A Kingdom

A New Paradigm For the Post Modern House Church Movement

"When a prophet is accepted and deified, his message is lost. The prophet is only useful so long as he is stoned as a public nuisance calling us to repentance, disturbing our comfortable routines, breaking our respectable idols, shattering our sacred conventions" (A. G. Gardiner as quoted by Arthur Wallis, "In The Day of Thy Power").
In This Issue:

"And Then They Repented" (An Examination of Zechariah 1:1-6)
Announcing Our New House Church Equipping Workbook
A Time To Dance – This Friday (and every Friday), February 17

Dear Friends,

In early 2004 God gave me a burden for repentance in the Church in our area. After the 2004 Lenten Season I thought it was over, but no. Since last October it has returned with renewed intensity. I have a deep concern that, as we move deeper into a season of spritual outpouring, an unrepentant church is a prime candidate for an outbreak of "false fire," or what W.T. Stead in 1904 called "fire upon ice." This week's letter is the product of two years of reflection on repentance in the church along with recent insight which God gave me on the book of Zechariah. As I reflected last evening on the "finished product" I realized that it is also virtually guaranteed to irritate a significant number of people! Unfortunately, that's out of my contol. Also, some of you may be receiving this letter because all of our address books got lumped together when we re-arranged our websites (and software) and we haven't finished sorting them out. Be patient!

Blessings,

Maurice

"And Then They Repented" (An Examination of Zechariah 1:1-6)

"In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo saying, ‘The Lord was very angry with your fathers. Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Return to Me,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘that I may return to you,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Return now from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But they did not listen or give heed to Me,’ declares the Lord. ‘Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? ‘But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers? Then they repented and said, ‘As the Lord of hosts purposed to do to us in accordance with our ways and our deeds, so He has dealt with us.’" (Zechariah 1:1-6)
A couple of newsletters ago I made the observation that there are two ways to do the will of God. We can do the will of God voluntarily (what I call "the easy way"), or we can do the will of God involuntarily (what I call "the hard way"). The people of Zechariah’s day had chosen to do God’s will involuntarily (yep, the hard way), and therein lies a story.
Our story actually begins some 70 years earlier, prior to the Babylonian captivity. Josiah reigned as King over the Southern Kingdom of Judah (think Jerusalem & its suburbs) and the prophet Jeremiah ministered God’s word. Josiah was a good King who led the nation through a period of revival and reformation. But it was a river wide and shallow. The hearts of the people remained essentially unchanged, and God (through His prophet) called the people to turn away from their spiritual adultery and to return to Him. He called them to repent. Repentance, both personal and corporate, stands out as one of the great and recurring themes of the book of Jeremiah (The Hebrew word for repent occurs some 112 times in 92 verses). Judgment was coming, God declared, but there was still time to repent.
But it was not to be. The false prophets of peace and prosperity, of which there were at least as many then as today, found a receptive and willing audience. Their fifteen minutes of fame coincided with Judah’s last fifteen minutes before disaster. Politicians with too much to lose, priests who should have known better and people who were comfortable in their spiritual adulteries all turned a deaf ear to God’s call of repentance and took their anger out on Jeremiah. The few remaining years of national existence quickly clicked by, the judgment of God fell and the Kingdom of Judah was carried away to Babylon and captivity, just as God - through Jeremiah - had promised.
Now, fast forward 70 years. The Babylonian captivity has ended and the people of God are once again returning to Jerusalem. Zechariah (along with his contemporary, Haggai) is ministering to the returnees and he opens his ministry with a spiritual history lesson(always a crowd pleaser!), which we find in Zechariah 1:1-6. Whether or not Zechariah meant to offer five points and a punchline, I’ll never know. But it works for me, so here goes. I believe Zechariah wanted the people of Jerusalem to grasp five important historical/spiritual truths:
1. First, Zechariah wanted them to understand God’s anger toward their fathers for their sin and disobedience. "The Lord was very angry with your fathers." The Babylonian Captivity hadn’t been an accident of history, or the result of Judah’s military ineptitude before a greatly superior enemy. It had been their God’s sovereign act of judgment and punishment for their unrepented sin, the express consequence of both their actions and inactions. They had sown the wind, and had reaped the whirlwind, just as God had promised so many years before.
2. Second, he wanted to remind them of God’s original command to their fathers to repent. "Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Return to Me,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘that I may return to you,’ says the Lord of hosts." In a mere word and a moment’s time Zechariah reminded them of Jeremiah’s ministry to their fathers. There were probably old men in Zechariah’s audience who, as children in Jerusalem, had personally heard Jeremiah deliver God’s message of pending judgment and personal repentance (the Hebrew word translated "return" in Zechariah is also Jeremiah’s favorite Hebrew word for "repent"). Old men heard old words with old ears, but with new understanding, as did their children.
3. Third, Zechariah wanted to pass along God’s fresh admonishment to His people. "Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Return now from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But they did not listen or give heed to Me,’ declares the Lord." Zechariah was building a lesson here by translating a past disaster of disobedience into a present opportunity for obedience and blessing. Learn from the past. Don’t be like your fathers, who heard the word of repentance but "did not listen or give heed." The unspoken question hanging in the air was, "Would the new generation of the children learn from the experience of their fathers?" Only time would tell.
4. Fourth, he wanted them to understand God’s persistence. "Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? ‘But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers?" To put this in contemporary terms, the people of God had been "overtaken" by "the hound of heaven," Who pursues the object of His eternal desire with a relentless love. The word of repentance proclaimed by Jeremiah had not been received, but neither had it "gone away." When God calls a man or a people to repent, the call of God will always outlast the man, or the people. God’s call of repentance to the fathers had been rejected, yet it remained. The people thought their refusal was the "last word." But God’s word is always the last word. God’s word "overtook" the fathers. When did that take place? In the Babylonian Captivity. God’s word of repentance had not evaporated into the spiritual ether. Rather it had moved from the "easy" stage (when they could have repented rather easily & voluntarily) into the "hard" stage, when their repentance would come harder (even "involuntarily") and at a much higher price. The word of repentance which had been delivered and rejected during days of heady arrogance and seemingly clear skies had "overtaken" them in dark and stormy days of disaster, calamity and captivity.
5. Fifth, Zechariah wanted them to grasp God’s unfailing purpose, namely, to bring His people to renewed repentance and faith. Then they repented and said, ‘As the Lord of hosts purposed to do to us in accordance with our ways and our deeds, so He has dealt with us.’" It must have been an uncomfortable dawning, a bitter realization that God had indeed accomplished His purpose which He had declared so many years before. At some unspecified point during the Babylonian Captivity the fathers had repented and acknowledged that everything which had happened to them was simply the deserved consequences of God dealing with them "in accordance with our ways and our deeds." That had to hurt, and it certainly left a mark.
Conclusion: Zechariah’s point (as I understand it) in this spiritual history lesson was really quite simple: The fathers who had heard God’s call to repentance, experienced God’s judgment and eventually repented, had also discovered that there are two ways to do the will of God: voluntarily (that would be the easy way) or involuntarily (that would be the hard way). Their fathers could have repented 70 years earlier, and like all such missed opportunities, we can only guess what the results of that repentance might have been. But they eventually did repent, and that is the prolonged point of this story.
Repentance Then and Now
Some things haven’t really changed in 2,500 years. Repentance remains an unpopular message, even today, whether among the seeker friendly masses who want their best life now (sans repentance), or among complacent contemporary Christians who think that repentance is something reserved for "really bad people": pedophiles, chainsaw murders or worse . . . such as politicians from the other party.
As a result, in the contemporary church repentance has, for the most part, suffered twin fates. On the one hand, it has itself been purposely driven out of seeker friendly churches like an unwelcome demon. After all, to call men (and women) to repent and shun those deeds of the flesh which they love and to embrace those godly virtues which our old un-repentant nature despises is, well, uncool. Not exactly a congregation builder, according to the best church growth manuals. On the other hand, repentance has suffered the ignominious fate of respectability and "Christian-political-correctness" in the house of those who should have been its subjects. Aspiring leaders who have never met and do not know (much less sinned against) their stage counterparts to whom they are assigned and scheduled to repent, shed pseudo-tears as they lead pseudo-penitents through the formalized steps of pseudo-repentance in the hope that the pseudo-deities of their imagination will be somehow pleased with their pseudo-offerings. To witness and reflect on such performances is to suddenly realize that the mistake of the people of God in Jeremiah’s day was not their failure to repent of their spiritual adultery and idolatry. Rather, their real mistake was their failure to find a Canaanite (or a Phoenician, since they are related) and to formally repent to them and ask forgiveness for their Jewish ancestors having slaughtered their Phoenician ancestors and stealing their land. This, of course could have opened the door to a virtually limitless cottage industry, since the same procedure would need to be engaged in on behalf of the Hivites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Girgshites, the Kenites, the Jebusites, the Amorites and "every-other-ite" between Egypt and Mesopotamia. The potential for repentance events, books, CDs and DVDs would have been endless . . . but, alas, I digress.
Lest you think I am "over-reaching" my point, allow me to point out that such formalized but empty spiritual exercises are not new. They were taking place in Jeremiah’s day, too. How do I know that? Because he says so, "So the Lord said to me, ‘Do not pray for the welfare of this people. When they fast, I am not going to listen to their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I am not going to accept them. Rather I am going to make an end of them by the sword, famine and pestilence." (Jeremiah 14:11-12) Biblical fasting is a God-appointed means of expressing personal repentance, as well as a personal act of sacrificial worship (i.e., worship which costs us something). But the people of Jeremiah’s day had reached a point of "religiousness" in which they went through the motions without the heart or the spirit. They outwardly fasted - went through the religious motions - but did not repent nor worship. And to fast without genuinely repenting is like praying without ever talking to God. Don’t bother, because God isn’t in it. For this reason alone it is not surprising that God specifically instructed Jeremiah (15:19-21) to practice a lifestyle of genuine personal repentance before Him. Only then would God restore him, cause him to stand before Him, teach him to "extract the precious from the worthless" (i.e., exercise discernment) and truly become "My spokesperson." Such a man (or woman) living such a lifestyle would indeed become "a fortified wall of bronze" in an age of spiritual and moral mud huts.
Repentance And House Church
My view of repentance is the same as my view of sin: I prefer the real thing over any imitation or substitute. I find it difficult, to the point of incredulity, to believe that we have so few personal, real and immediate sins in need of confession and repentance that we must dig up dead ancestors and repent for them. Any good Mormon must be thoroughly confused at this point. They baptize for their dead ancestors (hence, their profound interest in genealogy). We merely repent for ours. I doubt a good Mormon understands the theological difference . . . and I doubt that most good evangelicals could begin to explain it to them.
O.K., If I haven’t gored your sacred cow yet, please send me a note and I’ll try to fit it into next week’s letter. In the mean time please bear with me as I bring this lesson home (literally) to house church.
First, as I have stated before on numerous occasions, I believe that the River of God’s Spirit is preparing to flow in great spiritual power and blessing not seen in our generation. We will all be surprised at what God is about to do. And it is my firm conviction that God is raising up the house church movement as one of the new channels through which His River will flow to this generation. And repentance is God’s way of keeping His channels clean so that His River can flow unimpeded. Do you want more of God in your personal life and the life of your house church? Do you want more of His Spirit, His Presence, His Intimacy. Then repent of those things, however great or however small, which grieve His Spirit, quench His Presence and prevent His intimacy.
Second, there is much talk today about generational curses as if Christians have suddenly discovered some new spiritual truth. They haven’t. Some thirty years ago Dr. Kurt Koch (Th.D.) wrote a book entitled Christian Counseling and Occultism (Kregel Publications, 1972) in which he documented clinical counseling cases of individuals suffering from a wide variety of disorders, the origins of which could be directly traced back to family (parents or grand parents) who were involved with the occult. The solution? Recognition, confession and repentance. Want to break generational curses (real ones, as opposed to the numerous fake ones being talked about today)? Spend quality time with God fasting, praying, confessing the sins and strongholds in your own life and REPENTING of them. You don’t need a genealogy chart documenting your family sins all the way back to the tribe of Reuben (true story, no time). You will be amazed at what God can do with a heart that seeks him in simple prayer, fasting and genuine repentance.
Third, it was John Donne (1572-1631), the English poet and pastor who wrote,
"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." Yep, I know. I could have quoted Paul from 1 Corinthians 12 about the various parts of the body being important and connected, but you probably would have recognized the quote and told yourself, "Yea, yea, I’ve heard all that" (familiarity really does breed contempt!). So I decided to let John Donne carry the water for me on this one. Do you get his point? I have a vested interest in your repentance . . . and you have a vested interest in mine. Why? Because as believers we share a common life in the body of Christ (and, for our purposes here, in the house church movement), and hence, we share a common fate as Jesus chastens, disciplines and cleanses His Church. When the Holy Spirit begins to "toll the bell" of repentance in the Church, do not "send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."
Finally, (yes, Virginia, there is an end in sight!), the traditional Liturgical Season of Lent is approaching (It starts, Wednesday, March 1 - next week!). This is a traditional time for believers to focus their thoughts on prayer and fasting. As I observed earlier, biblical fasting represents both an expression of personal repentance and a personal act of sacrificial worship. It is seeking hard after God, in the promise that as we seek Him, the "hound of heaven" is really pursuing us. To aid you in your pursuit of genuine repentance, and the spiritual renewal which can flow from it, I have posted my daily fasting devotional "Not By Bread Alone: Daily Fasting Devotionals For The Hungry of Heart" on our website. You can download it for your personal use at this link: www.parousianetwork.org/Not_By_Bread_Alone.pdf.

Announcing Our New House Church Equipping Workbook
(or “The Mountain That Labored And The Mouse It Produced”)

After much labor the mountain has given birth to a mouse. In other words, our new h ouse c hurch equipping workbook is now available! It is entitled “A Kingdom, A People & A River : A New Paradigm For The Post Modern House Church Movement”. Now, I thought that before you purchased this "312 page mouse" (8.5 X 11 format) you might want to know what’s in it. So, I’ve published the first 13 pages in PDF format for you to download and examine. That’ll give you the detailed Table of Contents and the “Author’s Musings” (I liked that better than the ol’ “Author’s Preface”) and hopefully enough information to help you make a “good” decision (such as buying a copy!). To download this file, click here: www.parousianetwork.org/Revised_Equipping_Notebook.pdf. The cost is $29.95 per copy. Send us a gift of $30 and we'll pay the shipping & handling (although I’m informed by the Chinese banana boat captain who is handling the shipping arrangements that you may have to meet him at the dock to pick up your copy – we’re still working out the details). All seriousness aside, I hope this will prove to be a modest contribution to our on-going discussion ("dialegomai") of emerging church, house church and spiritual awakening. For the moment, if you want to order a copy you can simply send us a check or money order for $30 (US funds – orders from outside the US are subject to further negotiations with our banana boat captain – he’s such a stickler over details!). Send your order to: The Parousia Network, P.O. Box 18793, Spokane, WA 99228. (We’ll ship it out on the next tide.)

A Time to Dance (and to “Wait Hard”) - Next Meeting – Friday, February 25