James- about pride (oh oh)
1 Peter- about suffering (can this be good?)
2 Peter- expectant living (not apathetic)
Philemon- about forgiveness (oh oh)
1 Timothy- a basis for living today
Titus- about sound doctrine
2 Timothy- fan into flames your spiritual gift
Hebrews- the priesthood (identity crisis?)
1 John- fellowship (community)
2 John- family (roots)
3 John- hospitality (get to’s)
Jude- warning (if the light is on, stop the car)

Warning! This may challenge your thinking, your preconceived notions, your bias or even your wishes.

But don’t worry, because I’m not saying you’re wrong. Only that by being challenged we grow, and that growth in this area will be good for us, and perhaps others.

Are we in the “last days,” or the “end times”? Can we even know the answer? If we know the answer, or think we know, what should we do about it? What CAN we do about it? Or should we just go on living like the little kid with his hands over his eyes declaring “you can’t see me” to an adult staring him in the face?!

This is the stuff of academics in almost every part of academia, spiritual or not, because the modern physicist and astronomer, poet and philosopher, etc. all go here at times. We should too.

Only God is omniscient, so I suppose we can say that only God knows ALL the answers to these questions, but let’s not cop out that way. We DO have some “knowings” of our own, and we CAN weigh in on the subject with some supportive data, not just feelings.

We could say we are in the “last days”, because these days are after the days we’ve already lived, but that wouldn’t be fair to the point of the question, which is Biblical at its core. Therefore, we must go to the Bible to see if it tells us anything. I think it does, and I think we are in the last days because I understand the term to mean those days AFTER the resurrection and ascension of Christ. What becomes clear, to me at least, is that the term “last days” is not the same as the term “end times.”

Last days of what? End of what times?

I think we are in the last days of time BEFORE the return of Christ. All of the days up to and including the “end times” are included in the “last days.” We can know more about what these days look like by reading the Bible, as there is a lot there to inform us. What happens next is of critical importance, don’t you think?

The “end times,” I think, refer to those specific last days leading up to and INCLUDING the return of Christ, about which there is also much written. Yada yada yada

But wait! There’s more! This is the point, dear ones! God is telling us that He is up to something! Life as we know it may change, but eternity awaits us! Our future is just around the corner, and it is going to be almost indescribable, even though He is trying to describe it to us in His Word. Jesus Christ loves you and is available to you, right now, to lead, guide, and direct your path, if you will only follow! Life WITH Christ, in HIS Kingdom, was, is, and will be much better than we have experienced or can experience on our own.

The skeptic may say “oh yeah, prove it,” and the broken one may say “I don’t get it,” and the weak may say “I don’t have the fight in me any more,” but for all the answer is the same: read the Bible. Let God tell you, and I promise that He will.

The best and the worst of the church. I suppose this could be a book title, or perhaps the title of a graduate thesis, but let’s get to the point much more quickly. Jesus came (comes) to set the captives free, which they desperately want(ed), and as He did (does) so they began (begin) to revert to “going back to Egypt.” Only the names have changed …

The whole concept of Freedom in Christ is so fantastic that we cannot fully comprehend it with our world-infected minds, but we yearn, none-the-less, for this freedom. The Good News of Jesus Christ is, in fact, this freedom He has won for us and offers us today, every day. From the atonement to reconciliation, from forgiveness to redemption, all of our Doctrine about Jesus Christ leads us to learning more about our freedom in Him, because of Him, through following Him, believing in Him, etc. This is the Christian faith- that Jesus Christ saves us, and sets us free from sin and death as He leads us to eternity with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The “followers of the way” were how the believers in Christ were first identified, and then they got called Christians, in Antioch (Acts 11:26). It’s interesting to me that what they meant by “followers of the way” included all of what we call the Good News, resulting in our understanding of salvation. In other words, Jesus was the way to salvation. As this began to sink in, as further teaching by the Apostles spread, they came to understand that this wasn’t about “head knowledge,” but about a living, dynamic relationship! Christ IN you, the hope of Glory (Col 1:27). Thus the word Christian, which was a compound word for Christ-one, or, better yet, one in whom Christ lives.

So the Church of Jesus Christ grew rapidly and spread over the entire world! The entire world was and is hungry for this Freedom He brings, even if they don’t have a vocabulary to express it the way we do.

Enter now the contrast- the leaven. Leaven is “an element that produces an altering or transforming influence. ”( Webster) The leaven of the Pharisees was their attempt to regain control of the people they had lost to the new faith in Christ. This is what religion is, an attempt to be in control. Andrew Farley, in his book “God Without Religion” defines religion as “a return to bondage,” from the compound Latin re ligare. It is easy, here, to see the similarity between the Israelites of old in captivity to the Egyptians to what is going on today in much of what we call Christendom. In the “days of old” it was a problem for the Jews. Today it is a problem in the organized church.

As soon as we organize, for all kinds of good purposes, we begin to control one another. We can’t help it. I suppose it is part of the brokenness we have in our DNA from “the fall.” We want to do good things, so we organize into churches and begin to facilitate good works, building both subtle and not-so-subtle control mechanisms into our assembly. After all, we don’t want error to slip in, and we’ll be sure we structure things so it can’t. Riiiight.

The best of the church is Christ at work in us, with us, through us, for others. The worst of the church is our attempt to control the very Freedom Christ brings to us by His Holy Spirit. We pray for Revival, and then tell God how to do it! We pray for gifts, and then determine how we will recognize them, train them, categorize them and use them. We pray to be followers, and then tell Jesus where we are willing to go. I think you get the idea.

The answer is not that we get rid of the church. We can’t do that. Jesus Christ is building His Church, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it! The answer is not that we dis-organize the church, or attempt to live independent from the church, out of fellowship.

The answer is that we pray for and allow Jesus Christ to have His way with us; to read His Word every day so we get the food we need for spiritual sustenance, and to remain in fellowship with one another so that the gifts Jesus distributes among us can be fully utilized.

Perhaps we cannot do this without some form of human control, but we CAN do this with a minimum of control of others. Self control seems to be what is most needed, which seems to be brought about by what we call “death to self.” The old saying “let go and let God” seems appropriate, especially today.

God Bless you as go deeper into the fantastic voyage of Following Christ.

Let’s talk about balance. It’s very important. If you are not “in” balance, you are “out” of balance, and about to “fall down”. Discernment is not judgmentalism; it is the application of wisdom. We can’t “get right with God” if we refuse to ask what God wants, and then refuse to go where He leads.

A Christian can be a believer and not be a disciple. The disciple is the one who is walking in the victory of the faith in Christ; a follower. A believer may just be hanging on for eternity, and messing up all the time prior to its unfolding in his or her life.

A Christian disciple, therefore, will have discipline. Spiritual disciplines he is pursuing, and that are active in his life! These disciplines yield the fruit of righteousness, and peace.

7 Disciplines:

1. The Word of God
2. Bible reading
3. Bible study
4. Prayer- fasting, intercession, and worship
5. Giving
6. Meditation and confession
7. Work- ministry, acts of kindness
8. Rest- retreats, the Sabbath, pilgrimage
9. Journaling- what do you say to God? What does God say to you?

If you were to do a self-evaluation of these 7 disciplines, how would it look? Are you consciously pursuing each one, even if some more than others? If not, why not? What can you do to change?