We Have To Ask Better Questions
The art of question asking is truly a gift. We had a great question asker join the senior management team of Generation ONE for a strategy meeting recently. It helped reshape what we thought we knew about a few topics and I'm very grateful. Having a small worldview is a catalyst into narrow thinking and question asking. As a generation of globally conscious and socially just leaders come of age, it's demanding that we see the gospel as a message that meets the world, not simply advance agenda's with the most money or loudest microphone. The church has found itself in many theological stances that look like trying to hammer a nail with a porcelain plate. Building a kingdom perspective requires us first to know who God is. We can't walk in our partnership of kingdom mission until we understand kingdom vision. While it's nice to know what we're going to do, allowing that to define who we are doesn't work. It's not authentic as it undermines the priority of design over function. The most important question to ask is who God is and what He is like before I ever attempt to interpret what He's doing or where we're all going. This is absolutely not possible without a close personal relationship with Holy Spirit.
God Is Not Schizophrenic
If you look at the church today, you'd have a hard time not believing God suffers from some type of psychosis disorder. I'm not belittling anyone who deals with this, I'm saying we should be able to trust that God is consistent in His nature and that it's a sure thing. The church as done a poor job representing that. If what we believe isn't consistent with the nature of God, why would we believe it? Is it law or grace? Is it universalism or predestination? Is it slavery or sonship? Is it love or fear? Is it rest or wrath? Is it peace or war? Are we under the old covenant or the new covenant? Is it what I feel or what I read? Do my actions affect my justification? Or is it simply faith? Is it a poverty gospel or a prosperity gospel? Are we to be missional or at tractional? What is God really like? These important questions don't need our opinion, but truth walked out as wisdom. Many absolute messages have been advanced under the name of God and most of them end up in dogmatic traffic jams. When truth isn't processed with the spirit through application, wisdom will vanish. Defining God's nature is changing how we live and our overall purpose for life. If there's no fruit in your life of encountering God for who He says He is on a daily basis, you might want to ask yourself if you really believe. What we believe about alpha determines omega. Mark Twain said the two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you discover why. Jesus' message starts with being born again... because it changes your understanding of why you are here. If you don't know what or who you are, you'll be "tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine." It's time for us to KNOW God with a reality of God being present not just theological propaganda. If God is the same yesterday today and forever, we must have a value system that embraces the whole of scripture without contradicting His nature in the midst of it.
The Word Is Greater Than Scripture
One of our greatest challenges as a 21st century believer is the interpretation of the bible. Lets face it, the bible says a lot that contradicts itself (according to our interpretation) and it can get really confusing. The bible was written a long time ago. The word (logos) was in the beginning but the scripture (graphé) was a response to the word (logos) written by inspiration. Scripture is a collection of books written by numerous authors, now translated and retranslated and then translated again to the 10th power. You want to test your faith? Read church history. Do research on the origins of scripture translations and see how "holy" the motives and agendas were for the versions even existing. Do research on the people that were collected to create new versions by the rulers of their day and find out what they were committed to in life. The game played with scripture historically was that who ever holds the right to interpret wins. If you were looking for power, decrees were made that only you were in charge of interpreting and then you had people interpret the way you preferred. You now could kill, steal and destroy and declare it "God's Will". Is God able to work all this humanity out for good? Of course, but we need to turn on our brains and not assume we have everything we need to understand what we read in front of us. We need to be students of logos and graphé. The bible, history and community with Holy Spirit as well as one another is going to bring us to greater levels of revelation.
Let's Stop Echoing Religious Propaganda And Get Informed.
While I've proposed a real challenge in scripture, it doesn't mean we throw it out or even greater, maintain a default position of doubt. Jesus committed Holy Spirit to the disciples to teach and lead them in all things. What would it look like to believe the same for us today? What if Holy Spirit can teach us and lead us in all things? There is a radical remnant of believers who are doing this as well as turn on their brains, utilize better historical resources and ask better questions. It's exposing some of the brainless traditions of religion that were never God breathed in the first place and it's changing the face of the church. We need a radical commitment to understand scripture in origin. Some of the most important questions we can ask before trying reading scripture are: Who is the writer? Who is their audience? When was it written and what cultural dynamics would be relevantly presumed in the writing? This pursuit of context today is presenting offensive perspectives to widely unchallenged ideas we've deeply embraced about God. Are we willing to go to a higher place with greater revelation if it means letting go of old wine skins? Interpretation that keeps me comfortable, makes me feel good, gives me manipulative power or serves my exclusive agenda is going to be a diluted interpretation. The desire to be in control or even greater "be right" has robbed the church for centuries. We've torn down our brother, rejected our neighbor and destroyed our place of influence in the world because we were short sighted, insecure and immature. It's time to grow up and go on to perfection.
Am I Wise Or Right?
The need to be right was something Jesus constantly dealt with when pursued by religious leaders of His day. Solomon understood that without wisdom (logos, rhema and graphé applied in relationship), what was true could bring death as much as it could bring life when out of context. Anything we say can be twisted to serve another agenda as even the devil used scripture. Our passion today as a new generation of leaders needs to be not the education thru biblical knowledge alone, but to study & supplicate that we would know the author. Intimacy with God in His presence is where we'll find our answers validated. If the core value of deception is isolation we can easily end up with right information but still be wrong. If we understand who God is from being face to face, we'll understand His motivation, His heart and purpose for mankind. We can't have theology that contradicts His nature. Rapture? Universalism? Predestination? Eternal Damnation? Heaven right now? Supernatural Lifestlye? Wisdom says I have to consider all sides and ask what looks the most like Jesus while not undermining who He is or who we're becoming. Truth is never absolute but always held in tension. I believe if the core value of our theology is reconciliation (The only title for Jesus' ministry) and not separation, we're going to discover a relational wisdom like never. Will you be a theology puppet? Or will you decide to give your life to knowing the author that you could speak on His behalf?
