The Church and Judgement
The Evangelical church has long debated the relationship between law and gospel.[1]
The scripture however never urges the gospel preacher to draw out people’s guilt by “breaking them on the law”. We do not come to Sinai but to the heavenly mountain where Jesus blood pleads for forgiveness – there is no blame in the heart of God[2]. Both the Old Testament law and the law of culture (Rom 2) have zero status before God in relation to salvation. What conceals this is the complex of law –sin – wrath and what reveals annulment of the power of law is “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” the “one mediator between God and men”[3].
The judgement on the church that keeps it from genuine revival is that we have often framed our whole organisation on the opinions and approval of others and have consequently come under demonic influence[4]. What our conscience sows in attributing authority to people with status, particularly church leaders, it reaps when they fail us. God recently revealed this to me in a dramatic way.
On the 12th April 20007 I had a deeply penetrating dream that focused on two people who had positions of great influence in churches where I was once serving. In the dream, as in real life, they both gave testimony against me that amounted to a public betrayal of shared confidences with devastating effect.
n praying into this I sensed the Spirit speaking to me about how in my conscience I had elevated the authority of these folks because I greatly admired their abilities. (One was an intuitive genius, the other a powerful intellect). The pain they caused me was founded on my putting trust in the clarity of their judgements. This caused me to lose my sense of “peace with God” (Rom 5:1) so that I was not enjoying the zone of no judgement and the “abundant life” of Jesus (John 10:10)[5].
God the Spirit is saying to the church in WA that he is seeking to bring a freedom from the tribunal of human conscience expressed in the laws of culture and church. I sense that many churches have become “theatres of fear”; the power of our humanity that should be released in the power of the Spirit is draining out of their lives to sustain a system that works through implied judgement[6]. No one can tell you that God’s approval on your life is dependent upon your prosperity, your church attendance, your Bible- reading, praying, witnessing, giving to the poor….all these are human rules, the substance is Christ[7]. Your pastor / priest / minister / church cannot save you, Jesus has saved you and he has totally saved you[8]!
Who has the authority today to speak the “full gospel”, to proclaim the gospel as it is? To speak as I have sought to have done in this paper is to speak of both wrath and grace embraced in Jesus Christ. I believe the renewal we are praying for is not primarily individual but involves the emergence of a genuine Jesus community.[9]
A Community without Judgement
The Jesus community is a community without human judgementalism[10]. The church that is one with the love and glory of God[11] is a different sort of community from any other human grouping. It is not based on self – interest or protective boundaries but totally centred on Christ[12].
The unity of the church formed by the gospel is a unity of conscience. This unity is not based on “values” e.g. whether Christians can divorce, nor on doctrine is e.g. about water or Spirit –baptism, neither is it a unity of denomination, but a unity grounded in the free forgiveness of the gospel[13].
The community of conscience will break all feelings of isolation/aloneness because it is grounded in the unconditional acceptance that we share in Christ. This is a supernatural community that God alone can create and it will prove marvellously attractive to those outside the kingdomof God[14].
Who Will Respond?
A message that forms a visible community that neither passes legalistic judgement upon itself or those outside will be enormously appealing. Jesus said to the Pharisees, “the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into thekingdomofGodbefore you.” (Matt21:31). It is those that society calls “losers”, “low lives”, “Abo’s”, “no hopers”, “junkies”, “whores”, “poofs”, “rejects”, “spastics”, “backsliders” and all other manner of abusive language that will spontaneously, powerfully and irretrievably respond to the authentic message of the gospel. This prediction is not in any way speculative or theoretical, it is what we witness in the Gospels, Acts and in the history of revivals.
The only sin that finally resists the Spirit is self- righteousness, and the only final offence to God is to refuse to believe that Jesus is the Lamb of God who has taken away the sin of the world[15]. This is the flip side of our message[16].
To actually believe these things is an enormous challenge for us, at one level a challenge as great for the church as in any time in history. Firstly, the tremendous prosperity in WA can make us feel like our need for God is not desperate[17]. Secondly, the power structures of the church are deeply invested in maintaining the status quo. Those with the most to lose from a truly Spirit led move of God, Christian leaders, are also those with control of the microphone[18]. Where is the space to proclaim this message?
Nevertheless, “what goes deepest to the conscience goes widest to the world” (P.T. Forsyth)[19]. Since there is no higher authority in human experience than a conscience that knows that it has been declared acceptable to God before his judgment throne, once the good news of “judgement taken away” takes root no human power can stop it. The church begins to expand spontaneously.
Conclusion
There are many signs that we are on the verge of a radical transformation in the church. More and more sincere and devout believers are frustrated with the institutional forms of church but no less committed to Jesus. Accounts of spiritual abuse and its devastating but illuminating impact seem endless. Many prophetic voices are advocating a move of the Spirit, signs and wonders, healing power, post- modern modes of Christianity, missional church and so on.
I am in agreement with the mood of many of these voices while at the same time trying to hear what God is saying at a more foundational level[20]. There can only be a radical recalibrating of the church when there is a divinely inspired sovereign return to the message of the gospel that created the body of Christ in the beginning. As John the Baptist prepared for the coming King by proclaiming, “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”, this is God’s word for today, “Judgement has been taken away.”
[1]See for example the on line discussion on Ray Comfort’s book, “Hell’s Best Kept Secret”, http://www.amazon.com/Hells-Best-Kept-Secret-Comfort/dp/0883682060
[2] Hebrews12:18- 24
[3] 1 Tim 2:5
[4] In Galatians and Colossians Paul uses a Greek term, stoicheia, that is best translated “elemental spirits” (Gal 4:3;Col 2:8, 20). He refers to demonic beings that cripple the spiritual freedom of the church through rules and regulations.
[5] My inner torment was clear evidence I had sinned by not following the Spirit, “For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace” (Rom 8:6).
[6]All control works through coerced agreement underwritten by the fear of punishment. I do not know how many times genuine believers have asked me timidly about tithing, a subject which is totally absent in the New Testament for new covenant believers.
[7] Colossians 2:17. I am not saying that all these things are unhelpful, but I am saying they are only helpful within the zone of grace, not religious law.
[8] “he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him” ( Heb7:25 )
[9] Many Christians quickly lose their natural embeddedness in the wider community after conversion and surround themselves with walls of judgment upon the sins of society as a protection because of their fear of the world.
[10] Clearly, there are plenty of divinely inspired judgements in this community, e.g. on Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5); in disfellowshipping willfully sinning believers (1 Cor 5).
[11] John17:20 -23
[12] On the difference between bounded and centred sets see, for example, www.nextreformation.com/wp-admin/general/centered.htm
[13] Whilst it appears that much of the contemporary seemingly church devalues doctrine as secondary, this stance is itself a doctrine that will be strongly defended by an unstable conscience.
[14] This language is descriptive not exclusive, Jesus called all to enter thekingdom ofGod but also spoke of those “outside” (Mark4:11).
[15] John 1:29; 1 John 2:2. “the wrath of the Lamb” is to be understood in this light, as a rejection of the need for the cross’s forgiveness (Rev 6:16;14:10).
[16] See for example Matthew 23; Luke 3:7 – 9
[17] A Christian friend returning toPerth to visit after 10 years in ruralIndia said after visiting some church groups that the believers here had no hunger for God.
[18] The microphone – platform structure as it commonly functions is itself a typical manifestation of a hierarchical – mediatorial system.
[19] Compare the famous words of Luther at the Diet of Worms (1521) which provoked the Protestant Reformation, “Unless I am convicted by scripture and plain reason – I do not accept the authority of the popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other – my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen.”
[20] This foundation is Christ (1 Cor3:11; Eph2:20).