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How to Seek God – Psalm 101

A Psalm of David.

1 I will sing of steadfast love and justice; to you, O LORD, I will make music. 2 I will ponder the way that is blameless. Oh when will you come to me? I will walk with integrity of heart within my house; 3 I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.4 A perverse heart shall be far from me; I will know nothing of evil. 5 Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy. Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure. 6 I will look with favor on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in the way that is blameless shall minister to me. 7 No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes. 8 Morning by morning I will destroy all the wicked in the land, cutting off all the evildoers from the city of the LORD.

Psalm 101 ESV

I love this Psalm, it is truly beautiful. In verse 2 there is a phrase that shows the very foundation of the Psalmist’s mentality. “oh when will you come to me?” This phrase shows how the writer was looking for the Lord, it shows how Jesus Christ was looking for and seeking his father. The attitude of him who seeks first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

Seeking God is as much a pursuit of God as a pursuit of His ways, and his life principles. It is not a merely academic or intellectual understanding of God without a personal transformation. The Jesus seeker is being changed and she takes on the ways of God whom she is seeking.

Psalm 101 gives us the Jesus-attitude regarding sin and remaining Holy. God does not wink at sin in disregard. He takes sin seriously. He has also delegated the dealing of sin to his followers and has provided for us in the event that we sin. One way that he has provided for us is through the principle of confession.

It seems to me that repentance and confession of sin one to one another is a lost practice among most Protestant Christians.

14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. … 19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

James 5

Teachings that overlook much scripture teach (without openly saying it) “I am under grace so confession is unnecessary” “it is legalistic to confess sins one to another”. I knew of a pastor who confessed his sin in private, exposing his sin to a brother doing exactly as taught in scripture to another pastor who humiliated him and publically shamed him. It was an awkward display of cruelty and taking advantage of a brother. What a violation of friendship and scriptural precedent. When a brother confesses a sin in private it is not to be used against him in humiliation. It is to be forgiven in confidence, Christians are to bear one another’s burdens not announce them with a microphone.

Many Catholics that I know seem to look at confession as a practice owned by the clergy. This is not so! Confessing to other Christians and hearing the confessions of others is for every Christian. Confession binds us together, it is an equally humbling practice, a back and forth mutual practice, one to another.

Before confession, there must be a no-nonsense, no cover up, keeping it real, hatred of evil. A personal distancing oneself from evil, a siding with Jesus Christ and with his purity, over and against Satan and our sinful natures.

An attitude of Psalm 101 is called for, for the Jesus follower daily. The attitude of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ themselves. “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.” – ‭‭Psalm‬ ‭101:3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Sin, filth, and evil will cling to the lacksidasical Christian, it will find its home right in our laps if we allow it. No matter who we are or who we think we are, this is as true for “super Christians” like a Pope or a Mega Pastor, as it is for the homeless unknown Christian.

If we can get the love and awe for Jesus Christ in our lives first. If we can love, respect and submit to Jesus in that way. Then the hatred for evil, as expressed in Psalm 101 will be a natural result.

If you want to be ambitious with the things of God go to him first every day.

That is the Christian’s way to Jesus Christ, constantly. Not the way of churchy busyness. Not the way of preaching or listening to endless sermons. The way is in pursuing Jesus Christ as first, in and as the center of our lives.

If we can do that …and if we He allows it …he will send us a brother or sister to confess our sins to, and to share our burdens with.

Check out this Similar Article: Stay in the Bubble of Jesus Christ

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Ministry of Listening

“The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists in listening to them. Just as love to God begins with listening to his word. So the beginning of love for the brethren is learning to listen to them. …So it is His work that we do for our brethren when we learn to listen to them.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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A Huge Red Line

The two greatest passions of my life are Jesus Christ and his ecclesia. I find myself thinking on these two things for most of my life. It occurred to me that there must be leadership and ministry gifts within churches and in the kingdom of Jesus, leadership is absolutely essential.

Leaders; not necessarily clergy and authoritarian titles. I think many would agree with me on that at least in principle.

BUT something else is needed. Boundaries are important, we know about a particular boundary from Jesus Christ and from the apostles.

There also needs to be added a boundary added. A boundary that is mostly not present in the majority of churches that I have experienced all over the world. And that is A HUGE RED LINE around Christian gatherings. This red line we should talk about, we should enforce and establish in every new fellowship. Teach extensively about all new converts.

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The red line I am suggesting is drawn around Christian gatherings within which Jesus is given absolute Lordship. And no one else, no clergyman, no priest, no pastor can or should dare dominate one of these gatherings of the ecclesia. And especially not for prolonged periods. If one person needs to dominate to teach something important have separate, special, temporary meetings.

If there are objections of even just one Christian, perhaps that one has the mind of the Lord for that gathering and should be given voice.

Outside the line, of the gatherings, anyone can lead and do ministry as they feel led, but within the ecclesia gatherings is special and unique and reserved for only the Lord through the Spirit.

Inside the red line … Jesus Christ is Lord, he calls the shots, the spirit of Jesus runs the meeting! Come hell or high-water Jesus gets to dominate, come conflict and correction or peaceful, love and miracles, probably all will happen. Jesus rules supreme through every member.

This takes training by people who know from the Lord how to train others along these lines. Real ministries from the Spirit of Jesus prepare Christians for these types of gatherings.

Christian gatherings are not the place for domination of any one Christian. Not anymore, it’s time to mature. It’s time to submit to Jesus Christ together in our gatherings, no one else deserves this high place but him, he has earned it. Even in a teaching meeting where a gifted teacher is equipping there needs to be open back and forth participation with freedom to interject and interrupt, with order and respect.

Christian gatherings are unique and special events in the earth that only the spirit of Jesus himself can run …and be in charge of.

That HUGE RED LINE line was absolutely there with the apostles … and I believe and pray is returning to the body of Christ all over… (the easy way or the hard way.)

Crossing that red line is mentioned by the apostle Paul in Corinth and more directly by the apostle John about a certain Christian “who loved to have the preeminence.” In 3John1, John and his workers show his Jesus-like, hands-off, respect for the body of Christ, a godly authority that doesn’t impose and demand and act authoritarian, he mentions Diotophres the authoritarian dominating a fellowship, who was also driving godly people out, and not acknowledging or submitting to godly leadership who were visiting from outside. I suspect that this Diotrephes would likely be seen as a great leader by modern pastoral standards. He might have the most popular church in town.

We didn’t learn to demand, hire, and become dominators of church meetings like we do today from Jesus Christ. We learned it by tradition from more recent history but perhaps even from “church fathers” following in Diotrephes footsteps.

Christians who insist on ignoring and not allowing this red line and dominating Gods people perpetually are free to do so (apparently).

But, spiritually their places of domination run the strong risk of ceasing to be churches at all, and perhaps become something FAR LESS (spiritually speaking). They become at best just a ministry of a certain great Christian. Might even be a good thing, but no substitute for an ecclesia of Jesus Christ, heaven coming to earth. An ecclesia can evangelize far better than any great leader.

Perhaps great ministers and great clergy to follow is all that we’ve been taught to want and expect. But it is not what the world needs. And it is absolutely not what Jesus is after. Is not that, all that matters to a Jesus-follower? ! ?

Are there Jesus-followers in the churches? Or just self-motivated, self-described, I’ll do it myself “evangelicals”.

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