Category Archives: Religion & Spirituality

January 10, 2010

Jesus, Lover of My Soul

By David D. Flowers

“While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.” Mark 14:3

I’m not gonna lie to you.  There are things that I just don’t like about the way in which the Lord works with us.  In time, I do see the wisdom and the genius in it, but I have yet to grow accustom to the periods in life where the Lord is breaking you like the woman’s alabaster jar.  It does help to remember the breaking is for Jesus.

Maybe you’re like me.  I keep thinking about what’s in the jar… and the aroma that will fill the room.  I like those moments.  I often find myself trying to skip to the “good stuff”… wanting to leave the jar the way it is.  But the Lord is concerned with the process of breaking vessels.

If you’re looking for a big theological word… it’s called “sanctification.”  It’s being continually fashioned into His holy image.  For He knows the aroma is the reward of a willing piece of clay.  He is that aroma.  And His fragrance comes only through a crushing blow to our souls.

I have been giving this a great deal of thought.  I think the nature of this process is interwoven into the very fabric of the Triune God.  I don’t know what all that means yet.  Nevertheless, I do believe that it is somehow rooted in the community shared by the Trinity.  The Lord of heaven knows about self-denial.

Yes, the Lord must grow us up into His image through self-sacrifice.  It is what exists between the Father, Son, and Spirit.  Without a continual denying of self, the believer will not be fashioned into His image, nor can he be built together with other living stones.

The sweetness of the sacrifice will never come unless there is a willing disciple who is broken and spilled out.  The Potter makes us and therefore has the right to break us.  And that breaking can only bring forth a glorious display of His beauty IF we will surrender our constant obsession with self and learn the altruistic faith that unlocks the depths and riches of Christ.

I’m learning that I can give up my desire for control and hand the reins of my life to Christ.  He has relieved me from my post of being the watchman of my own soul.  You know what I’m talking about?  You know… that feeling when fear and uncertainty set in. It causes us to scramble.  It says, “I’ve got to do something!”

“For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against my enemies.”  Psalm 61:3

If I can only remember the Lord is not only the watchman of my soul… He is the watchtower.  I climb the stairs of this tower… I see the Lord there… and he reminds me that He has indeed relieved me of my burden.  I’m not the captain of my soul.  I’m not the “master of my fate.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “The command of Jesus is hard, unutterably hard, for those who try to resist it. But for those who willingly submit, the yoke is easy and the burden is light.”  (The Cost of Discipleship, p. 37.)

I guess it’s just really difficult to grasp.  Lord, did you really mean your “yoke is easy” and your “burden is light”?  Have you really taken care of all my needs in one sweeping victory?  Will you cloth me like the flowers of the field?  Is your well really that deep?  Living water?  Lord!  Help me to receive it!

Jesus said, “Everything is possible for him who believes.” And I cry out, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:23-24)

So… I start my descent back down the tower… taking what the Lord has shown me.  He knows I’ll be back soon.  And He never grows tired of my coming.  He never grows weary of reminding me how much He loves me.

It reminds me of the movie 50 First Dates (2004).  Lucy (Drew Barrymore) was involved in an accident that caused her to forget everything about her life.  She could be reminded of who she was, but after she slept during the night, she forgot it all and was back to square one.  (The movie is worth watching… check it out.)

Henry (Adam Sandler) loved her so deeply.  He decided that he would make a video for Lucy to wake up to every single day.  The video would remind her of who she was, where she was, who loved her, and whom it was that she loved.  Henry was committed to having his bride fall in love with him all over again… each and every day.

Henry reminds me of the Lord.

This truly is the greatest mystery to me: the Lord’s ability to bring life out of death; an empty tomb after a bloody cross; a new man from the mud and mire of a self-centered existence.  And He does it over and over again… new creation breaking through the old.

There is not a word in my vocabulary to describe the creative power and foolish magnificence of my Jesus.  And no matter how often we forget it… the Lord is patient and his mercies are new every morning.  He is glad to begin again with us.

Things move much slower in the Lord’s economy.  Not only is the Lord slow, as we consider slowness, but His way is foolish.  He moves when we sit.  When we are weak, He is strong.  When we fall, He rises up.  When we stop, he starts.  When we die, He lives.  Are you getting the picture yet?

“Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.”  Psalm 127:1

So… relax.  Stop trying to make something happen in your life and in the church.  Let go!  Enjoy the Lord where you are… in the season He has you.  He loves you.  Trust that He will work it out.  Believe He will bring it to pass.  Turn from your own thinking.

See the Lord there in the tower of your soul.  He’s watching.  He’s got you covered.  Every morning He’s there… telling you who you are in Him and that He loves you all over again.  Brothers and sisters, receive it.

“Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”  The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.” Lamentations 3:22-26

13 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Christianity, Church, Deeper Christian Life, Religion & Spirituality

November 24, 2009

Visiting an Organic Church

By David D. Flowers

I have been meeting in homes pursuing Christ in an organic way for a few years now. In that time, we have had many people visit our gatherings. I have also visited other organic churches.

I have discovered that visiting an organic church fellowship is likely to be disappointing to the visitor if they do not understand the nature of organic church life.

I am continually reminded that people will likely not see the power of Christ in a short visit for the following reasons:

1.) The visitor has not given up on their attempts to “do” church and be satisfied with “knowing” Christ in familial community.

It is often the case that a person comes into a gathering and they are looking for a church experience that is more “biblical” and fills an immediate void of some kind. Maybe they are fed up with organized religion and believe that a house church will make up for all their trouble in days past.

My experience is that this is the most common reason for folks visiting an organic fellowship.

Seeking a church life that reflects New Testament practice is laudable, but this search must quickly surrender itself to Christ.  If a person doesn’t soon trust that the church comes out of Christ, they are indeed headed for even more frustration.

New Testament church practice comes by us making Christ our only concern. The moment we trade knowing and living Christ together for a method of doing church that we can reproduce by following some formula, we prolong growth in Christ and we forfeit his eternal purpose.

Even if it were possible to obtain a perfect church practice, it would never bring about a utopian church experience. Unfortunately, a desire for some sort of blissful experience is what drives most of us. We think if we build it the Lord will come. The mature believer will recognize that this is foolish thinking and itself stands contrary to New Testament practice.

The road with Christ is one of hills and valleys for the individual and the church. It’s all a part of the sanctification process and the building up of his Body. The Lord builds the church in His time as long as we continue to offer up ourselves as stones to be fitted together for His own dwelling.

Everything we see as a necessary element of church life within the New Testament is born out of time, lots of time. The Lord is the builder and He builds according to His own time.

There is only one way to know the Lord’s heart for the individual and the church: commit yourself to Christ and His Bride by accepting the good, the bad, and the ugly. If you don’t do this, it’s only a short while before you decide that organic church life is not for you. You will move on because it didn’t fit your expectations or your timetable.

You will keep searching until you have made knowing Christ in a shared life the central concern of your heart.

It’s all for the building up of the Body. We must learn to look beyond these momentary trials and tribulations and accept them as a necessary part of the journey. A glorious vision of God’s eternal purpose will hold our feet to the narrow path of Christ.

My advice is to give up on doing church and lay aside everything to know Christ with other Jesus Freaks in simple community!

2.) Every organic church is a unique expression and every meeting takes on a life of its own. Visitors can’t know Christ in community and experience Body life in a short visit.

Visiting an organic church one or two times can in no way be used as a barometer for what the Lord is doing among that particular fellowship.

In the organized church, a person could “check out” a church by sitting in on a service and reading a pamphlet. After a couple of visits they could get a good idea of what that organization is all about. And maybe after a conversation or two they might decide if they want to join it.

Notice that these decisions are largely based off first impressions of worship services and those leading them (shoulder-to-shoulder events). You can’t do this with organic church life. The most obvious reason: it’s an organism not an organization. It’s not about meetings, but about sharing life together in face-to-face community.

We don’t have services with professionals leading them. We don’t have pamphlets with doctrinal statements and a list of our ministries. We have no bulletins that tell you how we prefer the Spirit move. We don’t offer bios of our elders or an interactive website for the consumer to learn about us from a distance.

You simply cannot use the same criterion to judge our fellowship.

An organic church is always changing and the freedom we embrace in Christ keeps us in a constant state of growth and change.  Depending on the season an organic church is presently in and when you happen to visit, there’s just no telling what you will see when you visit!

I believe a person would need to spend at least a few months consistently sharing life (not just meetings) with a fellowship before they could appropriately put into words what the Lord is doing among them.

Until a person has done this, they can’t say they have experienced organic church life. With that in mind, I wonder how many are willing to “visit” an organic church.

People make judgments about organic church life by using the same ole surface standards all the time.  But it never serves as a sound form of accurately describing what the Lord is doing in an organic fellowship.

One or two visits are simply not enough to say, “I have experienced organic church life.”

Organic church life is not about one or two meetings during the week. It is about sharing life with each other. It is not meeting-driven, it is life-driven!

3.) The Lord opens the eyes of those whom He chooses. Visitors will see the power of Christ in simple community only if the Lord reveals Himself to them.

We have had folks visit us and we have seen the Lord reveal Himself to them in that first meeting. Others have seen the Lord after gathering with us for a time. We have also seen others walk away unimpressed with what we’re doing.

There can be two complete strangers visiting us in a gathering. One person will rejoice that they have seen Jesus lifted up among us and that they see the Lord’s pleasure in what we’re doing. This person has seen the Lord in a powerful way and is captivated by knowing Christ. They are excited about discovering Christ with others who seek Him with a pure heart.

Another person in the same meeting may only see a group of people reading their favorite Scriptures, praying, and trying to sing without a leader. For whatever reason, this person walks away dissatisfied with their experience. The Lord is showing us that it is all His doing and He alone is responsible for this unveiling.

We understand that everyone is on his or her own journey with the Lord.

People may visit our gatherings and come to different conclusions regarding organic church life. Our obedience to Christ and our purpose in gathering organically does not waver when people don’t see the Lord in our gatherings. Not everyone is at the place for the Lord to reveal Himself in this way.

We must remember that it is the Lord who gives revelation.

Finally, our hope is that we would be a true reflection of Christ to every visitor. Folks will come and go, and many will leave. Be encouraged for our Lord is constant. Guard your hearts and remember to always think the best of others. Accept everyone as you were accepting the Lord himself.

Never lose sight of Christ and His bride set free. And never forget that organic church life is a journey, not a destination.

18 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Christianity, Church, Religion & Spirituality

October 5, 2009

Radical Church Restoration

By David D. Flowers

Radical Church Restoration–A Review of the Book Series Helping Others to Catch the Vision of Organic Church Life

Frank Viola says, “The church is a living organism.”

Many Christians would concur with Viola that the true nature of Christ’s church is born out of the soil of His finished work and moves forward in the power of the Holy Spirit.

However, as Viola has pointed out in his radical church restoration series, many believers have no problem speaking of the church as organism, but they are quite content to go on practicing the church as an organization.

untold2The series begins with The Untold Story of the New Testament Church: An Extraordinary Guide to Understanding the New Testament Church. Viola relies on some of the best New Testament scholarship to vividly retell the story of the first-century church in Acts. The New Testament comes alive in one sweeping narrative to give us a clear picture of the life and nature of those first Christian communities.

Pagan Christianity? Exploring the Roots of Our Church PracticesPagan Christianity? Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices is the second book in the series, but the first to really capture the attention of Christians across the country. Frank Viola and George Barna team up to give their readers a critical examination of the last 1700 years of church history.

Does the institutional church have any biblical and historical right to exist? Viola asks, “Are the practices of the institutional church God-approved developments to the church that the New Testament envisions? Or are they an unhealthy departure from it?”

As I stated in my review of PC in January 08, this book “may very well be the most important book written on the Christian church in the last two millennia.” I still stand by this statement as it speaks a great challenge to the organized church. I believe we have yet to see the full impact of this book. In the coming days, I think you can expect to see it nailed to the door of an organized church near you.

reimaginingReimagining Church: Pursuing the Dream of Organic Christianity is the follow-up to the controversial PC. It is in this book that Viola offers a new vision, which is truthfully an old vision, of the church as organism.

RC is a proposal that the church of Jesus Christ mirror the very image of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If you agreed with PC and it left you clueless as to the alternative of the organized church, RC paints a new picture of a church that looks like the community of the Triune God and can truly be characterized as every-member functioning, familial, and organic.

from eternity picIt is in From Eternity to Here: Rediscovering the Ageless Purpose of God, the fourth book in the series, that Viola takes a step back to show us the bigger picture. It is in this book that he communicates the driving passion behind the work of planting organic churches.

Viola simplifies church life as an act of gathering around Jesus Christ. Yet, much of the Body of Christ has been forced into an institution and she has forgotten God’s eternal purpose. She has lost sight of the grand narrative and the great landscape of God’s love story. She has been preoccupied and polluted by an ecclesiology that leaves out the ageless purpose of God.

If you’re more right-brained and you just can’t seem to sit down to read a book on the church, then read From Eternity to Here and have your eyes opened to God’s eternal purpose. This book is bound to be a favorite among many readers.

Finding Organic Church: A Comprehensive Guide to Starting and Sustaining Authentic Christian Communities is the final book, and probably the most anticipated, in the radical church restoration series. It is in this book that Viola offers up a practical guide to understanding and implementing organic church life.

Viola writes this book for three different audiences. First, for those who desire to meet organically and would like some practical help. Second, it is written for all those already involved in alternatives to the traditional church (missional, emerging, house church movements, etc.). Third, it has been written for everyone interested in planting churches.

What is an organic church? Viola says…

“By organic church, I mean a church that is born out of spiritual life instead of being constructed by human institutions and held together by religious programs. Organic church life is a grassroots experience that is marked by face-to-face community, every-member functioning, open-participatory meetings (as opposed to pastor-to-pew services), nonhierarchical leadership, and the centrality and supremacy of Jesus Christ as the functional Leader and Head of the gathering” (p. 20).

There are four models of church planting in the New Testament. Viola begins by discussing these models and also addresses the spontaneous expressions of church life that spring up without the work of a church-planter. Viola thoroughly covers the New Testament pattern of church planting and church growth in the first half of the book.

There are four parts to this book. Throughout the first two parts of the book, Viola helps us to rediscover the purpose and function of the itinerant worker. He deals with questions concerning this largely discarded and often controversial role of the itinerant worker. He has even devoted a chapter to the book entitled “Wasn’t Paul the Last Apostle?”

He skillfully presents his case for the restoration of traveling church planters (i.e. apostles) and their task in empowering and equipping the church to function organically by the indwelling Christ. Can the New Testament model work today? Viola believes so. And he testifies to experiencing it personally over the last 20 years.

In the third part of the book, Viola discusses how to gather and gives practical steps for beginning to meet organically. Maybe you are presently meeting in an organized church but would like to begin meeting organically. It could be that you have left the institutional church and would like to begin meeting with others who are interested. And there are those who are already meeting in homes but are in need of some guidance. You will find this book a great help in moving forward.

How do you sing without a “leader” to direct you? What about teaching? What about giving? What about evangelism? What does it all look like in this new paradigm? And the most often asked question of all, “What about the children?” Viola addresses these concerns and so much more. He gives practical exercises and suggestions in getting started.

In the final part of the book, Viola discusses the seasons and stages of growth within organic church life. He also mentions the diseases and pitfalls of gathering around Christ. His descriptions of these periods no doubt come from his own personal experiences.

Finally, Viola gives a call out to his readers.

“I believe the need of the hour is for Christian who are called by God to raise up the church as a living, breathing experience. Christians who are broken and tested. Christians who refuse to take shortcuts but who have first lived in an organic expression of body life as brothers and sisters before they ever dare plant a church.”

He continues…

“The need of the hour is for such a people to wait on God until they are properly prepared and then sent. And once sent, to plant the church in the same way that all first-century workers did: by equipping it and then abandoning it to the Holy Spirit” (p. 306).

And to those pastors who wish to make the transition, Viola writes…

“As I have said elsewhere, transitioning from an institutional church to an organic church is not cosmetic surgery. It’s a complete overhaul” (p. 311).

For pastors, he closes with three steps to take in moving your church to functioning organically.  But you’re gonna have to get the book to see what those steps call for.

Are you satisfied with shoulder-to-shoulder religion or are you looking for face-to-face community?  It’s not for those that aren’t willing to endure the cross.  Are you ready to dive in to an exciting journey of experiencing the indwelling Christ in familial community?

Then take a bold step outside the walls of institutionalized religion and recline at the table with others who hunger for more of Jesus.

D.D. Flowers, 2009.

15 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Christianity, Church, Religion & Spirituality

September 15, 2009

Living Room Faith: The Couch of Completion

By David D. Flowers

For a season the Lord calls us to sit with Him in the living room of spiritual fellowship. It is there we come to know the peace and tranquility of the stillness of the being.

He whispers to us and shows us his way of day-to-day fellowship; the simplicity of being aware of his presence and walking in freedom. It’s a freedom that comes as the Lord severs our ties to the work-centered faith.

It’s a time of undoing that places us firmly on the Couch of Completion.

It is there that the Lord reveals to us all that has been accomplished in His finished work. It is in this fellowship that the Lord reveals the Father’s heart toward us: LOVE SO AMAZING… SO DIVINE!

It is on the Couch of Completion that we learn of the Lord’s eternal purpose (Eph. 3:10-21). We learn that the Lord desires a spiritual house that begins with Him finding His home within you.

It is here that we have come to know that in Christ is hidden all wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:2-3). Our searching is over.

It’s in this place that we first know Christ is enough. We have come to realize that our identity and purpose is only found in knowing Him. Knowing Christ from the couch is evident in several ways.

For starters, you no longer feel that the weight of the world’s salvation is dependent upon you. You also have recognized that you are not called to correct everyone’s doctrine and “fix” the ills of the church.

The way of man is power-over control through human authority. The way of Christ is long-suffering and enduring love. It’s a spiritual authority earned through sacrifice and a life of altruism.

You know you are touching the Lord on the Couch of Completion because you no longer move before having first received a revelation from the Lord. You are learning how to be sensitive to the Spirit instead of being driven by your own desires to serve and force the Lord’s hand in ministry.

We have not been given a work, we have been given a Person. We have not been called to further a movement, propagate a teaching, or even save souls.

We have first and foremost been invited to sit and recline with the Lord on the Couch of Completion.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Jesus (Matt. 11:28)

Until we have sat and learned what it means to “sit” we labor in vain. We can’t walk with Christ, and we most certainly will not be able to stand, if we fail to recognize the cross of Christ leads us to the couch.

New creation comes after a period of rest.

Couch to Couch

In His time, our Lord will go with us from the Couch of Completion into the field to work. Yet this work isn’t like anything we have known before. For we have reclined on the couch of His love and have known the fellowship that brings freedom.

In the past, we believed the Lord was telling us to leave the living room in order to go out and work for Him. We heard him say, “Get out there and build me a house!” Our relationship with the Lord was not known as friendship, but as lowly servant (Jn. 15:15).

We must learn that the Lord calls to us work with Him. He has gone out into the field with us. To be more precise, we are going out to join Him and His work. And His work is always done free of religious obligation and duty.

There is no burden involved in the Lord’s work. We do not “burn-out” in the Lord’s ministry. When ministry is born out of intimacy with Christ, we sing in jail and rejoice in our sufferings.

His work is done in response to His love. It becomes a matter of fellowship among friends. That’s where He is and that’s where we want to be. If we are called to work it is because He is already working where He is calling.

There is freedom in this sort of laboring.

We do not go out to work on the house because we believe it to be a good idea or even because it is something expected of us. No, we do it out of response to His fellowship.

We must understand this. We may be presently working tirelessly for the Lord, building a house in our own strength and using our own blueprint, only to discover that the Lord is waiting in the living room…

calling us to the Couch of Completion.

We can rush into building for the Lord before we have received the proper spiritual knowledge and the experience that only comes from reclining with the Lord for a season.

Furthermore, it is right to acknowledge that this preparation does not come from principles and formulas learned in a book, it is the Lord’s knowledge and wisdom born out of trial and error. It is born out of time and experience with the Lord and His people.

The work of ministry ought to be an overflow of the relationship that began in the living room with the Lord. Indeed, we never leave the living room of our faith. As the seasons change, we are continually brought back to recline with the Lord. It is there we are reminded of His goodness and that we are to place no confidence in the flesh.

red-couch-424Our journey is one that moves from couch to couch. It is because of us having rested upon the Couch of Completion with Christ that we can know the yoke that is “easy” and the burden that is “light.”

In this rest, we can truly know the experience of Christ being in all and through all. Rest in him today. Amen.

D.D. Flowers, 2009.

10 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Christology, Deeper Christian Life, Religion & Spirituality