CYPRESSWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST

November 13, 2005

PRAYERS, INTERCESSIONS AND PETITIONS FOR:

Our congregation                                                                 David and James in the military

Our students                                                                         Various friends, relatives and co-workers

Our nation, leaders and military

SEEKING A LASTING CITY

“For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come” (Hebrews 13:14).

Seeking A Lasting City is the fourth book in the Heart of the Restoration series (ACU Press, Abilene, Texas, 2005).  The authors are Abilene Christian University professors Mark Love, Douglas Foster, and Randall Harris.  The subtitle is “The Church’s Journey in the Story of God.”  There are nine chapters in the book.  The first introduces the idea that the church is part of the on going story of God’s redemptive activity in the world.  They center their study around five points: scripture, life, worship, the Holy Spirit, and leadership.  They examine scripture and church history with these themes in mind.  For instance, they state that “The church is faithful when it lives within the story of God” (p. 5), that story being one of redemption and fellowship.  This is contrasted with “However, in Churches of Christ, we’ve often understood the church’s faithfulness not primarily in terms of its story, but of its structures…Is getting these structures right God’s mission in the world?  What happens when the structures are right, but there is no serious engagement of the gospel with the world?” (p. 5-6).  They will emphasize that God is the primary character in the story, and that it is God’s activity that we must be alert to in our message.

Chapter two looks at the people of God in His story in the nation of Israel.  Chapter three and four look at Jesus and the church of the first century.  Chapter five examines in brief the history of the church, good and bad, from the second century to the eighteenth.  The Restoration Movement is looked at in chapter six, noting two streams of thought, the rational and logical thought through Alexander Campbell and the spiritual relationship that Barton W. Stone saw.  Campbell’s views became dominant over the years but has lead to some problems such as a deistic viewpoint of God’s activity -- He started the world, sent Jesus and the Holy Spirit, but now He is in heaven and watches without interference what is going on.  Chapter seven addresses the post-Christian age that many think that we now live in.  Chapter eight are some suggestions as to how to present the story of God to the world we live in now.

Looking at the five themes they use as an outline, we find some challenging thoughts in the book.  Scripture.  Without the Bible we would not know the story of God.  From the time Moses wrote the Torah to John finished Revelation, we have the story of God unfolded before us.  While I would have some minor disagreements on the dates they give some books, they have a high view of scripture.  We are reminded, and rightly so, that the Bible of the first century church was God’s story to Israel.  Jesus came to fulfill scripture (Matthew 5:17).  Peter and Paul claimed the fulfillment of scripture in Jesus meant that Jesus was Messiah and Lord.  We have been known as the people of the book, but we have had a narrow view in the sense that we have chosen to spend little time in the study of the Hebrew scriptures.  This is changing and rightly so.  Our emphasis on scripture has lead to how we interpret scripture.  This has lead to disagreements among us and others for years.  The idea that if we could all see the Bible in the same way, then we could be one, is an emphasis coming from Campbell.  It sounds good but fails to take into account backgrounds, experiences, and influences each of us face.  I heard one person state this and another agree, yet both disagreed with each other over the role of the Holy Spirit today.  It is easy to say but more difficult to practice.  This doesn’t mean we should ignore scripture but rather we should be even more careful in studying it.

Worship.  We have often emphasized forms.  We have the plan of salvation, the organization of the church, and the five points of worship.  All this has been used to focus our attention on what God wants from our perspective.  Several things have happened along the way however.  The plan of salvation has emphasized the need to be baptism and forgot the Man who brought salvation.  The organization of the church has been turned into an institution rather than a family.  And worship has become five acts that need to be completed to be “true worship” though the heart is rarely mentioned (see Isaiah 1 and Matthew 15:1-20).  We have talked about a “worship service,” an idea not found in the New Testament, and some have stated that we come to worship and leave to serve, another idea separating life and worship.  The “worship wars” that many talk about today came about for some reason.  Some of it has been a reaction to the idea that one should sit solemnly and quietly in an assembly.  The fear has been that we should not be to emotionally involved because that leads to emotionalism and entertainment.  And some of that is true and has happened, but that doesn’t mean we cannot involve our hearts and emotions in worship.  Our worship is to God and involves not only our hearts but our lives as well.

Life.  In our emphasis on worship, we have not been particularly careful in emphasizing how we live as Christians.  We have not developed the attitude or mind of Christ (see Philippians 2:1-11) which leads us to recognizing Jesus as Lord.  We rarely see humility emphasized, rather we make even opinions doctrines which cannot be questioned.  Francis Schaffer wrote a little book called The Mark of the Christian.  What is this mark?  “A new command I give you.  Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35).  The way we speak about others, and each other, causes one to wonder if we really believe this.  This has led to unkind words and too much labeling.  Jesus certainly used powerful language to make His points but He also warned us that we have to be careful in doing so (see Matthew 7:1-5).  Paul too “marked” some people, but was careful in doing so.  Today, many are quick to label and slow or unwilling to listen.  We know the big sins such as murder and stealing are wrong and emphasize it, but what about gossip, greed, and lust for people or things?  The story of God shows the conflict between God and His people in these areas.

The Holy Spirit.  This theme has been a source of conflict throughout Restoration history.  The authors briefly survey the camp meetings and the early Pentecostal movement that caused a reaction to how the Holy Spirit works.  They also examine the rationalism that led to a deistic view of God, that He is not involved, certainly not in the Holy Spirit.  The authors are clear -- God has given us His Spirit and He lives in us as the people of God.  There point is that we should be aware of the influence of the Spirit and they discuss this in that we should develop our spiritual lives through study, prayer, mediation, worship, and fasting.  This is one of the most controversial ideas in the book.  The two views today that are in disagreement are: the Holy Spirit dwells in the Christian only through the word or that He lives in Christians.  At one time, this was a disagreement that did not break fellowship but that is not the case now.  One wonders how people who claim to see the Bible alike, and that we all should, cannot disagree and go about labeling one another on this?

Leadership.  This also has been an ongoing controversy.  What is the role of elders.  Are they in total authority over all matters in the church, being a board of directors that make decisions and expect members to obey without question?  Are they a board of directors that attempt to understand people, and approachable but still make decisions.  Or are they men who are out among the flock, encouraging, counseling, and admonishing as necessary the sheep, approachable, prayerful, and concerned?  Needless to say, the third view is emphasized in the book.  Many will disagree because it means giving up authority over others.  What will be even more controversial in the book is that they state that there were different leadership and organizational ideas in various parts of the New Testament.  The Jews organized and led in what was familiar to them, the synagogue system.  In the Greek world, they organized in the cities around what was familiar in those areas.  In the country areas, they were more use to a village or family system.  I find this interesting and would have like to see them develop this more fully then they did.  Yet our reading of leadership texts might need to be looked at again.  For instance, Paul writes to the church in Philippi with the elders and deacons.  We have said that that congregations had elders and deacons as we understand it.  But could it be that they were either part of the problem, or not organized in leadership as we have often defined it?  Or could it be that their role was different than what we understand?  That is a challenge for us to look at.

Each of these areas are examined in light of scripture and our experience in the Restoration Movement.  But they also look at how we should now live in chapter eight using these themes.  They give some illustrations of how life in the story can work in today’s world.  The Holy Spirit is seen in transforming our lives.  Worship is not dumbing down but looking at Who we worship and how He deals with our struggles especially as it relates to the church as a family.  Chapter nine sums up what has been said.  One, the church in the story of God is best when moving and unfaithful when it stops.  Two, the primary temptation of the church is to see itself as an end in itself.  Third, when one aspect of its identity is emphasized, then it loses its way.  Fourth, there is a balance between the unchanging story of the gospel, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the ongoing story in our lives in the twenty-first century.  Finally, the church looks forward to where God is taking us, the ultimate redemptive fellowship that began the story (see Genesis 3 - God walking in the Garden).

This is a good book to read, a challenge to some of our ideas, and thought-provoking.  I recommend it for both personal study and congregation study.  It, along with the first three books of the series, will impact the church for the good.  We might not agree with everything said, but it certainly will cause us to study again ideas that need studying.

                                                                                                                                George B. Mearns