Christian believers meetings. Where two or more gathered in my name

The Meetings Themselves

The Long-Term Fruit of Christian Believers Meetings

The fruit of Christian believers meetings can be seen in the people who’ve been a part of them for decades.

I sometimes watch people, especially older people who’ve been a Christian for many years. Christian believers meetings should build and produce something wonderful within Christians over the years. Sometimes older Christians behave just as immature as someone who just became a Christian. Seeing this in one or two individuals is one thing. But seeing this across many churches and denominations shows something may be off. If this is seen all over the place and is the norm instead of the occasion. Then it is evidence that something is deeply wrong. Something deeply wrong with how these older Christians had been discipled for decades.

Christian believers meetings, as designed by the Lord, are meant to disciple Christians.

Its easy to be disgusted with older immature believers and wonder what’s wrong with their attitude. But its better to learn from them, respond to what they are showing us with behavior. See that behavior as our likely future if we don’t change course.

Be Spiritually Active

Spiritual activity is rarely teaching and leading people, which only a tiny minority of Christians engage in (the pastors or teachers).

There are only so many teachers needed when a sermon is the center of meetings. There are only so many children’s leaders and nursery workers necessary.

Even at the most active and churches with the highest numbers of volunteers, 20-30% of the people do all the work. With the pastor(s) themselves expected to earn their wage and do the most.

Even in the most active churches, the vast majority of people show up, sit and listen silently like at school. The serious and devout ones perhaps take notes, get to do announcements and shout ‘Amen’.

The Meetings Themselves

The meeting style Jesus and Paul showed us, if adhered to, is brilliant in many ways.

Below are nine ways Jesus meetings are designed for discipleship. I’ve learned these by periodically meeting this way myself and from others who routinely meet this way.

  1. The meeting itself provides spiritual activity for every person present. This spiritual activity trains us to hear from the Spirit of God within and in others. Open participatory sharing of Christ involve sharing, giving, speaking, singing, bringing something of Jesus to feed others.  (1 Cor 14:26)
  2. The meetings themselves facilitate ‘iron sharpening iron’ helping us to know how to handle conflict and remain loving. This alone deepens relationships like nothing else can. How many people have you attended church with for years yet barely know? You don’t sharpen them and they don’t sharpen you because you don’t interact, other than a passing greeting. (Prov 27:17)
  3. The meeting itself emboldens the shy to speak up and to share Christ. (2 Cor 4:13, Rom 16:16)
  4. The meetings themselves help the extrovert to periodically sit and listen to others and to not dominate. It helps them to appreciate God through the introvert (who won’t share unless trained and expected to). (Eph 5:21 “submit to one another”)
  5. The meetings themselves lighten the load of the pastor expected to be a religious superhero and often burn out after ~7 years. (Gal 6:2 “bear one another’s burdens”)
  6. The meetings themselves are the discipleship program of the spirit of Jesus Christ (John 14:26 “the spirit will teach you all things.”)
  7. The meetings provide provision for the poor members or visitors through the generosity of the members. (2 Cor 8:14) This is the real paying of tithe to the storehouse of God. The members themselves are the building stones of this house of God.
  8. The meetings themselves include every generation cooperating and learning from one another. Not one generation dominating or pushing out another based on age. (1Peter 5:5, 1 Tim 4:12)
  9. The meeting itself is evangelistic, when the unbeliever comes in and sees an active God speaking and operating through common people. “She will declare God is surely among you” and become a Christian. (1 Cor 14:25)

For more on this topic click here or here.

Mistaken Vs. False Teachings

Is That False Teaching or Is He Just Mistaken?

There is a difference between how we should react to false teaching vs. mistaken teachings in churches and ministries. A mistaken teaching is accidental with good intent, sincere before God. False teachings however are knowingly sinful. False teachings intentionally divide and try to make a fool of certain people. They intentionally line themselves up under men who are not Jesus Christ for the purpose of divisions.

  • We are to listen to and forgive have a conversation around mistaken teachings, gently try to correct, help and discuss errors with a motive of love.
  • But we are to expose false teachings directly.

I see divisiveness is one of those to expose. It’s one thing to accidentally be divisive with good intent. It’s another to openly teach and encourage divisiveness.

Divisiveness today is emphasizing and taking pride in “doctrinal distinctions”. It is arguing against others not present or able to respond (usually with mic in hand). They get the last word because they are who they are and their opponent is not.  Divisive teaching is false teaching and it needs to be confronted.

“I follow this pastor or that denomination. I am of Paul, I am Calvinist, I am of Wesley, I am of the pope, I am orthodox, I am Pentecostal, I am of Apollos.”

Fleshly, jealousy motivation, using strife to gain and to keep your crowd.

“…you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not mere men?”

1 Corinthians 3:3-4 NASB

The Dividers Won

If you study church history the dividers won over the vast majority of Christians, the divisions immediately began. To the point where we are one of the most fractured and divided religions on the planet. I believe Jesus himself is undoing this and uniting us again under himself. Its time to recover our oneness under only Jesus Christ. Every teacher/ ministry who undermines this and openly intentionally divides his people will not be well with the Lord.

My Death and Jesus’ Life

“A dead Christ I must do everything for; a living Christ does everything for me.”

~ Andrew Murray

All that we are in Christ, all the rights and privileges that we have in Christ are behind our own death. Not the one-time symbolic death at our baptism but a daily death to our old man.

You want “success”, you want “victory”, you want to be “above and not beneath”, you want “prosperity”, you want to be “the head and not the tail”?

As if these were things to obtain by our faith or our hard bible study, good disciplined behavior, our faith confessions and strong efforts.

bad behavior1

We are incapable of the following:

  • Loving like God loved by reading about Jesus Christ and doing likewise.
  • Teaching others how to love as if it were a mental activity or a set of behaviors.
  • Doing ‘what Jesus would do’ (WWJD) by knowing what he would do and acting accordingly.
  • ‘Getting our act together’ and obey the varied commands of God by our discipline.
  • Stopping sinning and live holy by our will power.

As if these these good Christian behaviors were things that we acquire, things we attain to in our own God-likeness, adding his behavior to our life.

No, we are hopeless in self, even the most wonderful ones among us, the only thing we attain to is death, he increases, we decrease, not our will, (as good as it may be) but his will is done.

Scripture says “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col 1:27), …it does NOT say “you acting like Christ out of your discipline…the hope of glory.” Huge difference.

The truth is that Jesus Christ himself is peace, he is love, he is joy. We know what to do in every situation as he dwells and lives within, our “act is together” forever as he lives through us because his ‘act’ is together.

The key to our life in Christ and growing in him is death to us, just like Jesus died to himself. Both in will and on the cross, “not by my will but yours be done(Matt 26:39).  Jesus died so that the Father’s love could be shown, displayed and revealed to the world.

Dying is not an act of the will, it is a surrender, a permanent and painful surrender. We ‘die’, we don’t get our way, we lose out, we don’t angrily defend ourselves when attacked, we don’t get vengeance, we repent, we abandon our self-will, our self-strength, our self-life, our self-ambition.

We let go of our good names, our good reputation which promotes us, building our resume of ministry, in all its forms. As we do this, as we die, then … if Christ is within us, he can live through us, he is on display, we hear him easily, we see what he is doing around us easily we are spiritual and not carnal. Death to me puts him on display, if he is living within me…this is how Christians live now, by his life. As we figuratively pass away and decrease he can be there shining within.

Our strong self-life is like the basket covering the light that shines within.. (see Matt 5:15-16)

He is being hidden…as we are strong in our self, as we get our way, as we manipulate life situations for our benefit, as we defend our good names, as we seek to control appearances we are on display. As we set out to ‘make a good showing in the flesh’ (Gal 6:12).

Living the Christian life, for the person who will die to self becomes easy and light like Jesus said. “my yoke is easy, my burden is light” in Matt 11:30. The worst murdering drug addict and the noblest brilliant Ivy-league king are equal in maturity and living for God if they can die and let Jesus live within. The murderous addict’s self-life is sin, murder, living for pleasure. The king’s self-life is his superior brilliance and pride of life and appearances. But if both die to the old man, then Christ conquers them both and now can be on display within them.

We know internally when we are dying to self, we know because it hurts, death always costs something, death is painful, it is uncomfortable.

To some accustomed to winning, to controlling things and others, to being on top of life, to the very talented, to the very gifted and intelligent, to the rich young ruler (Mark 10:17-23) death is expensive, it comes with loss. To others accustomed to losing, to not getting our way, life and perhaps God himself has prepared them. Allowing death is not so foreign, and it may be easier to accept.

In Galatians 2:20, Paul said, “It is not I who lives, but Christ lives in me.”

If you want to dive deeper into this reach out to me and I can recommend a course or some great books.

Please comment below!

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