Buiding Up

One of the things I love about our church is people's hunger to know and experience Jesus Christ. I was reading Ephesians chapter four this past week and reminded again that the measure of every spiritual experience we seek is its conformity to the person, the ministry and the purposes of Jesus.

In that amazing chapter, Paul reminds his listeners that all teaching, all experience, all "programs" and "offices" of the church are directed toward the building up of God's people and their service together in unity. Anything that doesn't contribute to unity among believers is to be pushed to the side. Kingdom people are focused on relationships far above any specific experience or individual belief. Our experience can be misinterpreted or our belief may be wrong, but LOVE never fails.

This is defining for our church. We're open to what people have to say about their experiences with God. We will practice scriptural discernment in matters of doctrine and prayerful discernment when someone makes a claim that God has revealed to them knowledge or wisdom. We look for the "fruits" of the teaching (Gal. 5:19-26) to guide us to see evidence of the Spirit's presence.

There is always the possibility in this atmosphere where the value is relationship that we will be presented with an experience that challenges our point of view or that we even think is wrong. Far more important than our reaction is our willingness to engage the process of discernment and conversation IN COMMUNITY. If you're like me, you've reacted to a new idea or experience only to find yourself warming up to it over time as you've seen it manifest truthfully and powerfully in people's lives. The "fruits" are evident in a way that our reason can't always comprehend.

I'd like to challenge all of us to be so oriented around our Christ-formed relationships with each other (living out of Acts 2:42ff) that we are willing to suspend our own unique "notion" of things if it means rupturing a relationship. If we learn to speak the truth in love, then we can seek truth together with people who have had radically different life experiences and God-encounters. And together we can begin to see a much larger picture of what God is doing than our own personal perspective allows.

The conversation can only occur, though, when we are actively engaged in community. I intentionally seek out people who see things differently than me knowing that if I'm only around people like me, I will grow spiritually stale and stagnant. I don't always agree with them. But I love them. And I love what God is doing in their lives. And for me, that is living closely to a correct "theology" of Jesus.