© Gary W. Crisp 2004, 2005
• Part 5 •
Confusion in the Kingdom
Before we go any further, let’s take another
“abbreviated look” at the definition of chaos:
“Gulf or chasm; utter confusion, disorder; a muddle, in material, mental or spiritual affairs; hopelessness;” and remember: muddle means “to hinder any reflecting light with suspended sediment or foreign particles, such as heavy or dense smoke; unclear, as the vision being blurred.”
One of the things in life that troubles me the most is when there is confusion. It doesn’t matter if it’s in the home, the workplace, school, church or just “life” in general. Nothing can be more frustrating than to try and do something -- to try and do anything -- when confusion is present. Whether you are attempting to put together a child’s bicycle without the proper instructions; whether it’s trying to get from one point in town to another (with the wrong instructions); or maybe your boss at work says one thing, means another, then gets upset when no one can read all the confusing signals. Even church can be confusing.
You may sit and hear one thing, but see the ministers on your church’s staff do another. You may ask the ministers why this is, and get some convoluted answer that really doesn’t make sense and really isn’t even an answer. You may ask other church members what they think of the issue, only to discover that they heard something completely different than you or even what the ministers told you. Confusion...it can be a brutal thing; and confusion, being a part of what chaos is, can be a very harmful thing. Let’s look at two verses, one in 1st Corinthians, and the other in James.
1st Corinthians 14:33 “For God is not the author of confusion, but (He is the Author) of Peace, as in all churches of the saints.” James 3:16 “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
So you think that confusion is not “that big a deal”? Well, James says that it is always accompanied by envy, strife and every evil work. To really get a clear picture (for one thing chaos does is to keep things from being “clear”) of how damaging confusion is, let’s look at the words of James, in context. James 3:13-18
James is very clearly stating that Godly Wisdom is not earthly, sensual or devilish; neither will it have bitter envying or bring about strife in our hearts. Some of what many Christians think to be Wisdom, or even to be wise, is not wisdom at all, because it fosters the very things James said it is not to foster. Calling something wisdom that is not wisdom has gradually become a very big problem in the church. And speaking of church, I would like to step back a moment, and take a look at just exactly what is the Church, but before we do, let’s look at what James said is the Wisdom that comes from above. It is:
- pure
- peaceable
- gentle
- easy to be entreated
- full of mercy
- having good fruits
- without partiality
- without hypocrisy
And furthermore, paraphrasing from verse 13: “Any man or woman of God among you, who claims to be wise and endued with knowledge...(will) show that Godly wisdom with a good testimony of his or her works, and they will do so with meekness.”
In other words, humilty and gentleness will be the true wise man or woman’s trademark... not boasting and arrogance, as is so often seen among those professing to be wise.
Just for the sake of clarity, let’s look at what the New Testament word for church really is. We should have done this earlier, but we’ll do it here and now. Church, as mentioned in the N.T., is from the Greek word, ekklesia (ek-klay-seé-ah). It’s formed from two words, but we’ll stay simple and basic for this. What it simply means is “a calling out, as to a popular meeting, especially a religious congregation (as a Christian community of members on earth or saints in heaven); an assembly of believers.”
It may seem overly simplistic to say this, but the church is not a building, a denomination or some doctrinal issue that man has created. The Church is people; it is the Body of Christ -- the born-again, Blood-washed, redeemed saints who have given their hearts to Jesus, and who lean on, trust in, rely upon and cling to Him for dear life.
At least, that’s what it’s supposed to be. But, sadly, we find so much of what James said the church is not to be like, and we can find those things to be actively thriving within the four walls of most American churches today. What is it we find? Envy and strife, which produces confusion and every evil work. You just think a moment about your own church, your choir, your youth group... is there envy? And what about striving amongst one another? And jealousy? If there are these things (and most churches have them...even the so-called “good” churches out there), then you will -- according to the words of James -- also find the ever damaging product of confusion. And, as we read, confusion will bring forth every evil work.
Envy and strife...these are very bad things for any organism, whether it be a family, a business, a sports team or a church. If we strive for anything in the Kingdom, let it be to get our own flesh under control; let it be to surrender -- at all costs -- to God, His Will and His Ways; let it be to die to our old self, born “anew” to a selfless, loving, giving saint, who will always do what is best for others...not just what suits them or their own whims and ways.
Let me restate what I’ve already said... when I say “die to our old self, and be born anew to a selfless saint”, I am not speaking of being born again. That is a completely different issue. You cannot, however, have one without the other. You must be born again first, before you can even think or consider of “putting off” the old man. And furthermore, to make a point a little stronger, when you were saved, you were not made perfect in the sense of a “complete and finished work” as a Christian...your salvation and your standing in Christ was “complete”, but you still have a long way to go to be that which He has called you to be. We all do.
Back to Matthew, chapter 11 for a moment, where, in verses 16 through 19, Jesus says some odd things as He speaks of the perverseness of the Jews...
(18) For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a devil’. (19) The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners’. But wisdom is justified of her children.”
Looking at this passage, in light of what we’ve already discussed, it’s easy to see that Jesus is saying the “religious ones” had been trying to get everyone to “dance to their tune”, so to speak. Those who are “religious” -- rather than “spiritual” -- will always push, prod and force their wills upon the Body of Christ. It always has been that way, and it always will, until Jesus, Himself, returns. I have spent a lot of time teaching on that very subject, in Moving the Church from “A” to “Z”, and the adjoining Abiathar & Zadok teachings. In these teachings, we very plainly deal with and identify the carnal ministers versus the righteous and truly spiritual ones. There is a difference.
As you’ve no doubt noticed, I have used this expression, “throwing the baby out with the bathwater”, quite a few times. Now, in regards to the baby... this poor baby has already been
“thrown out”! It’s just a matter of whether or not we can still “rescue it” and “revive it” again. What is this baby? It represents the simplicity and beauty and unity of the church of Jesus Christ; it represents the Church He spoke of... not denominationally; not filled with sectarianism or activism or any other kind of ism! It’s not the Catholic church or Baptist church or any kind of Pentecostal church; it’s not anything other than what the New Testament meaning of the word “church” is...and that being the Body of Christ and His members in particular.
When Paul and the other apostles journeyed and formed bodies of believers, they never, never, never intended for their work to be divided and diluted with sectarianism. Sectarianism is nothing more than one group standing apart from other groups, declaring “we are correct in our doctrines, our beliefs and our worshipping of God...and you are wrong!!!” True believers will not permit this to happen; they will not allow anything to separate them from the True Body of the Lord Jesus Christ!
Are you a Baptist? Do you have any friends outside your own denomination? Can you visit with and talk to a Catholic, without forcing your belief system on them? Maybe you’re from a Pentecostal church. Can you be friends with a Mormon or Jehovah’s Witness or any other group you consider a cult? I’m not talking about partaking of their belief system! Please, let’s be mature and honest and open right here. I’m speaking of being friendly with them. Suppose one was a neighbor. Do you only live and breathe to tell them how wrong they are, and that your way is the only way? Can you not allow just simple friendly conversation about your children, school or everyday events?
Oh, I know...you think you’ve got to tell them or they’ll be damned to an eternity in hell. Maybe the only way their closed hearts will “open” is when someone loves them enough to show friendship to them; then maybe they’ll have receptive hearts for what you know the Truth to be. Even a baby will not always eat what is force-fed to them. They’ll spit it right up... usually on whoever is doing the forcing.
There are many things occurring in the Kingdom of God today that are less than positive; some are downright harmful, but the bottom line is...there’s not the unity nor the Great Love of which Jesus spoke and to which He directed our hearts in most of His teachings. There is much going on that is divisive, confusing and opposed to the things that Jesus, His disciples and the apostles of the first century taught.
Not only that, but there is much that we applaud which we do not understand, and yet we applaud anyway. There is much we encourage that is unacceptable to the Ways & Teachings of the Lord, and still we encourage it. There is so much happening today that is truly harmful to the Body of Jesus Christ, and even so we find ourselves tolerating it and winking at it and (whether we’ll admit it or not) we place our “stamp of approval” upon it, simply because of our indifference and surrender to it.
This is not good for the Kingdom that Jesus has intended; this is not good nor healthy for the Body of Christ; this is not good for any brother or sister of the Lord, and yet we still allow it to be done! I have actually heard pastors say that they “look the other way”, or they “put their hands over their ears” to keep from seeing and hearing what is happening right before their very eyes or right under their very noses. I have even been in services where some harmful, soulish situation manifested itself, while the pastors “ducked and ran” (one even told me later that he was desperately “looking for a hole to crawl into”).
To think or to believe that these “harmful things” somehow have no effect upon the Body of Christ is very careless stewardship at best, and very foolish thinking at worst. Why do we do, or allow to be done, the things that we know (in our heart of hearts) are not good, safe or acceptable for the Body of Jesus Christ? There are several reasons...
First-- LEAVEN...It is just so much easier to stand back from a problem and do “nothing”. We tell ourselves, and those who may wonder why we are doing this, that it’s best to just “let things take care of themselves”. This is what we have seen done by our leaders before us, and this is what we will do. Have we not heard, and do we not believe that a “little leaven leavens the whole lump”?
Just allowing a “little bit of” sin or division or confusion or strife within our churches will permeate and infect the whole Body! That is a scriptural principle, not some legalistic ploy I, or anyone else, may have conjured up, and there are consequences to “allowing” such leaven to rise in our midst. Even if all we do is foolishly close our eyes and ears.
Secondly-- NO WATCHMEN...If we do somehow think that something should be done, we’d rather let “someone else” do it; let someone else take care of all the negative things and harmful matters. Still, what permeates and infects the Body of Believers we are in, will eventually “seep its way” into our lives as well. This is why God ordained watchmen in the Old Testament, and why He still places them in churches today.
The problem is, most churches do not want a watchman in their midst; they run them off, refusing to allow them to “call out” if and when the enemy may begin his charge. And you can rest assured that the enemy always visits churches where there is leaven, and strife and every evil work... and he works very well in the places where there are no watchmen. What are we thinking? Do we think that the enemy is stupid? He knows a meal ticket when he sees one. He knows easy pickings when he sees it. If your church doesn’t even know what a watchman is, very likely your church already has leaven inside it.
Thirdly-- INDIFFERENCE...You’ll hear this next excuse (if not used it yourself) quite often -- “It doesn’t matter!” I have heard that one so many times I could scream! “Oh, it doesn’t matter”, or “It doesn’t really matter”. Any number of variations, but I always want to ask: What doesn’t matter? The answer is always “it”, whatever it is, or whatever is “going on” doesn’t matter. We insist, often out of fear or desperation: “Let God deal with it!”
You know...there is so much we claim that God wants us to do, such as witness, pray, read the Bible, testify, attend church, tithe...etc. But we do NOT want to deal with any problems that arise. However, these matters are like what Jesus said, when He referred to the Pharisees -- “You have forsaken the weightier matters of the Law and you choke on the tiniest and minutest of details...” Some of the “its” out there in the Body of Christ are what we need to be attending to, dealing with the problems and making things right in our churches. Instead, we sit around “choking on the tiniest and minutest of details...”
If these are real and obvious problems in our churches, what are we to do? What can we do? Oh, we could call more board meetings, more prayer meetings, have more church fellowships, or any number of other things that we can come up with, but many of these very things are why we, as the Body of Christ, are where we are! We sit around “choking on” things that do not matter, but the tiniest of fish bones can cause great difficulty in our body. We dwell on the most insignificant of things sometimes, but Jesus said we need to focus on that which really matters. So, what really matters?
When we gather, in whatever capacity it is that we may gather, are we really coming together for the sake of the Body? Do we really come together to allow the Body to function and perform as it should -- as it has been ordained by God to function? Is our one true goal to glorify Jesus and to let His Gifts have their way in our midst? Do we do all that we can do to “get out of the Way” of whatever it is God may be wanting and desiring to do, or are we always making certain that we are fully and completely in control? Or, do we even honestly recognize when God is “about to move” in our midst? Sadly, sometimes we do not.
I have seen the teachings and read the writings and heard the arguments...“well, we have to ‘lead’ them; they have no direction”, or “We have to tell them what to do, because they do not know any other way”, or even this one: “God has ordained me a pastor (or an apostle or some other leader) and I must take charge!”. What all of that really says, though, is that those who claim to be leaders (showing us the Way) simply have very little faith in God doing what He said He would do, and us doing what God has called us to do!
- A true leader knows when to lead and when to step back and allow others to grow
- A true leader will always be sensitive to the Mind and the Heart of God
- A true leader is not always concerned that everything always be done done his particular way
- And, a true leader will often ask you what you think, giving you a chance to spread your own ministry wings.
Either way, these so-called leaders have very little faith. Leaders, pastors, and any minister who may read this: Allow God to have His Way in your life, in our lives and in your ministry. Let Him do whatever it is He has desired to do. Allow us to fulfill and be completed in the Gifts and Callings God has foreordained and given to each of us. That, after all, is what a Body is supposed to be!
But what has happened? What is going on in the churches, para-churches and miscellaneous meetings all across this land? Where is the Peace, the Unity, the Love and the flowing of His Gifts? We can blame the world, the devil, our jobs, our kids, or even our spouses, but the blame will come back to our own doorstep, if we have allowed anything to hinder, to confuse or to pervert the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Maybe we have even allowed “something else” to take the place of that to which Jesus has called all of us. And what has He called us to?
To be His disciples, for one.
And...to show the world (and the devil and our families and our jobs) that we are His disciples! But how do we do that? By expression of and by living in His Love. “They will know that we are Christians by our love.” Not by our college degrees, or our many wall plaques; not by our many committees, and not even by the popular vote of confidence by any “majority group” or “activist movement”. We will only prove our love (for God and for others) by our actions. Either we have love in our hearts and it will manifest itself accordingly, or we do not, and we will need to learn how to get it and what to do with it. That is where many of us are.
However, it is quite clear, from observing the church, that we do not have the Love of which Jesus spoke. We thought we did, we wished we did, but we do not, and we have never bothered to figure out how (or even if) we should get it. We cannot simply pray and then expect God to miraculously “give” His Love for us to “use”. We have to learn “how” to love. Most of us have never even considered that this may be so. We simply believed that, somehow, we had all the necessary love we needed when we got saved, and that we would never “run out”.
Also, to finish this thought, allow me another observation: We cannot prove our love by boycotts, by protests, by veiled or even unveiled threats...all of these tactics are the tactics of the world, the flesh and the devil. Let us be so very careful, saints of God. We must not be coerced or tricked into complying with these ways. We must be able to love and to give of that love freely, from our hearts. “Freely you have received, and freely you shall give”...of all things; not just those things we decide on.
If we, for whatever reason, find it difficult to “freely express our love”, then we need to stop what we’re doing, sit down and ask God to seriously search our hearts, for Jesus said, “The world will know you are My disciples by the love you are able show...” (my paraphrase).
Finally...here is the last portion of this rather long teaching. I appreciate your staying with us, and may God grant you peace and strength to stand free of any of the “chaos” out there in the world today. . . Violence in the Kingdom
