Macrorepentance Musings
As witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ, we commit ourselves to make more and better disciples by establishing churches on the New Testament plan and proclaiming the gospel around the world. (Matthew 28:16-20, Ephesians 3:8-11, Acts 1:8) -- Churches of God, General Conference Administrative Council, 2008
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Don't say anything you don't mean. This counsel is embedded deep in our traditions. You only make things worse when you lay down a smoke screen of pious talk. . .. You don't make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace. In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true. Just say 'yes' and 'no.' When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong. -- Jesus, Matthew 5:33-37, The Message
posted by bill Sloat at 9:48 AM
16 Comments:
Wow, did you just quote The Message version of Scripture?!
It created arthritis like symptoms in my fingers to do so, but, yes, I did.
there are some times where i really like the message, because it draws out things that you don't get from a literal translation, but seem to be the gist of the Scripture.
there are also times where i'm pretty sure that that paraphrase oversteps its bounds, and leaves the world of "translation" (which it should never rightly be called anyway) completely behind.
the bit you quoted, bill, seems halfway between the two. however, i think even an accurate translation would support what you mean, as the public commitment of the cggc is very oath-y.
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all that being said, bill, aren't you beating a dead horse? it doesn't seem like that are many who fundamentally disagree with you, that the cggc, by and large, is not being faithful to its mission statement.
i understand your prophetic need for this to be heard at the highest levels. however, unless there is significant disagreement here on the blog, perhaps our energies used here would be better spent actually trying to be faithful to our Scriptural mandate? to be moving forward rather than pointing out the failures of those who are not here to listen? or am i largely mistaken about the audience of this blog?
walt,
My aim, as I think I've made clear, is not to elicit agreement. It is to provoke repentance. I believe that the Mission Statement is calling down curses on the CGGC from the just Lord who is truth and that it will continue to do so until we either set our minds and hearts on making the Mission Statement truth or admit that it is a lie and confess of that sin. It is a sin to bear false witness. We are sinning and will suffer the consequences of our sin until we stop sinning.
bill,
agreed. i suppose my question is, are there those on this blog who need to be called to repent of Christendom (on the whole) and pursue the "NT plan", or are you "preaching to the choir"?
Bill is preaching to the choir on one level.
Repentance though, is never once and done. I don't think that any of us have lived out in complete faithfulness what God has called us to. Even when we are personally obedient, we still have the ongoing challenges of leading others.
Repentance is hard (I'm working on a post about this).
well put, dan. i know that, but thanks for the reminder.
and bill, i do appreciate your calls to faithfulness.
i suppose i'm just very ready for moving forward, to how we can repent, and less looking back on how we need to. i feel like most of us are thoroughly convinced we need to change, so let's focus on how we can do that.
walt,
are there those on this blog who need to be called to repent of Christendom (on the whole) and pursue the "NT plan", or are you "preaching to the choir"?
It has become clear to me very recently, that there are a large number of lurkers who read what we write here but never participate. Some of them are pretty heavy hitters in the CGGC.
Hey, you lurkers! "If you do not repent, I will remove your lampstand from it's place." -- Jesus
As far as bloggers, it might surprise you that I'll say that I think that, as long as they are not fighting for macrorepentance, they are not repenting. I suspect that they are so enculturated by the priest system that they are not living repentant lives.
Repentance is, first and foremost, a lifestyle.
If you are not living change, you are not, as John the Baptist said, producing 'fruit in keeping with repentance.' As Jesus said, those branches that do not produce fruit are picked up and thrown in the fire. Because repentance is action, my belief is that even the bloggers are not in the choir because, by their lifestyle, they are not singing.
It is a Christendom-Priest culture thing, to suppose that, because I agree that change is needed, I have repented. That's not New Testament plan repentance.
As far as I can tell, there is no choir.
I do invite bloggers to describe how they are obeying John's call to produce fruit in keeping with repentance.
Repentance is something that can and needs to happen on several levels. At the least they seem to be: personal, local body, and large body.
I appreciate the necessity of all of these. My primary concern at the moment is the local body.
How can the Church of God in ______ move toward a more faithful picture of the N.T. church? This seems a big challenge to me.
bill, I want our body(bodies) to be given to the priorities of New Testament Christianity and reflect their characteristics. Moving to that as we all know requires a substantial paradigm shift.
It's taken you some time to lead the local body you are a part of in this direction and you've recently stated that it's still very inadequate by 'N.T. plan' standards.
A couple very small things that I've been trying to do is to identify other apest gifted leaders in the local body (I've identified and encouraged 2 individuals who I believe bear fruit of prophet and the other evangelist.
We've not only allowed but encouraged and asked for more participation from the body when we gather for worship.
I've earnestly sought to remind people (every week in one way or another) that Jesus is our great high priest and there is no human mediator between each of us and God. I've sought to lift up the Scripture as the authority and lead people to be dependant upon the Word and upon each other equally as the body, not on a 'pastor.'
These small 'steps' I believe have borne spiritual fruit. They are, as I said, small. But I want to repent. I don't want my heart to be hardened to the truth of God's Word and the leading of the Spirit.
M,
Repentance is hard (I'm working on a post about this).
Me too.
walt,
i suppose i'm just very ready for moving forward, to how we can repent, and less looking back on how we need to. i feel like most of us are thoroughly convinced we need to change, so let's focus on how we can do that.
As I pray and meditate, I'm still being led to describe the extent of our sin. In the end, I think that it will be repentant apostles who will give substance and structure to the macro level acts of repentance.
It is interesting to me that M and you are the first to feel the need to act in repentance. You are prophetic.
I believe that there will be a war over this and that there will be many casualties--perhaps the entire CGGC will fall.
M,
Repentance is something that can and needs to happen on several levels.
Amen.
I believe that, for repentance to become a reality in what we do, there will have to be apostolic participation. It may just be that someone who is an apostle will call repentant CGGCers to come together and leave a dead body to rot in the sun. I hope not, but I can see that possibility.
M,
These small 'steps' I believe have borne spiritual fruit. They are, as I said, small. But I want to repent. I don't want my heart to be hardened to the truth of God's Word and the leading of the Spirit.
Our acts of repentance at Faith have been chaotic and overly prophet-driven. Without apostolic participation, and the guidance of a macrorepentant body to support us, we have not accomplished what we might have in the Lord.
Pray that the Lord will call together a balanced APEST community to lead repentance from the prophetic seed-planting stage to the point at which healthy fruit of repentance is being produced and disciples are being made.
Bill,
"it has become clear to me very recently, that there are a large number of lurkers who read what we write here but never participate. Some of them are pretty heavy hitters in the CGGC."
It seems to me that if you see an indvidule or a group of believers in need of repentance, it would be your God given responsabillity to make them aware of their need to repent. Let me suggest to you to use a more direct way of making them aware of their need to repent. Banking on them being one of the "lurkers" who might hear the call of repentance in this format, appears to be a bit risky, perhaps even irresponsible.
lively,
Banking on them being one of the "lurkers" who might hear the call of repentance in this format, appears to be a bit risky, perhaps even irresponsible.
What leads you to think that I do that?
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