Greetings
This is yet another small portion of the teaching I have been reading. The picture these words paint really struck a cord with me. I find myself longing for this kind of fellowship and if I am honest a little bit afraid of it as well. There is still so much of self to die to and such need to live completely surrendered unto HIM. In these days especially the need to remain close and hold tight to JESUS speaks so loudly in my heart. I just thought I would share this last part from what I have been reading with some few here.
God bless
maryjane
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Imagine your planet. It is still fallen. You are still waiting for the day when "every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” But here and there, invading the cities and towns and villages scattered around the globe, are outposts of heaven’s life. They are ekklesias. Let’s take an imaginary spiritual snapshot of the planet. If we pick a moment in time and zoom in on four of these divine outposts, what might we see?
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The city is just waking up. To the east, the sun inches over the horizon, bathing the foothills with a rose-colored dawn. To the west, the Canadian Rockies are barely visible against the still darkened sky. The five men in the living room are oblivious to the morning’s beauty. Instead, their hearts are glimpsing the splendor of heavenly realms. They are huddled on their knees. In a few minutes, two of the men will hop on the train into the city to the large chemical plant where one of them works as an accountant and the other as a research technician. Another will drive his car to a large retail store nearby, where he works as the manager. The two young men are students at the university. Neither has a class until the afternoon. They don’t have to be up so early, but they want to be in that room. Like the others in the huddle, they sense life when they are together with the brothers and sisters. That life can happen any time in any place, but this morning, for these five men at least, it is happening in this room.
This particular gathering came together rather spontaneously the night before, when one of the men asked if some guys could pray with him about challenges at work. When they arrived an hour ago, they grabbed a quick breakfast and began to talk quietly. One of the brothers shared an encouraging scripture; another told of what he had learned during a similar experience at his own job. Now they are on their knees, praying first about the brother’s challenging day. But their simple petitions quickly change to a sincere thanksgiving in words of praise that are free from religious jargon. Inside each man’s heart, the "Morning Star” has risen, just like the sun!
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We zoom in on another outpost eight time zones to the east. The sun, just past its peak in the clear sky, sends its shimmering heat on the small city below. In this Mediterranean country, the mid-afternoon is a time for rest. Shops and businesses close for a couple of hours. The employees head home for their main meal of the day and some welcome relaxation. They will return to their offices and shops soon and will work into the evening. For now, they rest. But the brothers and sisters of a local ekklesia in this city have discovered that mid-afternoon is an ideal time to gather. Often they congregate in small groups in their homes, sharing food and encouragement and song. Today, however, some of the brothers put the word out that everyone should meet at a small park near the center of town. So it is that while the five men are praying in the living room in Canada, a considerably larger group of believers has converged on a park in southern Spain.
The streets are quiet, so the gathering attracts little notice besides an occasional curious look from a passerby. The believers are content to have a moment of relative anonymity. Over the past few years, they have been the subject of escalating rumors and criticisms in the city. Traditions run strong in this culture. Some are literally thousands of years old. So when a group of people decide to live their lives differently, some neighbors and co-workers and family members feel a bit threatened. The ekklesia has been feeling the weight of some especially ugly opposition lately. That’s why a few of the brothers decided it would be wise to take advantage of the mid-day break and gather everyone for some needed encouragement and vision. Each person or household brought food to share. Someone prepared unleavened bread and wine, so they have spent much of their first hour remembering Jesus’ sacrifice for them, reminding each other why they love Him, and thanking Him for loving them first.
Now someone opens a Bible and begins to read 1 Peter. They read about their "new birth into a living hope” because of the "precious blood of Christ,” about how He is a "living Stone””rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to Him,” and about how they, too, are "living stones, being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood.” They read about "suffering as a Christian,” "repaying evil and insult with blessing,” about "being prepared to give an answer,” and about "the Spirit of glory and of God resting on them” when they are "insulted for the name of Christ.” Spirits begin to soar in the Spanish park, just as they are soaring in the Canadian living room!
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At that precise moment, two men are walking together steadily towards the main crossroads in an African town. They pass by the small open air market where they set up shop most mornings, selling eggs and sometimes chickens from their small poultry operation. They smile and nod at several of their fellow believers and continue walking. They know their brothers and sisters are praying for them. Right now they are partners in something much dearer to their hearts than their business. At the town’s main intersection is its only petrol station, which services any vehicles that pass through””the occasional truck or government car or tourist’s van. It is also a prime location for the town’s beggars to gather, in hopes that a tourist will hand them a coin or a bit of food. The two men walking to the petrol station are looking for one specific beggar. They saw him for the first time yesterday. He was a newcomer””a young boy, perhaps eight years old, with a huge, ugly white scar on his forehead. Yesterday, he had said nothing””only motioned at his mouth to show that he was hungry. They had given him the only food they had, their lunches for the day. He had flashed a grateful smile at them and run off. As the day went on, the men had frequently spoken about the boy. They had seen beggars before. But there was something about this boy. One image they simply couldn’t get out of their minds was his filthy, ragged tee-shirt, decorated with a sneering caricature of the devil and a blasphemous phrase. It was probably the only shirt he had worn for months, if not years. Last night, the men had called the ekklesia together to ask Jesus for wisdom about what to do with that boy. The gifts of the Body were evident that night””discernment, helps, generosity, leadership, teaching. Someone finally put into words what they all seemed to be thinking. Everyone nodded and smiled and clapped.
So today, the two men are going back to the petrol station to find that boy. They are carrying a parcel of fish and rice, along with a clean white shirt. They will speak with him today. And if they find out that he is an orphan or an abandoned child, as they suspect, they have something else to offer him: a new home.
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Six times zones farther to the east is a nation of islands. The sun has long since set in the direction of the Asian mainland, but a group of several dozen believers””old and young, male and female””are gathered on the beach. Overhead, the tropical night sky puts on a display of sparkling beauty, but the group scarcely notices. They are focused on the silhouettes of a man and a woman wading out a few meters from the shore. The man is a trusted brother, a strong but gentle leader who has been known to take courageous stands in the shanty-town community where most of the ekklesia lives. Like most places on our planet, this nation is steeped in religious tradition. This ekklesia has received its share of opposition and slander.
Some of the antagonism has been coming from the woman who is now wading out into the water. Her biological sister has been reborn for a year now. To her family, it has felt like a betrayal of their heritage. The more the new Christian has spoken of her faith in Jesus, the angrier her parents and siblings have become. The most vocal critic has been the woman who is now up to her waist in the warm waters of the Mindanao Sea. She has been the source of vicious rumors, accusing the members of the shanty-town ekklesia of exploiting and abusing her sister. The slander has hurt many. The new Christian herself has essentially been driven out of her parents’ house and is now living with a young couple in the ekklesia.
A short time ago, however, the angry sister’s infant son became seriously ill with a bad fever. The woman and her husband watched hopelessly over the next week as their baby’s condition deteriorated. In desperation, the woman went to her Christian sister, begging for prayer. The young woman brought six members of the ekklesia with her, including the older brother who is also now standing in the water by the baby’s mother. Together, they prayed for the infant. In fact, they knelt around his little bed far into the night. Finally, in a dark hour after midnight, the boy’s fever broke. The next morning his appetite returned, along with the sparkle in his eyes. The woman broke down in tears, kissing the hands and feet of the believers who had interceded in heavenly realms for her child. Over the next few days, the believers had shared the good news of Jesus with the family, a Jesus who is alive and well and accessible to His people: Immanuel, "God with us.”
The woman now is surrendering her life to this Jesus. Her husband also seems "not far from the Kingdom.” Standing in the water, she renounces her life of selfishness and sin, asking Jesus to forgive her for persecuting Him. She confesses Him as Lord. The man standing next to her "buries” her in the water, then "raises” her to walk a new life. The assembled ekklesia bursts into song!
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Does this snapshot of twenty-first century ekklesia life look good to you? It should””you were born for it, if indeed you have been "born from above”! We realize that if you are like most people, your existence doesn’t look very similar to these pictures. We also realize that you can’t just snap your fingers and change your environment to look like what we have described. But do you long for it?
