all of the resources of the church in the city together - is cityreaching’s missing link! I am not talking here of isolated events which may be nothing more than guilt assuagement, but a systematic ongoing process that gathers momentum as it rolls along. “Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Amos 5:23-24 NASB “Away with your hymns of praise! They are only noise to my ears. I will not listen to your music, no matter how lovely it is. Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, a river of righteous living that will never run dry.” NLT

We have many wonderful justice ministries in our city. One dates to 1911 and another is celebrating its 80th birthday–others have just come on the scene within the past few years. All are doing a great work, but there is no whole-church citywide coordination. As a result, the resources with which our Lord has blessed our community are not being as effectively administrated as they could be. God will release further resources - tip the balance - when He sees that they will be wisely stewarded.

Where is injustice the most glaring? What must we do to confront it in wholeness? What are the trust levels that must be attained–the friendships that must be cultured? Our journey in cityreaching is to discover the answers to these questions.

In the process of writing this I visited a meeting called by some of our local African-American pastors–my friends. As a community they are seeking to address unrighteousness and correct injustice. This is especially true where the disintegration of the family is concerned. What is happening within the African-American Community is not atypical to society as a whole. It, unfortunately, is leading the way. This is where it must be stopped!

Driving home in a dark, cold rain two disturbing observations clouded my mind. 1) How can an institution that is capable of commanding such a vast array of resources be so totally unable to check this alarming slide? 2) “We are fiddling while Rome is burning!”

There has been some concern expressed that our African-American brothers are trying to go it alone. My response has been, “Why should they expect otherwise?” Historically the majority community church which represents a society that has reaped benefit from harsh injustice has been strangely silent. Restitution is a component of justice and without it the process will be incomplete. Once again, we may find ourselves only bandaging the wound while the bitter bullet remains inside continuing to fester its deadly poison.

I implore you, my dear friends of the African-American Community, will you dare to trust the majority community just one more time? You have been tragically disappointed again and again, but one more time I plead. May we march forward joined together hand in hand and heart to heart fighting together for the faith–the whole church taking the whole Gospel to the whole community!

We believe the John 17:21-23 prayer is a Mandate, not an option. God cannot, and indeed will not bless, in a substantive manner, anything which is other than in absolute harmony with this entreaty of the Son to the Father–prayed on our behalf. Jealousy, strife, discord, et al must be addressed first/simultaneously inside the minority and majority communities as these communities come together to identify the causes and consequences of past injustices and unite as one to end injustice in the Church and the city of the future.

If any segment of the Church attempts to address injustice on its own, when there are others in the Body that want to engage with them but are either intentionally left out or not given the instruction they want and seek (albeit very belatedly) to be able to also be agents of change, God cannot bless the effort supernaturally, which ultimately is our only hope. Working in a segregated manner may indeed produce an isolated 'effect', much like the Good Samaritan did . . . real, tangible, but having no significant impact on reducing the continuing magnitude of other kinds of future injustices. If, however, our intent is to 'affect' and continue to change the culture on an ongoing basis, as 'The True Fast' of Isaiah 58 cries resoundingly for, it is going to take the supernatural enabling of the Lord. That is just what Isaiah 58 promises and we so desperately need!

So what will be our operating system for such a process? I suggest 'DOS' or even 'Windows Vista' is insufficient to encompass all the complicated operating dynamics of any new (as in new to us, but not new to God) process. May I suggest we install the original version of 'Philippians 2: 1-16' per the manufacturers original design and intent. Also, because of the contaminated carnality of all variations of the human animal (challenges with pride, power, ownership, who is in charge, etc.), we also make sure that an ongoing active anti-virus scan as per '1 Corinthians 13: 1-8', be made operative.

As we look at the desperate brokenness, pain, and vice in our city and state, if we keep doing what we have always done the way we have always done it, we will get what we have always got. If we want to see our Lord do what only he can do to bring His healing, we have got to do our part HIS WAY!

Where do we go from here? “Is there not a cause?” 1 Samuel 17:29b These words were uttered in frustration by the young David, the emerging leader of the people of God. Today, we are being opposed by the uncircumcised Philistine, the giant, who is taunting the army of God. And the army is cowering in fear and confusion.

I believe that this giant represents the gentile spirit of which Jesus spoke: “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you, . . . ” Matthew 20:25b-26a Our Lord in the Book of the Revelation warns the Churches against the teaching of the Nicolaitans–the etymology of this word is “those who lord it over (oppress) the people.” The Lord was warning His Church not to be influenced by the ways of the world–instead of being overcomers, they were in danger of being overcome. (If we don’t lift oppression, we will become oppressed ourselves.)

Each day the Israelite army would sally forth with much bravado shouting forth their battle cries, but when Goliath appeared to challenge them they cringed in fear and turned their back on the battle running to the false security of their flimsy encampment. Even the great reward promised by the king was not enough motivation to keep them on the battlefield. (Think about that for a moment?) They never once actually engaged the enemy! It was all a shadow with no substance.

After rejecting the armor of Saul - who having rejected the Godly counsel of Samuel became in effect a Gentile - David chose five smooth stones with which he would face the giant who was defiling the army of Israel. These stones represent the completeness and sufficiency of all that God has provided for the equipping and the victory of the Church in the City (Ephesians 4:11-13). With that adequacy, David ran toward the battle!

F.B. Meyer writes, “If our faith can but make Him a passage, along which He shall come, there is no Goliath He will not quell; no question He will not answer; no need He will not meet.” This is the question with which we are faced, “Are we creating a passage along which He shall come to our communities, or we are only erecting further hindrances?”

As a ministry we return to our original prophetic commissioning: Surely thou shall put on the armor and not the armor of Saul, but thou shall take the five smooth stones and go forth to destroy this uncircumcised Philistine that has held the army and the saints of the Most High in bondage and in fear and in service. November 26, 1983

This battle requires the Whole Church to demonstrate the Whole Gospel to the Whole Community!

Psalm 99:4 “Mighty king, lover of justice, you have established fairness.
You have acted with justice and righteousness throughout Israel.
5 Exalt the Lord our God! Bow low before his feet, for he is holy!” NLT

“Yes, Lord, we bow before You! Do what You love in our city is our plea!”

“UGANDA - AN EYE OF AFRICA FOR THE WORLD!”

2006-04-21T02:18:00.000-07:00

The Twin Foundational Principles To Delegated Authority
The Requisite Components of Godly Stewardship

The Lord is king! Let the nations tremble!
He sits on his throne between the cherubim. Let the whole earth quake!
The Lord sits in majesty in Jerusalem, supreme above all the nations.
Let them praise your great and awesome name. Your name is holy!
Mighty king, lover of justice, you have established fairness.
You have acted with justice and righteousness throughout Israel.
Exalt the Lord our God! Bow low before his feet, for he is holy!
Psalm 99:1-5 NLT

We had come from West Virginia and Ohio in February-March, 2005 and were gathered with 100-150 Christian Business Leaders at the Worker’s House in Kampala, Uganda. This East African nation is riding a crest of spiritual renewal in which the Gospel of the Kingdom is pervading every area of society. Such a national transformation may be unprecedented in the history of the Christian Church. Yet, there remains what could be termed a dangerous undertow that threatens to drag down those that are caught in its grasp. This perilous current is that of economic depravation. The youth of the nation who comprise 58% of the population are especially susceptible to this hazard.

These men and women who are fast becoming our good friends were eagerly receiving the basics of successful leadership that we were sharing with them both from our own experiences and from the Bible. They want to prosper for they know that successful entrepreneurship will herald the final phase of transformation of their nation and will rescue their youth from the drowning suffocation of hopelessness.

In the midst of the Summit an insight occurred to me, “If God wants us to be successful, what does He require of us?” If we are desiring to be successful, we are asking God to entrust us with His blessings. He must also delegate His authority to us if we are to make effective use of His resources. This is the Kingdom (Matthew 25:1, 14)! God is looking for faithful stewards (Matthew 25:15-30). A steward is one who administers the resources of another. We must fully comprehend the fact that if He has called us then the call is His! If we had called Him the call would be ours, but since He is the one who does the calling–the call is His and His alone. He will delegate His authority, but the responsibility remains in the hands of our benevolent and sovereign Lord.

God revealed Himself to Abraham as his Provider. That is His Name - YHWH-jireh! And it is His nature. This revelation came to Abraham as in obedience to God he took the son of the promise to the mountain to offer him back to God. God is our provider, but the provision belongs to Him–He retains ownership. When the lad asked, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham replied, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Genesis 22:8 We cannot miss the fact that Abraham said that God would provide for Himself! When God provides for His people He is providing for Himself so that His purposes may be accomplished in the earth through His chosen instruments. Abraham had told the young men that had accompanied he and Isaac to the foot of the mountain to wait until they returned for they were going up to worship! True worship is giving back to God what He has given us to give Him. A faithful steward is a true worshiper for he recognizes that only faith is pleasing to God and faith is utter dependence on Him–abandonment. Abraham called the name of that place: “The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, ‘In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.’” Genesis 22:14

God had called Abraham to be the chief steward of His blessings to a multitude of nations. He had told Abraham that He would bless him that he might be a blessing. Those who are of faith understand that they are the ones through whom the blessing comes and not just to whom. We dare not stop at being repositories of God’s blessings, we must come fully into the realization that we are conduits. God had tested Abraham and He knew that He could trust him–that he would be a blessing.

God had charged Abraham to do justice and righteousness. “For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him” Genesis 18:19. This passage is pivotal and to fully appreciate its eternal implications we must look at it in detail.

 First God declares that He has chosen Abraham. We cannot take one step forward if we believe anything other than the fact that God has chosen us for His purposes. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” Ephesians 2:10. God will only complete what He has begun.

 Then God goes on to say that Abraham will instruct his family, friends and heirs to follow hard after God as he followed Him in faithfulness and obedience. That would guarantee Abraham a lasting testimony which is what God had promised to him.

 He was to instruct them “to keep the way of the Lord.” To know His ways is to know His nature - to know Him intimately. The Psalmist also reiterates this concerning Moses: “The Lord executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses.” Psalm 103:6-7a NKJV

 We walk in the way of the Lord by “doing righteousness and justice.” Since these are the twin foundational principles of all that God does, they must also undergird all that we say and do–indeed, who and what we are will be framed by them. Righteousness is the plumb line and justice the level for the building of the House of the Lord so that it will have integrity.

 All of this leads to the fulfillment of the promise–that the Lord would bring upon Abraham all that He has spoken concerning him. This is the last word to Abraham before the realization of the promise–it is now wholly and completely engaged. God had confirmed the promise several times before, but never again. There remains nothing left to be said. “Then the Lord took note of Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had promised. So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.” Genesis 21:1-3

 God had to bring Abraham to a place of utter dependance before He would entrust him with the Promise. Now in Isaac, Abraham has become the father of many nations.

In a previous confirmation of the promise God had revealed Himself to Abraham as El Shaddai - the All Sufficient One! At this point his name is changed from Abram to Abraham. When we have this type of a view of God everything changes–it must!

“I am God Almighty (El Shaddai);
Walk before Me, and be blameless.
“I will establish My covenant between Me and you,
And I will multiply you exceedingly.” Genesis 17:1-2

The word “blameless” also means to be complete, perfect–having integrity or wholeness. This is the nature of God. He is whole, complete, perfect–He is lacking in nothing! He is ONE! He is just and He is righteous. He is holy and the people who will walk before Him shall also be holy. As God Almighty -- the All Sufficient One, He is sufficient all by Himself. As El Shaddai He promises fullness, completeness. This is divine prosperity.

The great declaration of the Hebrew nation, The Shema, was: “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!” Deuteronomy 6:4 This proclamation distinguishes the God of Israel from all other gods. He has no needs! And in Him we have no need of other gods. “Who is like You among the gods, O Lord? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, Awesome in praises, working wonders?” Exodus 15:11 He is whole, there is nothing lacking in Him.

Now as Abraham walks before Him knowing and doing His ways - justice and righteousness - he becomes the steward of the promise of God. This is success according to the Kingdom of God. Abraham will become the father of a multitude of nations and through him, in the Messiah, all the nations will be blessed.

The key to successful stewardship and to the release of the blessings of God is the doing of justice and righteousness–this the way of the Lord. We have seen that this was true in the life of Abraham and also of Moses. Other great leaders of God’s people also exhibited these characteristics.

+ “So David reigned over all Israel; and David administered justice and righteousness for all his people.” 2 Samuel 8:15 (1 Chronicles 18:14)
+ Solomon - “Blessed be the Lord your God who delighted in you, setting you on His throne as king for the Lord your God; because your God loved Israel establishing them forever, therefore He made you king over them, to do justice and righteousness.” 2 Chronicles (1 Kings 10:9). (These words were spoken by the Queen of Sheba.)
+ “Did not your father (Josiah) eat and drink And do justice and righteousness?
Then it was well with him. He pled the cause of the afflicted and needy; Then it was well.
‘Is not that what it means to know Me?’ Declares the Lord.” Jeremiah 22:15-16
+ Jeremiah 23:5 (33:15) “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch (Messiah);
And He will reign as king and act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the land.”
+ Isaiah 9:7 “There will be no end to the increase of His (Messiah) government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.”
+ Isaiah 28:16 So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone (Messiah) for a sure foundation;
the one who trusts will never be dismayed.
17 I will make justice the measuring line
and righteousness the plumb line;...” NIV

For those rulers who forsake the doing of justice and righteousness - the way of the Lord - these twin principles will testify against them:

+ “Woe to him (Jehoahaz) who builds his house without righteousness
And his upper rooms without justice,...” Jeremiah 22:13
+ “Therefore, O king (Nebuchadnezzar), may my advice be pleasing to you: break away now from your sins by doing righteousness and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor (justice), in case there may be a prolonging of your prosperity.” Daniel 4:27

We had also been blessed during our final week in Uganda to be among over fifty pastors who had come from all over the nation to The Miracle Centre Church of Entebbe sharing in fellowship and mutual encouragement. On that last Sunday morning together with them we were able to bless them with some clothing, with what we hope may become the beginning of a small stipend and a Bible in their own language. (Many of these pastors did not have a complete Bible and there are only about 2-3 in each village congregation.)

I charged them to “do justice and righteousness” so that it would be said of them as it was of the faithful stewards: “Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” Matthew 25:23

A word had come during the Business Leaders’ Summit from one of the presenters concerning Uganda: “I saw a brief vision of the map of Africa. Uganda appeared on the map as a human eye. It was not drawn on the map, it was a literal human eye that blinked and looked at me from the map. Then I heard the Lord speak. He said, ‘If the eyes are full of light then the whole body will be full of light.’” We are convinced that Uganda is an eye of Africa to allow the light to come–and one that will be seen by the whole world.

Our teammate went on to say: “I believe that God wants to do complete and holistic transformation of Uganda. I believe this is the heart of the Lord and that He intends to turn the eyes of the world toward Uganda. If Uganda is able to break the curse of poverty then the whole world will be ready to listen. ‘Then I realized that though wisdom is better than strength, those who are wise will be despised if they are poor. What they say will not be appreciated for long.’ Ecclesiastes 9:16 Transformation that impacts life through wisdom will not be appreciated for long if it does not produce economic lift. I believe God wants to demonstrate His Kingdom power to smash poverty. If Uganda will follow His principles, He will bless them and cause them to lend and not borrow etc. (Duet. 28).”

Uganda, the Prophet Isaiah speaks to you: “Feed the hungry and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as day. The Lord will guide you continually, watering your life when you are dry and keeping you healthy, too. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring. Your children will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as the people who rebuild their walls and cities.” Isaiah 58:10-12 NLT

There are faithful stewards in the nation and as they fully comprehend all that God has for them and do justice and righteousness, all that our Lord has intended for them will be fully engaged. They will be successful and they will prosper for the Glory of the Kingdom of God.

Praise the Lord!
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
Who can speak of the mighty deeds of the Lord,
Or can show forth all His praise?
How blessed are those who keep justice,
Who practice righteousness at all times!
Psalm 106:1-3

AMINA!

Kingdom Authority

2006-04-20T01:33:00.000-07:00

Transformation can only be effected through authentic authority that gives full expression to the character and nature of the King!

“In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch of David to spring forth; and He shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell in safety; and this is the name by which she will be called: the Lord is our righteousness.” Jeremiah 33:15-16

The Associated Press reported on November 4, 2004: “Wise pardons minister convicted in 1977 killing.” The reference is to a pardon granted to Rev. Lloyd Allan Hill by then West Virginia Governor Bob Wise as a result of the unanimous recommendation of the Parole Board. Rev. Hill currently serves as the President of the Charleston Black Ministerial Alliance and is involved in many community development projects. As a youth he had killed another man in a moment of indiscriminate passion. While in the local jail he was gloriously led to saving faith in Christ and powerfully filled with the Spirit of God. He was convicted, sentenced, served ten years in maximum security and had been paroled–but what had led to this unprecedented pardon? An African-American judge had gathered a delegation of pastors to meet with the Governor to seek a pardon for Rev. Hill. Three African-American pastors and two Caucasian made up the group. (This writer was one of the latter.) Attempts to meet with the Parole Board were unsuccessful, so a hearing had been sought with the Governor. The group was met by the Governor’s aides instead and it seemed as if little progress was being made when one of the aides left the gathering and returned in a few minutes with the Governor!

Governor Wise heard what the group had to say, but replied that he would do nothing outside of the recommendations of the Parole Board–but the Board had never granted such a hearing and did not appear likely to at this point. A few weeks later the judge called the group together again. The Board had agreed to hear Rev. Hill’s case! “What difference would it possibly make?” they inquired, “He has served his time, has been paroled and is a free man.” “Yes,” was the reply, “But God has established and recognizes your authority and if you grant this pardon Pastor Hill will go forward with a release of ministry such as he has never experienced–his effectiveness will be greatly enhanced.” After hearing the testimony of each pastor the Board would not indicate their action, but they stated, “Surely, we have experienced the Presence of the Lord in this place today!” It was left to the Press to report the eventual results.

What had happened here? Righteousness and justice were reconciled in that hearing room and the authority of the Kingdom of God had triumphed! “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” Revelation 11:15 The cause of the Kingdom of God has been advanced in our community as a result. Now, let us see the revelation of the Father’s heart through the testimony of the Scriptures.

“Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” James 1:17 Only that which comes down from the Father, that is delegated by Him, is legitimate. That which is given by Him is whole–it has integrity! Another word for integrity is truth. His word is the truth: “In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth...” James 1:18a. James tells us that what comes from the Father is whole and complete–there is no variation in His gifts. The components of this governmental truth by which He executes His will in the earth are righteousness and justice. Functioning together they produce wholeness. Someone said to me recently, “Oh, you are talking about marrying righteousness and justice.” My first response was yes, but the more I thought about it the more I realized that answer was wrong. Righteousness and justice have never been divorced–but they have become estranged in the practice of the Church. For the fulness of His government to come to the earth, they must be reconciled! This has been His plan before the foundation of the earth.

The Bible was written from a wholistic world view. There is nothing in the Scriptures that separates righteousness and justice–they were always meant to function in unison. However, what has come to us in the Western World has been processed through Greek dualistic thought which tends to compartmentalize. Just as a house must be built both level and plumb, so justice and righteousness must equally influence all that we do for the Kingdom of God. Jesus taught His Disciples and us to pray that His Kingdom would come on the earth–that His will would be done just as it is being done in Heaven. Immediately following the “Amen” to this prayer He says: “For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” Matthew 6:14 To forgive others is just and to be forgiven by God is right! They are inseparable. The issue here is not really one of sequence, but of wholeness–completeness. This is the expected result. This is the way He conducts His affairs. Indeed, rightness without justice is merciless and justice without rightness has no boundaries–it becomes justification. God will have none of this.

“The LORD reigns forever; he has established his throne for judgment. He will judge the world in righteousness; he will govern the peoples with justice.” Psalm 9:6-7 NIV King David is writing of the rule and reign of God. True to much of Biblical writing, values are often expressed as pairs–they become something of a pair-bond that will produce lasting fruit. If they go through a forced separation, there will be no germination and no lasting fruit will be produced. Marriage is not complete without consummation. To be consummate is to fulfill or bring to completion–with lasting fruitfulness being the natural result.

“Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness. He will judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice.” Psalm 72:1-2 NIV (A Psalm of Solomon). The authority that God delegates is whole! Without this integrity any so-called authority we may encounter is illegitimate or incomplete at best. Leadership must thoroughly incorporate this fulness of God to be effective–or relevant. The validity of the Church rests solely upon her relevancy. She is incapable of being an agent of transformation without wholeness–or integrity. (Solomon’s very name is derived from a word that means whole, completed or fulfilled. The result is a reign of peace and prosperity.)

Righteousness and justice had kissed one another that inauspicious day at the Capitol Complex of West Virginia. A consummation had occurred and the result was fruitfulness. The values of the minority community are essentially formed by a paradigm of justice while those of the majority community through a world-view of righteousness. This has resulted in the estrangement mentioned previously. But there was something different about this group of pastors. They were men who knew one another, who had wept together and who had rejoiced together. They had shared struggles and they had shared triumphs–they were one in heart, mind and spirit. Resources are held in common–if one has a need, another is quick to share. In their love and respect for one another the differences were reconciled–they were made whole. The authority of the Kingdom of God was made manifest in their midst. This reality became evident to all gathered there. The authority of our God and of His Christ had directly influenced the government of our state in an unprecedented manner.

Pastor Hill’s leadership in our community, not just in the Christian community, but the whole community, has taken on an enhanced effectiveness. The Charleston Black Ministerial Alliance is becoming the Christian Ministerial Alliance for our capital city. The hindrances that have previously existed are being dissolved in the sincere affection and appreciation of the pastors in our community–one for the other. The Father’s House is being built in our midst out of living stones and it is from there that the Lord is presiding.

“Now, O my God, I pray, let Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. Now therefore arise, O Lord God, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your might; let Your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation and let Your godly ones rejoice in what is good.” 2 Chronicles 6:40-41 NASB

“Now, my God, look at us. Listen to the prayers we pray in this place. Now, rise, Lord God, and come to your resting place. Come with the Ark of the Agreement that shows your strength. Let your priests receive your salvation, Lord God, and may your holy people be happy because of your goodness. 2 Chronicles 6:40-41 New Century Version

The Shedding of Innocent Blood

2006-04-17T02:36:00.000-07:00

A Matter of Unrighteousness or Injustice?
What Are The Consequences?

We had just completed a national election in 2004 in which 89% of the African-American community cast their votes for the candidates nominated by the Democrat Party–and a majority of that community is authentically Christian. From their viewpoint the party of the left stands for justice–and as the victims of centuries of injustice–that is where they put their hope. However, among the evangelical Caucasian community, to vote for a candidate or party that supports abortion is abhorrent–and the “pro-choice” plank is a major component of the platform of the Democrat Party. The white Christian community sees the Republican Party championing the causes of righteousness and the “pro-life” stance is one of those causes. This issue possibly provides us with the starkest example of the divergence of viewpoints between these two communities.

An example of this was shared with me by one of my closest pastor friends in the African-American community just prior to the election. In reference to a Republican political candidate who had voiced a strong pro-life position he said, “He doesn’t want to kill the children in the womb, he wants to wait until they grow up and then kill them.” Of the exact consequences of the latter part of his statement I am not sure, but what undergirded it was a lack of an equitable opportunity. This at least led to the inward death of hope and achievement before the outer caught up with it by violent death in the streets, death as a result of abuse either substance or otherwise or death in our nation’s wars because the military offered an escape from the desperation of their circumstances.

His comment was an insightful juxtaposition of the requirements and obligations of justice and righteousness which was born out of his life experiences. Either viewpoint left isolated from the other is deficient, but how does the Lord look on the shedding of innocent blood?

When I first began to consider this issue it seemed as though abortion would be a matter of injustice, but that is not the way the Scriptures view it. The shedding of innocent blood, the murder of the defenseless, in the sight of the Lord is a grievous act of unrighteousness and carries with it devastating consequences.

Jeremiah chants a lament over Zion whose seemingly impregnable gates have been broken in and the city has experienced devastation. “The kings of the earth did not believe, Nor did any of the inhabitants of the world, That the adversary and the enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem.

Because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, Who have shed in her midst the blood of the righteous;...” Lamentations 4:12-13 The shedding of righteous blood demands retribution for, even though spilled upon the earth, continues to cry out for vengeance. When God begins to speak His judgement against Cain for the murder of Abel his brother the chief witness is innocent blood: “He said, ‘What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground.’” Genesis 4:10

What I am sharing as follows is an unfolding of what I have discovered as I have searched the Scriptures. I have not tried to back into a preconceived opinion, I have attempted to allow the Word to speak for itself. Much of what I have written previously on the subject of righteousness and justice deals with the need to see justice fully incorporated into the preaching and witness of the Gospel along with the essentiality of the reconciliation of the two. Here, we will begin to look at the latter and then move into the subject of righteousness for its own sake.

Thus says the Lord, “Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor. Also do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place” Jeremiah 22:3.

The Lord through Jeremiah goes on to warn that the forsaking of justice and righteousness is concomitant with destruction: “But if you will not obey these words, I swear by Myself,” declares the Lord, “that this house will become a desolation.” Jeremiah 22:5. Verse 4 speaks of endurance for those who will do these things–their fruit will remain: “If you obey me, there will always be a descendant of David sitting on the throne here in Jerusalem” NLT. With the doing of righteousness and justice comes the promised hope of sustainable transformational revival.

From the parallelism of Jeremiah 22:3 we see that the shedding of innocent blood is a matter of unrighteousness. This deed will bring condemnation on a people or a person that is nigh irreversible. Proverbs 6:16 declares that the shedding of innocent blood is one of the seven things that the Lord hates. Innocent blood must be avenged. God spoke to Moses and told him that the one who sheds innocent blood is guilty of murder and that he himself will suffer the same fate at the hand of the avenger of blood (Numbers 35:9-34). As the life is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11, 14), although it is spilled on the ground, it continues to cry out–its voice cannot be stilled.

Jesus in his denunciation of the religious leaders spoke these words of condemnation: “...so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar” Matthew 23:35.

Jesus was prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem (the city held accountable) because of the shedding of innocent blood–most notably His own, but also identifying with those prophets of righteousness that had gone on before Him. He lamented over her for he knew that there was nothing short of wholesale repentance that could turn the tide of impending doom–innocent blood demanded retribution. “So you shall remove the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.” Deuteronomy 21:9 Repentance is much more than experiencing feelings of remorse, it indicates a necessary change of behavior.

This Zechariah is probably the son/grandson of Jehoiada who along with his wife, Jehoshabeath, preserved the royal lineage of David in the person of Joash. Yet, when Zechariah spoke against King Joash because of the king’s turn to idolatry the king had him murdered. And as he died he said, “May the Lord see and avenge!” 2 Chron. 24:22b. God’s response was to allow the army of Judah to be defeated by a smaller army of Arameans who slew the officials and plundered the city. King Joash was then assassinated by his own servants because he had shed the innocent blood of the son of Jehoiada–and had not remembered his kindness in preserving his own life. This begins a series of defeats culminating in the Babylonian Captivity–because King Manasseh filled the city of Jerusalem with the blood of the innocents–those who’s angels are always beholding the face of God. (Matthew 18:10 - this reference may be to the spirits of innocent children who are now in the Presence of the Lord {Warfield 1:253-66}. Thus the warning is not to enter into identification with those who caused the untimely demise of these righteous ones. If one is innocent, he is also righteous.)

The Lord is compelled to avenge the shedding of innocent blood–His nature and character requires it. Not to turn His face would be to deny His Holiness.

Because he believed God, through faith, Abraham was reckoned as righteous and he obtained a lasting testimony. This righteousness was ultimately made available through the shedding of innocent blood–sacrificial lambs or the Sacrificial Lamb–with which Abraham identified by his willingness to offer his son as an expression of worship in obedience to the Lord. (“The righteousness of God has been manifested...through faith in Jesus Christ...whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness,...” Romans 3:21-25.) This is an eternal blessing. The testimony of righteous blood does not die for life is in the blood. The faith of righteous Abel passed through the Cross and speaks to us today: “...and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks” Hebrews 11:4b. On the other hand, those who shed innocent blood are condemned with an eternal curse. (He said {to Cain}, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground. Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.” Genesis 4:10-11). At the command of the Lord innocent blood serves as an atonement, but shed in disobedience or idolatry it is a condemnation–this is its efficacy.

Lamentations 4:12 The kings of the earth did not believe,
Nor did any of the inhabitants of the world,
That the adversary and the enemy
Could enter the gates of Jerusalem.
13 Because of the sins of her prophets
And the iniquities of her priests,
Who have shed in her midst
The blood of the righteous;

The city was vulnerable because of the shedding of innocent blood within her in defiance to the One True God. God lifted His protection from her for His face was turned from her. The Father cannot look upon the unrighteousness of the spilled blood of innocents. Indeed, even when His Son’s righteous blood was being spilled out on Calvary’s Cross, He turned His face away as the Son paid the ultimate price for our unrighteousness. “Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Matthew 27:45-46. Darkness covered the earth for the Face of the Lord was turned from it. Is this not a picture of the unquenchable fires of Hell–eternal, unrequitable separation from the Presence of God?

This was the transgression committed by Manasseh, King of Judah, that caused the Lord to remove His protective favor from the nation. “Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin with which he made Judah sin, in doing evil in the sight of the Lord.” 2 Kings 21:16 The innocent blood was the sacrifice of children in the fiery clutches of the pagan god Molech: “and even made his son pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had driven out from before the sons of Israel” 2 Kings 16:3. The commentator Matthew Henry writes: “Nothing has a louder cry, nor brings a sorer vengeance, than that.”

The place in which this abomination occurred was the Valley of Hinnom. The site is also called Topeth which is translated as fire pit. There fires burned with an unquenchable lust for the blood of the innocents. These flames of holocaust have come to be associated with Hell–the place of eternal and final separation from the Presence of God. Hinnom became Gehenna to the Greeks, which is their word for Hell. An example from the New Testament would be: “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell (Gehenna), into the unquenchable fire,...” Mark 9:43. The Israelites were told to destroy the peoples in the Land of Promise because of their worship of such false gods lest those who worshiped the One True God would become contaminated also. They failed to completely heed the word of the Lord and Solomon in his old age built temples to these fiery gods in the Valley of Hinnom to appease the foreign wives which he had taken. This was the forbidden fruit of Solomon’s lustful desires. God pronounced judgement against him as a result: “So the Lord said to Solomon, ‘Because you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant.’” 1 Kings 11:11

This sin, the shedding of innocent blood, was the final provocation of the Lord that led to the destruction of the Northen Kingdom. “Then they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and practiced divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him. So the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from His sight; none was left except the tribe of Judah.” 2 Kings 17:17-18

The same fate was not long in exacting its righteous vengeance against the Southern Kingdom also (which was the remnant left to Solomon’s heirs): However, the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath with which His anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him. The Lord said, “I will remove Judah also from My sight (His face was turned from her), as I have removed Israel. And I will cast off Jerusalem, this city which I have chosen, and the temple of which I said, ‘My name shall be there.’” 2 Kings 23:26-27

Even though Manasseh had repented, the righteousness of the Lord had been so violated that His anger could not be turned. “When he was in distress, he entreated the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. When he prayed to Him, He was moved by his entreaty and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.” 2 Chronicles 33:12-13 (Solomon was the first to build temples to these heathen gods, but Manasseh was the first to sacrifice his own son–a direct affront to God’s eternal plan of redemption.)

2 Kings 24:2 The Lord sent against him bands of Chaldeans, bands of Arameans, bands of Moabites, and bands of Ammonites. So He sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord which He had spoken through His servants the prophets. 3 Surely at the command of the Lord it came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, 4 and also for the innocent blood which he shed, for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; and the Lord would not forgive.

God requires blood for blood. “So you shall not pollute the land in which you are; for blood pollutes the land and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it” Numbers 35:33. The writer to the Hebrews looks back at Leviticus: “...all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (9:22b).
The shedding of the innocent blood of the Messiah brought condemnation upon Satan. Since Christ was sinless–totally innocent, Satan in his attempt to stop Him exceeded his established bonds and became himself guilty before the courts of Heaven. He is therefore powerless over those who will hide themselves securely in the sacrifice of the spotless Lamb of God. His Resurrection was the attestation of His Righteousness: “...and who through the Spirit of holiness (righteousness) was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord” Romans 1:4 NIV.

We must ask ourselves this question: “Can any nation or people who is satisfying its unbridled lust at the at the cost of the blood of the innocents ever expect to totally escape the wrath it has incurred?” Every drop of innocent blood shed by the hand of the abortionist cries out as a witness against those who would seek to do what is right in their own eyes devoid of the restraint of the Word of God.

John Dawson writes: I can think of five common roots that lead to abortion:
❧ Lust, because it is often the context for irresponsible conception.
❧ The love of comfort, because the decision to abort is often made simply to avoid the discomfort of pregnancy.
❧ Love of money, because of a desire to avoid financial sacrifice.
❧ Rejection, because in her fear of rejection by society or boyfriend a woman’s solution is to reject the child in her womb.
❧ Unbelief, because we discount the existence of a just God who will surely honor a difficult but righteous decision.

Each of these points is symptomatic of the sin of idolatry–the rejection of the One True and Faithful God for those who are not gods at all. “Moreover, among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray. Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: The committing of adultery and walking in falsehood;...” Jeremiah 23:13-14a
The Prophet Jeremiah spoke of the desolation of the city for turning from the Lord: “Many nations will pass by this city; and they will say to one another, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this great city?’ Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord their God and bowed down to other gods and served them.’ ” Jeremiah 22:8-9

Previously we have identified righteousness as being God-ward while justice is expressed toward our fellow man. As blood is a chief component of worship, to shed it wantonly is to defile true worship. This is why the shedding of innocent blood is viewed by God as a deed of unrighteousness. The most vivid picture of this is when the life of the fruit of the womb is despoiled on the altar of idolatrous worship–whether that idol is carved by the hand of man or is fashioned by the mind of man.

Ezekiel also prophesied against Jerusalem combining the sins of adultery, idolatry and the shedding of innocent blood together: “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because you poured out your wealth and exposed your nakedness in your promiscuity with your lovers, and because of all your detestable idols, and because you gave them your children’s blood,...I will sentence you to the punishment of women who commit adultery and who shed blood; I will bring upon you the blood vengeance of my wrath and jealous anger.” Ezekiel 16:36, 38 NIV

Devoid of the constraint of righteousness, the desire for justice will wander aimlessly–it may sell itself to the highest bidder–prostituting itself on the altar of mammon. In futility it will sacrifice its most precious legacy–its children.
In the final days of the Kingdom of Judah before its walls are broken down and it too is consumed in its own fiery holocaust–even the source of its protection, the House of the Lord, suffers destruction–it is said: “The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, until there was no remedy” 2 Chronicles 36:15-16. Judgement in kind was exacted upon her final king: “Then they captured the king and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and he passed sentence on him. They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, then put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon” 2 Kings 25:6-7. The sin of King Manasseh in spilling the innocent blood of his son made its final demand upon his successor as the last thing King Zedekiah saw before he was blinded was the bloodletting of his sons–the innocent.

The Scriptures give us the following hope as they point us toward the imputed righteousness of the Lamb slain before the foundations of the earth. “A king who sits on the throne of justice disperses all evil with his eyes. Loyalty and truth preserve the king, And he upholds his throne by righteousness.” Proverbs 20:8, 28 “The strength of the King loves justice; You have established equity; You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob (Israel).” Psalm 99:4

Also: “For the Lord is righteous, and he loves justice. Those who do what is right will see his face.” (He will not turn His face from them.) Psalm 11:7 NLT “He loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of the lovingkindness of the Lord.” Psalm 33:5 (Righteousness and justice are two viewpoints of the same thing. Their convergence is the character of God which is lovingkindness. It takes both working together to present the full picture–if isolated one from the other our perception of God will be skewed and indistinct.)

Our search throughout this discourse has been for those principles, if heeded, that will lead to transformational revival–or if unheeded will lead to destruction. (There seems to be no middle ground with God!) Here we have seen that if the requirements of righteousness are ignored, the Presence of the Lord will be removed from the land or the people, with desolation being the consequence.
“Who can stand before his fierce anger? Who can survive his burning fury? His rage blazes forth like fire, and the mountains crumble to dust in his presence. The Lord is good. When trouble comes, he is a strong refuge. And he knows everyone who trusts in him. But he sweeps away his enemies in an overwhelming flood. He pursues his foes into the darkness of night.” Nahum 1:6-8

The Prophet Zephaniah, the great-grandson of King Hezekiah, speaks of Judah’s Day of the Lord: “Gather together, gather together, O shameful nation, before the appointed time arrives and that day sweeps on like chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD comes upon you, before the day of the LORD’s wrath comes upon you. Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD’s anger.” Zephaniah 2:1-3 NIV Also: “The LORD within her is righteous; he does no wrong. Morning by morning he dispenses his justice, and every new day he does not fail, yet the unrighteous know no shame.” Zephaniah 3:5 “Sing praises to the LORD, enthroned in Zion; proclaim among the nations what he has done. For he who avenges blood remembers; he does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.” Psalm 9:11-12 NIV
“For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.” Jeremiah 7:5-7

May the Lord, by the abundant testimony of His Lovingkindness, prevent us from standing in opposition to His Purposes in the earth and throughout eternity–that our posterity be not removed from the land.

“The Orry-O Brothers”

2006-04-15T02:23:00.000-07:00

Exploring the Depths of Koinonia - True Fellowship
Righteousness and Justice Reconciled

“If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:6-7

“Phil Dunn is the most spiritual person I know,” were the words of Rev. James Ealy at a surprise testimonial service given in recognition of Pastor Phil’s contributions to our community. My thoughts were, “What does he mean by that?” My world-view would picture such a spiritual person as an ascetic, someone who spent extended periods of time in prayer, fasting, Bible reading and other such disciplines–all of which could be practiced in seclusion. This was not what Pastor Ealy had in mind however. What he meant was that Pastor Phil was just–as was amply demonstrated to him by their bond of fellowship.

Justice may be the most misunderstood principle in the Bible–especially among those that have never experienced injustice. It is most often confused with righteousness and although it belongs in tandem with righteousness, it is not the same thing. This confusion is perpetuated by the King James Version of the Bible which frequently interchanges the words. This causes justice to be interpreted as judgement–and so the Hebrew word mispat is often translated as judgement instead of justice. Viewed from this perspective justice takes on negative overtones and engenders a “God is going to get you!” syndrom. Righteousness involves our relationship with God which is vertical and justice our relationship with our fellow man which is horizontal, but they were never intended to function alone.

To deny either is to invite the same consequences, for to fail to do justice and righteousness is to reject the convenantal benefits of the Lord. “Thus says the Lord, ‘Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor (justice). Also do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place (righteousness).’” “Many nations will pass by this city; and they will say to one another, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this great city?’ Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord their God and bowed down to other gods and served them.’” Jeremiah 22:3, 8-9

Most succinctly stated - justice is setting free those who are oppressed. Any form of discrimination is an injustice and thus is oppressive–be it social, economic, racial, gender, generational, etc. However, to attempt to modify justice in any way will detract from its full value. For my purposes here I have determined to allow justice to stand on its own.

“O house of David, this is what the LORD says:
‘Administer justice every morning;
rescue from the hand of his oppressor
the one who has been robbed,
or my wrath will break out and burn like fire
because of the evil you have done—
burn with no one to quench it.’” Jeremiah 21:12 NIV

According to these words of Jeremiah to fail to do justice in the face of oppression is to do evil and will incur the judgement of God.

Jesus proclaimed of Himself, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” Luke 4:18-19 This passage brought forward from the Prophet Isaiah is often referred to as Jesus’ Job Description. It is all about freedom from oppression–no matter what form that oppression may take. The justice of God is Good News!

Meanwhile, back to our story, Pastor Dunn cares for an Assembly of God Congregation in our city that is predominantly Caucasian while Pastor Ealy oversees a Black Baptist Congregation. These two pastors and congregations along with Pastor Allan Hill and Liberty Missionary Baptist have met together one Sunday evening each month for several years. This gathering is called “Koinonia Fellowship.” Values are often expressed in tandem, the name they have given to their gathering indicates a double-barreled dose of fellowship. Over the years they have developed deep lasting friendships of mutual respect and appreciation.

Pastor Ealy also directs New Covenant Community Development Corporation which provides educational opportunities for inner city children beyond the scope of local government. Recently his minibus broke down beyond repair and he was unable to transport the children to the Community Center. As Pastor Phil knew he was without the financial resources to purchase another van, he galvanized the resources of the majority - that is, white Evangelical - Christian community to come to the aid of Pastor Ealy. As a result he has able to obtain another van to replace the one that was beyond repair.

Economic inequity is a form of oppression and thus is an injustice. Pastor Phil was able to right this injustice and thus demonstrated true fellowship. This deed, in the eyes of Pastor Ealy, was true spirituality–rightly so!

In the New Testament the Greek word translated as fellowship is koinonia, but it has its roots in another word koinonos. This word means to share or to partake together. It in turn is derived from koinos–“to hold in common” as in: “And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common (koinos); and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need” Acts 2:44-45. The word occurs again in Acts 4:32: “And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common (koinos) property to them.”

True fellowship has obligations - it makes demands of those who will enter into its fraternal bonds. This was aptly demonstrated in the relationship between these congregations in our city.

This picture is vividly painted in our celebration of the fellowship meal of Holy Communion–or as could be said “common-union.” Our sharing in the covenant meal is with Christ our Savior and with the other members of the Body of the Redeemed simultaneously. As we partake in the Body and Blood of our Lord, we extend that sharing to one another. One without the other will lack true effectiveness. The validation of the Good News is True Fellowship. Fellowship with Christ is right and fellowship with one another is just. These two aspects of fellowship represent the vertical and the horizontal. This is most vividly represented by the Cross. The vertical member reached up toward God while the horizontal member reached out to mankind lifting us up to where He was. This is the significance of the repentant criminal–Jesus lifted him up to where He was: “And He said to him, ‘Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.’” Luke 23:43 Justice and righteousness found their full expression in this act of redemption.

Paul writes of this Fellowship Meal: “Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing (koinonos) in the blood of Christ (righteousness)? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ (justice)? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.” 1 Corinthians 10:16-17

Dr. Gordon Fee points out: “In this passage the cup seems to focus on the vertical dimension (righteousness), the bread on the horizontal (justice).” He also quotes from Jeremias, “To share in the atoning death of Jesus and to become part of the redeemed community–that is, according to Paul, the gift of the Eucharist.”

Righteousness and justice are reconciled at the heart of Christ on the Cross for it is at His heart that the two members - one vertical, the other horizontal - intersect. This is the heart of true fellowship. Paul exhorts the Philippian Church: “if there is any fellowship (koinonia) of the Spirit, . . . make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.” (2:1b-2).

Doctor Fee continues his commentary on 1 Corinthians 10:16-17: “Paul’s point, therefore, is not the unity of the body that this meal represents (although it probably anticipates that concern as well), but the solidarity of the redeemed community as one body in Christ that forbids all other such unions.” In our present age we would have to say that Paul was not “politically-correct” for he saw this relationship with Christ and His Body to be supreme over all other relationships.

The Lord revealed to us several years ago in our Pastors’ Prayer Fellowship gatherings that unity was not to be our focus. If we would desire humility, unity would be its fruit.

Under the Old Covenant the shedding of innocent blood was a matter of righteousness. If shed according to the Law it brought salvation, but if not according to the Law it incurred condemnation. “Be assured, however, that if you put me to death, you will bring the guilt of innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on those who live in it, for in truth the LORD has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.” Jeremiah 26:15 NIV

At the Passover the blood was offered to God for atonement, while the body was shared equally among all of the family. This offering fulfilled the requirements of righteousness and justice.

Now let us return to the title of this chronicle which is “The Orry-O (Oreo) Brothers.” These three pastors do a rap together which was written by Pastor Dunn and he stands between Pastors Hill and Ealy as it is performed. The name of the ditty is “Do It Right” and here it is in its entirety.

“On the East Side, on the West Side -
hung a group of really rowdy preacher men.
They loved the Lord and they loved one another,
But they really, really, really, hated sin.
There was Jimmy, Allan, and Phil the deal -
these homeys were tight, these brothers were real.

“We came together, to better see ya -
and called the party a Koinonia.
Sing’n, praise’n and preaching the Word -
worshiping God like you never heard.
We want to be God’s Three Musketeers -
bringing in hope, breaking down fear.
The devil was doing his dastardly deeds -
tearing up lives, pushing his weed.

“The hood was chillin’, the thugs were killin -
everybody lookin for something fulfillin.
They were bustin’ caps around the town -
slammin’ and jammin’ their dreams to the ground.

We heard the call, from God above -
tell the hood about My love.
To be free, is not hard, when your trustin’ in the Lord.
We walk in the power of the Holy Ghost -
He’s One of the three of the Heavenly Most.
We speak the word and the darkness scatters.
The power of Satan don’t really matter.

There is no weapon that can take us down -
God’s got our back, this is His town.
So life in the Valley is lookin’ bright.
We’re the Orry-O Brothers ‘We do it Right!’”

We conclude and summarize with these words: “But if anyone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need and refuses to help—how can God’s love be in that person? Dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions. It is by our actions that we know we are living in the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before the Lord,...” 1 John 3:17-19 NLT

Pastor Ron Thaxton
The Church In The City
Charleston, West Virginia
July 2005

Not Without The Black Church!

2006-04-14T02:45:00.000-07:00

The African/African-American Church

And finally, from my perspective at least, I go full circle to the beginning of this treatise. A rich deposit of the justice of God was brought to the shores of America in the holds of slave ships. This deposit continues to bear interest in the form of the African-American Church. Dr. Tony Evans writes, “If American society would submit to the justice of God, the way slaves submitted to Jesus Christ, the power, presence, and impact of God in our culture would be beyond our wildest expectations.” Dr. Evans is describing sustainable transformational revival.

Philip Jenkins makes a startling statement. “We can afford to ignore Africa.” The point he makes is that other parts of the world - Asia, the Middle East - cannot be ignored because of their political and economical significance, but this is not so with Africa. But then he tells us that the coming heart of global Christianity will be Africa, not Europe or North America. What this means, says Jenkins, is that “in 50 or 100 years Christianity will be defined according to its relationship with that [African] culture.” I believe that day is not 50 or 100 years away. It is now!
When I was in Uganda in 2003, God was speaking to me from Psalm 105:16-24 concerning God’s redemptive dealings with the House of Jacob through the life of Joseph. I saw Uganda, in particular, as a “Joseph” nation. That is, the nation had once been known as the “pearl of Africa” which bears a striking similarity to Joseph adorned with the coat of many colors (variegated tunic). It had then descended into the pit of murderous despotism under Idi Amin and then Milton Obete to be followed by the horror of the HIV/AIDS pandemic whose epicenter was Uganda. Yet, God raised Uganda out of her despair to make her an example of his mercy and an instrument of His redeeming power for the nations. Again we see the parallel with the life of Joseph. “God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance” (Genesis 45:7). One of God’s chosen instruments of this border to border revival is John Mulinde. He says, “God changed the reputation of Uganda from a nation forsaken to a model in Africa.” In 1995, the HIV/AIDS infection rate in Uganda was 30 percent of the population. It has now dropped to 5 percent and continues to decline. Our Father has raised Uganda as a testimony of His ability to effect national transformation.

I believe that what is particularly true of Uganda is generally true of all of the African Church, the seed of which is alive to us in the African-American Church. As a Caucasian, I now have more than eleven years of wonderful fellowship within the Charleston Black Ministerial Alliance where I have developed some of my closest and lasting friendships. What I have known intuitively concerning the significance of the African-American Church is fast becoming an objective reality. My journeys to Africa, along with the tender relationships developed there have shown me that indeed the heritage of Africa is alive in America in the person of her children. At this point I refer once again to Dr. Evans: “We are a people who see a scarlet thread called justice in the character of God, which is so strong that it can keep a people focused and a leadership baton passing from generation to generation without wavering.” He develops another startling conclusion, “I believe that slavery was allowed as the means by which God would introduce the true meaning of His justice to American culture, which had neglected this aspect of His character.” If we sense any truth in this statement we dare not ignore its implications that have been bought with a tragic price.

When I began my odyssey in the African-American Christian Community one of the first things that challenged me was the jubilant exclamation, “God is good!” This is followed by the positive affirmation, “All the time!” I had to admit that the goodness of God was a foreign concept to me. To testify to the goodness of God is to declare that He is just: unequivocally! “God can do anything but fail!” is another rejoinder. I am thankful to my friends in the Black Church for awakening me to this vital aspect of God’s character.

It would be heard to argue against the fact that the Pentecostal-charismatic movement is globally spearheading the spread of Christianity. Internationally, over 90,000 new born-again believers are being added to the Church daily with the greatest rate of growth in the Third World areas particularly Africa where approximately 20,000 are surrendering to the Lord every day. The vast majority of these are Pentecostal-charismatic adherents. This outpouring traces its origins to a time of great injustice in American history when much of the gains of the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation were being swallowed up by segregationists legislation known as Jim Crow laws. Into this dark period burst a flame of revival from a livery stable, formerly the sight of an African Methodist Episcopal Church, on Azusa Street in Los Angeles. This awakening, beginning in 1906, was led by an African-American, a son of former slaves, William Seymour. The color-line was said to have been washed away in the Blood of Christ. Although much of these gains were quickly lost in the U.S. John Dawson writes: “The fact remains that the Pentecostal-charismatic renewal began as a gift of God through the black church to this troubled nation, a movement that now includes more than 100 million people in every nation.”

However, a task remains and it is an imposing one. Coach McCartney says we are facing a widening gulf in the area of reconciliation in our nation. The issue is not just one between races, ethnicities or cultures; it is one of world-views. That is what makes the job a daunting one. George Barna, the Christian demographer and contemporary prophet has observed that African-American Christianity and Western-Anglo Christianity almost seem to be two different religions coming from opposite sides of the planet. I was once asked to comment on this observation based on my experience and I had to agree. Although we read the same Bible we read it through different lenses. African-Americans read it through the lense of justice, while Caucasian-Americans read it through the lense of righteousness. This causes the disparity. To get the whole picture we must use both lenses.

What I have called a disparity should not be regarded within a negative context. It reveals the richness and the pervasiveness of the Gospel for the message of Christianity is an incarnational one. “So the Word became human and lived here on earth among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father” John 1:14. Let’s look at an expanded interpretation of John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word (the expression of God in action), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (an extension of all that He is in nature and personality in Creation).” Ray Bakke describes the Incarnation this way: “The scandal of the Christian faith is that Jesus became a real person and spoke with a local accent. As Jesus takes up residence in our lives, our most intimate communion with him always takes on local color, language, values and lifestyle.”
The challenge to the American church is to emerge from the doldrums of sub-culture and soar to the heights of counter-culture. Culture can only be countered by becoming sympathetic to it. Sympathy does not mean to feel sorry for, but means to come into harmony or agreement in feeling. It is the ability to share the feelings of another and its root (sumphoneo - to sound together, to be in accord - Matt. 18:19) is the same as that for agreement and symphony. Sympathy gives the messenger the right to be heard and is an issue of justice. If the message is unintelligible - cacophonic - its mission will fail. Our message and mission must resonate in harmony with the pain of the community to be relevant. We cannot stand aloof or apart. Change has to be cultural or it is not change at all. If Christ had come and stood aloof, He could not have become the author of our salvation. “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings” Hebrews 2:10. This also coincides with the function of the apostolic. It is incumbent upon the church to fully embrace every facet of the community in which it resides in a wholistic manner.

Since the white culture is the dominant culture, an undercurrent of most reconciliation attempts is to draw the minority culture into its paradigms. As a result most efforts at reconciliation in our country have failed. Blacks do not want to lose what is uniquely theirs and rightly so! I was once speaking to a Black congregation and they were in agreement with me until I quoted what has become something of a proverb from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Eleven o-clock on Sunday morning is the most segregated time in American society.” All of a sudden the equity that I had built up vanished! “What happened?” I thought, “Either they perceive me as having no right to quote Dr. King or they do not want to integrate their worship services with whites.” I have come to believe it is more the latter than the former. What they have is theirs and if they mix it with whites they may lose its benefits. George Barna writes, “Frankly, our interviews suggest that most blacks don’t have much interest in being part of a multi-racial worship experience. They don’t hate whites and they do not dismiss the white spiritual experience - but neither do they feel any need to appropriate it as their own. Their faith culture is unique and is one element that blacks are neither willing to alter nor abandon.” And I would add, that is just the very threat they face.

The Church was the center of the community under slavery and it was the only institution that the slaves could call their own. The pastor therefore was the central figure in the community. This has not changed to this day, nor should it. Who are the spokesmen for the black community? Their pastors are their spokesmen. It is not so with the white community, not anymore at least. To quote Barna once again, “Reliance on the principles of their Christian faith, more than anything else, explains how this segment of society has been able to maintain a positive outlook on life in the midst of challenging experiences.”

Consider with me the following question for which I do not have a definitive answer: “Does justice carry with it a higher quotient for motivation than does righteousness?” However, I would like to present a postulate. The viability of our Christian witness is singular–the powerful Presence of God in and by the Holy Spirit. Yet, there are two witnesses to this singularity. They are God in us as individuals and God among us as a community of faith. Probably, more than any other New Testament writer, the Apostle Paul brings this out. In 1 Corinthians 3:16 he writes: “Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” Here the “you” is more akin to “you all” - that is, second person plural or community. Paul then drops the other shoe: “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you,...?” 1 Corinthians 6:19a. Here the context is an individual one or second person singular.

We must be careful not to relegate Christianity to a bi-polar disorder. In reality it is the perfect integration of both witnesses. There is a duality here, but neither can effectively exist independent of the other. Dr. Gordon Fee writes: “The Spirit is the fulfillment of God’s promise to dwell in and among His people; the Spirit is God present among us.”

For the purpose of our present discussion let us say, “Justice is God among us, righteousness is God in us.” And that, God among us - in community - has a decidedly greater potential to advance the Gospel because of its visibility. Our Lord Jesus bears this out in His High Priestly prayer: “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.” John 17:20-21 The great attestation to His incarnation is His continuing Presence among His people demonstrated by their oneness in Him. Anything that stops short of His foundational principle of justice is not true unity at all, but only a “show of unity.” It is a shadow with no substance.

Paul reinforces this vital principle in his second letter to the Corinthian Church. He uses the generosity of other churches, notably Macedonia, to provoke them to good works in assisting the Church at Jerusalem. Yet, he is careful to maintain the perspective that this is all a means of grace, that is, it is through the gift of God that Macedonia reached out to Jerusalem: “...we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia,...” (2 Corinthians 8:1). Then he urges Corinth to respond likewise, thus validating through justice, the faith that is in them: “ I am not saying you must do it, even though the other churches are eager to do it. This is one way to prove your love is real” (2 Cor. 8:8 NLT). With this deed the wholeness of the Body will be maintained and unity will it have its evidence. Philip Hughes deftly paints a word picture for us of community in action: “We may be sure, further, that Paul regarded these acts of charitable giving as expressions of the organic unity of the Church, which is the body of Christ. They afforded tangible evidence to the world that in Christ the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile had indeed been broken down.”

The West tends to focus on the individual, while the so-called Third World focuses on the community. This may have resulted from culture or from ethnicity, but I believe it is from necessity. In our day, we are seeing the greatest moves of God among those peoples who are community oriented–who have justice as their focus. For an example: Christianity surged in the nation of South Korea until about a decade ago. At that point the nation began to prosper economically and the individual took preeminence over the community–necessity was replaced by complacency. The locus of Christianity has now shifted to Africa and other areas of the Southern Hemisphere. Regions of the world who have no hope other than in God are seeing phenomenal growth of the Church of Jesus Christ.

The Sentinel Group recently reported: "Something's going on in Africa. The Lord is stirring there. There's a missionary zeal developing in Africa that is quite remarkable. There is going to be a whole new missions movement of the southern hemisphere to the northern." We are seeing that the waywardness of the Episcopal Church in the United States may have its course corrected (read: judged) within the Anglican Community through the conservative evangelical influence of the growing Anglican Church of Africa.

When righteousness and justice are blended together a strength of community results with a capacity to sustain transformational revival: fruit that remains. “Westerners live in a society focused on the individual, and there they are free to make economic decisions according to purely personal criteria. Africans think in terms of community, they don’t think of anything as being autonomous. They feel responsible for other needs in the community who have less and feel that those who have more are somewhat responsible for their needs.”

Righteousness is often viewed through the lenses of individualism. It becomes a matter of personal accountability. It is then the driving paradigm of biblical interpretation and response. We see this in the oft reference to Christ as our “personal savior.” Justice tends to cause us to see humanity not just as a collection of individuals, but as a community. The issue of accountability then rests on the shoulders of the community. This results in a very different perspective on the Scriptures. That is, God has always been concerned with a people as the focus of His redemption and as the primary instrument of revelation. “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Even the weight of original sin is not vested solely on the shoulders of an individual, but on the smallest unit of community–the married couple.

The truth is, we need both righteousness and justice to fully effect the purposes of God in the earth. Personal responsibility must be factored into the accountability of the community. It is imperative that we avoid the dualism of either/or. We must embrace the holism of both/and if we are to be His witnesses in the world.

I recently received a video from my friend, Pastor Aaron Mutebi, of the Miracle Center Church in Entebbe, Uganda. It is of a ten day crusade which resulted in the baptism of 460 new converts to Christ. (They had to haul the converts to the shores of Lake Victoria in trucks!) Knowing that our rate of recidivism for crusade evangelism in the U.S. is near 97%–only 3% of those that respond to the invitation continue on in the faith, I asked Pastor Mutebi how that compared with Uganda. His e-mail reply was that after two years 60-70% of those making a public profession of faith will remain in the local church that he pastors. An additional percentage may find a home in another local congregation in the city and others will relocate throughout the country. This represents approximately an additional 25% that maintain their relationship with Christ. Of those that seem to lose their faith they do so as a result of overt persecution from unbelieving husbands, Muslim parents rising against their children, etc. Their strength of community, the blending of righteousness and justice, retains upwards of 95% of new converts. There is a message here that we must heed!

Another observation of the church in Africa comes from my longtime relationship with Bishop Simeon Nzishura of Burundi. Bishop Simeon represents the only authentic indigenous church-planting movement among the Hutu and Batwa (Pygmy) peoples of his native land. They represent 86% of the total population of Burundi yet have struggled under the oppressive regime of the Tutsi minority for hundreds of years. Bishop Simeon is constrained from preaching the gospel without preaching justice for his people. To him the gospel message is the integration of righteousness and justice and he is unable to separate the two. It is almost like the two poles of a car battery, you will not get a charge to start the engine unless both poles are fully engaged.

I must interject a caveat at this point. My African friends have told me: “You (the West) brought the gospel to us. You must be careful how you represent it or you will damage our faith.” We must be sure that our message is one that successfully integrates righteousness with justice. While in Uganda in 2003 we were devastated by a comment: “We do not have great men of God in Uganda like you do in America.” The reference was to our televangelists who stream their programs into these areas of the world via satellite. They were looking for the element of justice in our message and thought they had found it in the oft opulent lifestyle of our religious TV personalities.

During our recent trip to Uganda in March, 2004 I had the opportunity to speak to the nation via Kampala FM Radio at the invitation of Pastor Jackson Senyonga. The Spirit quickened me to call out to Uganda to pray for America: “Uganda, we do not have what you have! Our riches cannot buy what you have. Uganda, pray for America!”

This relationship with the African church must be reciprocal. Africa has tremendous problems in the areas of health, economics and education that may only find their answers in the technological and economical blessings of the Western World. There are many wonderful organizations that are responding to the needs of the Southern Hemisphere, but it is not enough. The church as a whole must rouse herself from her lethargy and respond to the call. I must reiterate, they will find a chord of justice in the melody of our message. The onus of the authenticity of it is upon us. To rephrase Philip Jenkins’ statement into an interrogative, “We can afford to ignore Africa?” Absolutely not, neither its legacy nor its plight! And it is vitally important that the African-American Church not neglect both her moorings in and her responsibility toward Africa.

While these characteristics are not limited to the Church in Africa, they are found in a greater concentration there. Let’s look at Philip Jenkins once again. “The growth of Black spirituality has powerful implications for the wider picture of world Christianity in the new century. Not only will Africa itself be the religion’s spiritual center within a few decades, but hundreds of millions of other Christians will belong to the wider African diaspora in the Americas and the Caribbean, and on the soil of Europe itself.” As of this writing the largest congregation in Europe is pastored by an African. Pastor Sunday Adelaja of Nigeria ministers to 20,000 members in Kiev, Ukraine while providing guidance for 48 other congregations in the Ukraine and another 300 worldwide. The largest congregation in England is pastored by an African. One of the largest congregations in the United States is pastored by Bishop T.D. Jakes who is an African-American. The secular national media are touting him as this nation’s next Billy Graham–that is, the voice of Christianity to our nation. And the message is a clarion call for the reconciliation of justice and righteousness!

“The Lord is righteous within her; He will do no injustice. Every morning He brings His justice to light; He does not fail” Zephaniah 3:5. God will do this thing! He will not fail! Through the Prophet Malachi He asserts, “I am the Lord, I do not change!” He will have a people who mirror these qualities in the earth. It was His intention to do this through the Hebrew nation, but now we see that purpose spread from the ultraconservative ascetic sects of Judaism (righteousness) to the liberal agenda of the ACLU (justice). Ray Bakke asserts: “I am convinced that the ancient Hebrews had a holistic view of faith and world that today’s Christians need to recover.” Israel’s hope to recover her place of destiny and integral wholeness on the world scene lies with the Messianic Community–those Jews who have embraced Jesus Christ as their Messiah. Isaiah prophesied of Him: “Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot—yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root. And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. He will delight in obeying the Lord. He will never judge by appearance, false evidence, or hearsay. He will defend the poor and the exploited. He will rule against the wicked and destroy them with the breath of his mouth. He will be clothed with fairness (justice) and truth (righteousness” (11:1-5 NLT).

Impurity and lawlessness are the antitheses of righteousness and justice. We will be slaves to one pair or the other. The first resulting in defeat and death, the latter life abundant and eternal.

King Solomon - The Old Testament Prototype of the Apostolic

2006-04-13T01:53:00.000-07:00

The Personification of Wisdom - the Melding of Righteousness and Justice

“Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.” Psalm 97:2 Righteousness and justice are foundational to all that He does among men. The Queen of Sheba recognized these qualities in God’s anointed leader King Solomon. “Blessed be the Lord your God who delighted in you to set you on the throne of Israel; because the Lord loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king, to do justice and righteousness.” 1 Kings 10:9 This was evidence to her of God’s love for - His magnificent benevolence toward - His people.

Could it be, that God who looks not at the outward appearance, but at the heart chose Solomon to sit on the throne of His father David, because he had these attributes of God’s character and nature flowing forth from him? This is what Solomon asked of God: “So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people (justice) to discern between good and evil (righteousness). For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” 1 Kings 3:9

Now, let us delve into these implications further.

The classic trait attributed to King Solomon is wisdom. The ‘Wisdom of Solomon” has become an expression to describe someone with keen insight. Solomon asked for the qualities of justice and righteousness, but that is not exactly what he got–he got wisdom: “I have done according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart,” 1 Kings 3:12b. In the Father’s economy, wisdom is the summation of justice and righteousness. Wisdom speaks of herself: “I walk in the way of righteousness, In the midst of the paths of justice,...” Proverbs 8:20. Solomon asked for wisdom to discern righteousness and to understand justice. This pleased the heart of the Father, for the Father’s heart is toward His children. This is what He will bless: “How blessed are those who keep justice, Who practice righteousness at all times!” Psalm 106:3. The integration of righteousness and justice is wisdom which leads to equitable stewardship and there the Lord will pour out a blessing: “To endow those who love me (wisdom) with wealth, That I may fill their treasuries.” Proverbs 8:21.

In the Old Testament, King Solomon is our model of the apostolic. The primary task given to the son of King David and Bathsheba was the building of the House of the Lord. This is an apostolic function–wisdom is its hallmark. “By wisdom a house is built, And by understanding it is established;...” Proverbs 24:3.

1 Chronicles 22:9 Behold, a son will be born to you, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side; for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. 10 He shall build a house for My name, and he shall be My son and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’ This one verse more than any other succinctly describes the qualities of Solomon the man and his God-given mission. We must appreciate the fact that the qualities come before the mission.

Most likely Solomon’s name means “peaceful.” Biblical names were descriptive of the character traits of the individual. The reign of Messiah is one of peace: “There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,” Isaiah 9:7a The source of peace is wisdom: James 3:17 “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no partiality and is always sincere. 18 And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of goodness.” This is the only harvest that will endure: “...but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last” John 15:16b

The apostolic is charged with the building of the House of the Lord. Let us not miss the strategic implications noted in italics in the verses quoted above: If the House of the Lord is built with skill and wisdom it will endure forever. This principle translates into sustainable revival or transformation which has been the focus of this entire treatise. The House of the Lord is the wineskin we are looking for in our day for it is the place of His habitation.

Through Nathan the Prophet, for the Lord’s sake, Solomon was also named Jedidiah (2 Samuel 12:25) which means “beloved of the Lord.” This is another indication of the lasting and abiding reign of Solomon for the New Testament tells us: “Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:8a).

The House of the Lord is the place where justice and righteousness dwell in harmony. God’s authoritative commands - His edicts - go forth from here to accomplish His desired results. This is the place of transformational, sustainable revival! This is the purpose of the Father and His purposes do not alter–they are eternal!

We cannot conjure the Presence of God (1 Kings 18:28-29; Matthew 6:7), but we must cooperate with Him to the extent that He is attracted toward us (John 4:23). This is true in the building of the House of the Lord. He gives the directions and He supplies the materials, but we must do the building–this is our apostolic stewardship.

2 Chronicles 6:18 But will God indeed dwell with mankind on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You; how much less this house which I have built.
19 Yet have regard to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You;
20 that Your eye may be open toward this house day and night, toward the place of which You have said that You would put Your name there, to listen to the prayer which Your servant shall pray toward this place.

Unequivocally heaven remains His dwelling place (Isaiah 66:1-2), however, He is looking for a place to encounter man and his needs. That place is His House. It is the source of His abundance and it is the place where He hears and answers prayer. “Now, O my God, I pray, let Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place” 2 Chronicles 6:40.

Ultimately God will choose where He will reside: “Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice” 2 Chronicles 7:12. The House of the Lord was/is built by a man/mankind, but it is called by His Name–His nature and character - all that He is - His goodness!

We are often quick to apply the hope of 2 Chronicles 7:14 (“if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land.”) to our prayer events, but the promise is totally predicated upon the building of the House of the Lord which is a process. It does not apply unless the House of the Lord has been established and consecrated among men.
The Lord calls His House a house of sacrifice. This is the place of worship where we return to Him the First Fruits of all that He has given us to give to Him. Abraham told his son as they ventured toward the place of sacrifice on the mountain, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son” (Genesis 22:8). This is true biblical prosperity! Isaiah calls it the mountain of the House of the Lord and he says that it will be established in the last days and all nations will stream to it (Isaiah 2:2). The House of the Lord is the Gateway of Heaven: (Genesis 28:17) “He was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’” In Malachi it is the open window of heaven (3:6). It is the open door of the Book of the Revelation: “I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name” (3:8).

As it is the purpose of the Father, he will only delegate this authority to one who is a son. Only a son can give full and adequate expression to the father. And this is the Father’s unchangeable purpose: “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;” Romans 8:29. The distinguishing characteristic of sonship is humility as expressed by Great David’s Greater Son - Jesus Christ (Philippians 2:5-8). Thus it is the only quality that the Father will exalt - delegate authority to (Philippians 2:9-11; 1 Peter 5:6). Sonship doesn’t pass away, it is perpetual.

Sonship has always existed in the foreknowledge of God–His predetermined plan and purpose. “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will...” Ephesians 1:4-5 (also Romans 8:29-30). Sonship is sealed by the Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:4-7). There are few references under the Old Covenant to God as Father. His relationship with Solomon is one of them. Fatherhood is an essential characteristic of the apostolic and to be a father, you must first be a son. A son most accurately and authoritatively represents the father for he is the closest to his father’s heart. “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does” John 5:19-20a.

God spoke to King David comparing the reign of his son with that of his predecessor King Saul. “He shall build for Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever.13 I will be his father and he shall be My son; and I will not take My lovingkindness away from him, as I took it from him who was before you.” (1 Chronicles 17:12). Saul’s relationship with God was never one of Father and son.

The evidence of God’s hand on King Solomon was peace. The apostolic is a reign of peace, not of war. King David could not build the House of the Lord for he was not a man of peace: 1 Chronicles 22:8 “But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘You have shed much blood and have waged great wars; you shall not build a house to My name, because you have shed so much blood on the earth before Me.’”

Another significant attribute of Solomon and the apostolic is stewardship. Although King David would not be the builder, yet he provided the materials necessary for the project: David said, “My son Solomon is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for the Lord shall be exceedingly magnificent, famous and glorious throughout all lands. Therefore now I will make preparation for it.” So David made ample preparations before his death.1 Chronicles 22:5 And Solomon had the insight to see that God the Father was his real source. “O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided to build You a house for Your holy name, it is from Your hand, and all is Yours” 1 Chronicles 29:16. Not only was Solomon a man of wisdom, but also a man of faith for he saw that all things came from God and returned to him.

God will delegate the authority required for equitable stewardship. “Thus all the work of Solomon was carried out from the day of the foundation of the house of the Lord, and until it was finished. So the house of the Lord was completed” 2 Chronicles 8:16.

King Solomon was the most complete ruler that Israel ever knew–she reached her zenith of prosperity and influence under him. His reign was one of integrity: wholeness. (Fulness or completeness is also another meaning of his name.) Wisdom speaks in the first person from The Proverbs: 8:14 “Counsel is mine and sound wisdom; I am understanding, power is mine. 15 “By me kings reign, And rulers decree justice. 16 “By me princes rule, and nobles, All who judge rightly.” (Italics are added.)

Solomon’s reign is also described in a Psalm attributed to him: “He will judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice” (72:2). It is also said of him in this Psalm: “12 For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. 13 He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. 14 He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight.” This is our spiritual sacrifice of worship: “18 Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds. 19 Praise be to his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen.” Worship is the only thing that we begin to do now and that will continue throughout eternity!

We have been looking at the glory of Solomon’s Temple as the House of the Lord. Under the Old Covenant we also have Moses’ Tabernacle in the Wilderness, David’s Booth and the Second Temple, but in the New Covenant He says: “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt (tabernacled) among us (that is, among men),” John 1:14.

Under the New Covenant the dwelling place of the Lord is made of Living Stones. 1 Peter 2:5 “you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 2:22 “...in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”

As we have said, Heaven is the dwelling of God, yet He has established a place among men and that place is the House of the Lord. There is where His business is conducted. “And He said to them, ‘Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?’” Luke 2:49NKJV “Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?” Luke 2:49NASB

The House of the Lord that has been paid for by the Blood of the Eternal Covenant is not a static place–but a dynamic state. This was fully appreciated and lived out by the Early Church. “The early believers did not have buildings called ‘churches’; they did not ‘go to church.’ They were the church, and at appointed times and places they assembled as the church (1 Cor. 11:18). As God’s temple, inhabited by his Spirit, they formed a powerful fellowship,...” The power of the transformational life they lived together is most adequately expressed in the form of an indictment from their opponents: “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too” Acts 17:6b. The same thing is being said of the church in many parts of the world today–but not in the Western World: Yet!

We read in Isaiah (2:2) that all of the nations shall stream to the House of the Lord and this will also be a time of peace: “And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war.” Isaiah 2:4b. It is written likewise of King Solomon: “And all the kings of the earth were seeking the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart” 2 Chronicles 9:23. So shall it be once again in the last days when God’s order is once again established in the earth.

With one last reference we must reiterate that the House of the Lord is the place of answered prayer for it is the place of the Father’s divine activity. “Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.” 2 Chronicles 7:15-16

With King Solomon as our example and guide the apostolic should be characterized by these qualities: peace, wisdom (justice and righteousness), stewardship, sonship (humility), authority and the ability to build with an eternal perspective (vision). The apostolic can never settle for the status quo! There is always a passion, a divine restlessness, driving him or her that I have come to call a “holy discontentedness” which might be described best by Paul: “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.” Philippians 3:12

Apostolic Government - The Fatherhood of God

2006-04-12T02:08:00.000-07:00

A nonnegotiable element of transformational communities is the presence of an apostolic government or council entrusted with the “fathering” of the resources of the community to provide holistic equity within it’s fabric. The church in the Western world has become infected with a form of politicized democracy that has an abysmal record of ineffectiveness. One of the most succinct examples of apostolic government is found in the Acts of the Apostles. “For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need” (Acts 4:34-35). This manifestation of Fatherhood saw to it that no one was left out of the benevolence of the Family of God. “So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith” (Galatians 6:10). The apostolic church is an indigenous church with its ear tuned to the sounds of the city or region in which it is located. It is imperative that it be “Kingdom minded” functioning within a Church In The City paradigm.

Going beyond individual accountability the next context in which our Lord assesses blame or blesses with commendation is the city/community. It might surprise us to see why His fierce judgement was released against Sodom: “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food, and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy” Ezekiel 16:49. Sodom had neglected justice–a foundational element of His benevolent government. He excoriates His holy city through Isaiah: “And justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the street, and uprightness cannot enter” (59:14). Righteousness and justice are the keys that unlock the storehouse of His blessings and He has delegated them into the hands of the apostolic–the representatives of His government in the community.

Fatherhood must not be confused with paternalism. A paternalistic mind-set assumes it knows what is best for the community. It is overbearing and it will stifle genuine growth. Justice and entitlement are not the same thing–they are diametrically opposed to one another. “They didn’t ask us what we want or what we need,” is the cry of the community for authentic justice. “Involve us in the process ” True fatherhood hears the voice of the community and responds with equity. Paternalism is intrusive and will do more damage than good. “Paternalism rears its ugly head in many places, and in many forms, often hiding itself behind subtly-contrived masks.” A spirit of righteousness operating without the temperance of justice will provide the groundwork for paternalism’s infertility. Apostolic fatherhood on the other hand “causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” Let us affirm also with Paul the Apostle: “Not that we lord it over your faith, but are workers with you for your joy; for in your faith you are standing firm” (2 Corinthians 1:24).
We must heed the words of our Lord Himself: Matthew 20:25 “But Jesus called them to Himself and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. 26 It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant,...’” This is the type of authority He demonstrated Himself and we are exhorted to have the same attitude in ourselves that was also in Him (Phil. 2:5). This is the only type of authority that God will exalt or endorse for it is the only type that looks like His Son. If there is that which claims to be authority, but is not being conformed into His image - then it is not genuine nor is it apostolic.
The angel to the Church at Ephesus says: “Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate” Revelation 2:6. Broken down, the word Nicolaitan means to lord it over the people. The two root words are niko or victory and laos or people. It is the spirit of anti-Christ for it is against everything that He is for. Several of the early Church Fathers reference the Nicolaitans and in their writings it seems to have hardened into a Gnostic sect. This would only stand to reason as Gnostics lorded it over those who they thought had lesser revelation (gnosis - knowledge) than themselves. Having the same attitude and characteristics of Christ is intrinsic to apostolic authority. The purpose of the government of God, which is what the apostolic is, is to free the people of God from oppression–it is benevolent. Jesus referred to His ministry from the words of Isaiah: “He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,...” This is a component of justice.
Godly authority is not imposed, it is recognized. It does not oppress, it lifts up. It does not exalt itself. It has observable characteristics–before God and before men. In the Scriptures God has caused His purpose for apostolic authority to be revealed through what was at that time the representative of a tyrannical regime: the Roman Centurion
There are two accounts of centurions in the New Testament Scriptures that require our attention. We will examine the latter one first: Acts 10:1 There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, 2 a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always.
Cornelius was a “God-fearer.” These were Gentile converts to Judaism. His attitude with its resultant actions attracted the attention of God. F.F. Bruce writes: “...it was such God-fearers who formed the nucleus of the Christian community in one city after another in the course of Paul’s missionary activity.” The renowned New Testament commentator is describing the apostolic function–the growth and expansion of the Church.
“Your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God.” Acts 10:4b The Weymouth Translation puts it this way: Your prayers and charities, he replied, have gone up and have been recorded before God.” Professor Bruce continues to write: “...Cornelius’ acts of piety (righteousness) and charity (justice) had ascended into the divine presence like incense of the smoke of a sacrifice. God would honor the ‘memorial’ with a suitable response;...” Less we miss the point (and I did for years), let me reiterate - alms (deeds of justice) have an equal standing before God with prayers. And like prayers, their witness before God is an enduring one.
This fragrant aroma was pleasing to God and it attracted His attention. Faith is the blending together of righteousness and justice and thus produces a lasting memorial. This is attested to by the writer to the Hebrews in his great chapter on faith. Hebrews 11:2 God gave his approval to people in days of old because of their faith.
Faith produces a lasting testimony–it sits on an eternal throne: “And although Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us because of his faith.” Hebrews 11:4b He speaks of the faith of Enoch who did not die: “But before he was taken up, he was approved as pleasing to God.” Hebrews 11:5b And then the challenge is placed before those of us who read of their testimony: “So, you see, it is impossible to please God without faith.” Hebrews 11:6a
Isaiah prophesies of the everlasting nature of the government of God: (Isaiah 9:7) “There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.” The Father himself is zealous to see His government established in the earth and He says that He will see that it is completed. We must anticipate this as an indicator of the coming of the Consummation of the Ages.
Cornelius, although a Gentile, instinctively grasped the full implications of righteousness and justice - true religion. Thus he became the doorway for the Gospel to penetrate his own household and even the whole Gentile world. This type of faith releases transformational authority on the earth–it ushers in the way of the Kingdom of God. This is an apostolic function.
Those who are truly obedient from the heart will give full expression to these twin pillars of kingdom authority–justice and righteousness. The reign of God is a benevolent one for He is good. Righteousness and justice remove the legal ground from under evil–it has no right to remain. Evil can stake no claim in a community that is under the influence of the Kingdom of God.
Through the vision that Peter received of the sheet coming down out of heaven with all of the creatures in it, God reminded him of the equity of the Gospel. Thus when he was able to preach in Cornelius’ household he could say: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him (righteousness) and does what is right (justice) is welcome to Him.” Acts 10:34-35
The faith of Cornelius led to the great Apostolic Edict of the Council of Jerusalem:
Acts 15:15 (James the Just) “With this the words of the Prophets agree, just as it is written,
16 ‘After these things I will return, And I will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen, And I will rebuild its ruins, And I will restore it,
17 So that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, And all the Gentiles who are called by My name,’
18 Says the Lord, who makes these things known from long ago.”
In short, the Tabernacle of David represents the Power of the Presence of God and the Unhindered Accessability of His Person. With this pronouncement the Apostle James, the head of the council, frees the Church of Jesus Christ from the narrow confines of another Jewish subculture sect thus launching it onto the world stage. The Message of Christ now has a venue through which it will become the greatest counterculture the world has ever seen. Soon it would be said: “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too” (Acts 17:6b).
The Acts of the Apostles closes with these words concerning Paul that although he was imprisoned, the message he proclaimed was not hindered in any way: “...preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered” Acts 28:31. Most translations indicate that it was Paul himself who was not hindered and this is undoubtedly true, but if we look on to his second letter to his disciple Timothy we will see indeed that it was also the message which was unhindered: “...for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned” 2 Timothy 2:9. Paul, functioning out of apostolic authority, who though in chains himself, proclaimed a message that put no barriers in the way of those being drawn toward it. This was the spirit of the Apostolic Council of Jerusalem as James summarizes the words of the Prophet Amos: “Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble (NIV - make it difficult for) those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles,...” Acts 15:19.
Cornelius was a father-figure: a type of the apostolic. Righteousness and justice are reconciled in the Fatherhood of God. Psalm 33:5 “He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the lovingkindness of the Lord.” And of Father Abraham it is said: Genesis 18:19 “For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.”
The other account of the faith of a Centurion is found in the Gospels. We will consider Luke’s account: Luke 7:8 For I also am a man placed under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go ’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come ’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this ’ and he does it.” 9 Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.” This man was also a God-fearer
He had built a synagogue for the Jews. Luke 7:4b “He is worthy for You to grant this to him; 5 for he loves our nation and it was he who built us our synagogue.” He was a source of provision. He also showed extreme concern for his slave: “who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die.” All of this is evidence of apostolic benevolence.
As a man under authority with authority he recognized legitimate authority when he saw it and he knew that an authoritative pronouncement backed by genuine empathy was all that would be necessary to heal his servant who was dear to him (NKJV). His servant was to him a son and he to the servant a father.
God revealed Himself through these Gentile rulers as a right and just protector of His people. This is an attribute of the apostolic: the provision of security. Isaiah saw it: “Fear not [there is nothing to fear], for I am with you; do not look around you in terror and be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen and harden you to difficulties, yes, I will help you; yes, I will hold you up and retain your with My [victorious] right hand of rightness and justice (41:10 Amplified Bible).
The authority to effect transformation through the power and demonstration of the gospel comes at the nexus of the reconciliation of justice and righteousness. The accounts of the Centurions declare this–they show us the way.
Paul bases his right to speak authoritatively on his role as father: 1 Cor. 4:14 “I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. 15 For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. 16 Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me.” Paul continues in his apostolic vein: 1 Cor. 4:21 “What do you desire? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness?” These are essential attributes of the Fatherhood of God: Hebrews 12:5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” 7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? In the Church the apostolic gives expression to the Fatherhood of God and must exhibit these characteristics.
If the message of the church does not address the authentic needs of the whole community, incorporating righteousness and justice, it will be considered to be irrelevant and will be ignored. This is the most damning indictment of all. We would be much better off if our message was actively opposed rather than ignored. “If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you” 1 Peter 4:14. Relevancy is the challenge that faces the apostolic. The apostolic must be in harmony - sympathy - with the community. It must hear the sound of the community and resound in empathy with it. Thus the nature of the apostolic is indigenous, not trans-local.
To be irrelevant is to “mainstream” or to become “mainline.” Many of our historic denominations who have a rich history in the plan of God have already picked up that designation. It means they have chosen to get along rather than transform Charles Colson recently delivered a stern warning: “Christians are called to be countercultural, a force for moral change in a sinful world. But if we surrender that role, we should be forewarned: If we stop attempting to change the culture, the culture will have already changed us.” Having heard that, we must remind ourselves that culture can only be effectively changed from the inside out. Legislation (secular or religious) can only be seen as a stop-gap measure. It is like putting a bandage over a bullet-wound while the bullet is left inside to fester.
The apostolic message is an incarnate one. It becomes contextual (addressing issues of justice) without becoming syncretistic (abandoning issues of righteousness). This is why it is Good News The Messiah came in this form: “For a child shall be born to us” (contextual/justice); “a son shall be given to us” (non-syncretistic/righteousness). As Jesus He is our justice; as Christ He is our righteousness. The first attribute deals with orthopraxy (truth in practice), while the second deals with orthodoxy (truth in doctrine). This could also be put into the terms of cause and purpose. God causes many things to work together toward His purpose. The causes are many and varied, but His purpose is singular and immutable (Romans 8:28-30).
Jesus came in a very different form than was expected of the Messiah, yet He was true to the culture of His day. Unequivocally, He was and is the most relevant individual this world has ever seen. Still, He did not depart from the Law: (Matthew 5:18) “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” In Him the requirements of orthopraxy/justice and orthodoxy/righteousness were fulfilled. The stumbling block for the religious leaders of His day was orthopraxy–the form in which He came and in which He ministered. Indeed, they were not willing to receive Him for He confronted their misplaced confidence in orthodoxy/righteousness alone.
The apostolic is most often associated with church planting and missions–rightly so This is the only manner in which unreached cultures will relevantly receive the Gospel. We have unreached cultures in the United States because they have never heard a message that pertains to their situation in life. Apostolic authority opens the way for the Gospel to enter into previously impenetrable areas. It represents the benevolent authority of the Father–but it is authority nonetheless. This type of authority is at the forefront of every major transformational movement. It leads the way–it goes before. It frees the Body from atrophy–every part will be put into its proper place and function. The life blood will flow freely: unhindered.
When the Tabernacle of David was established on Mount Zion the Presence was carried forth on the shoulders of the priests. So shall it be in the day of its Restoration. No other means will suffice. Let us reiterate: the Message of the Gospel is an Incarnate one
The Fatherhood of God makes sure there is food in the house–that which is nourishing and palatable. (Please understand that I am speaking of the Message here. The reconciliation of justice and righteousness has implications in both the arenas of the natural and the spiritual.) Transformation works itself from the inside to the outer. It must first get inside If that which calls itself apostolic, yet does not meet the criteria of justice and righteousness, then it is not apostolic at all–no matter what titles or apparel it may don. Relevancy is the ultimate test of its mettle. Jesus Christ was the most relevant individual this world has ever know.
“And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them. And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all.” Acts 4:32-33
“Thank you, Father, for in this day You are restoring the true nature of the apostolic - that which is just and right - so that the whole world will see and hear the Good News!”

“MarketPlace Ministry”

2006-04-11T02:04:00.000-07:00

Another harbinger of transformation would be the renewed emphasis on “MarketPlace Ministry.” There are those who are realizing they are called to be minsters in the MarketPlace (kings) just as sure as there are those called to be ministers in the religious community (priests). God is using them to break down the barrier between the “sacred” and the secular so that His Kingdom can advance unhindered. Historically, one of the most significant obstacles to the proclamation of the Good News to all peoples has been the religious establishment. Our Father is showing us that the authority to fully release justice to the community has been delegated to men and women called to serve Him in the MarketPlace. Rich Marshall writes, “It is my conviction that the role the businessperson plays, as God works in the marketplace, is not just an important one, but may very well be the missing piece to the puzzle.”

The Prophet Zechariah declares, “Behold, a man whose name is Branch, for He will branch out from where He is; and He will build the temple of the Lord”(6:12). The next verse says that in Him the counsel of peace will exist between the two offices of Priest and King: righteousness and justice! And that these two offices under the mandate of the office of the Prophet are charged with the building of the House of the Lord–His storehouse. Kings are charged with the stewardship of justice while the Priests are charged with the administration of righteousness. When the two work together harmoniously the result will be peace. Jeremiah the Prophet announces that the Branch - Isaiah’s shoot springing forth from the stem of Jesse (11:1) - will do justice and righteousness in the land. “In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch of David to spring forth; and He shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth” Jeremiah 33:15. An instrument of this phase of kingly ministry is the Leadership Foundations of America. They, along with similar entities, have been entrusted to galvanize the resources of the business community for the purposes of the Kingdom. And another quote on this from Rich Marshall, “I believe that when the kingly anointing falls on the Body of Christ, it will unleash a power in the Kingdom that we have not seen since the early Church.” May it be heard in the market place once again: “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too” (Acts 17:6b).

Ed Silvoso adeptly puts it this way: “Marketplace people played a vital role in the emergence, establishment and expansion of the Early Church–in fact, most of Jesus’ followers remained in full-time business while simultaneously conducting full-time ministry. This was possible because they saw the marketplace as their parish and their business as a pulpit. To them witnessing was not an occasional activity but a lifestyle.”

This kingly anointing cannot be ignored nor neglected for it is an attribute of our King:
“Mighty King, lover of justice, you have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. Extol the Lord our God; worship at his footstool. Holy is he!” Psalm 99:4-5

Celtic Orthodoxy - An Enduring Testimony To Wholeness

2006-04-10T02:29:00.000-07:00

Celtic Orthodoxy - An Enduring Testimony To Wholeness

Fifteen hundred years ago a weathered hand picked up the rudimentary writing tools of his age and transferred the burning zeal of his heart onto the sedimentary soul of the foreign land on which he stood thus leaving a lasting testimony. As a result the faith of these missionary adventurers still speaks to us today for on the Cook Farm in Wyoming County, West Virginia the outline of a ship watches expectantly with an undiminished hope from under a clefting rock. Along the lines of the ship with a mast in the shape of a cross are the characters of an almost forgotten language which has only recently been translated to read: “Christ was smitten and paid an abundant ransom for those who will allow His wind to drive their ship.” (He was smitten for our transgressions thus satisfying the demands of righteousness and He paid an abundant ransom thus satisfying the requirement of justice.)

One of the harbingers of wholeness is the rediscovery and the resurgence of one of the oldest extant forms of Christianity, Celtic Orthodoxy, which maintains a high degree of integrity. (Integration is an act or instance of incorporating or combining into a whole.) Their spirituality is woven into every aspect of their lives. They see nothing about life as outside the pale of the sovereign reign of Christ. Philip Jenkins in The Next Christendom writes, “Scholars studying medieval Europe are scathing about any attempt to draw lines between ‘religion’ and ordinary life, and doubt whether anyone living in those times could actually have understood the modern distinction between church and state.” In How The Irish Saved Civilization, Thomas Cahill credits these Celtic Christians and their holistic view of life as the instruments through which Western civilization was preserved through the Dark Ages. Also, Ray Bakke writes of Orthodox believers: “...they have reminded me that God’s redemption includes the whole cosmos, the whole creation.” The most important legacy that the Irish bequeathed to Europe was Irish Christianity. Irish missionaries would spread Celtic culture and Christianity all over the face of Europe. Even though the Irish Christians eventually submitted to Roman pressures, Irish Christianity had thoroughly permeated all of Europe. (Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, Scotland, Brittany and possibly northen Spain are the last repositories of the Celtic peoples in Europe.)

Closer to home, there is reliable linguistic and now emerging archeological evidence that the first Christian missionaries to the shores of North America were Celtic monks from Ireland. This is what I wrote about in the first paragraph. Their writings are carved into the strata of our land, especially in the overhanging clefts of Appalachia. The majority of these messages, written in the ancient language of Oghum, are the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. These engravings date to 500-700AD, predating the Columbian era by a millennium. These messages are called petroglyphs. The one referred to above gives ample evidence to their Christian faith as well as reliable authentication that the people who carved their holistic witness into the sediment were a seafaring people. Indeed, the message is in the form of a sailing ship - also known as a “boat rebus.” The mast of the ship is composed of the two Greek letters Chi Ro which are the first two letters of Christ and is an early Christian symbol. I have had the privilege of laying my hand on this ancient inscription and experiencing the realization that my destiny and that of the land of my people is intrinsically linked with our wandering forbears. It can be no accident that the later sojourners and settlers in this region - the Scots-Irish - are the descendants of these ancient pilgrims. God’s plans will not be deterred by the passing of a few centuries.

The Celtic peoples were originally an Eastern people. As they migrated westward, often as a result of conquest, they carried with them the world-view that would not allow them to embrace the Greek or Western dualism of spirit and body; sacred and secular; natural and supernatural; righteousness and justice, individual and community, etc. When a culture begins to dichotomize one half will eventually exert itself over the other and gain preeminence in thought and deed. On a radio talk-show I recently heard Thomas Cahill say, “Greeks had very little sense of justice.” They had set justice aside and the individual reigned supreme over the community. A spirit of individual competition became the hallmark of their society - the Olympics. In religion this mind set expresses itself in the form of legalism. Christianity in the Western world has been sifted through this paradigm resulting in an inordinate emphasis on the individual. We can hear it in the frequent reference to Christ as “our personal savior.” In his book, Paul, the Spirit and the People of God, Dr. Gordon Fee addresses this issue with urgency: “...the goal was not simply to fit individuals for heaven but to create a people who by the power of the Spirit lived out the life of the future (the life of God himself) in the present age.”

Greek thought more readily embraced righteousness because it is easier to codify than justice. It is thus reduced to a set of rules and regulations–very effectively dismissing the need for the power of God. Justice, then, when viewed through this paradigm becomes judgement and although Biblically derived from the same word takes on a completely different connotation. Through these lenses we judge one another and as noted earlier, legalism is the result–compassion is supplanted by cruelty. Without the full effect of righteousness and justice the wisdom of God is usurped by the wisdom of this world and James notes its consequences: “This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.” James 3:15-16

The past emphasis of righteousness over justice has caused the worth of the individual to eclipse the worth of the community. This singular emphasis marks the beginning of the dissolution of a society and if left unchecked will preside over its eventual demise. The history of the nation of Israel between the period of the Judges and the Kings charts just such a course when it is said of them: “...everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25b) and “...the word of the Lord was rare in those days” (1 Samuel 3:1). A form of righteousness can exist in just such an autonomous society. Justice can only exist in community–it is incapable of standing on its own. The witness of justice is dependant on equitable relationships. Community and accountability go together. It could be said that the integration of righteousness and justice throughout the entire fabric of the life of the community is representative of Orthodox Christianity. This is the legacy of the efforts of Celtic missionaries who kept alive the light of Christ throughout the Dark Ages and they carried His flaming witness with them to the shores and interior of North America.

Celtic society was tribal and kinship-based. The smallest unit of this organizational structure was called the clan. The clan provided identity and protection–disputes between individuals were always disputes between clans. There was no “rugged individualism” to be found in their social structure. One of the prominent institutions among the Celts was the blood-feud in which murder or insults against an individual would require the entire clan to violently exact a retribution. At least in Ireland, a professional class of jurists would mediate disputes and exact reparations on the offending clan–justice! From this historical witness we see that justice takes root and grows into fulness in the firm soil of community. This is pleasing to the heart of the Father: “For I, the Lord, love justice,” Isaiah 61:8a.

We have a contemporary witness to this vital integrity from Erwin McManus whose surname may well indicate his own Celtic heritage: “Perhaps the best summary of integrity is that the heart of God is joined with the heart of man. The heartbeat of God pounds within our chests; His blood flows through our veins. What brings God pleasure brings us pleasure. What angers God brings our blood to a boil. Integrity will not stand by and watch the wicked oppress the weak. Like David, we make ourselves strong, not for the purpose of judging those who are afraid, but for delivering them from their fear.” The fierce defensive spirit of the Celtic warrior (e.g. Braveheart) is unmistakable in these words!

This determined refusal to accept a schismatic world view found its expression once again in the brave hearts of the people of Scotland. Scotland, Ireland and Wales are the chief repositories of the Celtic westward migrations before multitudes slipped their European moorings and set sail for North America. In Scotland “The National Covenant of 1638" declared the firm determination of the Kirk (Church) of Scotland to resist trans-local authority in the affairs of their church and their nation. They bound themselves together with God for their nation and they believed that out of the strength of this covenant the Lord Jesus Christ would truly express His Lordship. This fierce commitment to an un-compromised world view led to what has come to be known as “the killing time.” During the period 1680-1688 some 18,000 joined the voice of the slain from beneath the altar of God for they would acknowledge neither prelate nor prince (outside their covenant) as the authoritative voice of God for their nation. The spirit of their National Covenant exalted Jesus Christ as the Head of His Church–He alone is the ultimate, benevolent Despot. The royal blue banner under which they struggled and died declares, “For Christ’s Crown and Covenant!” It has been said that their blood flowed more freely than streams to the sea. On January 11, 1681, young Marion Harvie stood at the foot of the scaffold and proclaimed to her persecuters, soon to be her murderers: “I am come here today for avowing Christ to be head of his church, and King in Zion. O seek him, sirs, seek him, and ye shall find him; I sought him and found him, I held him, and would not let him go.” This passionate appeal was the last words uttered by this courageous lass before the hangman’s noose set her spirit eternally free. These brave souls are known to us today simply and succinctly by what may be called a nom de guerre: The Covenanters. They refused to exchange transformation for conformation.

Indeed, covenant, it might be defined, is the irresolute joining together of disparate parts into a congruent whole. To sever the destiny of their nation from the purposes of God and the furtherance of His Gospel was inconceivable to them. They refused to acknowledge that their Lord was the Master of only one sphere of His creation. To bow to anything less than His complete sovereignty would be blasphemy. He was either Lord of all or not at all.

The Celts were an oppressed people. They were pushed all the way from the Galatian Region of Asia Minor in their westward migration to the enclaves of Wales, Scotland, Ireland and possible the Pyrenees Mountains of Northern Spain and finally into the mountainous hinterlands of North America which is known today as Appalachia. For those who are so persecuted–they must see all things as part and parcel of the Father’s provision. Nothing can be seen to be outside the sway of His sovereign mercy.

Many today are finding a rich vibrancy in the rekindling of this ancient expression of Christ in community. They are finding their moorings in the prophetic hope spoken by Hosea and carried forth into the New Testament through Peter: “for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” 1 Peter 2:10

Where Is The God Of Justice?

2006-04-07T07:55:00.000-07:00

“Where Is The God Of Justice?” Malachi 2:17b
Why Is Revival Tarrying In The West?
Pastor Ron Thaxton

“But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” Amos 5:24

“Your throne is founded on two strong pillars—righteousness and justice.
Unfailing love and truth walk before you as attendants.” Psalm 89:14 NLT

“Now, go tell someone!” This was the exhortation I received in 1995 from Rev. Emanuel Heyliger, the President of the Charleston Black Ministerial Alliance (CBMA). The loving acceptance of the African-American Church in our community had exposed an issue of unrighteousness in my own heart - racism! I had repented before the congregation of the CBMA Citywide Revival, broken the hold of bigotry that had been passed down to me and received forgiveness: “I offer you the hand of reconciliation,” were Pastor Heyliger’s words to me. Yet, there was one more ingredient necessary to fully engage the process of reconciliation. When the offering plate was passed I placed in it a check from the local congregation I was pastoring at the time. Little did I know, but our Sovereign Lord in His infinite wisdom and mercy, had led me into a deed that validated my sincere overture. What seemed to me to be an insignificant act had deep and far-reaching implications. My need for righteousness had been joined by their longing for reciprocative justice resulting in wholeness. Attempts at reconciliation that do not take into account the need for justice’s attestation fall woefully short and ring with a decidedly hollow sound. May God deliver us from this tiresome shortsightedness and launch us into relevancy’s hope.

Today, most people within the Body of Christ believe that the Church must come into wholeness before true revival can spring forth. Anything less represents attempts to patch old wineskins. Unless we understand the nature of the components of wholeness, our efforts will only be fraught with futility–plagued by false starts and doomed to inconclusive results. Objective evaluation surrenders to subjective speculation while the vital resources of the Body are squandered–once again. What is missing? What are the ingredients of wholeness, if taken into consideration, that will move us from frustration to fruition?

If the Church is unreconciled within herself, she invalidates the ministry of reconciliation entrusted to her by her Lord (2 Cor. 5:18). Fully embracing all of the implications of reconciliation will provide the vessel that can both contain and channel the New Wine to a world that thirsts. To fully effect justice the total resources of a community must be brought together. This makes reconciliation a requisite. Coach Bill McCartney of Promise Keepers puts it this way in his book, Blind Spots: “God wants his sons to be doing the work of the kingdom together. Interdependence is a major component of justice. We can’t do justice alone; we have to have help.”

At this point I want to say that I am going to allow the term justice to stand on its own. Some say “social or economic justice” but in many circles this usage is pejorative and only engenders further polarization which is what we are endeavoring to avoid. Indeed, to adjectivally modify justice in any way may inadvertently limit a concept that has broad and sweeping implications.

“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. The old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine must be stored in new wineskins. That way both the wine and the wineskins are preserved.” Matthew 9:17

Revival is represented by the new wine of the Holy Spirit. God, the Father, is the ultimate steward of His own resources. He will not pour His Spirit into wineskins that will lose the treasure. The Prophet Haggai (1:6) exhorts the people of God for their lack of faithfulness toward the House of the Lord. As a result of their faulty stewardship, what little they have earned they have lost. Their purses have holes! His House is the storehouse of His blessings (Nehemiah 10:38-39) and the source of His paternal benevolence. If we are faithful toward His House, so that there is food in His House, then He will pour out a blessing and we will be fruitful (Deut. 28:12; Malachi 3:10-12). The principle here is one of justice, and it is the key that opens the door of the Father’s blessings. The Lord stands outside the door of the Church in the City that will not share its blessings with those in need (Revelation 3:17, 20). The City Church is the entity of stewardship that the Father holds accountable–either for commendation or condemnation. The letters to the Seven Churches in the Book of the Revelation provide ample evidence of this principle.

Francis Frangipane recently put it this way: “Jesus said, ‘Blessed are those who mourn.’ If the church today isn’t a revelation of the heart of Christ in the earth, if it isn’t mourning over wickedness (unrighteousness) and weeping over the suffering masses (injustice), it is only because we have positioned ourselves outside the passions of God (the Father).”

Here is another timely word from Jim Hodges of the Federation of Ministries and Churches: “As the Church is reformed and becomes the House of the Lord (italics added) upon the mountain of the Kingdom of God (Isaiah 2:2-4), then the societies and nations will learn of the ways of the Lord and walk in the paths of the King! In other words, the Great Commission of Matthew 28 will be fulfilled.”

In the building of His House among men, righteousness is the plumb line and justice is the level. A structure that is not plumb and level is said to be “out of true.” If it lacks this integrity, it cannot bear the weight of testing. This is vitally true of the foundation. “Because of God’s special favor to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful. For no one can lay any other foundation than the one we already have—Jesus Christ” 1 Corinthians 3:10-11 NLT.

This passage from Paul’s First Letter to the Church at Corinth is a re-directive to the Corinthians who have lost their way. Even at this early stage in the life of the Church they have allowed its influence in their community to become skewed. Their focus has been turned toward something other than being the Temple of the Lord. And here is a prophetic word to us today from Dr. Gordon Fee: “It is perhaps not too strong to suggest that the recapturing of this vision of its (the church in the city) being powerfully indwelt by the Spirit and serving as a genuine alternative (“holy” in the most holistic sense) to the world is the church’s single greatest need.”

Jesus reintroduced a concept into the religious system of His day that shook it to its roots. It was justice! The religious leaders had righteousness down pat, or so they thought, but what they were neglecting was justice. A cornerstone of Judaism is the Abrahamic covenant, a basic tenant of which is “and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen 12:3b). In their efforts to maintain a facade of righteousness they erred in seeing themselves only as the repository of God’s blessing (“to whom”) rather than the conduit of His blessing (“through whom”). “But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness” (Matthew 23:23). The charge laid against their self-serving religious system by the Savior was hypocrisy (Matt. 23:25).

As religion stands in stark contrast and opposition to authentic relationship with God, John the Baptist in his role as one who would prepare the way for the Messiah, takes it head on in his denunciation of the religious hypocrites of his day. Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to be baptized, he denounced them. “You brood of snakes!” he exclaimed. “Who warned you to flee God’s coming judgment? 8 Prove by the way you live that you have really turned from your sins and turned to God. 9 Don’t just say, ‘We’re safe—we’re the descendants of Abraham.’ That proves nothing. God can change these stones here into children of Abraham. 10 Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever your roots. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.

Both sects were extreme pietists, disavowing their obligations to the community in which they lived by their separatist lifestyles which amounted to nothing more than exaggerated hypocrisy. The name, Sadducee, is most likely derived from a word that means righteous. Their righteousness was elitist, however, separated and segregated from the pain and plight of society. Succinctly we can call this self-righteousness for their focus was not God-ward, but toward themselves.

John taunted them with the challenge, “God can even make stones righteous!” Only God can make righteous through faith–or apart from faith in the case of stones. Our response to God’s initiative, in faith, is justice–or the production of good fruit.

The Pharisees and Sadducees were content in their righteousness. After all they were the children of Abraham unto whom God had reckoned righteousness. John the Baptist challenged their complacency. They were not complete in their salvation and wrath was about to overtake them.

John told them to produce evidence of their inner transformation. That evidence was deeds of justice: “Then what shall we do?” To the multitudes: “Let the man who has two tunics share...let him who has food do likewise” (Luke 3:10-11). To the tax-gathers: “Collect no more than what you have been ordered to” (3:13). To the soldiers: “Do not take money from anyone by force...be content with your wages” (3:14).

Tithing was the center-piece of their religious regimen. Tithing standing alone - devoid of devotion - tends to be defined in terms of obligatory payments. If we “pay our tithe” then we are giving what belongs to us to God with the expectation of some form of reward or return. It is all self-seeking and self-serving–totally and completely individualistic in its focus. By the time we get to the New Testament era it has become nothing more than an act of self-righteousness, far from the original intent of thanksgiving and gratitude to God their provider. We can see no evidence of it passing through the cross. However, there is a principle that is embraced by the covenant of faith and finds its way from Mt. Moriah (Genesis 22) to our present age. There Abraham returned to God the First and the Best of the Promise; there he received the revelation of The Lord Will Provide (YHWH-jireh). In seeing God as our Provider we must maintain a proper perspective - “God will provide for Himself...” (Gen. 22:8). Actually this concept began with Abel who gave “the firstlings (first) of his flock and of their fat portions (best).”

The offering of First Fruits recognizes fully and completely God as our provider and all that is at our disposal still belongs to him and what we give is for the ultimate benefit of the community–that there would be plenty in His Storehouse. The principle of justice is at the core of First Fruits. It is a matter of faith in an omnipotent God and gives Him the glory–a response to the righteousness that comes by faith. That which is of faith does pass through the cross into this present age. We have here what we might call a “Rule of Firsts” which recognizes the initiative of God. “He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything” (Colossians 1:18 NASB). We see this principle at work also in the blessing of the First-Born (belonging to the Lord) who received a double-portion of his father’s inheritance for the purpose of caring for the rest of the household.

James breaks this stupor of self-righteousness that crept into the embryonic church: (James 1:27)
“Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress (justice), and to keep oneself unstained by the world (righteousness).” In one sentence James perfectly weds righteousness and justice together. The viability of the incarnational message is totally dependent on the marriage of justice and righteousness. There will be no sustainable life unless these are joined together. Hosea 2:19 “I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, In lovingkindness and in compassion,...” They are the egg and sperm of life!

Abraham was reckoned righteous by God through belief in faith, but His faith was completed by what he did–by his actions. He was willing to give up the thing that was dearest to him–his son, Isaac–the first born of the Covenant Promise between he and his wife, Sarah.

In Genesis 28:17 after an encounter with God in a dream in which the covenant with his grandfather Abraham was reconfirmed, Jacob exclaims, “What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God—the gateway to heaven!” Jacob saw that the House of the Lord was the source of His blessings. And his response was “ . . . and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You” (Genesis 28:22b). He knew that he must respond with good stewardship that justice would continue to abound.

One of the earliest accounts of the ministry of Jesus fully expands on this principle. Matthew 9 opens with the story of the paralytic being brought on a pallet to Jesus by his friends. The first thing Jesus does as a result of seeing the compassion of the man’s friends is to deal with the issue of righteousness, “Take courage, My son, your sins are forgiven.” Thus, the man was made right before God. That in itself was incredibly challenging to the religious leaders (“This fellow blasphemes.”), but He didn’t stop there. He couldn’t stop there! His very nature and mission demanded that He take this encounter to another level. The validation of who He was required it. The next step would also expose the evil intent in the hearts of the religious leaders.

Justice flowing through the Savior would not allow the man to remain in his condition. “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.” Psalm 97:2 Righteousness and justice are foundational to all that He does among men. The Queen of Sheba recognized these qualities in God’s anointed leader King Solomon. “Blessed be the Lord your God who delighted in you to set you on the throne of Israel; because the Lord loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king, to do justice and righteousness.” 1 Kings 10:9 This was evidence to her of God’s love for - His magnificent benevolence toward - His people.

Could it be, that God who looks not at the outward appearance, but at the heart, chose Solomon to sit on the throne of His father David, because he had these attributes of God’s character and nature flowing forth from him? This is what Solomon asked of God: “So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people (justice) to discern between good and evil (righteousness). For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” 1 Kings 3:9

Solomon’s right to rule and reign was verified in the eyes of the people when he judged between the two women who contended over the living son. “When all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had handed down, they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.” 1 Kings 3:28 Solomon writes in his proverbs of this Godly wisdom: “By me kings reign, And rulers decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, All who judge rightly.” Proverbs 8:15-16 And again in personifying wisdom: “I walk in the way of righteousness, In the midst of the paths of justice,...” Proverbs 8:20 (For more on King Solomon and his apostolic reign of peace see Appendix “B.”)

Justice and righteousness are attributes of the character of God. “...understand that I am the Lord who is just and righteous, whose love is unfailing, and that I delight in these things. I, the Lord, have spoken!” Jeremiah 9:24b. They are the manifestations of His lovingkindness and He delights in them!

In saying, “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, and walk’?” (Matthew 9:5) Christ declared that the two were immutably linked. He just could not leave the man in his condition of infirmity. Righteousness and justice are the fraternal twins of His great compassion for those in whom He had breathed the breath of life. They are birthed from the same womb–never to be separated.

Jesus erased the misconception of a disconnect between righteousness and justice. This is the new wineskin–it is supple, that is to say, it is compassionate. The love of God is an issue of righteousness. The love of our brother is an issue of justice. These are the inseparable foundational principles of His mercy–the basis of His economy–the sum total of His redemptive acts among men. They are the mirror into which His bride looks to see if she is ready to be joined with her Eternal Bridegroom.

Matthew 22:37 And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
38 This is the great and foremost commandment.
39 The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
40 On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

In response to the inquiry of the lawyer who represented the religious hierarchy He asserts that these two commandments are the alpha and omega of all that God has revealed. “But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’” (Luke 10:29) The lawyer wanted to prove that he was a doer of justice. However wrong his motives may have been, at least he got the point!

Matthew 9:8 “But when the crowds saw this, they were awestruck, and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.” Jesus’ deed of justice in healing the paralytic man authenticated His act of righteousness. The new wineskin was able to contain the glory attributed to God. “Ascribe to the LORD, O mighty ones, ascribe to the LORD glory (righteousness) and strength (justice). Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.” Psalm 29:1-2

This is True Worship! John 4:23 “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit (righteousness) and truth (justice); for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.” This is the New Wineskin for which He is looking! It is the place of His habitation. It is none other than the House of the Lord.

In North America we have had renewals and awakenings, but no authentic transformational revivals. We have not been able to sustain these outpourings to the point in which they become floods–rolling up everything in their path. What we have had has leaked out. We have tried to contain the new wine in old wineskins. Transformational revival will impact every area of society, but the wineskin must be prepared.

The disconnect between so-called “spiritual” and “secular” has caused the rupture and the loss of the new wine. There must be a vessel that can both receive the new wine and then pour it out to those that thirst after righteousness and justice. Our thinking must become comprehensive, not compartmental.

These ruptures are a result of a lack of integrity–or wholeness. Holism is the premise that whole entities, as fundamental components of reality, have an existence other than as the mere sum of their parts. How else could proponents of revival in antebellum America still find in the scriptures a justification for the crushing injustice of human slavery and it’s subsequent economic benefit to only one area of human society? Again, without integrity (wholeness) we will be unable to sustain revival. Proof: The spiritual awakening of America in the late1850s was immediately followed by the antithesis of reconciliation–fratricidal Civil War–brother against brother. The wineskin was unable to contain the new wine and both the wine and the skin were lost.

Integrity is defined as an uncompromising adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty or the state of being whole or entire. Might I suggest that integrity’s wholeness is a marriage of righteousness and justice? Without this integrity our message will be viewed by a watching world as irrelevant. Ultimately true revival sweeps up these God-fearers into Christ’s eternal Kingdom. The lost are set free from their bondage to unrighteousness and injustice.

Coach McCartney expands on integrity: “We cannot have integrity without considering and acting in the best interests of the whole church. Integrity does not allow me to make decisions solely on the basis of what will most benefit me or my family or my little group. Integrity demands that we think and act in such a way as to bring wholeness and completeness to the entire body.” This is a perfect definition of justice. Anything less will emaciate the Body of Christ and rob us of our validity.

Additionally, another Promise Keeper’s source, author and speaker, Edwin McManus writes, “Integrity moves us to intervene on behalf of the powerless. A heart of integrity cannot remain unmoved when we have the power to help. Integrity not only unleashes a heart of courage, but delivers us from apathy and passivity. Integrity is not just about keeping our hands clean. At times it is about getting our hands dirty. Integrity does not simply move us away from the path of evil (righteousness), but moves us aggressively toward the path of good (justice).”

I recently attended a worship service at a local congregational gathering which was predominately Caucasian. Everything about the service was uplifting and energetic, yet the message from the pulpit contained (or lacked) an interesting element. We were exhorted to aim for righteousness and two scripture texts were used.

The first was “But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness” (1 Timothy 6:11). The focus of this verse definitely has righteousness at its core, but I allowed my eyes to drop down to the beginning of the next paragraph of Paul’s charge to his young disciple Timothy and this is what I discovered.

1 Timothy 6:17-19 states: “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”

There it was - justice! Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, could not emphasize righteousness while neglecting justice. Their relationship is intrinsic. They cannot be separated.

The exhortation toward righteousness continued with a passage from the Old Testament: “Seek good and not evil, that you may live; And thus may the Lord God of hosts be with you, Just as you have said!” Amos 5:14 The very next verse cries out for justice! “Hate evil, love good, And establish justice in the gate! Perhaps the Lord God of hosts may be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.” Amos 5:15

God is the ultimate steward of the universe. He will not invest the preciousness of His Spirit where there will be no return. The appearance of self-made religion - righteousness apart from justice is self-righteousness - is parasitic. It consumes all of the resources poured into the body, yet the body grows progressively weaker. On the other hand, justice without righteousness is dead works: (2 Timothy 3:5) “having a form of godliness but denying its power.” The seed is spilled on the ground and no true life is produced.

The words of the Prophet Jeremiah still ring true and clear in this day. “The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ‘Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house and proclaim there this word and say,’ ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah, who enter by these gates to worship the Lord!’ Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Amend your ways (righteousness) and your deeds (justice), and I will let you dwell in this place.’ Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’ For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever” Jeremiah 7:1-7.

Revivalism with a singular emphasis on righteousness is barely ignitable. It is unsustainable if ignited and, as a result, is unattractive and unwholesome with no lasting heat or light.

It must be said that what is required in North America is reconciliation between righteousness and justice. What has often passed for reconciliation has been lacking justice, the results being devoid of any positive lasting effect on the community. Reconciliation is not an event. It is a process. Often I will hear my Caucasian friends say in response to the need for reconciliation especially along ethnic cultural lines, “We’ve done that!” My response is, it is not something you do, it is something you become. If reconciliation is not lived out before a watching community, it is worse than useless. “He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8. I have come to the place of avoiding the use of the term “unity.” The basic issue is humility as we see from the Prophet Micah. Where authentic humility exists before God and between the brethren; unity will result. Unity is a fruit. Humility is the root.

Bishop Phillip Porter the Chairman of the Board of Promise Keepers has written: “Racial reconciliation can’t be done in partiality, but must be a treatment of the whole man. Such steps will not be easily accomplished in one day or one meeting. It takes a lifelong commitment to the process of reconciliation. We need to come alongside people from other races so we can share our resources, talents and abilities.” Bishop Porter’s insight broadens the scope of justice beyond financial considerations only–he opens whole new vistas of opportunity when he factors talents and abilities into the equation.

Of the many communities around the world that are in the midst of documented transformation - that is, every aspect of society is being impacted by the Kingdom of God - none are to be found in those areas that are under the influence of Western thought and culture. These so-called Third World areas are becoming the First World of Christianity for they are successfully integrating righteousness and justice.

However there are many encouraging signs that we in the Western world have not been left out of the organic wholeness of God’s economy.

One of these is the rediscovery and the resurgence of one of the oldest extant forms of Christianity, Celtic Orthodoxy, which maintains a high degree of integrity.

Another harbinger of transformation would be the renewed emphasis on “MarketPlace Ministry.” God is using them to break down the barrier between the “sacred” and the secular so that His Kingdom can advance unhindered.

A nonnegotiable element of transformational communities is the presence of an apostolic government or servant-leadership council entrusted with the “fathering” of the resources of the community to provide holistic equity within it’s fabric.

And finally, from my perspective at least, I go full circle to the beginning of this treatise. A rich deposit of the justice of God was brought to the shores of America in the holds of slave ships. This deposit continues to bear interest in the form of the African-American Church. Dr. Tony Evans writes, “If American society would submit to the justice of God, the way slaves submitted to Jesus Christ, the power, presence, and impact of God in our culture would be beyond our wildest expectations.” Dr. Evans is describing sustainable transformational revival.

So then, “Why does revival tarry?” Our Lord will not pour the New Wine of His Spirit into wineskins that cannot contain the treasure. Paul tells us “ . . . that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” Romans 8:28. And the subsequent verse tells us what that purpose is: “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;...”Romans 8:29. And in the next verse he says that those whom the Father has called He has also justified (justice) and glorified (righteousness).

The Image of Christ is the New Wineskin!!! “For in Him all the fullness {wholeness, completeness} of Deity dwells in bodily form,” (Colossians 2:9). He is the Prophet, the Priest and the King!

Transformational revival will be withheld “until we all attain to the unity of the faith (wholeness), and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13).