Following Judah's Lion

Where is Jesus and His Church?

There are two words that are related. In fact, they are Siamese twins and one without the other is a fraud, or in the metaphor of the New Testament, without each other they are dead. These words are orthodoxy and orthopraxy. The word orthodoxy defines what we believe, and the word orthopraxy defines how we live and act. In short, they outline faith and works.
The relationship between these two components of what we call Christianity must be understood and addressed and respected. Any imbalance runs the risk of a mischaracterization of truth and in fact a mischaracterization of Jesus Himself. The more significant the imbalance results in the greater mischaracterization until eventually there is an actual deception. The imbalance can reach a point where the deception is so profound that redemption is no longer possible within that framework. So let us examine both twins more deeply so we can accurately understand and implement both orthodoxy and orthopraxy in their intended symbiotic relationship.
Orthodoxy is usually defined as Biblical truth that has been understood and taught within the mainstream of the evangelical church throughout history. Now there are wide and varied interpretations of these truths raging from free will to no free will and from all sorts of ecclesiastical structures and practices. To say that the interpretations of Biblical truths have been expressed through many different ways and understandings is to severely understate the width of those parameters. Just look at all the different denominations and sects within Christianity and you can see just how pervasive are the differing perspectives of Scriptural truth.
Many denominations and doctrinal perspectives even argue and debate the most meaningless and insignificant aspects of New Testament theology. Arminians, those who espouse the free will of man, have matriculated into nano-doctrinal segments while Calvinists who may agree on 98% of their doctrinal issues will divide over the remaining 2%. It is quite a spectacle and is to this day a detriment to spreading the everlasting gospel to a lost world. The issues around which Christians will create a doctrinal Maginot line are deeply regrettable; especially when you consider the amount of time and energy it drains from the message of redemption through Jesus Christ.
But as unfortunate and counterproductive are these squabbles, there still is a core nucleus of Biblical truth that surrounds the gospel of redemption and which cannot, and must not be compromised.

I do not believe true and authentic Christianity is being practiced to any large extent in the west. Listen and read as professing believers join hands with political parties and issues, and trash people who genuinely need Jesus, but the political agendas take precedent over their redemption. President Obama is now the target of virulent and caustic attacks from people who profess to believe in and follow Jesus Christ. Morality and money are now the Dagons in western evangelicalism and the message of the cross and its eternal redemption has become a page on our doctrinal statements but is nowhere to be found in our actions and prayers.
Millions worship America and bow before her and suggest that the Creator is somehow concerned with preserving whatever they think was worth preserving in the first place. The “Founding Fathers” are heroes even though many were slave owners, promiscuous, and far from anything that can be considered evangelical. The Constitution has become an appendage to the Bible, and the Revolutionary War is considered an orchestration, rather than an incorporation, of God’s will. The American flag is displayed in most church worship centers, and usually pledged allegiance to on the 4th of July weekend. The entire mess is an affront to the gospel.
The list of sinners that are hated continues to grow: illegal aliens, Democrats and Republicans, President Obama or George Bush, the entire gay population, Muslims in general, and anyone else who does not fit within some patriotic and moral parameters regardless of their desperate spiritual need. It no longer is the gospel of Jesus Christ; it is now the gospel of moralism, nationalism, hedonism, or some concoction of all of them. Some desire to dismantle any sort of Biblical truth while the other side parade their systematic theologies as proof of their membership card to the body of Christ. And when asked which people are remarkable and observably different within the western culture most would be hard pressed to identify anyone outside the practicing Amish. Peculiar people? Clothed in humility? Walking in love? You’d have to be a deceived liar to authenticate any of those monikers in America today as it concerns the overwhelming throng of evangelicals. Even the Joel Osteens and Ed Youngs are unashamed hedonistic profiteers.
And then there are the doctrinal idolaters that are consumed with doctrine on paper and are light with living the epistles they so completely articulate. There are legions of books that outline the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures in a systematic way in order to keep the faith tethered to the actual teachings of those Scriptures. And while that is certainly important, it is not enough just to believe the correct doctrine, it must be lived. When Biblical “scholars” say “doctrine” they almost always mean one of the “ologies” such as soteriology or theology. Rarely do they treat humility, love, mercy, patience, or grace as doctrines. Who says "That man is orthodox in his love?" Who says "That man is orthodox in his humility?"
The entire world suffers every single day. Children are beaten and abused and many will starve to death this very day. Mothers watch with blank stares as their child nears the end of his life simply because there is no water or food. Who in God’s dear name is our neighbor? Our street block? Fellow Americans? Of course Jesus was teaching us that our neighbor is everyone in the world. And yet professing believers get all caught up with issues, moral and material, while much of the world lives in darkness and great distress. Christians even whine about being “persecuted” in America which reveals how little they know of real persecution but are fully versed in complaining.
What does a life that reflects Jesus look like in this western hedonistic culture? Is it enough to avoid smoking or cursing or getting drunk? Are the “don’ts” what really defines a life that overtly manifests the Person and character of Jesus Christ? And is the life and power of Jesus Christ so tepid today, and only really unique to the gospel accounts, that His followers so neatly blend in with their cultural surroundings? Is this unremarkable cultural existence a genuine representation of people who openly claim to have Jesus living inside them, and they themselves sacrificially following in the living footsteps of the Eternal God?
Our commission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ as a witness to who He is and what He has done. But there are other admonitions that are meant to mold our lives. And I would like to address one main and important aspect of the life of the church. This goes beyond being kind on the grocery line, or letting someone pass you on the street, or even helping your neighbor take out his trash. This element of a believer’s life has been largely lost on the church, and in fact, it continues to be countermanded openly by the teachings and practice of the western church both personally and collectively.
At the center of a life that reflects and models the life of Jesus Christ are the poor. They exist as either an indictment that discredits our claim to follow Christ, or authenticates that very claim. There is something about the poor, the downtrodden, and the rejected that holds a special place in the heart of their Creator. Jesus, in His early ministry, entered Nazareth.

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them,
This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

Why would Jesus identify the poor, the brokenhearted, the captives, the blind, and the bruised as His redemptive targets? Why not just collectively say sinners? Throughout the Scriptures God takes observable notice of the poor and disenfranchised. And even in the early church there was an acknowledgment that caring for the poor was part and parcel of being a follower of Jesus Christ. Jesus refers to the giving of alms to the poor, and even James says “God has chosen the poor rich in faith”. But the lame and embarrassing ministry to the poor by us western believers is a residual effect of a greater deception; it reveals just how far we have strayed from New Testament Christianity. We have concocted a doctrinal fortress that helps us sleep soundly at night knowing our systematic theology is intact, while living, breathing people are suffering greatly with hardly a thought.
While the local assembly builds a monstrous, high tech edifice to enjoy, complete with an obscene amount of debt, they feel quite comfortable with some paltry food pantry that ministers to the handful that can come and get some help. And the overwhelming percentage of money collected will go to the mortgage and the staff salaries and accoutrements. Watch as they pat themselves on their backs if they can claim 10% goes to missions. And if that assembly considers themselves as “orthodox”, their emphasis will be upon proclaiming and protecting that doctrinal orthodoxy and the needs of people will be given little consideration in the yearly budget.
We western believers have changed and overhauled the entire construct of what it means to be followers and imitators of Jesus Christ either individually or collectively. It is infinitely easier to stop smoking and cursing than it is to give sacrificially of our lives and treasures and go without the camp to seek and minister to those who may never place one dime in our coffers. The one hour religious theatre that passes as meeting with and worshiping the Risen Christ is a redundant exercise in making us feel good and preparing us for a soon following meal and perhaps a televised sporting event. The slightest sound system malfunction becomes an irritant to any artificial ambiance.
And while we meet in air conditioned opulence, even in our own communities, many bear the physical and emotional marks of their social condition arrived at by either events beyond their control or the fruits of their own counterproductive labors. Either way, there they are; stretched out and hidden from our physical eyes so they can be addressed much easier with compassionate words rather than inconvenient and “costly” actions. But the glory of our enhanced worship music, and the erudite offerings of our preachers, and just the ambiance of gathering together with others within the walls of artificial lavishness, soothes the soul and uplifts the spirit to go out from there and live the next week as we have the previous one. And the dogs continue to lick the sores of Lazarus beyond the gates of the church’s existence while we build bigger and more expensive places for people to sit a couple hours every week. Perhaps my words seem too radical?
If this is true Christianity then there must be another Bible since this ecclesiastical construct cannot claim any symmetry with what we now call the New Testament. What did the body of Christ do when it was the original Incarnation? Did that Jesus live in opulence and comfort? Did that Jesus seek out the wealthiest people and raise money to provide a meeting place that would fit their accustomed lifestyle? Did that Jesus go weeks on end without ministering to the poorest among the community? And did that Jesus seek to avoid any contact and interaction with the most identifiable sinners in the city? Did that Jesus borrow money from Caesar to build buildings while still claiming access to the One who owns the cattle on a thousand hills? In short, was that Jesus a hypocrite?
Did that Jesus get involved with all sorts of political issues and take either a conservative or a liberal side? Did that Jesus pledge allegiance to any country or government? Did that Jesus heap up money for Himself? Was that Jesus concerned with eternity or with the things of this world? And did that Jesus spend time with the poorest peasants and the vilest sinners? And so I ask you, which Jesus do we claim to follow?
The proof of orthodox theology can never lie exclusively with any systematic extrapolation of the written Scriptures, but there must be the corresponding actions that authenticate what the heart actually believes juxtaposed against what the Scriptures actually teach. Doctrinal orthodoxy without a living epistle that conforms to the living image of Jesus Christ is like a body without blood. And no one can enjoy the luxury of culling out those doctrinal truths from Scripture that do not demand observable evidence such as the Trinity, the Incarnation, the penal substitution, and many others, without also being held accountable to the veracity of those Scriptural truths that demand observable evidence such as love, mercy, humility, and a passion concerning the ministry to the poor and downtrodden.
And against the backdrop of the ultimate compromise of God becoming a man in order to address the needs of His enemies, how deep are we willing to compromise our own personal surroundings in order to be used to meet the needs of others? Are the needs of others given such priority over our own needs and the needs of those with whom we have relationship that we are resolved, and even willing, to forsake our own desires and reasonable objections so as to be a selfless conduit to help the poor without finding some remonstrance which soothes our conscience but leaves the poor just as they are?
No government can either prevent us from doing Christ’s work or enhance that same redemptive labor. We should, and we must, operate in a different and unique kingdom which has no common subset with any earthly government or other organization. God can and does use and incorporate the acts of men, even the acts of unregenerate men, into His sovereign and providential scheme, but without that eternal blueprint we must adhere strictly to what we have been called to do – preach Jesus and live Jesus. We cannot serve two masters. To embrace or assail any particular government is to fight the wrong battle with the wrong weapons against the wrong people. There is little that compare to the compromise that is contained in nationalism.
Millions upon millions of professing believers are more interested in protecting the so called original intent of the country called America than they are protecting and projecting the original intent of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They have become Americans at the expense of being followers of Jesus Christ. It is very tragic, and extremely difficult to see with any objectivism. It is like attempting to view the back of your head without a mirror. Without the help of someone else you cannot see it. And without the help of the Spirit, beginning with a painful and self sacrificing seeking of the truth regardless of what it might reveal, no one can really see what we have become instead of what we should be.
Our salt is tasteless, or hill is flat, and our light is dim. Without a revival we are reduced to sojourning in spiritual obscurity. Have we wandered so far that we cannot return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple? Are we so consumed with Babylon that the Spirit has no access to our hearts?

Oh, that You would rend the heavens and that You would come down, that the mountains might quake and flow down at Your presence--As when fire kindles the brushwood and the fire causes the waters to boil--to make Your name known to Your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Your presence!
When You did terrible things which we did not expect, You came down; the mountains quaked at Your presence. For from of old no one has heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who works and shows Himself active on behalf of him who earnestly waits for Him.
You meet and spare him who joyfully works righteousness, uprightness, and justice, earnestly remembering You in Your ways. Behold, You were angry, for we sinned; we have long continued in our sins prolonging Your anger. And shall we be saved?
For we have all become like one who is unclean and does not know it or care, and all our fake righteousness is like filthy rags or a polluted garment; we all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities and our self righteousness, like the wind, takes us away from knowing and serving You.
And who calls passionately upon Your name and awakens and bestirs himself to take and keep hold of You? For You have hidden Your face from us and have delivered us into the prison of our own iniquities and religious contentment.
Yet, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our Potter, and we all are the work of Your hand. Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, or remember iniquity forever. Behold, consider, we beseech You, we are Your people.
But Your holy cities have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and our beautiful house, the gathering where our fathers praised You, is burned with fleshly fire, and all our pleasant and desirable places are in spiritual ruins.
Considering our condition and the hardness of our hearts, will You restrain Yourself, O Lord and not come to our aid? Will You keep silent and not command our deliverance but humble and afflict us exceedingly?
For Your glory and none of ours, we pray ourselves to be broken by Your Spirit and remade after the likeness of the Redeemer Lord. We stand in need of Your awakening touch that crucifies us once again and resurrects us in the power of His glory. And use us, O Lord, to reach those in need and to reveal the Risen Christ in such a way that men must say, “We have never seen it like this.”

Oh, that You would rend the heavens and that You would come down and reveal Jesus in us.