Welcome to Part 11 of the weekly release of my book, Unless God Builds It: A Proposal to Radically Rethink the Church.

In the last post, I shared the story of the first day of my house-church journey and walked through exactly what a typical, Spirit-led weekly gathering looks like in practice. We looked at how sitting in a circle and leaning into silence trains us to look to Christ as our Shepherd rather than relying on a pre-planned agenda.

If you have already read the book and do not wish to receive these weekly emails, simply click ‘Unsubscribe’ at the bottom of this email. It will only unsubscribe you from the Book section, and you will still receive my normal weekly newsletter!

In this post, we examine the clear biblical precedent for open participation, looking closely at Paul’s instructions in 1 Corinthians and asking whether our modern, leader-centric services have departed from God’s intended design.

The Biblical Precedent for Open Participation

It’s important to clarify now that the unique format of the “open meeting,” which I just described, isn’t exactly what I think all churches need to implement. Rather, I think there’s room for flexibility in the format as long as the following two elements are present, which I’d place under the banner of “open participation”:

1. A highly intentional effort to foster organic, Spirit-led engagement by all members, training them to steward their gifts in the gathering. This requires at least some part of the gathering to include a time where anyone can freely share.

2. The practice of corporately weighing everything that is said and done in the gathering. This doesn’t mean that everything actually gets weighed verbally, but that a culture is created where this can happen whenever it needs to happen—again, within the gathering.

To this end, while I have found the format my church uses to be highly practical, and I encourage any church to use it, I acknowledge that a church could retain some level of liturgy/agenda while also practicing the two things above. In other words, open participation can theoretically be practiced within a wide range of meeting formats. It’s up to each church to lean on the Holy Spirit to decide: (1) how much predetermined structure they’d like to implement and (2) how to ensure that the biblical instruction of open participation is still being followed within each weekly gathering. The format can vary from one body to the next, and from one season to the next, as it does in our churches. The thing that cannot vary is the conviction to facilitate healthy, Spirit-led engagement from all members.

Quite honestly, there is not a lot in the Bible that explicitly dictates what should occur in Christian gatherings. But if we carefully examine the Scriptures on this topic, it becomes evident that open participation was not merely a good option, but rather was God’s design, that Christ might be the functional head of each meeting.

I use the word “functional” because we all agree that Christ is the head in spirit and in truth. But the question is: How can we function so as to make Christ the head in practice? The role of headship belongs to no other person—not pastor, priest, or pope. For only the Head knows what the Body needs and how to coordinate each member for the greatest common good.

To start, let’s take a look at two passages that hint at open participation in the gathering of the saints:

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:18-21)

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16)

While Paul may have written these passages with a broader view of the Christian life in mind, it would be a mistake to apply them only generally to the Christian life and not also specifically to our formal weekly gatherings, for there is evidence that Paul had their weekly meetings in mind.

The first sentence—”do not get drunk with wine… but be filled with the Spirit”—is almost certainly in reference to the Lord’s Supper, which was a central feature of their gatherings. Getting drunk off the sacramental wine was, unfortunately, an issue Paul had dealt with before (1 Corinthians 11:21), hence the instruction here.

It becomes even more plain that he was thinking about their gatherings when we look at the activities they were told to do with one another:

• They were to sing to one another. Intuitively, this activity doesn’t fit quite as naturally into day-to-day life as it does into the gathering.

• They were to submit to one another—a likely reference to the practice of weighing/testing what people share in the gathering (1 Corinthians 14:29-32 and 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21).

• And they were to teach and admonish one another. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Paul viewed teaching as something that happened especially (though not exclusively) in the weekly gathering.

With this in mind, let us recognize the disparity between today’s typical Sunday gathering and these New Testament instructions. In most churches, the pastor teaches, the worship leader sings, and the congregation submits. But Paul says for all to do these things to one another.

Perhaps the most blatant deviation from this instruction could be found in today’s “teaching and admonishing”—a ministry that, in the weekly gathering, is almost exclusively performed by one person (or a few at best). This practice of leaning only on one person’s teaching gift reveals a basic presumption, by the way, which is that Christ wants to give a teaching through that same person each week, and he doesn’t want to give a teaching through any other person. And because of this presumption, we design our meetings in such a way that Christ cannot speak through another person, even if he wanted to, even if he gifted them with something edifying, even if it’s the very thing the Body needs. The same applies to the ministry of music and so forth.

But the most obvious scripture that points us toward the practice of open participation is this:

What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. (1 Corinthians 14:26)

I can’t remember what I thought of this verse before I experienced an open meeting for myself, but I’m pretty sure that I had no clue what Paul was talking about. I had no operating template for which these verses made any sense. I’d never been a part of a gathering where each person was allowed, let alone expected, to share something of ministerial value. And any concept of it that I could imagine—with no plan, no outline, no agenda (or otherwise a loose one)—would have seriously challenged my precious idea of “order.” But here, we see that Paul is perfectly comfortable with it. His operating template for Christian gatherings was that each person had something for edifying the others, and there was a way to do this “decently and in order” (1 Corinthians 14:40).

In the same chapter, there are two other verses which highlight the same idea:

But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you. (1 Corinthians 14:24-25)

For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged. (1 Corinthians 14:31)

It’s worth noting, briefly, that to prophesy in this context may not be exactly what everyone today has in mind. In this section of Scripture, Paul appears to use the term prophesy as a catch-all for any intelligible Spirit-empowered speaking—whether that be encouragement and consolation (v. 3), prayer or song (vv. 14-15, 26), teaching, revelation, interpretation of tongues, etc. (v. 26). He places all of these activities under the banner of “prophesying” and in juxtaposition to tongues, which are unintelligible. The promise that all believers will prophesy (Joel 2:28, Acts 2:17-18, cf. Numbers 11:29) is therefore fulfilled in myriad ways when we function like this.

As for Paul’s instruction that women were to remain silent in the churches (1 Corinthians 14:33-35), I’ll address that in the next chapter. For now, just note that, a few chapters earlier, he clearly permits women prophesying in the gathering (1 Corinthians 11:5). So we know that this particular instruction to be silent must pertain to something else.

It therefore seems evident that every member prophesying in the gathering is not only permissible but ideal. In the first verse above, he says it’s ideal for the unbelievers in attendance, for their potential conversion. This makes sense if you think about it. From an unbeliever’s perspective, which experience do you think would be more convincing and impactful: (a) hearing God speak through one person or (b) hearing God speak through every person in the meeting who claims to believe in him? (As a quick caveat, if God is truly speaking through everyone, this would mean that what everyone is saying is valuable, consistent, and in agreement with God’s word. This is a high ideal and isn’t about everyone just sharing what they think.)

In 1 Corinthians 14:31 (see above), Paul says that prophecy is for the benefit of the believers in attendance, as well, that all may learn and be encouraged. Again, which do you think is more likely to build up all of us with our variety of needs and differing levels of maturity: (a) the scriptures, teachings, and songs chosen by the same small team of people every week or (b) the scriptures, teachings, songs, and various other giftings that God is stirring in the hearts of any/every member present? I assure you, it is the latter, and Paul thought so, too. An honest reading of 1 Corinthians 12-14 should lead anyone to the conclusion that each person has spiritual gifts that are relevant specifically for the gathering of the saints (not just for the world outside the gathering of saints). If this is true, it necessitates that churches practice open participation to some degree.

Yet still, some people might argue that Paul didn’t explicitly command open participation in our weekly gatherings; it’s just what his churches practiced. In other words, you might argue that these scriptures are merely descriptive, not prescriptive; therefore, it’s no issue that most churches today have strayed from that practice.

However, there are a couple of verses that challenge this notion, both of which are framed as a command. Here’s one of them:

Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. (1 Corinthians 14:29)

Let me ask you: If your pastor’s sermon is to be considered as a prophet speaking (which it is), have you ever witnessed the public weighing of his sermon during the gathering—people freely sharing their thoughts, questions, concerns, and alternative viewpoints with him and everyone else, then praying for unity? If you are to view your music leader’s participation as a form of prophesying (which you are), have you ever disagreed with something they said or some lyrics in the song they chose, then felt the freedom to stand up and offer a correction in front of the whole assembly? Have you ever thought their ministry—the sermon or the songs—felt forced or not Spirit-filled? If so, did you voice it to the congregation and submit your discernment to them?

To be clear, I’m not at all saying that you should do these things if your church has not agreed to function this way. But that’s the point. Most Christians can’t fathom such a thing occurring in their gathering because they’ve been taught implicitly that it’s not their place. In this case, this biblical instruction to weigh what is said is not being followed.

I’m not saying that this makes your gathering illegitimate, but it does leave room for all sorts of issues, as well as inhibit many opportunities for growth. God has instructed us to corporately weigh the things that are shared in the gathering to ensure that what’s being prophesied is both accurate and edifying (as agreed upon by prayerful, Spirit-led consensus). If your church isn’t currently practicing this, it behooves you to start. We’ll talk more about this in the next chapter.

Here’s the second scripture that suggests open participation was more than a mere description of what they did, but (again) framed as a command/instruction:

If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent. (1 Corinthians 14:30)

The idea here is that, while someone is speaking, if God gives someone else a revelation that they feel would be beneficial to share with the church, then the person speaking should be quiet in order for the revelation to be shared. Again, imagine that, while listening to your pastor’s sermon, God blows your mind with something you’ve never seen before, which you think may help others. According to this scripture, it’s at that moment the Lord may be revealing his intent to quit speaking through your pastor and start speaking through you. Do you and your church allow for such a thing, let alone expect it and train people in it? If not, what justification can be offered for overlooking this clear biblical instruction?

At the end of the day, shouldn’t we take the practices of the early church a little more seriously than this? Surely, it isn’t just happenstance that they functioned this way. These were practices that Paul himself implemented. As a church-planter myself, I know very well that one of the first challenges you face is figuring out what your weekly gatherings will look like. There is a considerable amount of thought given (and rightfully so) to how to make the most of your time together on Sunday, as it is most obvious and consistent time to build each other up. It would be foolish to assume that the apostles didn’t think it through much. And it would be just as foolish to assume that they came up with it on their own, receiving no instruction from God (in Spirit) or even Christ (in the flesh) on the issue. Paul obviously believed that the instruction came directly from God, hence the following pronouncement at the end of the passage we’ve been covering:

Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached? If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. (1 Corinthians 14:38)

I must conclude, then, that open participation is not a matter of mere preference but of necessity, a design given by God to his apostles for our edification. At the very least, by definition, it is more biblical (though far less common throughout history) than today’s typical practice.

The Historical Trajectory of Church Meetings

If you can’t tell, my argument for open participation does not rest in Church history or tradition; rather, it rests in the Bible over and against Church history and tradition. The unfortunate likelihood (based on the little evidence we have) is that the Church appears to have very quickly abandoned the ways of radically open, Spirit-led engagement for a more controlled, liturgical, and leader-centric approach.

For example, shortly after the death of the apostles, the Didache (c. 70-100 CE) provides scripted prayers for the Lord’s Supper and only encourages the prophets (i.e., certain recognized leaders) to pray freely, implying that others in the gathering were not given that freedom—an obvious deviation from Paul’s view in 1 Corinthians 11 and 14 that all can pray in the gathering. In Justin Martyr’s Apology (c. 155-157 CE), Christian gatherings were described as already having a liturgy very similar to what most churches use today, with highly limited participation from anyone other than appointed persons.

There was a movement by a group called the Montanists (c. 170 CE) who pushed hard for spontaneous, Spirit-led services. Their movement highlights the underground swell of Christians at that time who felt strongly about revitalizing the pure Spirit-led movement of the apostolic church. However, they, too, limited much of the Spirit’s leading in their gatherings to those persons that they had identified and elevated as “prophets.” At any rate, they had many of their own issues and were eventually condemned by the mainstream church.

It wasn’t until the Quakers in the mid-17th century that we see a group of Christians formally employ an entirely open (i.e., unprogrammed) meeting format for their weekly gatherings, but they are obviously somewhat of an anomaly in church history. For what it’s worth, I myself do not know enough about the Quakers to either endorse or condemn any of their beliefs and practices. However, they seem to be a good example of the reality that if a church begins seriously pursuing the biblical template of open participation as outlined in 1 Corinthians 14, perhaps the most natural conclusion they’ll come to is to ditch the agenda.

Regarding church history, the question we all need to ask is: How did we get to the level of dysfunction, disunity, immaturity, and impotence that we see in the Church today? I think the answer to that question is pretty obvious: The church all but lost the way of the Spirit, who alone can give us order, unity, maturity, and power. If we don’t see the fruit, it’s because we haven’t learned the Way.

Subscribe now

Other Formats—and Why Open Participation Should Be the Default

As I said before, I don’t believe the open meeting format is the only format Christians are free to use when they meet. There may be a host of reasons that you gather in a different format, sometimes with a more “structured” approach—a Bible/book study, prayer meetings, large conferences that focus on teaching or singing, etc. Even in the Bible, we see that the early believers gathered in the temple or the synagogue to hear the apostles’ teaching and to pray (Acts 2:46; 3:1; 5:12). Though there was still likely some degree of public discourse and open participation here (which I believe is beneficial in most cases), those temple gatherings had a much different emphasis than the primary weekly gatherings in homes.

In our network of house churches, we see great value in periodically gathering all the churches together for teaching, prayer, and a meal. Every month or so, we meet in one larger building for this purpose (which a non-profit in town allows us to use for free). In these gatherings, there is a predetermined leader who teaches for (typically) a longer period of time, and there is a shared meal afterward. After the teaching, however, we still have an open floor, since it is very important to us that we give space for the Spirit to speak through anyone.

Additionally, we meet in a variety of ways throughout the week. We have men’s and women’s groups. There are prayer meetings and Bible studies. Etc. Some may be more structured or planned than others. There is no rule to this, except that the Spirit would lead and empower all that we do, which is something we make every effort to discern, and it allows for things to adapt as people and circumstances change and grow.

As you can see, not everything that’s of the Spirit has to be spontaneous. The goal isn’t to eliminate all structure but to be highly intentional about making space for any/every member to share their gifts with one another and to weigh what is shared, apart from which we may unintentionally deny Christ his role as the head of the Body and the leader of the meeting. I find this goal is best accomplished through the radically open meeting style that I shared at the beginning, where the default is prayer and silence, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only way. Open participation can still exist within a more structured gathering. You simply need to make it a priority, or else it will not happen.

The Spirit uses leaders to facilitate. The Spirit can create an agenda. The Spirit can write a sermon days or weeks before it is given. The Spirit can inspire plans, structure, and direction that all serve to build up the Body of Christ, so please don’t hear what I’m not saying. The question is not whether the Spirit can do these things but whether he is the one doing these things. In a nutshell, what I am challenging is the belief that the Spirit is the one who is leading and empowering churches to structure their primary weekly gatherings the way that they do—training their members to sit quietly, spectate, and passively rely on a predetermined structure as opposed to relying on the Holy Spirit to proactively share the grace within them.

Pastors express frustration in their church’s consumeristic tendencies, all the while perpetuating a system that forces the saints to consume every Sunday (often the one time during the week that they are available to participate). Unless a person has some unique role in the gathering, their participation in it is more or less limited to singing what they’re told to sing, praying what they’re told to pray, responding to the sermon with the occasional “Amen!” (if they’re so bold), and putting money in the offering plate. While their participation isn’t without value, what little they are allowed to do is often severely limiting to what the Holy Spirit has put inside of them for the sake of others—first and foremost, their brothers and sisters in Christ.

Our biggest concern, then, should be that these gatherings may not be fully Spirit-led, for in them, Christ is functionally confined to whatever and whoever is on the agenda that day, despite his clear intent to manifest through each person for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7).

Consider, once again, the story of Abraham and Sarah. Abraham (who represents Christ) listened to the voice of his wife (who represents us) when she told him to go into Hagar (who represents our plans; Genesis 16:2). In pursuit of God’s promises for the Church, we ask him to do the thing that will produce more immediate/manageable results, to grant us the outcome in our own human way. I envision all the times when I asked God to use a sermon I was writing or to bless some ministry event I was planning. I have always believed that he heard those prayers and used those things in various ways—for he is good and faithful—but I have come now to believe that they could never yield the promise because they weren’t really his ideas to begin with. They, like Hagar and Ishmael, had to be sent away, and I had to resort to waiting, believing, and simply being intimate with my Husband.

Put simply, open participation should be the default in our gatherings because, more than any other way of operating, it makes Christ the functional head, giving him full access to all his members and letting him come up with the ideas. Other formats can have value, but they should remain secondary. Since the primary weekly gathering is usually the one time everyone sees as essential, it makes sense for that time to be open for everyone to participate. This gathering is far too important—and its potential for discipleship far too great—not to structure it in a way that fosters full dependence on the Spirit from every member.

I can’t give you a one-size-fits-all plan for how to begin. In many cases, moving toward open participation may require drastic change, and that change should be approached with prayer, wisdom, and care. For me, the only path I could see was to step outside the traditional church model entirely and start a house church. That may or may not be what God leads you to do. The point is to seek the One who has all wisdom and follow his lead.

One thing I absolutely love about the open meeting is that it isn’t very complicated. Just gather believers in a room, and let the Spirit lead. The only way to learn is by doing, and you’ll soon discover both challenges and opportunities you’ve never faced before.

But to do this well—meaning, for it to be a long-term, fruitful experience that builds up the Church—you’ll need to learn the ways of the Spirit. This includes things like communal discernment, speaking the truth in love, ministering the gospel, exercising church discipline, mutual submission, appointing leaders, and more (all things we’ll cover in the coming chapters), apart from which it will not work. Subsequently, the ways and the wisdom of the institutional church largely do not apply here.

You may also find, as we have in our church, that smaller, more intimate settings (like a home) are uniquely suited for open meetings. The larger the gathering, the less likely it is for certain members to minister their gifts. Right or wrong, it’s just the reality.

In the end, the goal is simple: to be open to whatever God may do and whomever he may use, so that all God’s gifts are expressed, and the whole body is built up.

< Previous Part | Table of Contents | Next Part >

Questions for the Comments:

1. Do you think the early church's practice of "each one" having something to share was meant to be a permanent design for all weekly gatherings, or was it just a temporary setup?

2. If everyone in your church gathering were expected to come prepared to share a scripture, a prayer, a song, or a word of encouragement, how would that change your personal preparation during the week?

Want to discuss these topics with other like-minded believers? We explore the theology of the Church, discipleship, and spiritual growth in our monthly Community Calls. It’s a great place to connect—upgrade to a paid subscription today to get access!

Subscribe now

Like what you’re reading? You don’t have to wait for the next part. You can read the entire book right now in paperback, ebook, or audiobook format on Amazon. Buy ‘Unless God Builds It’ Here

In Christ,

Jake

Welcome to Part 10 of the weekly release of my book, Unless God Builds It: A Proposal to Radically Rethink the Church.

In the last post, I shared that the church systems we endorse often teach that relationship and discipleship are optional, even though from the pulpit we preach otherwise. We then looked at why it’s time for leaders to stop treating people like customers and for every Christian to take active ownership of one another’s spiritual growth.

If you have already read the book and do not wish to receive these weekly emails, simply click ‘Unsubscribe’ at the bottom of this email. It will only unsubscribe you from the Book section, and you will still receive my normal weekly newsletter!

In this post, we begin Chapter 3 by stepping into the very first day of my house-church journey and walking through exactly what a typical, Spirit-led weekly gathering looks like in practice.

The Open Meeting

The morning of December 1, 2019, I paced my living room floor for a couple of hours, praying: God, show me what it looks like to build your church. I have no idea what I’m doing, but I believe that you know the way and will teach me.

I had just left the church I was working for as the Adult Discipleship Pastor, where I spent my final two months answering people’s questions about this new “house church” thing I was gearing up to do: how I planned to support myself, how the church would grow, how we’d guard against false teaching, what we’d do with the kids, etc. All these were questions with one straightforward answer: “I don’t know, but I’m going to seek the Lord and find out!”

With that chapter of my life now behind me, this was finally Day 1 of seeking the Lord and finding out. As I prayed that morning, God’s first move was to interrupt my prayer with a phone call.

On the other end of the line was a man named Jonathan, who had been leading a church in his home for about seven years. Someone had given me his information a few weeks earlier, and I left him a voicemail, which he was just now returning—not coincidentally—on the first day of my new adventure. He invited me over to his house on the spot, and (since I had literally nothing else going on) I went, eager to see what God had planned.

For three hours, we got to know each other—sharing our backgrounds, our hearts for God, our desires for the Church, and our theological convictions. I remember thinking to myself (and commenting to my wife afterward), “I’ve never met anyone like this before.” He seemed so Spirit-filled, despite not having attended a “normal” church in years. Go figure!

Part of Jonathan’s story involved a couple of trips to India shortly after he was saved, where he learned about the spiritual life and ministry from a man who he felt was the closest thing to an apostle that he’d ever met. Jonathan spent some months backpacking with him through remote villages and visiting various churches that this man had planted. One thing in particular that Jonathan picked up from him and brought back to the States was the way that he taught the churches to conduct their weekly gatherings. Jonathan had been operating his house church this way ever since, and he shared it with me that day.

I’m paraphrasing what Jonathan told me about their gatherings, but essentially, he said, “We all just sit in a circle, direct our eyes toward Jesus, and let him lead us wherever he wants. Nothing is pre-scripted. There is no official liturgy. There is sometimes a lot of silence. But this isn’t a lack of structure or design; it is the intended structure and design, meant to train people to depend on Christ as opposed to the next item on the agenda—giving the Spirit of God full control of the gathering.”

As you might imagine, this talk with Jonathan seemed like a divine appointment to me. I had never read a book about house churches. I had never been to a house church myself. And I had never met someone who had been to a house church, either. Again, I had little to no idea what I was doing, besides being committed to relying on God for everything. And here—on my first day of this new adventure, while praying for direction—God sent me someone with experience and practical wisdom that I could immediately apply to my first Sunday gathering. (He also sent me a friend in Jonathan, whom I’ve been doing this alongside ever since.)

Before this conversation, I hadn’t decided how to structure our weekly gatherings, but I felt that they would probably look different than any kind of Sunday church service I had seen. I knew that meeting in homes didn’t guarantee any improvement if we just did all the same things you would typically do in a church building. While there are certainly benefits to meeting in a smaller setting (like those we talked about in the last chapter), the place of meeting or the number of people in attendance was not going to be the one thing that changed everything. My basic conviction was that the “silver bullet” for the Church always has been, and always will be, the Holy Spirit—a conviction that I hold just as strongly today.

What Jonathan presented to me that day hit a chord in my spirit—a way of meeting that, above all things, emphasizes letting Jesus be the leader. What I didn’t know then was that Jonathan’s model wasn’t a new invention, but a return to an ancient pattern I was about to discover in the Bible, which has become foundational to my understanding of equipping the Church and making disciples. From here on out, I’ll refer to this way of gathering as an “open meeting”—due to its emphasis on open participation (i.e., being radically open to what the Spirit may do through any member within the gathering), not on being “open” or inviting to everyone. Having practiced it every week for almost six years now, I feel more strongly than ever that the Church must return to some version of this, and I’ll make my case for this throughout the rest of the chapter.

What Happens in a House Church Meeting?

One of the first questions I typically get asked about house church is: “What do your Sunday services look like?” In one way, the answer is very simple. But in another way, the concept is so foreign to most people that it requires a lot of explaining.

Each week, our churches gather in someone’s home (although any meeting place is fine). It’s typically anywhere from five to twenty-five people, including children, but we know that just two or three people gathered in Jesus’ name constitute a church (Matthew 18:20). We enjoy some initial chatter as we wait for everyone to arrive, and we seat ourselves in a circle around the room.

Subscribe now

At the start of the meeting, we all turn the eyes of our hearts to Jesus in prayer, asking and expecting him to lead the gathering. We allow space for silence throughout our time together—not awkward silence (at least, it doesn’t have to be) but intentional. For the most part, we’ve learned to be comfortable with the silence, though it wasn’t easy at first and still isn’t always easy for me. But it is important because it leaves room for the Holy Spirit to dictate what happens next.

As each person feels led to share something that God is stirring up in them, we encourage and expect one another to do so. Each of us does our best to share whatever gift from the Holy Spirit is at work in us that day. In the same way, we may perceive that the Spirit is not prompting us to say anything, in which case, we faithfully remain quiet.

So, for example, here’s what a normal gathering in my home might look like.

I call everyone’s attention to let them know that we’re getting started. I open with prayer, welcoming the Lord to lead us, and only praying as I feel prompted by the Holy Spirit. As I sense that it’s time for me to finish praying, I fall silent, leaving space for others to discern if the Spirit is prompting them to share.

Perhaps someone feels a desire to pray more. Believing the Spirit of God stirs these desires within them, they pray out loud so that we can all join them in agreement. A couple more people might pray, and then someone’s prayer stirs someone else to start singing. If we know the words, we all join in. After the song, there may be another song, or we may sit in silence again, waiting on the Lord to move through someone else.

At this point, someone might share a revelation they received that week or a testimony of something God is doing in their life. That inspires more prayers of thanksgiving and worship. Maybe someone has a scripture on their heart, so they read it, and this causes someone else to share a verse that comes to mind.

As each of these things occurs, we may start to see a theme arise and perceive what the Lord wants to teach us that morning.

Often, I will feel led to teach, but I am always waiting for the Spirit to give me clarity, and I am willing to remain silent if I am not confident that my teaching will build up the church that day. The question is not whether what I have to say is true, you see. The question is whether what I have to say is what God has to say that morning. If it isn’t what God is saying to our church in that moment, then I want nothing to do with it in that moment. We’re not in the business of tickling ears and puffing each other up with knowledge, but of ministering Christ, who is alive. Therefore, I’m always trying to discern whether Christ wants to say anything specifically through me, and this is what others are trying to discern for themselves, as well. We’ll talk more extensively about this discernment process in the next chapter.

Sometimes I sense that others in the gathering have gone full-on “spectator mode” and are idly waiting for me to speak, since I’m the “leader,” and that’s what they’ve been trained to do. Instead, they should be looking to their true Shepherd, Teacher, and Leader (who is Christ). When I sense this, I will try to avoid teaching with my mouth because I am trying to point them away from relying on me and toward Christ. Any God-appointed shepherd should understand that this is ultimately their role. I tell them, “If it doesn’t look like I’m leading, that is my leading. If it doesn’t look like I’m teaching, that is my teaching.” Again, here, silence is important.

Besides me, others may also teach. It just depends on what we discern God is doing that day. And usually, teachings turn into open conversations that turn into prayer for one another and so forth.

A very important aspect of all of this is that whatever is said is liable to be weighed by the others who are present. If someone has a concern about something that was said, then it’s their duty to speak honestly about what they perceive so that everyone in the gathering might weigh the differing perceptions and seek to find unity on the matter. We’ll talk about this practice of collective discernment in greater detail later.

Last, but certainly not least, we enjoy the Lord’s Supper together every week. This is not out of obligation—we do not believe there is a law around this—but out of a genuine desire for it and faith that it benefits our souls. No matter what else occurs, the Lord’s Supper ensures the gospel is always proclaimed.

In the church that I lead, this gathering normally lasts about two hours, but it will often go a little longer. One of the other churches regularly meets for over three hours. (They’re the more “charismatic” bunch.) The length isn’t particularly relevant except that it’s not predetermined. If God’s still moving, we want to be sensitive enough to realize it and not end the meeting prematurely. But on the flip side, if God has done all he wants to do in that setting, it doesn’t make us any less holy to end a little earlier than usual.

What I’ve shared here is only an example of what a gathering could look like because, again, God is in control, and it’s different every time. There’s no prescribed structure to our gatherings, except that when we don’t know what is next, we always turn our eyes to the Lord and wait on him.

In theory, there’s no reason that an entire gathering couldn’t be filled with one kind of activity. For example, what if God has one person on his mind who he wants to bless that day? So he stirs them to share their struggles at the beginning of the gathering, and we spend the rest of the time ministering to that person—speaking truth into their life, praying over them, etc. Is that a waste of a Sunday because we didn’t have a sermon or a lesson of some kind? Or was the “sermon” actually in the various scriptures that were shared, expounded upon, and applied to this person’s unique situation? Was the lesson in how the person was so humble to ask for help, or how someone corrected their thinking with such love and gentleness, or how not to take offense when someone ministers to you poorly? If God was the one leading our time together, then wasn’t it actually what we all needed and desired more than anything?

You can apply this principle to any of the various activities that could happen in our gatherings, and it holds true: a meeting with only prayer and worship, a meeting with just Scripture and discussion, etc. I’m not saying this happens often. I’m only making a point that God, at his sole discretion, gets to decide what we do. And if we believe that this is what God is doing in us, then why would we want anything else?

In this, we are learning that we don’t have to force things like teaching, singing, Scripture reading, etc. We don’t need to create an agenda—in fact, we largely resist it—because if we just learn to be faithful with sharing the grace given to each of us, then all these things will happen naturally, and the church will be built up as God intends. In other words (like we talked about in the first chapter), we’ll have fruitful ministry, and it’ll be from rest, not striving, all to the glory of God.

The weekly gathering, then, is ground zero for learning the way of the Spirit, for equipping the saints, for discipleship, as it provides a setting where waiting on the Lord and building up the Body of Christ are actually encouraged and practiced in real-time by all members. It benefits the Church far less to spend this time together (the only time that many Christians gather) in such a way as to force and train the majority to be mostly docile.

The only thing I might add to this (which many members of my own church still need to learn, as well) is that it is best not to wait for the gathering to pray about what to do/share in the gathering. It is far better for everyone to be praying for the church throughout the week and (with the vision we talked about in the last chapter) asking the Lord what they can offer to help build up their brothers and sisters on Sunday. If members don’t spend any time throughout the week preparing themselves for the gathering this way, it’s not the end of the world, but you will likely spend a lot of unnecessary time in silence together waiting on the Lord to speak, which could have been done in private. Sometimes, when there is a lot of silence in our gatherings, it exposes that people need to grow in the areas of prayer, stewarding their gifts, and taking responsibility for one another. Having the forethought and intentionality to wait on the Lord in your own time for the sake of others is an act of love and maturity that will lead to more fruitful, Spirit-filled gatherings.

< Previous Part | Table of Contents | Next Part >

Questions for the Comments:

1. How much of your weekly church experience is spent passively consuming a pre-planned agenda versus actively listening to what the Holy Spirit might want to do through you or others in the room?

2. If your church removed the pre-scripted liturgy, the sermon outline, and the sermon itself, what would be left? Would the congregation know how to wait on the Lord together?

Want to discuss these topics with other like-minded believers? We explore the theology of the Church, discipleship, and spiritual growth in our monthly Community Calls. It’s a great place to connect—upgrade to a paid subscription today to get access!

Subscribe now

Like what you’re reading? You don’t have to wait for the next part. You can read the entire book right now in paperback, ebook, or audiobook format on Amazon. Buy ‘Unless God Builds It’ Here

In Christ,

Jake

Welcome to Part 9 of the weekly release of my book, Unless God Builds It: A Proposal to Radically Rethink the Church.

In the last post, we confronted the sobering reality that most of what we build in the name of the Church—the organizations, the buildings, the programs—will not survive the fire of God’s judgment. Only people will remain. We then explored what it truly means to “equip the saints,” and why running the soundboard or serving coffee shouldn’t be confused with the work of the ministry.

If you have already read the book and do not wish to receive these weekly emails, simply click ‘Unsubscribe’ at the bottom of this email. It will only unsubscribe you from the Book section, and you will still receive my normal weekly newsletter!

In this post, we close out Chapter 2 with a look at why so many Christians are opting out of discipleship—and a direct challenge for leaders and laypeople alike to take ownership.

Optional Relationship, Optional Discipleship

I want for every Christian to understand that we cannot achieve the goal of Christianity apart from relationship. Without Christ-centered, Spirit-led relationships, there is no discipleship, no equipping of the saints, and no fulfilling your purpose on earth.

Please hear my heart as a local shepherd: I don’t care a whole lot about what you’re doing for “Grace Community Church.” I care about what you’re doing for specific people in that church. Do they experience the love of Christ through you—not in passing while you greet them at the door, but in life as you live it with them? I don’t care that you’re busying yourself with a bunch of Christian activities, nor that you spend much of your time with other Christians. I care that your ministry to the saints (and theirs to you) is mature, Spirit-led, and deeply transformative. I care that when you see one of your brothers and sisters sinning, you call them to repentance. I care that when they’re struggling with sin, trauma, or mental illness, you are equipped to lead them into the healing that only God provides. I care that when they don’t treat you like Christ, you continue being Christ to them, steadfast and immovable.

The truth is, I’ve never met a healthy Christian who didn’t have these kinds of relationships. In terms of spiritual growth, it is simply not optional, which I think is common knowledge among most pastors. Hence, the effort to drive church members into home groups, life groups, cell groups, mentor-mentee relationships, and things of that nature. (Moving forward, I’ll just refer to all of these as “small groups.”)

The problem is, no matter how strongly a church exhorts its members to pursue these kinds of relationships, no matter how strong its small-group ministry is, in nearly every case I’ve seen, it is still optional. Which means that discipleship is optional. Learning to love God’s people is optional. Building up the Body of Christ is optional. Walking in a manner worthy of your calling is optional. Well, friends—please allow me to lovingly remind you that, as far as God is concerned, these are not optional!

I don’t know of any church or any spiritual leader who would teach that discipleship is optional. But the system that they’re a part of, which allows someone’s church experience to be devoid of formative relationships, quietly undermines their ministry by teaching that discipleship is optional. When I was the Pastor of Adult Discipleship at my former church, I frequently taught from the pulpit on the importance of Christian community. I spoke of it as an absolute necessity in the spiritual life, and I worked really hard to get people into small groups. However, large portions of the congregation apparently had no problem ignoring my admonition, and some of those who received it were still unable to find a group to join.

There was a point when God began to show me that my words lacked some integrity. I taught that these relationships were necessary, but the system that I implicitly endorsed was teaching that they were merely optional. To continue being the leader that I felt God was calling me to be, I would need to align the model with what I believed and require every person in the community to join a small group (which I did not have the authority, nor the slightest clue, how to implement).

This was another strong conviction that led me to the house-church model. Discipleship should neither be optional for those who are inclined to avoid it, nor difficult to find for those inclined to seek it. With the house-church model, relationship is baked into the church experience. Discipleship is not only easily accessible but virtually unavoidable.

At the very least, coming to one of our gatherings requires that you go to someone’s house, meet people who will talk to you and ask you questions about yourself, and then sit in a circle for a couple of hours where you may be encouraged, prayed over, or asked your thoughts about something. Moreover, whatever you do or don’t do, whatever you say or don’t say, is seen and heard by everyone. There is no avoiding this reality within our church, so if you want to avoid it, then you must avoid our church.

And that’s just the baseline. Beyond what I’ve just mentioned, we also strive to pursue each other outside of the weekly gathering, speak truth into each other’s lives, correct one another when we see sin/immaturity, challenge each other’s ideas, and work through our disagreements. This means that we have hard conversations. It can, at times, make life very uncomfortable. But we each share the responsibility (and the privilege) of helping one another be conformed into the image of Christ, which is worth far more to us than comfort and ease.

Subscribe now

We still have much room to grow in all of these things, so I’m not implying that we’re perfect by any means. I’m simply saying that the process of spiritual growth cannot be avoided in a community that functions like this, and that’s exactly how it should be.

Sometimes people leave our house church for a more traditional church setting because they feel they aren’t ready for the level of relational intimacy that we have in our church. My heart grieves over this because what I hear them really saying is, “I’m not ready for discipleship.” Of course, they don’t think of it this way. They rationally (though mistakenly) assume they’ll be discipled in a traditional church setting, but as long as they continue to avoid the rich experience of Christ-centered, Spirit-led relationships, they will continue to avoid discipleship no matter where they are.

It would be one thing if they were leaving our group to be close with another group of Christians—which I have no problem with—but that isn’t the case. They’re leaving people to go engage with programs. And each time this happens, I’m reminded of the painfully unfortunate reality that so many Christians—because they’re given the option—are opting out of discipleship, love, and service to the saints.

It’s Time to Take Ownership

There are two major implications that I hope you take away from all of this—one for church leaders and one for every Christian.

For my fellow church leaders, your Father knows your love for the sheep. He sees your labor. Without any shame or condemnation, can we admit that our sermons and small-group ministries aren’t cutting it? Can we acknowledge that there are still far too many Christians saying “no thanks” to discipleship like it’s some questionable seafood on a cheap cruise line? And do you believe that God has appointed and equipped you to do something about it? I do.

As the captain of your ship, you’ve been given the authority to enlist and train each crew member for service, and to create an environment where that is not only expected but required. There will be all sorts of excuses as to why a church can’t really require this, but they are all poor excuses. You can, and you must. It’s the weakest, most immature members who especially need you to stop treating them like customers and start treating them like the crew, apart from which you will be liable for their spiritual stagnancy. Let’s just consider the worst-case scenario for a moment: If your crew ends up throwing you overboard for merely insisting that you’re on a sailboat and not a cruise line, then so be it. But I believe for better things, for you and your church.

Every person in your care needs regular, close, Spirit-filled interaction with other believers, but the mere availability of it, along with the exhortation from the pulpit, still isn’t enough to lead many of them into it. The model itself is teaching them things that you aren’t teaching them. But if you seek the Lord in this matter, and earnestly wait on him for guidance, he will give you wisdom about what changes you should make. Whether it’s by modifying your current discipleship model or implementing a new one entirely, it will be right for your church because it will be from God.

If someone leaves one church and goes to another, we should all feel confident that they will be immediately immersed in community—again, not that they can be if they look for it, but that they will be, even if they’re inclined to isolate. There should be no concept of Christianity or “church” anywhere without face-to-face discipleship. Would you help me make that a reality?

And for every Christian—whatever kind of church you’re a part of, whatever role you have in it—it’s time to take ownership of others’ spiritual growth. It doesn’t matter how new you are to the faith. As a member of the Body, you serve an important function, and you’ll only find out what that is as you begin to love people and earnestly strive for their spiritual growth.

Start by praying for God to show you the specific Christians in your city whose spiritual growth you are especially responsible for (not that anyone is entirely responsible for someone else, but partially). Those people are called your church, and growing them up in Christ is your ministry. Learn how to serve them as Christ, how to pursue relationships with them as Christ, how to have spiritual conversations with them as Christ, how to pray and intercede for them as Christ, and how to lay down your life for them as Christ, that they may experience his eternal life in full. Make this your aim, rely fully on God to achieve it, and it will be your greatest accomplishment and joy.

< Previous Part | Table of Contents | Next Part >

Questions for the Comments:

1. Is discipleship truly optional in your church? If someone attended for a year without ever joining a small group or forming a deep relationship, would anyone notice—or would the system just keep rolling?

2. What would it look like for you to take personal ownership of the spiritual growth of specific people in your life this week?

Want to discuss these topics with other like-minded believers? We explore the theology of the Church, discipleship, and spiritual growth in our monthly Community Calls. It’s a great place to connect—upgrade to a paid subscription today to get access!

Subscribe now

Like what you’re reading? You don’t have to wait for the next part. You can read the entire book right now in paperback, ebook, or audiobook format on Amazon. Buy ‘Unless God Builds It’ Here

In Christ,

Jake

Welcome to Part 8 of the weekly release of my book, Unless God Builds It: A Proposal to Radically Rethink the Church.

In the last post, we explored the contrast between the passive consumerism of a “cruise ship” church and the active participation of a “sailboat.” I shared my conviction that God designed the Church to function where every member is trained to catch the Wind, making discipleship and service to the saints our chief responsibility.

If you have already read the book and do not wish to receive these weekly emails, simply click ‘Unsubscribe’ at the bottom of this email. It will only unsubscribe you from the Book section, and you will still receive my normal weekly newsletter!

In this post, we look at how Judgment-Day fire will test what we build in this life, and why true “equipping” is about raising saints to speak the truth in love rather than managing church programs.

Will it Pass Through the Fire?

Another way to look at it is this: The Scriptures testify that a day will come—known as “the Day”—when Jesus Christ returns to judge the earth. On this Day, everything in heaven and earth will have to pass through the most intense and all-consuming fire that creation has ever known.

After the Flood, which God enacted to put an end to all flesh, God promised he would never again destroy all flesh via water (Genesis 9:11-16), but he always knew of a coming Day when he would destroy it by fire (2 Peter 3:6-13, Isaiah 66:15-16). When that Day comes, everything that can be burned up will be burned up. Everything that can be shaken will be shaken, “in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain” (Hebrews 12:27; cf. Isaiah 66:22).

Although we Christians will be saved if we hold firm in our faith until the end, there is more for us to think about than merely making it through the fire. I find that the scripture below offers some wonderful insight in this regard:

For we are God’s fellow workers. You are . . . God’s building. According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones [which the fire will not consume], wood, hay, straw [which the fire will consume]—each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. (1 Corinthians 3:9-17)

Do you see here that only one thing will pass through the fire, and that is the Church, God’s temple, Christ’s Body? It is only the people of God that will remain, who are the living stones being built up into a spiritual house for God (1 Peter 2:5; cf. Ephesians 2:21-22, Hebrews 3:1-6). And do you see, as a result of this, that anything you work towards, anything you build in this life, that does not directly contribute to the building up of the saints, is in vain and will perish? Though you yourself may be saved, if everything you did on earth is burned up, you will suffer great loss.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. As a living stone yourself, as a member of Christ’s Body, if you learn to work properly, relying on the Spirit within you to love others, you will make the Body grow (Ephesians 4:16), and you will have much to rejoice over on that Day when you get to see with your own eyes what you’ve been building this whole time.

It’s important at this point to clarify what I am not talking about—that is, the buildings, the seminaries, the denominations, or the individual organizations that you’re a part of, which we commonly associate with the word “Church.” Catholic, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Charismatic, and all the rest (sorry if I missed you)—these are not the Church. Schweitzer Church, Fellowship Bible Church, Hill City, High Street, James River, Hope, North Point, and Life 360 (all “churches” from my hometown in Springfield, MO, USA)—these, likewise, are not the Church. The youth ministry, kids ministry, young adult ministry, small-group ministry, grief ministry, outreach ministry, prayer ministry, and all the others—these are not the Church, either.

Do you know how I know this? Because they won’t pass through the fire. Therefore, if these are what you’re building, if these are what get you excited, if these are what you’re serving and hoping to grow and using as a measure for success—as opposed to the sanctification of people—then you are flat-out misguided. For all of these things only exist on earth. They are not eternal or spiritual realities, but temporal things that will one day cease to exist.

But the Church—i.e., the people—will remain.

In a similar fashion, you need to know that your marriage will not pass through the fire (see Matthew 22:30). Your spouse will if they are in Christ, but your marriage will not. For you became one flesh, and flesh will be no more (for we will be raised in spiritual bodies, not fleshly ones). All the saints will be married to one Husband, Christ. So be careful not to lose sight of what your marriage is about, which is to love your spouse as Christ, with the hopeful intention of helping to conform them into Christ’s image (Ephesians 5:22-33).

Also, your earthly family will not pass through the fire (Matthew 10:21; 12:48-50). Your family members will if they are in Christ, but your family (according to the flesh) will not—i.e., there will be no Hotchkiss family in eternity. I tell my kids that they won’t actually be my kids in heaven; they’ll be my brothers and sisters, and we’ll have the same Father! So, just like my marriage, this is what my relationship with my family on earth is all about—making Christ known to them, that they might know him and the Father. (As a brief side note, I acknowledge that there remains some mystery regarding what these relationships will mean to us on the other side of life; therefore, I am only trying to argue here for the primary purpose of these relationships that will most definitely never fade.)

You probably know this one, but your career, your business, and your wealth will not pass through the fire, either (Luke 12:16-21). So please don’t fall into that trap.

The point of all of this is that only people will pass through the fire, and only those in Christ, and only the part of them that is the eternal image and glory of Christ.

Therefore, if you want your life on earth to be aligned with your true purpose, then you must devote yourself in service—i.e., the ministry—to the saints. You must lay down your life for the transformation of souls (particularly those God has called you to serve), from one degree of glory to the next (2 Corinthians 3:18).

This doesn’t mean that everyone needs to become a pastor or missionary. Those are specific kinds of appointments that only some are appointed to and gifted for (1 Timothy 2:7; 2 Timothy 1:11; 1 Corinthians 12:27-30). It also doesn’t mean that certain activities are inherently more spiritual than others. Virtually anything in life, if done by the Spirit, holds the potential to build up the Body of Christ (if even just you).

It does, however, mean that to walk in a manner worthy of your calling (Ephesians 4:1), you must live your life with hyper-intentionality toward the spiritual growth of God’s people. To live out your purpose, you must mature in the ways of God so as to effectively help others mature in the ways of God. This is what it means to be equipped for the work of ministry (Ephesians 4:12), and it is not the unique role of a pastor but of every Christian.

My question to you, then, is this: Do you think the average Christian is equipped?

What It Means to be Equipped

The following passage is commonly regarded as one of the most important scriptures about God’s design for the Church:

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the Body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:11–16)

Here, we see that Paul has the same goal in mind that we’ve already discussed, which is for the Body of Christ to become fully mature. We also see that the “work of the ministry” is not just for the Church’s leaders but for all the saints. In fact, the explicit job description of the leaders is not to do the ministry themselves but to equip the saints for the ministry, so that each member—working properly—would build up the Body.

But if I’ve not been clear up to this point about how this contrasts with the common understanding of what it means to equip the saints for ministry, then I will try to do so now. Throughout my years as a Christian, almost every idea of “equipping the saints” that I’ve encountered has revolved around one of two things: evangelism or empowerment, both of which I’ll explain below.

Through the lens of evangelism, it’s the notion that in order to equip the saints, we need to teach people how to share their faith with unbelievers. Sometimes this is less direct, like shining the light of Christ in the workplace or reaching out to your neighbors. Other times, it’s more direct—like sharing your testimony, taking someone through a pithy presentation of the gospel you’ve memorized, or just straight-up street-evangelism.

Without assuming these evangelistic activities are good or bad, helpful or unhelpful, let’s simply recognize what they are not. They are not the same thing as loving one another. They are not the same thing as serving the saints. Therefore, they should not be confused with “being equipped for ministry.” I have devoted Chapters 7 and 8 to this concept for later, so I’ll just keep it at that for now.

As for “empowerment,” the general idea is that it’s the church leader’s job to foster an environment where anyone can serve in the way they feel led: “Do you like children? We could really use your help in the kids’ Sunday school class.” “If you’re into music, we’ve got a spot in the praise band with your name on it (assuming you’re halfway decent).” “If you’re good with money, Joe’s getting tired of counting the dollars in the offering plate each week all by himself.” “And if there’s something we’re not thinking about that you’d like to start, let us know, and we can discuss whether it fits our vision.”

But after all this, the members we’ve “empowered” still aren’t making disciples of one another. They aren’t growing in their capacity to effectively conform each other into the image of Christ through love, but relying on their pastors to handle the business of spiritual formation.

It stands to reason that people are only capable of equipping others with something that they themselves already have, right? A fisherman is able to equip an accountant to fish, not to do his taxes. A father equips his son to be a man, not necessarily to be an entrepreneur. A math teacher equips her students to do algebra, not to understand history.

I ask you, then, what is it that the “apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers” (from the scripture above) all have in common that makes them capable of equipping the saints for ministry? It is that they themselves are equipped with the word of God that builds up the Church. They are capable ministers of the gospel—i.e., the truth that sets us free, the power of salvation from beginning to end. They are faithful stewards of the mystery by which people are transformed into the image of Christ. They have learned the ways of God and borne the fruit of the Spirit to an extent where they can say to anyone, “Imitate my way of life and thinking (Philippians 3:15-17; 4:9; 1 Corinthians 11:1; Hebrews 13:7), and you, too, will bear fruit.”

Ministers of the word equip people to minister the word, not to start a non-profit. Disciple-makers equip people to make disciples, not to usher people to their seats. Shepherds equip people to take care of sheep, not to organize social events. Etc.

With this in mind, I reject the notion that training someone to operate the sound at the Sunday gathering, manage the slideshow, or serve coffee is equipping them for the “work of the ministry.” While every act of humble service is beautiful in God’s eyes, we must stop conflating these things with being equipped for the work of the ministry because they can all be done without a single person growing up into Christ.

Equipping the saints isn’t getting people signed up for the hospitality team. It’s raising them in the Lord so that, having learned the ways of the Spirit and grown up in love, they are always hospitable to everyone. Equipping the saints isn’t plugging them into a prayer ministry; it’s teaching them to function organically in the ministry of prayer all the time. It isn’t just sending them overseas to build houses and pass out medicine. It’s making them effective ministers of the truth so that, wherever they are and whatever they’re doing, they’re prepared to meet spiritual needs, as well, to build up the invisible and eternal Body of Christ.

Moreover, equipping the saints isn’t training them to facilitate a small-group discussion or lead a Sunday School class, which is often as far as we get. It’s training them, as the passage above says, to “speak the truth in love” to one another, by which everyone is built up. They’re equipped when they’re bearing responsibility for the state of each other’s souls, when they correct and admonish one another, and when they exercise church discipline as Jesus taught. They’re equipped when they no longer minister the wisdom of man but have learned to effectively minister the wisdom of God into each other’s lives. They’re equipped when they don’t rely on others to build community for them, but they pursue one another of their own accord and fight for one another’s transformation. They’re equipped when they no longer depend on their human leaders for direction and answers, but instead, they consult with their Chief Shepherd alongside one another. They’re equipped when they become a self-sustaining (or, really, a sustained-by-God) church in their own right, making disciples of one another by the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit that is always uniquely relevant to what God is doing in their midst, where growth is all but inevitable.

If the pastor can be mostly hands-off with a group of Christians and they continue to grow and thrive together, then the pastor has done his job—the saints are equipped.

< Previous Part | Table of Contents | Next Part >

Questions for the Comments:

1. Look around at your current church activities and investments. If the fire of God tested everything this week, what would burn away as temporal hay/straw, and what gold and silver would remain in the hearts of people?

2. Have you ever been “equipped” for church service (like serving coffee, greeting, or running sound) and mistaken it for being equipped for the spiritual work of the ministry? What does true equipping look like in your life?

   ---

Want to discuss these topics with other like-minded believers? We explore the theology of the Church, discipleship, and spiritual growth in our monthly Community Calls. It’s a great place to connect—upgrade to a paid subscription today to get access!

Subscribe now

Like what you’re reading? You don’t have to wait for the next part. You can read the entire book right now in paperback, ebook, or audiobook format on Amazon. Buy ‘Unless God Builds It’ Here

In Christ,

Jake

Welcome to Part 7 of the weekly release of my book, Unless God Builds It: A Proposal to Radically Rethink the Church.

In the last post, we finished Chapter 1 with a raw look at the exhaustion that plagues modern church systems. I shared my experience of feeling the pressure to perform and preach Sunday sermons even when I felt no inspiration from the Holy Spirit, and why I eventually walked away to learn total dependence on God.

If you have already read the book and do not wish to receive these weekly emails, simply click ‘Unsubscribe’ at the bottom of this email. It will only unsubscribe you from the Book section, and you will still receive my normal weekly newsletter!

In this post, we begin Chapter 2 by addressing the passivity of modern churchgoers, compared to the true calling to ministry that is given by God to every believer.

Equipping the Saints

The people of God have been trained to “consume church.” Like eager vacationers, they browse for the cruise line that’s just right for them—with the best shows, the right kind of food, activities they’ll enjoy, and (most importantly) not too costly—a nice getaway from the usual activities of life.

And can you blame them? We’ve built this ship. We provide the shows. We serve the food. We’ve created the ultimate consumer experience, and we advertise it as such: “Come hear an inspiring message and some good music every week—coffee, donut holes, and salvation on the house. Sign up for one of our classes or groups, and go deeper in your faith. Let us know if you want to serve, and we’ll plug you into one of our volunteer teams. We think it’d be good for you to do all of these things, but if you choose not to, no worries. You’re the customer, and we’re still here for you.”

Of course, some cruise ships attract more vacationers than others. With way more bells and whistles, they garner thousands, not just hundreds. Many of the smaller ships take pride in the fact that they’re not so big and fancy, that their guests enjoy a more intimate and down-to-earth experience. But for the most part, regardless of size, flavor, and flare, they’re all still using the same model as one another—a crew that creates an (hopefully life-changing) experience for its passengers, and passengers who engage at whatever limited capacity they’re comfortable with; a crew that has no real authority over the passengers, and passengers who hold the crew responsible for the experience they desire; a crew that needs to keep the passengers happy in order to keep this thing in business, and passengers without any sense of ownership, who are ready to shop around for a better experience.

You may not agree with my assessment that most churches are operating this way. After all, the idea that immature Christians have a tendency towards passivity and consumerism isn’t a new concept but something that most leaders are aware of and are doing their best to counteract. In their preaching and teaching, they express the importance of going beyond mere Sunday attendance. They tell you how important it is that you use your gifts to help serve the Body, to support the church’s mission with your tithes, to join some type of small group where you’ll form deeper relationships, and so forth. In a sense, their messaging is: “Stop being passengers, and help out the crew! Help us build this thing!”

However, no matter how hard they try, no matter how many passengers eventually help out the crew, it’s still a cruise ship—a fundamentally flawed system if we’re trying to build a church without consumerism.

But unlike a cruise ship—where passengers are served by a professional crew and can opt in or out of whatever they choose—a sailboat requires everyone on board to be the crew, actively participating in the journey at hand. On a sailboat, you don’t have an option. If you are going to be on this ship, you literally cannot avoid being treated like a crew member and trained in the ways of catching the Wind. If you want a more leisurely experience, you must choose a different boat. By design, therefore, the sailboat has zero consumers.

I promise this is the last inch of the “cruise ship v. sailboat” analogy I will use. But it should again help us to see the difference between our design for the Church and God’s design for the Church. What I’m suggesting here is that God designed the Church to function in such a way that its members cannot avoid becoming effective servants for the Lord and playing a vital role in the shared mission. As long as they can avoid it, many will. In this chapter, we’ll discuss what is necessary to rid the Church of consumerism and create a culture of unavoidable participation in ministry. But first, I feel it’s necessary to cast some vision.

Your Purpose on Earth

In the Introduction, I stated that you are on this earth for one primary reason, and that is to build up the Body of Christ, of which you are a vital member. Notice, I did not say it’s the reason you exist, but the reason you’re on this earth. The reason you exist, I would say, is to know and be known by God. But if that’s the case, then why not just die and go be with the Lord forever, which is far better (Philippians 1:23; 2 Corinthians 5:8)? The answer, as Paul says, is love—i.e., that you might continue with others for their “progress and joy in the faith” (Philippians 1:25).

Maybe you’ve heard that your purpose is to glorify God and enjoy him forever (a standard Christian answer about the meaning of life). I would say, yes—and you can only do either of these things by making the Body of Christ your main concern, to lay down your life for your brothers and sisters (John 15:11-13; Philippians 1:29; 1 John 1:4; 3:16).

Others may have told you that your purpose is to become like Christ, to be conformed to his image (Romans 8:29). I would say, yes—and to be like Christ is to devote one’s life on earth toward building up his Body (Matthew 20:26-28; Philippians 2:3-8; Ephesians 5:1-2; 5:25-27).

Still others might say that our purpose is to love God and love others, or to know God and make him known. I would say, yes—and to know God is to love God (1 John 4:8), to love God is to love your brother (1 John 4:20), and to love your brother is to make God known to your brother, that he might know God, love God, be built up into Christ, and thereby make God known to others just as you did to him.

So then, have you ever considered that the Body of Christ is your chief responsibility? Have you considered that your whole life should be ordered around helping God’s people to grow and mature?

Among all the things I hope to impart to you (though only God truly can), there are few with greater significance than this revelation about your purpose on earth, for it is the fuel to the fire that God has put within you. It is the “why” behind everything in this life. It is the joy set before you. It is the mind of Christ, from which comes maximum clarity, all endurance, and every spiritual fruit. It is the vision you need to thrive and the vision we need to thrive together.

And yet, most Christians—apart from church leaders—don’t see it. They may see that they’re called to raise a godly family, work hard, go to church, and generally love people. They may see that they’re called to turn away from sin and walk in holiness, to shine the light of Christ wherever they are. They may even see that God has given them a role in their local church—so they tithe, join a small group, serve on a volunteer team, etc. But too few understand the ultimate responsibility (and privilege) they’ve been given in Christ, which is to contribute to the spiritual growth of God’s people directly, the building of God’s temple—a.k.a. discipleship.

No, this is not a job for a small percentage of individuals. Despite what you may have learned, building up the Body of Christ is not a unique or special purpose given to the pastors, the priests, the missionaries, and all the others who have “felt the call,” as they say. The ministry is not merely for those who are “in” ministry, nor is it a secondary purpose for those who are not. Rather, it is the sole reason that you and I are still here, as opposed to being with the Lord in heaven. We have work to do, and it’s all toward the same end.

Subscribe now

Our Shared Calling

I find that there’s no better place to start in our thinking than at the end. If we don’t know the goal that we’re trying to reach, then our life (whether that be our separate, individual lives or the life of the Church) will be either aimless or misguided. So, take a moment with me to reflect on God’s eternal plan for his creation. What did God have in mind when he made everything, including us? And how did he intend to execute that plan?

There are many ways we might describe the end that God is working towards, but my favorite—and probably the most concise—is this: “that he might fill all things” (Ephesians 4:10; cf. Ephesians 1:10; 1 Corinthians 15:28).

But what does this mean, really, that he will fill all things? In simple terms, I think of it this way: God (the Father) fills Christ; Christ fills us; and we “fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over [it]” (Genesis 1:28). Therefore, God “fills all things” through Christ through us. He exercises his perfect dominion over creation (think “kingdom/reign of God”) literally through us (because he dwells in us), and all of creation comes into his proper order through this immutable channel of submission and authority. Then, everything will accurately portray who he is.

This means: no disease, no mental illness, no hatred, no disunity, no natural disasters, no addiction, no rape, no murder, no trauma, no injustice, no fear, no shame, no poverty, no sin, and no death. Instead, there will be only love, joy, peace, health, righteousness, life, and an abundance of every good thing. Of course, “[a]t present, we do not see everything in subjection to him” (Hebrews 2:9), and that is not to be entirely blamed on Christians. Satan is still the ruler of this world, and he still blinds the minds of unbelievers (1 John 5:19; John 12:31; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2).

However, notice that the perfect world we await still depends on us—or, more accurately, God in us (for we can do nothing apart from God). It depends on us being reconciled to God through Christ and being filled with his fullness, so that, by his power and presence within us, we would bring all of creation into order. Hence, the following scripture:

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility . . . in hope that [it] will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. (Romans 8:19–21)

Therefore, regarding God’s eternal plan for his creation, we aren’t just in it along with a bunch of other stuff; we are the crux of it. As Christ’s Body, we, joined with Christ and fully grown up into him, are the linchpin of this whole operation. The only way that creation is set free from its bondage to corruption is through our transformation, or maturation, into the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27; Ephesians 4:24). The way that God’s reign will be fully established on earth is through our perfection, by which we effectively become extensions of God in Christ, allowing God himself to interact with this realm through our physical presence in it. Again, this will not be perfect until Christ returns, but our lives until then are given to us in order that we might reach for and realize as much of his heavenly kingdom on earth now. Therefore, we pray, “On earth as it is in heaven.”

It’s this end that the Bible refers to as our “calling,” as in the following verses:

• [F]orgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14)

• . . . that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you . . . (Ephesians 1:18)

• I . . . urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called . . . (Ephesians 4:1)

• There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call… (Ephesians 4:4)

• Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord . . . but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began . . . (2 Timothy 1:8-9)

• To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him . . . (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12)

• Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling . . . (Hebrews 3:1)

• His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence . . . (2 Peter 1:3)

• Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election . . . (2 Peter 1:10)

The “calling” that these scriptures talk about is not unique to any one of us but something we all share in Christ. While we certainly have different gifts, vocations, appointments, and/or assignments, God gives us these to contribute to our shared calling. You may be on a journey to figure out what your gifts are, and perhaps it’s unclear what vocation you ought to pursue. But let there never be a doubt in your mind as to why you are on this earth. It is to build up the Body of Christ.

For example, you are not “called” to be a stay-at-home mom. You are called to build up the Body of Christ and appointed to work at home as a means to building up the Body of Christ. Or again, you are not “called” to build a business. You are called to help make disciples of Jesus Christ, and you’re appointed to your business as a means of making disciples. Try putting on this mindset with everything you do, and see how it begins to shape the way you relate to your job, your church, your family, etc. If you cannot figure out how to connect the dots from what you’re doing to what you’re called to do, from your appointment(s) to your calling, then pray for God to reveal this to you. It is profoundly important.

For, in addition to your vocation and many other things, you are appointed to relationships with other believers—i.e., the local church—whose spiritual (and, yes, material) needs you are partially responsible for. These people cannot reach their full potential in Christ without you and your love towards them. Their maturity depends on your maturity. And your relationship with them, like Christ’s relationship with his disciples, has greater eternal potential than anything else you do.

< Previous Part | Table of Contents | Next Part >

Questions for the Comments:

1. In your own church experience, have you felt more like a vacationer on a cruise ship or a crew member on a sailboat? What practical changes would help you shift from passenger to crew?

2. If building up the Body of Christ directly is our chief responsibility on earth, how does that shift the way you view your daily job, family life, and relationships?

Want to discuss these topics with other like-minded believers? We explore the theology of the Church, discipleship, and spiritual growth in our monthly Community Calls. It’s a great place to connect—upgrade to a paid subscription today to get access!

Subscribe now

Like what you’re reading? You don’t have to wait for the next part. You can read the entire book right now in paperback, ebook, or audiobook format on Amazon. Buy ‘Unless God Builds It’ Here

In Christ,

Jake

Welcome to Part 6 of the weekly release of my book, Unless God Builds It: A Proposal to Radically Rethink the Church.

In the last post, we explored the Old Testament story of Abraham’s sons, Ishmael and Isaac, to contrast our self-driven efforts with the true promises of God. I also shared a simple “waiter” analogy to reframe what it means to wait on the Lord.

If you have already read the book and do not wish to receive these weekly emails, simply click ‘Unsubscribe’ at the bottom of this email. It will only unsubscribe you from the Book section, and you will still receive my normal weekly newsletter!

In this post, I’ll provide even greater clarity about what it means to wait on the Lord, and just as importantly, how the traditional church machine doesn’t make this very easy.

This is the end of Chapter 1, after which (in the next post) we’ll move onto Equipping the Saints—a vision for “ministry” that few have understood well.

Preaching in Vain

I understand that this concept may still seem a bit vague to you. Perhaps you are thinking: What does it practically look like to wait on the Lord, and how would it change the way we operate in the Church? This can be easily illustrated with a real-life example.

In the traditional church model, I had regular preaching responsibilities on Sunday mornings. For preparation, I would always start by acknowledging that, despite whatever ideas I may have had for the sermon, if I wanted it to be impactful, the best thing I could do was to seek the Lord in prayer before doing anything else, waiting for him to confirm my direction and inspire my thoughts.

But how did I know if it was him speaking to me versus just my own thoughts? This is an important point of clarity, and it is something that, apart from an objectively supernatural experience (which isn’t the norm) can only be discerned by faith. For me, it was pretty easy to tell when I was striving to put something together in my own strength, when I was uninspired and grinding my gears to produce something (anything!). But what about when I caught a wind of inspiration? I couldn’t necessarily prove that it was from God and not self-engineered. However, the point isn’t to prove it or to know it as much as it is to believe it. When waiting on the Lord, much of what we are waiting for is for God to give us confidence/faith that it’s truly him who’s speaking and moving within us, at which point it’s no longer spiritual to “wait” but to go with it. In the waiting, we’re resisting the urge to move in our own strength. We press into prayer, asking for what we need/desire, and trusting that when God moves, we’ll be able to sense the difference, not because of our great senses, but because of his ability to get through to us. If you aren’t familiar with what I’m talking about, it comes by way of having a relationship with God, talking to him about things, and believing that he speaks back to you (because he does). As such, you don’t need to be a spiritual elite for this, but you may step into it any time.

So, despite that I always sought the Lord for help with writing my sermons (usually for many hours), I would often find myself without any inspiration. Sunday wasn’t going anywhere, and my pages were blank. But I had to preach anyway, for that was everyone’s expectation. It’s what I was hired to do, and it was not acceptable for a teaching pastor to come without a message on Sunday, let alone to make that a regular practice.

So, what did I do? If the wind wasn’t blowing (i.e., if the Spirit wasn’t giving me a message), I turned on my engines, using the abilities of my flesh to get the job done—whether that be through my intellect, my Bible knowledge, my creativity, my work ethic, etc. Sometimes what the Spirit put on my heart was only a 2-minute message, not a 30-minute message. In these instances, I still felt the need to conjure up more content (that the Spirit didn’t give me) in order to make the sermon a more acceptable length. Thus, “getting the job done” required conforming to something other than the will of the Spirit.

And the results spoke for themselves. When I considered the people in my congregation, I saw very little long-term life-change as the result of my preaching/teaching.

The scary but obvious truth is that it doesn’t take the Holy Spirit to write a sermon. People without the Holy Spirit write speeches all the time, and they can be highly motivating, too. But only the Holy Spirit knows what God’s people need to hear on a given day, and only the Holy Spirit can give people lasting growth.

Subscribe now

On a very practical level, then, what I wanted was the freedom not to preach when the Lord wasn’t stirring me, even if that meant the church didn’t get a sermon that day. What I needed was a structure that actually encouraged the practice of waiting on the Lord, not discouraged it. For this reason, I began to deeply question why we structure the Church and its gatherings in such a way as to put pastors in this position.

You may think it is irrelevant that I wasn’t always feeling inspired and that I went about writing the sermon, anyway. You may think that it was my job to preach, regardless of how I felt about it on a given day or week. But this is where we must properly understand the role of a spiritual leader and the way God intends to build his church.

A true spiritual leader isn’t one who goes through the motions, who musters up his own strength and resorts to using his own knowledge whenever God doesn’t provide him with what he thinks his church needs. Even if he is trying to serve the Church, a true spiritual leader knows that this doesn’t actually serve the Church. Rather, it teaches the Church a way that is not from God. A true spiritual leader does not eat the bread of anxious toil; he learns the way of bearing fruit while at rest. A true spiritual leader is one who demonstrates the Way, always resisting the ways of man and insisting on the ways of God. Through his own life, he proves to those whom he leads that God is faithful to build his Church even when we, individually, don’t feel like we have anything to offer. Therefore, by his lived example—not merely through good sermons—the true spiritual leader teaches everyone around him to rest, believe, and depend on God at all costs. In this way, and in no other way, both he and his followers bear fruit.

Now, compare the situation I was previously in to the last five years of my life in the house church. From the outset, this was one of the things I was most excited to change. Never again would I live under the pressure of having to conjure something up that the Spirit wasn’t providing to me. I became determined to practice total dependence on God, which meant that if I weren’t feeling empowered or inspired to speak, if I didn’t believe that God was giving me anything to say, then I would not speak. If God put a scripture on my heart but gave me no teaching, then I was free to read the scripture to the congregation without giving a teaching. If God gave me a two-minute mini-sermon, then I was free to teach for only two minutes, thereby always operating in a state of empowerment—never experiencing burnout, yet bearing fruit.

I am no longer required to spend hours upon hours putting a sermon together to meet others’ expectations. There is no part of my job description that requires me to give a sermon each week. My job description is (unofficially) to rely on God and teach others to do the same. To this end, I seek the Lord on behalf of the church, and if I get something, then I go with it. If not, then I don’t. It’s that simple.

Just to clarify, the Spirit doesn’t only lead through spontaneous expression. I’m obviously not opposed to the hard work of planning and preparing, or of putting together spiritual teaching in a way that is didactic, comprehensive, cohesive, and ultimately helpful to the Body of Christ. Or else I wouldn’t be writing this book. The real question is: Should a shepherd spend even one minute of his time preparing a sermon that he does not feel God stirring within his heart? I don’t think so. All effort that is not born of the Spirit and sustained in the Spirit is, by definition, anxious toil and vain labor.

At the end of the day, preaching and teaching effectively don’t depend on going to seminary and taking an exegesis or hermeneutics class. It doesn’t depend on being a naturally charismatic speaker. It doesn’t depend on countless hours of preparation, planning, and study. It depends on learning the ways of God to rely on his Spirit, such that you always have exactly what you need. Here, it is safe. Here, you do not speak about something you don’t actually know. You do not move beyond where God is moving within you. You do not become a play actor or a hypocrite, speaking on holy things with a seared conscience because you’re not living up to the standard. Here, you can only operate in the grace that is being given to you for that day and time. And as you grow faithful in operating this way, the grace you’ve been given multiplies.

At Odds With the System

So far, I’ve only provided the one example about preaching, but this principle can be applied to just about everything. One memory that has stuck with me for years is what I experienced on my first day on staff at a church.

I was hired, in part, because I was already doing quite a bit of ministry—leading small groups, discipling men individually, preaching occasionally, and things like that. All of these were things I felt the Lord empowering me to do outside the confines of my nine-to-five job. But during my first day on staff at the church, I remember sitting down in my office, opening my laptop, and feeling the new sensation of having to figure out how to fill my day with “ministry.” All of a sudden, my way of approaching ministry had to change. No longer could I do it strictly as the Lord was leading. Even if/when he wasn’t leading, I still felt the pressure to fill my time with whatever type of activity justified my pay.

It’s important to note that my superiors at the time (whom I still deeply love) are Spirit-filled believers who always encouraged me to spend time on the clock in prayer, and they regularly did it with me. It wasn’t that there was a lack of effort to be a Spirit-led church. In fact, there was considerable effort put toward that end—more than in most churches, as far as I’m aware. However, in spite of our desire to be that kind of church, I personally found the unspoken pressure to “do” and “prove” and “move” too powerful to keep me (and all of us) from actually waiting on the Lord as long as was needed. I’m sure others may see it differently, and that’s okay. But this is what I sincerely believe.

If we refused to be controlled by the constant demands of ministry, and if we resigned ourselves to prayer until we were confident that the Lord alone (not performance metrics or self-confidence) was initiating our movement, how long would it take before we started seeing results? Could we risk the possibility that it would take much longer than expected? What would people think about how we were spending our time if we didn’t have any immediate and visible results? What would they think if no one on staff had a sermon to give for weeks or months, if the worship leaders didn’t have any songs to sing, if the kids didn’t have a Sunday school lesson? What would people think if we started ceasing the ministries that we realized we’d been doing in our own strength and not coming up with any new ones? What might be the ramifications of all this? People leaving? Losing tithes? Losing the building? Losing our jobs?

You get the idea. This system, within which most Christians operate, has them captured in a way that even the leaders have never fully comprehended. Only when you embrace the practice of waiting on the Lord can you begin to see how the system inherently works against this practice, for it demands that you move even when God isn’t moving you. Thus, the structure that’s meant to support spiritual growth ends up inhibiting it.

This was, above everything, the main reason that I left the system. My deep sense of urgency to wait on the Lord put me at odds with its expectations and demands. I didn’t know how to continue in it without tearing it all down, which I didn’t have the heart or the authority to do. But I felt God calling me to go and learn a different way and to see if that way was viable. Thankfully, it is.

When I started the house church, the first thing I set out to do was wait on the Lord. This meant that for many weeks, I spent most of my days in prayer and intercession. I spent hours and hours each day sitting in the same light-blue sofa chair, seeking God for some type of movement that I couldn’t deny was him. This culminated in the most powerful spiritual experience I’ve ever had (which I’ll describe in Chapter 5: The Gospel), and it dramatically changed the course of my ministry, equipping me in ways I didn’t know that I needed to be equipped. If there’s any testimony here, it’s that God is faithful to reward those who diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6).

Since the inception of the house church, I’ve continued to function this way in all things. If there is something that I desire to see, some fruit I desire to bear, I don’t immediately start thinking of all the ways I could accomplish it. I am usually somewhat skeptical of our human ways. So instead, I remember that I can do nothing apart from him, and then I seek him in prayer until he answers, remaining at rest in the meantime.

I could go on and on with examples of how waiting on the Lord has changed the way that I go about ministry (or, honestly, the way that I go about anything). But the point is that God has proven to me, time and again, that he moves when we wait, and the result is always better than if we move ourselves.

What does this mean for you or your church?

First, to be clear, I’m not advocating that anyone immediately dismantles everything their church has put into place. Before you do anything (build or dismantle), wait on the Lord for wisdom.

Second, as I said in the beginning, I’m not the Holy Spirit. I can’t tell you when God will move you or in what direction, but I can tell you for certain that God will move if you wait on him. I can’t tell you how God will lead you to build the Church—it may look different than how he leads me—but I can tell you that he will build the Church if you wait on him. And the fruit you bear—which will be far greater—won’t be because you toiled and labored and spent yourself for him, but because you rested from your works and trusted in him, ceasing to put any trust in the flesh.

Let’s stop trusting in the ways and the wisdom of men. Regarding everything you do, start asking, “Is God empowering this?” because if he isn’t, then your labor is in vain. If you don’t believe that he’s empowering something, then quit it, kill it, cut it off, and trust with your whole heart that he will provide you the supernatural means to do something better.

Today, remember his promise that if you learn from him, you’ll find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:39), all the while being exceedingly more fruitful than you ever could be otherwise. Let this promise be your compass to know whether or not you’ve learned his way. Hold onto it as you hold on to Christ, for God wants us all to know this kind of life—that is, bearing fruit while at rest. It won’t be without trial, but each trial is simply to teach us to “rely not on ourselves but on God” (2 Corinthians 1:9), who alone can build his church.

< Previous Part | Table of Contents | Next Part >

Questions for the Comments:

1. Have you ever felt the subtle or overt pressure in a church environment to “do,” “prove,” or “move” spiritually even when you didn’t feel the Holy Spirit initiating that movement?

2. In the “sofa prayer experience,” the author spent weeks doing nothing but seeking God in prayer before initiating any house church meetings. Why is it so difficult for modern ministries to risk this kind of slow, invisible ministry

Want to discuss these topics with other like-minded believers? We explore the theology of the Church, discipleship, and spiritual growth in our monthly Community Calls. It’s a great place to connect—upgrade to a paid subscription today to get access!

Subscribe now

Like what you’re reading? You don’t have to wait for the next part. You can read the entire book right now in paperback, ebook, or audiobook format on Amazon. Buy ‘Unless God Builds It’ Here

In Christ,

Jake

Welcome to Part 5 of the weekly release of my book, Unless God Builds It: A Proposal to Radically Rethink the Church.

In the last post, we compared the modern church to a cruise ship, exploring how we frantically run man-made “engines” rather than waiting on the Holy Spirit like a sailboat. We looked at Psalm 127 to examine the futility of our self-reliance and the beauty of resting while God builds.

If you have already read the book and do not wish to receive these weekly emails, simply click ‘Unsubscribe’ at the bottom of this email. It will only unsubscribe you from the Book section, and you will still receive my normal weekly newsletter!

In this post, we’ll dig deeper into what it means to wait on the Lord and rely on his strength. Let’s get to it!

This message, I believe, is especially pertinent to church leaders, who are the ones that set the tone and demonstrate the lives that others are supposed to live.

Ishmael and Isaac

There is one Old Testament story that I believe highlights the Church’s need to wait on the Lord better than any other. It’s the story of Abraham’s two sons, Ishmael and Isaac.

Abram (later renamed Abraham) was seventy-five years old with no children when God promised to give him a son (see Genesis 12:1-3; 15:2-6). But ten years later, his wife, Sarai (later renamed Sarah), had still given him no children, and she herself was now seventy-five years old. Concluding that God had prevented her from bearing children, she instructed her husband to “go into” their servant, Hagar. From this action, he received his first son, Ishmael (see Genesis 16:1-16).

Ishmael, however, was not the son that God promised. And thirteen years after he was born, God visited Abraham again to tell him that the son of the promise was still scheduled to come through his wife, Sarah, who was now ninety years old (Genesis 17:16-21) and past menopause (Genesis 18:11).

For obvious reasons, both Abraham and Sarah disbelieved at first (Genesis 17:17-18; 18:12-15). In natural terms, this wasn’t possible. But then, that’s exactly the point. God would leave no room for doubt that their son was God’s doing, not man’s doing. And so, by the power of God, Isaac was born (Genesis 21:1-7).

As Paul explains, “this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants” (Galatians 4:24). Hagar represents the old way of life—under the law, according to the flesh, where the fruit and promises of God are dependent on the strength and will of man. This way of life is defined by vain labor, anxious toil, and (as God designed it) is doomed to fail (John 6:63). Whatever it produces is not the real promise, but must be sent away like Ishmael was sent away (Genesis 21:10-14).

Sarah, on the other hand, represents the new way of life under grace, according to the Spirit, where the fruit and promises of God are dependent on the strength and will of God. This way of life is defined by fruitful labor, born out of faith and rest, and (as God designed it) is destined to succeed. Whatever it produces is the real promise and remains forever (Genesis 17:19).

Do you see how this applies to the Church?

Let us view Abraham as the Christ figure, the one who carries the seed that will bless the whole world. As such, let us view Sarah as the Church (i.e., us), for she is his bride. From our union, God promises miraculous fruit, multiplication, and blessing to the whole world. However, as time has gone by, as we have waited on the Lord to fulfill his promise, we have grown weary. We have stopped believing that the Lord will do it. But instead of admitting that we stopped believing, we changed the definition of what it means for God to “do it.”

We have acted like Sarah, who said: “Go in to my servant… that I shall obtain children [in Hebrew: be built up] by her” (Genesis 16:2). Notice what she desires—that is, to “be built up.” These words are prophetic, pointing toward the building up of the Church. Therefore, just as she demands that Abraham build her up by going into her servant, Hagar, so we tell Christ to build up the Church by going into our man-made ideas and self-driven efforts.

When it results in something merely resembling what God promised, we conclude that we’ve received the promise. Just as Sarah could look at Ishmael and say, “See, God gave us a son, just as he promised to do,” so we look at our churches and say, “See, God built this, just as he promised to do.” But can’t we see? Just as Ishmael never was the promise, though God still blessed him (Genesis 21:13), so too, much of what the Church is producing today is not the promise, though God still graciously blesses it.

Just Let Him Cook

The process of waiting on the Lord may be compared to waiting tables at a restaurant. I did this in college, and, while it can definitely be hard work, it isn’t rocket science. You wait for people to sit down at your tables. Then you wait for their order. Then you place the order and wait for the kitchen to cook it, always reassuring the customers that their food is on the way. Once it’s ready, you serve it! Job well done.

In this analogy, the customers are our God-given assignments, or “appointments” (which we’ll talk more about in Chapter 7: Loving One Another), which are the people whom we’re called to serve for God’s purposes, whether they are believers, unbelievers, family, strangers, or whomever. The first thing we ought to notice here is that a waiter is not to panic when some or all of her tables are empty. She is not to run out into the streets and beg people to come in and eat. No, that is not her job. Her job is to wait for people to sit down at her tables and to be faithful with the tables in her section that are full. And as long as her tables are empty, she is to be still, happy, and vigilant, trusting that the owners hired her for a reason and there will surely be enough work to do in time.

It is no different with ministry (which everyone is called to, not just the “ministers”). We are not to conjure up ministry out of fear or unrest. Rather, we are to trust that God will provide us with opportunities to serve people as we wait on him and keep our eyes open. Our job is to be vigilant—i.e., asking God to help us discern which tables he’s assigned us to—and faithful with the people that God has put in front of us. It is not our job to find more tables to serve, increasing our workload before we’ve even done a good job at serving the tables we already have.

Some people are very good at getting their tables filled up and busying themselves with ministry that the Lord didn’t assign to them. But do you know what they’re not very good at? Experiencing joy. Knowing the Lord. Loving their families (i.e., the first table they’re called to serve). So again, filling up your tables doesn’t make you a good waiter/servant. Quite the opposite, it means you haven’t learned to wait, which is the way of the Spirit.

So then, what does it look like to faithfully serve, or wait on, the people in front of us? First, you identify their needs. (The only difference between the restaurant analogy and ministry is that, in ministry, people don’t necessarily order whatever they want; rather, God shows you what they need.) Say they need help with their marriage, faith to endure a trial, or healing from an ailment; say they need a better understanding of Scripture or to learn how to pray. Whatever it is, you must remember that it is not your job to cook it! Your job is to put in the order and wait. And if it takes longer than expected, you continue waiting, advocating for your table’s needs until you get what you’ve asked for. You don’t settle for a lesser version of it. You don’t settle for something other than what God put on the menu (i.e., his many promises). You wait for it, full of faith.

This is intercessory prayer in a nutshell. It’s going to God with a specific request, with a vision, with an order, for the sake of someone else, and standing in the gap until the order is ready to be served. It’s going into the kitchen (i.e., approaching the throne of grace), speaking with the Chef, knowing the Chef, trusting the Chef, and refusing to give up or to take over. “Just let him cook,” as the kids say nowadays.

This is the part where most people miss the mark. They get the order and think, “I can do that” (like the engines we talked about earlier). Then they go and try to cook up their own version of whatever the table asked for, and it fails. No wonder—they’re not the Chef. All their attempts will be frustrated until they learn that only God can provide what they need.

So, I’ve got good news for you: You’re hired! God has enlisted you in his staff to become a highly trained waiter, serving up the delicious meal that is Christ, which brings healing and wholeness to everyone who eats it.

< Previous Part | Table of Contents | Next Part >

Questions for the Comments:

1. Have you ever seen a church program or ministry that was “successful” in human terms (like an Ishmael), but ultimately lacked the life-transforming power of the Holy Spirit (an Isaac)?

2. In your personal prayer life, what does it practically look like to move from “cooking the meal” ourselves to “letting the Chef cook”?

   ---

Want to discuss these topics with other like-minded believers? We explore the theology of the Church, discipleship, and spiritual growth in our monthly Community Calls. It’s a great place to connect—upgrade to a paid subscription today to get access!

Subscribe now

Like what you’re reading? You don’t have to wait for the next part. You can read the entire book right now in paperback, ebook, or audiobook format on Amazon. Buy ‘Unless God Builds It’ Here

In Christ,

Jake

Welcome to Part 4 of the weekly release of my book, Unless God Builds It: A Proposal to Radically Rethink the Church.

Last week, we started Chapter 1 by questioning the sheer volume of resources we pour into church programs and asking if all this activity is actually producing disciples. I shared how I came to believe that much of our administrative busyness is in vain, and proposed a counterintuitive alternative: doing less.

If you have already read the book and do not wish to receive these weekly emails, simply click ‘Unsubscribe’ at the bottom of this email. It will only unsubscribe you from the Book section, and you will still receive my normal weekly newsletter!

Kill the Engines and Catch the Wind

Most churches today function like a cruise ship. God gives us a destination, and then we fire up our man-made engines, ripping through the waves without regard for the wind. “We’ll get there,” we reason, “because God has told us to go there and has given us the means to do so.” But days turn into months, months turn into years, and it’s questionable whether or not we’ve arrived. Yet we continue to burn fuel and pay the crew, believing we’re accomplishing something.

Don’t get me wrong—God has indeed given us a destination and the means for getting there. However, the part we’ve missed is that the means for getting there are not the engines (which we can start at will) but the wind (which we cannot control). Thus, his design for the Church is not to be a cruise ship but a sailboat, which has no other option than to put up its sails and wait for the wind to blow.

In this analogy, the “wind,” of course, is the Holy Spirit, who blows wherever he wishes (John 3:8), and the “engines” are all the ways and wisdom that we employ apart from the Spirit because it feels more productive than waiting on the Lord.

Our propensity to rely on our own ideas and abilities (or “engines”) to get somewhere can be seen in nearly every area of the Church. For example, we know we need to learn the Scriptures (a good and godly destination), so we implement a church calendar (engine) that ensures we preach through the whole Bible in a certain order over time. We desire our gatherings to be orderly and productive (another godly goal), so we use a pre-scripted agenda (engine) that we can print out on bulletins and only allow a few people to do the talking/singing. We need a way to minister to the influx of new people coming in (who can deny that this is a good thing?), so we add another Sunday service or build a satellite campus (a man-made engine). We need to raise money for our new expansion project (questionable goal, in my opinion), so it’s about time for the semi-annual tithing sermon (another engine). We want to protect our doctrine and maintain unity (hallelujah!), so we create/join a denomination and publish a statement of faith (engine). Hospitality is something to be desired (a biblical ideal), so we form a team of hospitality volunteers (engine) who make people feel welcome. It’s important that our kids are raised in the faith (true!), so we start kids and youth ministries (engines). The list goes on.

Perhaps you’re thinking: Is there something wrong with these methods? Aren’t they helpful? What are we supposed to do instead?

Well, let me just say this: There is actually another way of going about achieving these goals, which strikingly few seem to have entertained, yet is more explicitly biblical than anything listed above. That Way is the Spirit of God moving powerfully through individuals who rely on him. That Way is the long, slow, highly relational, and extremely humbling process of training people how to walk by the Spirit, to build each other up, to be empowered by Christ in all that they do. Try to do this with even one individual (beginning with yourself), using the fruits of the Spirit as your indicator for success, and you’ll come to realize how much you truly need God to bring about this growth, and how foolish it is to think that these engines can get us there. Hence, the need for prayer.

You see, the problem with engines is that they’re deceivingly “productive.” They seem to be the quick and obvious answer to our real-world problems. As such, it may even seem foolish or neglectful not to use them. However, what they almost always fail to produce is a people who are driven by the Wind, which is the whole point of this thing called “Christianity.”

You could use all the engines listed above, and you might end up with some people who are driven by the Wind. But if you focus on teaching people to catch the Wind—i.e., to rely on God in all things—then you are bound for every glorious destination to which he has promised to take us. The Spirit himself, in his perfect wisdom, will use each member as he wills to generate more power than a million engines ever could.

On the “sailboat,” hospitality isn’t the product of a “hospitality ministry” but of people who have matured in Christ and genuinely care about making others feel loved. Sound doctrine doesn’t depend on a statement of faith but on a community of believers who have learned to discern the voice of the Lord, who leads them into all truth. Our youth being raised in the Lord doesn’t depend on hiring a youth pastor and making sure to have tons of fun youth activities; it depends on parents being mature in the Lord and able to teach their children his ways. Taking care of people’s spiritual needs isn’t the result of more staff, more programs, and bigger buildings; it’s the result of more people understanding the power of the gospel, walking by the Spirit, and contending for the sanctification of those around them.

Subscribe now

Here, on the “sailboat,” the Spirit of God (within each believer) does the heavy lifting. He does not depend on manufactured systems (which, let’s be honest, require a lot of maintenance by a small number of people), but on more and more followers of Christ operating not out of their own strength but his.

How God Gets the Glory

Too often, we mistakenly assume that if we don’t do something, it won’t happen (and/or that if we do something, it will happen). This is an “engine-building” mindset, which breeds self-reliance and restless action. The truth is, however, that if God doesn’t do something, it won’t happen (and/or if God does something, it will happen). This is a “sail-hoisting” mindset, which breeds God-reliance, rest, prayer, and faith. Hence, the following scripture:

Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep. (Psalm 127:1–2)

Let us make up our minds about it—God has promised to build his church, and we can trust him to do it! Jesus said to Peter, “[O]n this rock I will build my church…” (Matthew 16:18, my italics). The writer of Hebrews said, “For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God” (Hebrews 3:3). The apostle Peter said, “[Y]ou yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:5). The apostle Paul said, “In [Christ] you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22).

When King David finally found a bit of rest from his enemies, the first thing he thought to do was build a temple for God. He told the prophet Nathan of his ambitions, and Nathan affirmed him (presumptuously). But that night, God said to David, “Would you build me a house to dwell in?... [T]he LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house… I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name…” (2 Samuel 7:5-13, my italics).

The Bible is clear on this fact. We are not the builders of God’s house. He is. And while he definitely intends to use us for this task, the only way we become useful to him is by relying on him, by depending solely on his Spirit, his wisdom, his strength. Hence, Jesus says: “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). The scary thing is, we can actually do a lot apart from him, but it will be of no substance.

We therefore must come to terms with the futility of our self-supplied efforts and our human wisdom, no matter how good our intentions are. In Psalm 20:7, David wrote: “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.” In the same way, we need to stop trusting in our “engines”—those things that make us feel and appear to be productive and powerful—and start trusting in our God. As Moses told the Israelites who had their backs against the Red Sea, “The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent” (Exodus 14:14). Once we see this, we will strive for one thing—”to enter that rest” (Hebrews 4:10). We will finally be still and know that he is God (Psalm 46:10). From there, and there only, we will start to bear lasting, abundant fruit.

It’s here—in silence and rest, in abiding and waiting, in prayer and in faith—where God alone gets the glory, where no one can say that they built it, and no one can deny that God built it. We could argue all day about whether or not the Lord is the one who built your ministry or my ministry—whether he’s the one inspiring and empowering all the things we do—but there’s only one way to be sure: Stop. Rest. Wait. The only way to prove that God himself has been watching over the city is to put it in his hands and get your sleep. If you arise from your rest to find the city destroyed, then you’ll know that your labor was in vain, that the only thing keeping it together was your restlessness. But if you arise to find it holding together—and not only that, but flourishing—you’ll have greater confidence than ever before that God is truly the one watching over it.

Only by living this way can we look back on our lives, look back at what we’ve built and claim truly, “God built it”, for it is not humanly possible to keep watch over this size of a city or to build a house this spectacular, and to sleep the way we slept.

This is how God gets the glory.

It is not that we do it in our own strength and then dedicate it to God. It is not that we do it ourselves and then simply give credit to God, “humbly” ascribing it to him. It’s not even that we ask God to help us, and then go about doing it. It’s that, based on what we’ve witnessed, there is no other sensible conclusion than that God has done it. It’s that no human concept of what’s possible would describe what we’ve built. It’s that, in sheer appearance, as a matter of fact, an outsider must conclude that something they cannot explain has taken place.

That is how God gets the glory.

Man can build cathedrals, denominations, seminaries, and ministries of all kinds. Man can also write sermons, start podcasts, gain large followings, and organize their followers in various ways. If we’re honest, there is nothing about these things that inherently declares the glory of God, for there is nothing about them that necessarily requires the power of God.

But man himself cannot part the sea. Man himself cannot bring water from a rock. Man himself cannot defeat an army a hundred times greater in size. Man himself cannot raise the dead or turn water into wine. Man himself cannot give people new hearts, graft them into Christ, nor make the Body of Christ grow. That power belongs to God alone. Man sows and waters, but God gives the growth (1 Corinthians 3:7).

To desire the glory of God is to long for the impossible. It’s to desire to build something that cannot be built without the power of God. It’s to refuse to rely on one’s own strength—not out of laziness or apathy but out of zeal, understanding that there is no other way. There is only one way to become a thriving church, and that is to wait on the Lord.

This does not necessitate that we remain still (outwardly) forever—only long enough to see God beginning to move us. It isn’t that we should be against doing things, only doing things in vain. And the only way to know that our work is not in vain, the only way to be sure that God himself is the one empowering it, is to kill the engines, making rest and prayer our constant disposition. Then, if the ship begins moving while we’re at rest, we will know it’s not us but the Spirit of God.

< Previous Part | Table of Contents | Next Part >

Questions for the Comments:

1. In the cruise ship vs. sailboat analogy, what are some of the “engines” you’ve seen churches construct to manufacture progress, and what happens when those engines run out of fuel?

2. Why do you think we are so afraid of stopping our activity and simply waiting on the Holy Spirit to move?

Want to discuss these topics with other like-minded believers? We regularly explore the theology of the Church, discipleship, and spiritual growth in our monthly Community Calls. It’s a great place to connect—upgrade to a paid subscription today to get access!

Subscribe now

Like what you’re reading? You don’t have to wait for the next part. You can read the entire book right now in paperback, ebook, or audiobook format on Amazon. Buy ‘Unless God Builds It’ Here

In Christ,

Jake

Welcome to Part 3 of the weekly release of my book, Unless God Builds It: A Proposal to Radically Rethink the Church.

In the last post, I shared what life has been like since transitioning to simple, organic house church gatherings and clarified that our pursuit of homes isn’t born out of elitism or church hurt.

Today, we begin Chapter 1, where I ask a hard question about the sheer amount of time, effort, and money we pour into making our church systems run—and whether all this activity is actually helping us reach the goal.

(Note: If you have already read the book and do not wish to receive these emails, simply click ‘Unsubscribe’ at the bottom of this email. It will only unsubscribe you from the Book section, and you will still receive my normal weekly newsletter!)

Let’s get to it!

Waiting on the Lord:

What’s Powering this Boat?

In case you haven’t noticed, we spend a lot of time, effort, and money on building the Church. You may or may not be involved in much of it, but take a moment to try to conceptualize and appreciate the magnitude of resources devoted to it throughout the course of a week, month, or year.

Think of everything it takes to make it “run”—kids and youth ministry, small groups and discipleship classes, food and childcare, conferences and retreats, outreach and social events, board meetings and leadership trainings, websites and marketing, constructing and maintaining buildings, local charity work and foreign missions, equipping volunteers and managing church staff, choirs and worship bands, sermon-writing and pastoral care, seminary training and denominational oversight, countless books being written (and read), podcasts and videos being recorded (and consumed), and so on. It’s a lot.

To start, let’s not assume that any of this is inherently bad. Instead, let’s ask the question: Is it working? After all our activity, does the Church look more and more like the Church that God promised to build? Are we, God’s people, bearing fruit like the Bible says we ought to? Is every believer being radically transformed into the image of Christ? Are we walking in unity, holiness, and love toward one another? Is Christ and his gospel being powerfully manifested to the world through our lives?

The answer to these questions is, of course, not a simple yes or no. But if we can at least agree about the goal, then how is all our activity helping us to reach that goal? Is the output worth the input?

Whenever I start poking around like this, someone invariably feels the need to defend the Church, arguing that God uses all of these activities, that he is at work in every church, and that it’s offensive to suggest anything otherwise. Allow me to clarify, then, that I agree. God does indeed use all of these activities.

However, God’s use of something doesn’t justify our use of it. To be sure, God uses all things to bring about good for his children (see Romans 8:28), including things like cancer, car accidents, and horrific sins, which he always finds a way to redeem for his purposes. Shall we then reinstate asbestos into our church’s ceiling tiles, drive the church van into oncoming traffic, or systematically train our youth to get drunk and have promiscuous sex, all on the sole basis that God uses these things to draw people to himself? Most certainly not. So, please—let us not be childish. The fact that God uses the preacher’s Sunday sermon, the talented band, or a million-dollar building to bless people and grow their faith doesn’t itself justify the use of those things. We can recognize that God uses something for good, all the while being free to discern whether it deserves a place in our ministry and is a part of his intended design. Therefore, we must ask not “Has God used it?” but “Has God inspired it?”

This is how I view the Church today. I sincerely give thanks to God for all that he has done and continues to do through the Body of Christ everywhere. I myself have been greatly blessed by the people and ministries of the church that I left before starting a church in my home. However, I have my doubts that the traditional way of doing things is the best way to achieve our common goal. It’s not that I don’t see any fruit, but that I believe the fruit is often in spite of all the hustle and bustle, and is the simple result of the fact that God is good and has poured his love into the hearts of many faithful servants—two things that will remain the same no matter how we proceed. If this is true, I argue that much of our activity and expenditure is actually in vain, or worse, counterproductive to our shared mission.

So then, can we have a family discussion without taking offense? Can we challenge each other’s ideas and ways without questioning each other’s hearts? We can and we must.

Do We Really Need More of the Same?

This is where a lot of books would recite to you some church statistics—like rates of divorce, addiction, and mental illness among Christians. They would paint a grim picture of the state of Christianity today, highlighting the high percentage of leaders who experience burnout or suffer some moral failure, of missionaries’/pastors’ kids who end up resenting God and turning away from the faith, of Christians who feel isolated or hurt by the Church, and so forth. And then they’d say, “Don’t you see we have a problem? Something needs to change.”

I don’t disagree, necessarily, but something I’ve always found interesting about the data is the fact that I’ve never needed it. I appreciate that it confirms what I already knew (more or less) to be true. But just as I don’t need numbers to prove that the sky is blue, I don’t need numbers to tell me that most Christians’ experience of Christianity is at least somewhat (if not very much) disappointing compared to the biblical vision for Christianity. It’s all but an observable fact.

If you know much at all about God’s desire for us to walk in love, holiness, power, and unity, then you know what I’m talking about at some level. You feel it deep within you, for the Spirit testifies that what we’re doing isn’t working exactly like it’s supposed to. If you’re a Christian—looking to the Spirit of God within you, reading your Bible, and humbly observing the Church as we know it—then I believe you will ultimately discover the same discomfort that I felt for years and the same earnestness I feel today for reform.

You may very well like your church and perceive that God is doing many good things through you and the people there. Again, I don’t doubt this, but this could just as well be in spite of all your activity and not the result of it, which is the point I’m trying to convey.

More importantly, this isn’t just about you being happy with what your church provides to you. It’s about every single person who becomes a part of your Christian community being radically conformed into the image of Christ. That’s the goal, and 2,000 years in, we’re nowhere near reaching it.

Then what’s the solution? Is it more teaching or more evangelism? Is it better sermons or better music? More employees or volunteers? Better marketing strategies? Better hospitality, better programs, or more outreach? Bigger buildings, renovated buildings, prettier buildings, simpler buildings? Is it more inspiration, more conferences, more training, more small groups? Do we need to plant more churches, learn new strategies, or start more ministries? Do we just need to get more people to do more of the same things?

I’m not convinced that we do, but most churches continue to operate as if these kinds of things will make the difference, just in greater measure or a slightly better variance. Again, none of these things is inherently wrong, but it’s becoming increasingly evident that our reliance on them is delusional. If “more” was the solution, I think we’d have seen a visible difference by now—not just in your life or your church but in the Church.

Therefore, however counterintuitive it may seem at first, I’d like to propose an alternative solution: We don’t actually need to do more; we need to begin by doing less.

< Previous Part | Table of Contents | Next Part >

Questions for the Comments:

1. When you reflect on the sheer amount of time, energy, and money spent to make a modern church “run,” do you ever find yourself asking if the output is worth the input?

2. What do you think it practically looks like to “do less” in our pursuit of building the Church?

   ---

Want to discuss these topics with other like-minded believers? We regularly explore the theology of the Church, discipleship, and spiritual growth in our monthly Community Calls. It’s a great place to connect—upgrade to a paid subscription today to get access!

Subscribe now

Like what you’re reading? You don’t have to wait for the next part. You can read the entire book right now in paperback, ebook, or audiobook format on Amazon. Buy ‘Unless God Builds It’ Here

In Christ,

Jake

Welcome to Part 2 of the weekly release of my book, Unless God Builds It: A Proposal to Radically Rethink the Church.

In the previous part, I shared my personal journey of wrestling with the traditional church system, and why I eventually had to admit that despite my best efforts, it was leaving me spiritually empty. Today, I share what life has been like since leaving the institution for a simple “house church” community, and clarify why my critique of the traditional model isn’t about elitism, but about finding a more fruitful way to grow together.

(If you have already read the book and do not wish to receive these weekly emails, simply click ‘Unsubscribe’ at the bottom of this email. It will only unsubscribe you from the Book section, and you will still receive my normal weekly newsletter!)

Institutional Vs. Organic

This path that I’m on today started (officially) in December 2019, when I left my job as a pastor at a large church to start a church in my home. Part of the vision for this church is that whenever we outgrow someone’s living room, we multiply—appointing someone to lead the next church in their home, resulting in a network of “house churches.”

Funny enough, before my house church ever multiplied itself, God joined us with another house church that was started independently by a man named Jonathan. “The two became one,” so to speak, so neither he nor I can say that we started it ourselves—and what a blessing that is! It is God’s church, and Jesus is our Apostle (see Hebrews 3:1), the chief “Shepherd and Overseer of [our] souls” (1 Peter 2:25, cf. 5:4).

People often ask us what the name of our church is. We don’t have one. We also aren’t part of a denomination. We are just a group of sincere believers doing our best to follow the commands of Jesus, to know him, to love one another, and “to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” (Ephesians 4:15). We do not attend any other churches (as if we would need to in order to get something that we’re not getting from each other). We’re not merely a “small group,” “life group,” or whatever kind of group-thing that churches implement to foster deeper relationships. We are a bona fide church—a thriving and self-sustaining body of believers without the systems, programs, buildings, budgets, bureaucracies, and activities that most Christian communities depend on.

We don’t sit around lamenting our former church experience (like many house churches are accused of doing). We don’t identify with “church hurt” or cynicism. We don’t bash our brothers and sisters who do it a different way. Quite honestly, we hardly ever talk about the churches we came from. Our fellowship has always been forward-looking, and it is filled with what God is doing in each of us today.

I am aware that this kind of thing tends to scare people. The term “house church” alone makes people’s alarm bells go off. It may even cause you to question my credibility. (It wouldn’t be the first time.) Where’s the structure? Where’s the authority? Where’s the accountability? Where is the long line of tradition that we can trust? How do we keep things from going off the rails? Etc.

To be sure, I have not embarked on this venture naively but by faith (and, I believe, with some important revelation that informs my faith). I am not blind to the dangers, criticisms, and fears surrounding the sort of “organic” community that we are building compared to the institutions that people are familiar with. Regarding the church model that we use, I don’t think that I’ve ever been presented with a concern that I hadn’t already weighed heavily and found a biblical resolution for. With that in mind, I ask you the favor, once more, of suspending judgment until you have read through this book entirely.

Six years in, we now have five house churches meeting separately, about 12-25 people per house, and we come together every six weeks for a corporate gathering. (There is, of course, much life that we share between us throughout the week, as well.) These six years have been the best years of my life, bar none—more fruitful, more restful, more life-giving, with more meaningful fellowship, more clarity, more understanding, more purpose, more of everything that the Christian life is supposed to be. This is what I hope to share with all my brothers and sisters in Christ.

That is not to say that it has been perfect or without struggle—not even close—but that it has been immeasurably better. This is, in part, due to the revelation of the gospel that God gave me (and many of us) in 2020, which I have written extensively about in my book, No Longer I: The Life-Changing Power of Simply Believing the Truth, and which I’ll cover in Chapter 5: The Gospel. However, another significant reason for this dramatic shift toward a more positive Christian experience has been the uncommon way that we have learned to function as the Body of Christ.

There is still a lot we haven’t figured out, and that is perfectly fine with me. As I said, we are on a journey, and God is teaching us as we go. I fully expect that I will need to revise this book in years to come, but I have come to a point where it is simply too good not to share what we’ve learned and invite others into the kind of life we’ve discovered.

I am a practitioner by nature. God showed me when I left my former church that it wouldn’t do any good for me to try to teach these ideas from the stage. I needed to live it and learn it myself, to prove that it is not only possible but far better, and then, after learning a few things myself, to invite others into it. All that to say, I am eager to share something truly beautiful with you.

I honestly cannot imagine returning to the “institutional” church model. I cannot unsee what I have seen. For so many reasons, which I will explain in this book, that old system makes the spiritual life more difficult and complicated than it was ever supposed to be. Intended to support spiritual growth, I have come to believe that it often does the opposite.

It does okay at making babies (spiritually speaking), and maybe even growing them into toddlers. But overall, it’s sort of like a preschool. At some point, we have to realize that spending more time there isn’t growing us up; it’s keeping us from growing up. Similar to how a 2nd or 3rd-grader might feel while being forced to play pre-school games, those who have moved beyond spiritual toddlerhood know—often with a quiet ache—that there must be more.

I say all of this (God as my witness) without a trace of cynicism or anger in my heart toward the Church. I do not carry any sour feelings towards those brothers and sisters of mine who do not share the same convictions that I do and who still function in the traditional church model. Additionally, I do not attribute the poor state of the Church to apathy, lethargy, or anyone’s unwillingness to pursue God. I attribute it, rather, to the result of a system that most of us were more-or-less born into and ideas that we were bottle-fed from the womb, neither of which was made by God but by man (in the name of God). This distortion is exactly what the enemy hopes for—that we would settle for a man-made version of something that only God can build.

Spirit of Elitism?

As I express my contrarian viewpoints and/or favorable view of my own church throughout the book, I would ask that you not conflate this with me having a spirit of elitism. An elitist thinks to himself, “I am better than they are.” But I do not think I am “better” than you, nor that my church is “better” than yours. Rather, I think that my church’s ways (specifically the ones outlined in this book) are more effective and closer to God’s design than the ways of the traditional church system that most Christians still operate in.

And let’s be honest, most people who operate within the traditional church model think that its ways are better, or else they wouldn’t be choosing to do things that way. So we all have preferences, and at the end of the day, those preferences expose what we think is more preferable. That’s not “elitism”; it’s just “having a position.”

Assuredly, we can hold different positions about how the Church should function without looking down our noses at one another. Even more so, if we actually desire what’s best for one another and the whole Body of Christ, we should share our convictions with each other and work through them together. But the moment we start blindly accusing each other of elitism, we’ve stopped giving one another the benefit of the doubt, and we’ve closed ourselves off from the ability to build each other up.

God’s Design for All

Lastly, before we begin, I want to be very clear that “house church” is not the silver bullet. It was only the natural outgrowth of the convictions that the Lord began stirring in my heart a number of years ago, proving itself to be wonderfully biblical and surprisingly practical. I think it will be the same for some of you, but not necessarily for others. And that’s okay.

As such, house church is not the explicit subject of this book. Please read that again, and don’t forget it! Though I will not shy away from talking about the uniquely strategic value of house church, it will be up to you and God to determine how you apply the concepts we cover within your own community, even if you use a different model.

As for these concepts we’ll cover, let’s think of each chapter as a core design feature in God’s Temple, that is, the Church. God is the Great Architect, and if he built every church in the world exactly like he wanted to, while we should expect quite a lot of variance, we should also expect some things to be the same everywhere. To be sure, in God’s blueprints for the Church, there are things that apply to every church all around the world, without exception. These shared design elements are the non-negotiables, apart from which a church is unable to function properly and achieve its greatest heights.

Nearly every Christian would agree that among these core design features are things like teaching the Bible, gathering every week, using our gifts to serve one another, etc. In this book, I will by no means attempt to address all of these, for many of them are already broadly established in the Body of Christ. I will, however, in each chapter, make a case for an essential design feature that I believe is still missing from most churches today. If these are adopted, I argue that they will radically reshape and amplify nearly every Christian’s experience of God, one another, and his kingdom on this side of heaven, which is another way of saying that we will bear more fruit and hasten the coming of Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:11-12).

Be prepared, though, that some of these concepts may seriously challenge the way you or your church has functioned. They may lead you to feel overwhelmed and unsure how to proceed in the face of many obstacles. I will do my best to provide you with practical applications when I can, but a lot of them pertain specifically to the house-church model. Therefore, if you don’t go that route, then in some cases, I may not have a clear application for you. But I know who does!

In the case that you find yourself agreeing with the concepts but not knowing how to apply them in your context, I encourage you not to give up. If these design features are truly necessary, and if God truly wants you to stay in your particular church setting, then he will provide a way for you to help move your church in that direction. Don’t abandon God’s design just to relieve yourself of consternation, but instead, cleave to God’s design and wrestle with him through the consternation until he gives you the wisdom you need. He is faithful.

Ultimately, whichever way the Spirit ends up leading you—toward house church or otherwise—I remain confident that there is treasure for you and your church within these pages. I pray that the following chapters will lead you, above all things, to entrust God with building his Church, no matter the cost.

< Previous Part | Table of Contents | Next Part >

Questions for the Comments:

1. When you hear the term “house church,” what are the first thoughts or fears that come to mind?

2. What “core design features” do you believe are non-negotiable for a church to function properly according to God’s blueprint?

   ---

Want to discuss these topics with other like-minded believers? We regularly explore the theology of the Church, discipleship, and spiritual growth in our monthly Community Calls. It’s a great place to connect—upgrade to a paid subscription today to get access!

Subscribe now

Like what you’re reading? You don’t have to wait for the next part. You can read the entire book right now in paperback, ebook, or audiobook format on Amazon. Buy ‘Unless God Builds It’ Here

In Christ,

Jake

Welcome to Part 1 of the weekly release of my book, Unless God Builds It: A Proposal to Radically Rethink the Church. In this opening section, I share my personal journey of wrestling with the traditional church system, and why I eventually had to admit that despite my best efforts, it was leaving me spiritually empty.

(Note: If you have already read the book and do not wish to receive these weekly installments, simply click ‘Unsubscribe’ at the bottom of this email. It will only unsubscribe you from the Book section, and you will still receive my normal newsletter emails!)

Herein lies a proposal to followers of Christ everywhere to radically reimagine this thing we call “church.” I believe that what has been modeled for most of us is actually a far cry from God’s original intent.

Make no mistake about it—the Body of Christ is designed to reveal Christ’s glory. It is designed to build itself up until every member is radically transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. If you’ve never considered what that actually would look like, I encourage you to do so now. Take your time and imagine what the result would be if every Christian were truly matured in love, knowing and manifesting Christ in great measure. Surely, it means a lot of amazing things, but here are just a few:

• Everyone’s needs (both spiritual and material) are met because we all take care of one another.

• Individuals in the Church rarely get offended because God’s people are so forgiving and selfless.

• Brothers and sisters in Christ experience deeper fellowship with each other than is possible in any other kind of earthly relationship (including family).

• Each person in the Body is truly known because they are open about their lives and are encouraged and corrected in an atmosphere of love, leading to genuine maturity.

• The Church grows organically, both in numbers and in spiritual maturity, not because it finally learned the principles of business and marketing, but because God’s character and power are being manifest through his people.

• Every believer learns to walk by the Spirit, to live a fruitful life while at rest, and to serve a vital role in helping their fellow believers walk by the Spirit as well.

• Christians endure suffering with true joy, understanding their purpose on earth with full clarity.

• Broken families are restored, addictions are healed, unity replaces division, anxiety and depression become peace and joy.

• The power of God is regularly manifest via signs and wonders that only the Spirit can perform.

• The entire Body experiences the abundant life that God promises us in Christ.

What an awesome vision! What a worthy aspiration! This vision is not a pipe dream; rather, it is exactly how the Body of Christ is meant to operate. I tell you, the Bride of Christ is so beautiful that the God of the universe longs to be married to her. However, I believe that Christ will not return until his Bride is mature (see Revelation 19:7-8; Ephesians 4:13, 5:27; 2 Peter 3:11-12), so it’s maturity that we’re after.

Deep within every Christian—whether they realize it or not—are desires for this, for something more fruitful and more fulfilling than they’ve ever known or dreamt possible. But these desires will never be satisfied by thinking and operating the way the vast majority of the Church thinks and operates today. Thus, I am not here to convince you that the Church isn’t fully mature yet and that there is still much for us to do. I think most of my readers will sense this already. My goal, rather, is to convince you that the ways, the means, the methods, the model, or the mode of operation that we have defaulted to for a long time needs serious revision—a kind that few in our day have dared to entertain.

Certainly, we can agree that there are yet disciples to be made, churches to plant, a message to be shared, fruits to bear, works to be done, etc. But can we agree that our normal ways of accomplishing these things are flawed? Can we agree that the way the Church tends to organize herself and go about her activities is misguided—yes, even counterproductive to our shared goals? Can we agree that there is, in fact, a better way, which God intends to show us, which will require that we let go of many things we hold dear? My goal is to persuade you that these things are true. I simply ask that you consider all I have to say before making any judgments.

I Tried the System

I understand how bold, even arrogant, this may sound. Really, I do. But the Lord knows that I have come to the conclusions in this book through the only way that one can truly understand anything—that is, through humility. I did not get here by thinking to myself, “I am wise. I know a better way. Let me tell them all why they are wrong.”

Instead, I ran the usual course. A bit like King Solomon, I tried the conventional wisdom. I gave the Church and its leaders the benefit of the doubt. I believed they knew what they were doing, and I followed suit. I served my church heartily, working within the system, seeking the Lord’s help, fine-tuning and tweaking and experimenting with whatever I could to produce more biblical and gratifying results. But it did not work. It did not satisfy. And this is not because I failed to give it a good college try.

Were there occasional breakthroughs? Small “wins” here and there? Sure. Was God still working in our midst? Of course. Still, I could not shake the feeling that something was off, and slowly but surely, my hope that this lackluster churchianity would somehow work itself out if we just kept trying harder began to dwindle.

The truth is, there was no other church I had seen or heard of that was different enough to intrigue me. Despite their variances in size, theology, ministries, and so forth, they all appeared to fall terribly short of that divine vision of maturity that the Scriptures set forth in my heart. And the longer I served within the system, I became increasingly fearful that if I continued the course I was on (that most Christians are on) within the Church—repeating the same patterns, employing the same wisdom, over and over again—there would never be that magical moment I was waiting for where things just click and change, where my experience of Christian community becomes as meaningful and fulfilling as I knew it was meant to be. Instead, somehow I knew that I would end up being woefully disappointed years down the road, wishing I hadn’t spent so much time chasing my tail. Or worse, I would find myself settled into the domesticated version of Christianity I was trying to avoid.

So, that’s where it started. I had tried the wisdom and ways of the Church as we know it, and it proved itself empty. It left me unimpressed. That was not pride but sincerity, which I believe we owe to ourselves, to God, and to one another. In sincerity, I came to God often (as I still do), saying, “I don’t know the way, but I trust that you can show me.” This is a divine privilege—and it is just as God intended—that he alone would be our Shepherd and our Teacher. And in return for looking to him, he began leading me down the path that I am still on today, which I am eager to invite you onto.

This path is not well-lit, nor is it well-paved. The map is under reconstruction—old and frayed, hard to read, and missing some vital elements that would make it a heck of a lot easier to read if we had them. But it is fun and freeing. It is wild and exciting. And God alone can get us to the destination, as each of us plays our part in this adventure.

Whatever kind of relationship you have with the Church—whether you are a pastor or a missionary, a staff member or a leader, a regular or irregular attendee, a church-hopper, a small-grouper, hurt by the Church, mad at the Church, hopeful, content, disillusioned, or dumbfounded with the Church—this message is for you. You, a Christ-follower, are on this earth for one explicit purpose—to build up the Body of Christ, of which you are a vital member. Please take a moment to reflect on that statement. (We will talk about it more later.) It is your prerogative to care immensely about the way the Church functions and the way you function within it, for it is inextricably linked to who you are, what you were made for, and how fulfilling your life will be.

Table of Contents | Next Part >

Questions for the Comments:

1. Have you ever felt the same “quiet ache” or dissatisfaction with the traditional church system that I described in this section?

2. When you imagine a fully mature, Spirit-led Body of Christ, what is the most beautiful aspect of that vision to you?

Want to discuss these topics with other like-minded believers? We regularly explore the theology of the Church, discipleship, and spiritual growth in our monthly Community Calls. It’s a great place to connect—upgrade to a paid subscription today to get access!

Subscribe now

Like what you’re reading? You don’t have to wait for the next part. You can read the entire book right now in paperback, ebook, or audiobook format on Amazon. Buy ‘Unless God Builds It’ Here

In Christ,

Jake

Over the coming weeks and months, I am publishing the entirety of my book right here on Substack, completely for free. You’ll receive bite-sized emails every few days taking you through each section of the book (Table of Contents are below).

(Note: If you have already read the book and do not wish to receive these weekly installments in your inbox, simply click ‘Unsubscribe’ at the very bottom of this email. It will only unsubscribe you from this Book section, and you will still receive my normal newsletter emails!)

Here’s the description of what you’ll be reading:

Are we missing God’s design for Church?

There’s a quiet but growing hunger among believers for something deeper, something more authentic than the systems many have inherited. Unless God Builds It speaks directly to that longing.

In this bold and thought-provoking work, pastor Jacob Hotchkiss draws from years in traditional church settings and his current experience within a network of home churches to challenge conventional models of church life and leadership.

He invites readers to rediscover a Spirit-led, organic expression of the Body of Christ. With biblical conviction and lived experience, he explores what it truly means to make disciples, equip the saints, and build a thriving Christian community, not through human effort, but through complete dependence on God.

This book is not merely a critique of modern church structures; it is a compelling vision for renewal. With clarity and conviction, Hotchkiss addresses key aspects of Christian growth, leadership, discipleship, and unity, offering a path forward that is both deeply scriptural and refreshingly practical.

For those seeking a more meaningful walk with Christ, or wrestling with the limitations of traditional church systems, this book offers both challenge and hope. It dares to ask: What might the Church look like if God alone were truly the One building it?

If you are ready to let God reshape your vision of the Church, hang tight. As I publish each new section, you’ll be able to access them all from the the table of contents below.

Subscribe now

Table of Contents

Click on any published section below to start reading! If it’s not hyperlinked yet, then I haven’t posted it yet.

Enjoying it too much? You don't have to wait for the next post. You can read the entire book right now in paperback, ebook, or audiobook format on Amazon, by clicking HERE.

Introduction

• I Tried the System

• Institutional Vs. Organic

• God’s Design for All

Chapter 1: Waiting on the Lord

• Do We Really Need More of the Same?

• Kill the Engines and Catch the Wind

• How God Gets the Glory

• Ishmael and Isaac

• Just Let Him Cook

• Preaching in Vain

• At Odds With the System

Chapter 2: Equipping the Saints

• Your Purpose on Earth

• Our Shared Calling

• Will It Pass Through the Fire?

• What It Means to be Equipped

• Optional Relationship, Optional Discipleship

• It’s Time to Take Ownership

Chapter 3: The Open Meeting

• What Happens in a House Church?

• The Biblical Precedent for Open Participation

• The Historical Trajectory of Church Meetings

Chapter 4: Submission

• It’s Not What You Think

• Submitting to One Another

• Making Church Decisions Together

• The Spirit is the Guardrail

• Your Desires Are Sometimes Your Gifts

• Women Speaking in Church

Chapter 5: The Gospel

• It’s Better Than You Think

• Our Present Union With Christ

• Faith is Always the Application

• Equipped with the Truth

• We Need Revelation

Chapter 6: Church Discipline

• The Missing Ingredient for Growth

• Community Demands Conformity

• Identity Affirmation

• Escalation and Submission

• Withholding Forgiveness

• The Destruction of the Flesh

• Institutional Measures Will Always Fail

• What’s at Stake

Chapter 7: Loving One Another

• Like Christ Loved the Twelve

• Putting on Love

• Divine Appointments

Chapter 8: Evangelism

• Some Must Evangelize, and Some May Evangelize

• Staying and Praying

• The Most Evangelistic Endeavor

Chapter 9: Unity

• Visible vs. Invisible Unity

• Names and Denominations

• Unity of Mind

• What God is Saying and Doing

• Macro vs. Micro Unity

Chapter 10: Leadership

• A Return to Biblical Standards

• Elders, Overseers, Shepherds, and Leaders

• Fruit vs. Gifts: The Qualifications for Overseers

• People to Imitate

• Let Them Be Tested

• Office vs. Function

• The Organic Path to Ministry

Chapter 11: Moving Forward

• With Wisdom, Love, and Lots of Faith

• Starting a House Church

• Final Remarks

Subscribe now

Hello friends!

With over 430 of us now reading Edify, I think it’s time we finally got together.

Because we share so much common ground around ‘identity in Christ’ and the ‘house church’ movement, I want to provide a space for us to actually connect, encourage one another, and build up the Body of Christ around the world.

That’s why I’m hosting our very first Edify Community Call this Wednesday at 7:30 pm CST.

It will be a casual, low-pressure video chat where we can get to know each other, and you’re free to ask me any questions you’d like. I’d love for you to be there.

(This gathering is available to our paid supporters. If you’d like to unlock the link to join us, you can upgrade your subscription below!)

Read more

One of the most surprising (and nearly unbelievable) realities of the new creation is that those of us who are in it will never be tempted again.

Have you ever really thought about it? Try to imagine an existence where you’ll never feel a desire to do something you shouldn’t do again. If you’re like me, temptation is so integral to your understanding of the human experience that it’s hard to imagine how you could ever be free of it.

And yet, truly, this is the kind of freedom that awaits us. But how exactly will it be possible? That’s a very important question, and I’m glad you asked.

Let’s pull the thread and see how the sweater unravels.

The Absence of Satanic Influence?

The first, and perhaps the most obvious, reason we will never be tempted again is that there will be no evil spiritual entities (e.g., Satan) to tempt us, for God will remove them from all of heaven and earth.

However, you must understand, this answer is insufficient for two reasons:

1. It implies that every time we’re tempted, a real spiritual entity is literally actively tempting us—“whispering in our ear,” so to speak—and that apart from this spiritual activity, we would never feel an evil desire again. While evil spirits can and do afflict us this way, the more common explanation that the Bible gives us for temptation is our own flesh desiring sinful things. Hence, “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire” (James 1:14).

2. It implies that the existence of evil necessitates temptation. But as James tells us, “God cannot be tempted” (James 1:13). This isn’t merely because there’s no evil in his midst, but that even if there were, he is untemptable. He cannot be deceived or changed or caused to be/do anything that doesn’t accord with who he is. As John writes, “[I]n him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). You may be thinking, “Well, that’s God; we’re humans!” But then you’ve forgotten the profound truth of the gospel that we shall become “the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21), “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). Just like God, our righteousness will be such that we, like God, cannot be tempted (not merely because of the absence of evil, and not despite our nature, but because of our nature).

So then, let’s talk about this new nature. Exactly what change will take place in us by which the mere possibility of temptation will cease forever?

We’re waiting to receive new [fill in the blank].

Here’s where I must address one of the largest misconceptions in all of Christendom, by which many of the most prominent voices in the Church have unknowingly contradicted both the Scriptures and the creeds for over 1500 years.

I’m convinced that nearly every Christian who’s thought about it has concluded that when they are raised from the dead, that’s actually when will receive a (fully) new heart. They believe that the reason we won’t ever be tempted again in heaven is because that’s when God will remove the evil desires from our hearts once and for all.

But then I ask you, what is the actual promise of that Day? Is it a new heart, or is it something else?

“And… we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as son, the redemption of our bodies.” (Romans 8:23)

“So is it with the resurrection of the dead… It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.” (1 Corinthians 15:44)

“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body…” (Philippians 3:20-21)

Surely, every Christian should know that we await new bodies! This is the blessed hope of resurrection, the hope of glory!

And what have the Scriptures to say about us receiving new hearts?

“And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith.” (Acts 15:8-9)

But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter.” (Romans 2:29)

“But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed…” (Romans 6:17)

“And… you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” (2 Corinthians 3:3)

“The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” (1 Timothy 1:5)

“So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” (2 Timothy 2:22)

“Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart…” (1 Peter 1:22)

“[L]et us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:22)

Don’t you see? The promise of Ezekiel 36:26-27 has already been fulfilled:

“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”

So, too, the promise of Jeremiah 31:33:

“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (cf. Hebrews 8:8; 10:15-16)

And so, the idea that we’re still waiting for God to purify our hearts from evil desires is (to put it simply) WRONG!

Subscribe now

“From a pure heart” is the beginning of the Christian life, not the end of it. It’s the essence of the New Covenant which all believers are under, if they continue in the faith.

Thus, if you belong to Christ, the reason you still experience temptation is not because sinful desires are still present in your heart, but because sinful desires are still present in your body of flesh.

And the reason you won’t ever experience temptation again when you’re raised from the dead is not because because God will give you a new heart (which he’s already done) but because you will receive a new body—entirely uncorrupted and forever incorruptible.

Jesus, the Example

Think about Jesus for a minute, and you’ll see what I’m is true.

How was Jesus—who is God (who apparently cannot be tempted) and in whom there is no sin, btw (1 John 3:5)—able to be tempted for a brief period of time in history?

The sinful desires that he really experienced (for he was tempted just as we are) were only possible because he wrapped himself in a body of flesh. If those desires came from within his heart, then by his own standard of teaching, he would have been defiled (see Matthew 15:19-20). But they did not.

And when did he once again become impervious to temptation but after he put off the body of flesh?

Let me ask you: Did Christ receive a new heart when he was raised from the dead? I can’t think of anything more contrary to the truth than this. It goes without saying, he was not in need of a new heart but a new body! And this sole change of bodily form is the reason he went from temptable to untemptable (as he was before).

Make no mistake about it. Our life now is like Christ’s life in the flesh. And our resurrection will be like Christ’s resurrection (as he is the firstfruits of many to come; cf. 1 Corinthians 15). Thus, we are tempted not because of deep-seated evil desires in our hearts, but because of a fallen, corrupted bodily nature (that actually opposes what we desire), which God has promised to redeem.

Thus:

“Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25).

Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?

Perhaps you’re wondering, why does this matter? I assure you, I am not splitting theological hairs.

If you do not understand or agree with what I’m teaching, I ask you this: How do you “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16)? How do you enter the Holy of Holies, “heart sprinkled clean of an evil conscience” (Hebrews 10:19-22)? How do you walk with YHWH as Adam walked with him in the garden (before sin, before shame)? How do you behold the glory of the Lord with unveiled face (2 Corinthians 3:18)? How do you access the Father (Ephesians 3:18, Romans 5:1-2)? How do you abide in Christ? How do you walk by the Spirit?

If your heart is still wicked, you cannot! For you know that God sees the heart, and no creature is hidden from his sight!

“Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart.” (Psalm 24:3-4)

Your relationship with God (and therefore your reliance on God) will always be from a distance if you do not understand the righteousness you’ve been given.

But it is the one who knows that he is righteous as Jesus is righteous (1 John 3:7)—all by the grace of God, of course, not by his own doing—who has constant, joyful “fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3), by which he is transformed from one degree of Christ’s glory to the next (2 Corinthians 3:18). By which he resists temptation and overcomes sin. By which he bears the fruit of the Spirit and endures to the end. Etc.

This is the good news, folks! It is the true reconciliation of God and man, which is only possible if man is righteous as God is righteous, and which God made possible by the cleansing our hearts through faith.

My book, No Longer I

In 2020, God completely transformed my understanding of the gospel, which supercharged both my life and my ministry, and I’ve seen it do the same for many others. Turns out, the gospel really is the power of salvation to all who believe (Romans 1:16), and that includes the power to be conformed to the image of Christ in this life, not just the next!

If this message has piqued your curiosity, I strongly encourage you to purchase my book on Amazon: No Longer I: The Life-Changing Power of Simply Believing the Truth.

Community Call

Additionally, I’ll be hosting our first monthly (video) hangout on Wednesday, May 20 @ 7:30pm CST.

WHY I’M DOING THIS: Because I’ve learned that topics like identity in Christ and Spirit-led community (or “house church”) often leave people with a lot more questions than answers.

I want to provide a space for people in this community to come together and have edifying conversations about these kinds of things, which aren’t being discussed in many churches.

This feature is only available to paid subscribers, so if you’re interested, subscribe below. And don’t forget to mark your calendars!

(If you really cannot afford the $5/mo for a paid subscription, then reply to this email and let me know. I’ll give you a year free.)

Subscribe now

God bless you all!

Jake

Ask anyone who’s been a Christian for longer than two minutes what the Church is, and they’ll probably tell you, “It’s not the building; it’s the people.”

And yet, if you’re honest, what comes to mind when you think about “your church”?

If you’re like most Christians, it’s the Name (e.g., Watercrest Baptist), the Pastor (he preaches great sermons, doesn’t he?), the Sunday service (which you’re either eager or embarrassed to invite your friends to), the teaching, the theology, the programs, the building, the culture, the vibe. It’s these you’ve chosen to attend, to partner with, to identify with.

You might throw “people” in there because you know you’re supposed to, but the truth is, they’re a bit of an afterthought.

This is the difference between right doctrine and revelation. This is the difference between going to a church and having a church.

You may know, doctrinally, that the church is actually only the people, but when push comes to shove, is that how you think?

I tell you, if the people aren’t the very first thing that comes to mind when you think of “your church,” then you lack revelation.

And no, I don’t mean the general population. I don’t particularly care that “all the people at your church are so nice and friendly,” and that’s why you’ve chosen to go there. What I’m interested in is, who are the specific individuals whom God has called you to serve, to love, to lay down your life for?

Church leaders are often thinking about the general population (though just as often, they are thinking about their careers, their reputation, their ministry, the building, the organization, etc.), but the general population is not the people in the way that I mean.

When I say “the people”, I mean the real, living-and-breathing individuals whom you personally know, love, pursue, protect, and build up intentionally with your time, your energy, and your resources for the purpose of conforming them into Christ (and they you).

Tell me their names.

If you just thought to yourself, “I don’t have anyone like that” or “that doesn’t describe any of my relationships,” then frankly, you lack a church (in any meaningful sense, that is).

Go build it.

Ask the Lord to help you decide who to pursue.

Invite them into your home for dinner, for prayer, for Bible study.

Go grab a coffee or lunch.

Ask them about their spiritual life.

Tell them you want to build relationships with people to share your faith together, and to build each other up in Christ.

Pray for them, for their needs, for their sanctification.

It isn’t rocket science, folks! You don’t need a seminary degree or a pastoral license or a special call to ministry. You need the Spirit of Love, who indeed dwells within you (provided you belong to him).

You have been called to the service of the saints, and that calling isn’t met by door-greeting, event-planning, slide-preparing, donut-hole serving, daycaring, Sunday-school teaching, or anything of the like, however helpful those acts of service may be.

Go ahead and do those things if you feel led, but don’t be deceived. Your church is meant to be your family in a realer sense than any earthy family. And that doesn’t entail generic participation within a general population, but specific devotion to a limited number of people, the value of which measured by the amount of Christ’s sacrificial love that is shared between you.

Now then, if the Church is truly just the people, then we have to ask ourselves, why all this other stuff?

Is all this other activity teaching people to serve people—i.e., to build deep, Christ-centered, Spirit-led relationships, with love at the center? Or is it actually distracting them, teaching them to replace service to people with service to systems, programs, institutions, and the like (all under the false banner of “serving people” and “building the Church”)?

It shouldn’t surprise you that I believe the latter is the case, and the result is a Church that looks little to nothing like the organic Body of Christ.

Christians give their money to build new buildings. Meanwhile, God says that we are the Building, and Stephanie—a hard-working single mother—can’t pay her rent this month. The Smiths are in $100,000 of medical debt. Frank needs a working vehicle, and he can’t get a loan.

You tell me what’s a more important allocation of funds. Or actually, don’t tell me; show me. Where do your tithes go? Are you giving to specific people, or are you giving to “the church”?

Don’t run from it. Recognize that your actions reveal something about what you believe the Church is.

When you invite someone to your church, are you inviting them to the Sunday service or the programs, or are you inviting them to meet the people who will be there—the most important people in your life?

If you’ve ever feared your church falling apart, what exactly do you fear losing? The pastor you barely know? The services you’ve grown so accustomed to? Your job (if you’re in church leadership)? The security of having a clean-cut organization to identify with?

Or do you fear losing specific relationships with brothers and sisters in Christ? Do you fear seeing those named individuals walk away from Christ, or fall into bitterness toward one another?

When you think of your church, what does your heart long to nurture and preserve? (Again, to all the church leaders out there, the general population is not a satisfactory answer!)

I tell you:

• When a few people in front of you are an entirely sufficient and fulfilling expression of the Church…

• When you are not satisfied with any standard of “growth” that isn’t defined by their growing up into Christ…

• When you recognize that these named individuals are your ministry, your calling, your life’s purpose…

• When you’re anxious for their well-being and regularly on your knees in prayer for their sanctification…

You’ve then discovered what it means to have a church, and you see the sheer foolishness in everything else that tries to take its place.

So now what?

What then? If this is true, what shall we do about it?

That’s a BIG and IMPORTANT question, which I pray you will keep on asking.

It’s also why I’ve written this brand new book: Unless God Builds It: A Proposal to Radically Rethink the Church AND why I’m hosting a 10-week book study, available to paid subscribers only (start date: TBD).

Christians all around the world are longing for a deeper, more biblical expression of the Body of Christ, and God wants to equip them to build it—outside of the conventional systems that exist today.

If you’d like to be a part of a growing community of like-minded Christians, who aren’t satisfied with the status quo of the institutional church, sign up for my book study using the link below. I’m confident that it will be a transformative experience for everyone involved.

Read more

TL;DR

I updated my subscription model on Substack to the following:

1. Free Tier: All of my writing (including my books) will continue to be free. Never behind a paywall because God’s word should be accessible to everyone.

2. Paid Tier ($5 / month): Gain access to monthly video hangouts, weekly book studies, and my DMs.

3. Love Tier ($240 / year): I’ll send you a signed copy of one of my books (given that you live in the US or CA).

Our first monthly video hangout will be in May, TBD.

Our first book study (going through Unless God Builds It) will start in the next few weeks. Sign up link below ⬇️

Subscribe now

Read more

Last week, we talked about the importance of having full confidence in our salvation, and how the only way to have that is by performing a biblical “self-examination”—which does NOT entail works-righteousness, but the true (and radically simple) form of repentance/faith through which we were originally saved.

Today, I want to take a deeper look at the spiritual mechanism that makes the certainty of our salvation real, without also leading us to take it for granted.

Sometimes, when Christians disagree on big issues—like the issue of “once saved, always saved” vs. “you can lose your salvation”—it’s not because one side is right and the other side is wrong. It’s because both sides see something true and important, but neither side sees how the (seemingly contradictory) truths fit together.

Often, the Bible leaves us in this kind of predicament:

Are we not supposed to judge anyone (Matthew 7:1), or are we supposed to judge one another (1 Corinthians 4:5; 5:9-6:3)?

Are we saved by faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-9) or by works, as well (2 Corinthians 5:10; James 2:24)?

Are we in the flesh (Galatians 2:20), or are we not in the flesh (Romans 8:9)?

Have we died to sin (Romans 6:11), or are we still dying (Luke 9:23; 1 Corinthians 15:31; 2 Corinthians 4:10)?

There are many such examples as these, which I believe are God’s way of saying to us, “You’re never going to understand (let alone agree) if you don’t seek and rely on ME for understanding.”

It also invites us to humble ourselves before each other, considering heavily the fact that our brothers and sisters on the other side of the argument may actually be seeing something, too, at least in part.

When we do neither—i.e., when we don’t rely on God or submit to one another—we can argue until we’re blue in the face (as we have been for centuries on some of these issues), throwing around the scriptures that best defend our positions, but we will get nowhere.

God cares far more about our humility and our reliance on him than he does on giving us perfect understanding. And so, he’ll withhold it until we learn the lesson.

With that in mind, in our pursuit of having confidence in our salvation, I am going to submit to you an idea that I don’t think the natural mind can comprehend, let alone agree with or appreciate. But it validates BOTH the notion that we cannot lose our salvation and the notion that we can. In short, both are true at the same time, and neither diminishes the other.

If you’ve read what I’ve written in No Longer I about our union with Christ, you should at least have a framework for what I’m about to say. If not, you may find the following somewhat difficult to understand, in which case I encourage you to go read that entire book (I think you’ll like it ;))

One of the most puzzling verses in the New Testament.

Let’s take a look at one of the most puzzling verses in the NT—1 John 3:9:

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning [literally he cannot sin] because he has been born of God. (ESV)

And also in 1 John 5:18:

We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning [literally does not sin]… (ESV)

The first thing I want to address in these verses is the language. The plainest translation of the Greek is “cannot sin” and “does not sin”; however, modern translators have read their own theology into this verse and decided that John couldn’t have possibly meant what it seems to say. Hence, the translation choice of “cannot keep on sinning” and “does not keep on sinning.”

We shouldn’t get too hung up on which of these is more accurate, though, because the glaringly obvious truth is that it doesn’t really matter. Every Christian, after being born of God, can and does indeed sin AND keep on sinning, which makes you scratch your head, wondering why John would have said this.

If this wasn’t Scripture, I’m pretty sure most Christians would call it heresy. But we’ve got to deal with the fact that it breaks our conventional theological mold.

On top of this is the fact that, within the same letter, John clearly reveals that he believes Christians are capable of sinning, hence: “if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1).

So then, what could John have possibly meant?

Nearly everyone I’ve heard try to explain this verse has concluded that what John really meant to say is something like “everyone who has been born of God starts sinning less” or “cannot continue sinning at the same rate they were before.” But if that’s what he wanted to say, why did choose language that most plainly sounds like “we cannot sin” and “we do not sin”? Would you ever choose that language based on your theology? Or (like I assume most Christians would do) would you actually be VERY careful to NEVER say it this way because you know that we all can and do still sin?

Seriously, if you wouldn’t say it in a way that sounded more like something you definitely don’t believe than something you do believe, then you shouldn’t expect that John would either. Shouldn’t we apply the same (or greater) level of intellectual integrity to our brother, John—whose words we deem the word of God—as we do ourselves? I think we should.

All that in mind, we must then conclude that John had a revelation that we don’t have—something that allowed him, with integrity, to move fluidly between two apparently contradictory theological positions: (1) We cannot sin. (2) We can sin.

Naturally, most people will hold the latter position because it is most obvious. However, while it’s true in one way, it’s not really the Truth. In fact, it’s only true outside of the Truth (i.e., the man Jesus Christ); therefore, it isn’t where the real power lies.

Moreover, if the only position you hold is that you can and do sin (or that you can and do keep on sinning—again, the distinction is irrelevant), then based on 1 John 3:9 and 5:18, you must conclude that you aren’t born of God.

Tell me, then—based on this criteria, who is born of God?!

No wonder this verse (and others like it: e.g., Romans 6:1-2) has caused so many Christians to doubt their salvation!

But it need not be so, and I’ll tell you why in a moment. And soon, you’ll see how all this relates to the “once saved, always saved” debate.

You must choose between putting on Christ or regarding yourself according to the flesh.

As I’ve argued extensively in my book, No Longer I, our union with Christ (that is, oneness in spirit with him), is the central mechanic of the gospel. It’s how every aspect of the good news (past, present, and future) gets applied to us right now. And in it, there is immense revelation that reveals the cohesion of the Scriptures.

You must understand, when we talk about “putting on Christ,” as Paul said we are to do (Romans 13:14), this doesn’t refer to merely trying your best to obey God today. It doesn’t really refer to anything besides prayerfully believing the good news that Christ is in you. Even more, that he defines you, that he is your life and your identity, apart from whom you have no life. That you are an extension of Christ himself (1 Corinthians 6:17; 12:12). This being joined to him occurred when we were baptized into Christ.

So again, how might we “put on Christ”? It is quite simple, but it requires faith in God regarding what he says about you.

Look in the mirror, and see Christ in you, as you, yourself as his incarnate presence on earth. If you can’t say (by faith), “It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me,” then you haven’t gotten it yet. That isn’t a state you work towards over time; it’s something that is given to you the moment you became his own.

Put on this truth, which God has revealed in his Holy Scriptures, and you’ll see that you cannot simultaneously say (1) “It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me,” and (2) “I can keep on sinning.” For Christ can neither sin nor keep on sinning.

Those two positions are mutually exclusive. We must choose between one of the two, or else we are double-minded. And whichever we believe will produce the matching fruit.

Christians will argue, “But I can sin!” And they’re not wrong. It’s a fact that we all still stumble in many ways, that we are all still capable of being deceived and falling into sin. However, the Truth (which is Christ, the Spirit of Christ, the mind of Christ, the Word of God) is that we are God’s righteous ones, and in him, we cannot sin. In truth, we cannot sin. And in Truth, we must abide.

If you try to understand this any other way than what I’ve prescribed, you will never get there, and it will always be a contradiction. The only way is first to put on Christ—such that you can say, “It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me”—and then derive every other statement of belief from that central point of focus. (This is Spiritual Thinking 101.)

If you do this, you’ll realize that here (that is, in Christ, believing the truth) you really cannot sin. But you’ll also realize that if you put off Christ, you can sin. (By “putting off” Christ, I don’t mean that you literally cast him out of yourself, but that you regard yourself according to the flesh and not according to Christ, effectively failing to put him on by faith and walking with an un-renewed mind.)

So there are two realities: (1) You cannot sin, and (2) you can sin. The first is true in Christ, in the Spirit; the second is true in the flesh. In which will you abide? With which will you identify? To which will you renew your mind?

Now, let us view our eternal security the same way.

Think about this for a second:

If it is “no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20), then how could I lose my salvation? Say that again, and really consider it.

If it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me, then how could I be cut off from the Lord? Seriously, think about it! Can Christ be cut off from the Father?!

If you “put on” Christ (which you may do by simply applying Paul’s statement in Galatians 2:20 to yourself)—with revelation, not just intellect—you will see that your righteousness, your future, your destiny, and your security are absolutely certain. You will see that you are never to doubt your salvation, but you are to have the same confidence as if you were Christ himself, for you are a member of him.

Put on Christ, and you’ll see, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you cannot not be saved. As sure as Christ is risen, as sure as Christ is righteous, as sure as Christ is one with the Father, so am I, and always will be!

What confidence! What security! How recklessly I trust my Lord, and how little I fear my enemy, who the Lord has put under my feet! To God be the glory for granting me this wondrous position and commanding me to “put it on.”

But by now, you should see that it works the other way, too. If I do not put on Christ, if I regard myself according to the flesh, if I do not repent and renew my mind, then any confidence I have regarding my salvation would be misplaced.

Just as the statement “I cannot keep sinning” makes no sense apart from the “No Longer I” reality, so the statement “I cannot lose my salvation” makes no sense apart from the “No Longer I” reality.

Apart from putting on Christ (that is, apart from repentance, in the way I wrote about it last week), our eternal security is devoid of the substance that makes it true.

This is amazing news for those are repentant, and it should strike fear and grief into those who are not, with the ultimately aim of leading them to repentance, that they may then rightly have assurance of their salvation.

So now, we see how the Scriptures make sense, how it is that we can (1) believe wholeheartedly that we cannot lose our salvation, while (2) taking very seriously the warnings to continue in the faith and not to fall away. The latter truth leads us to repentance, in which the former truth becomes (or remains) my reality.

There’s a lot more I could say on this topic, and I’m sure I could’ve said it much better. But I’ve hit my God-given time limit on writing this week’s article!

If you’ve found it helpful, please let me know. And especially if it left you with more questions, please let me know!

I want to build a community to talk about these kinds of things, and that starts with you.

Soon to come are bi-weekly/monthly community calls and a private community chat for paid subscribers, where we can talk about all things pertaining to the gospel, house church, the Holy Spirit, and all the good stuff. Not just theologizing, but living it out practically.

Let me know your thoughts on it below:

As always, much love.

Jake

I want every follower of Christ to have full confidence in their salvation, from beginning to end.

I myself have full confidence in my salvation, from beginning to end.

This means I don’t doubt that:

• I am saved (i.e., have the Holy Spirit, have become one with Christ)

• I am being saved (i.e., healed, transformed, delivered, sanctified, more and more each day by the grace of God)

• I will be saved to the uttermost (i.e., raised from the dead, perfected in glory, given immortality and a resurrected body, provided full adoption, inheritance, and entrance into his glorious kingdom, etc.).

There are many ways to say these things, but the point is, my hope is unwavering that God will not give up on me. He won’t let me go. His love will not fail me. Nothing can thwart his eternal purpose for my life.

But this confidence isn’t empty. It is based on something very important (not what most Christians think), something measurable, which we’ll get to shortly. And without that basis, it would be not only very difficult, but foolish, to have it. In this article, I hope to show you how simple, yet how profound, this really is.

As a quick sidenote, I’d like to plug my new book, Unless God Builds It: A Proposal to Radically Rethink the Church.

If you sense that there’s got to be a better way of building the Church, you’re not wrong! Grab yourself a copy and see how God intends for his people to function for maximum fruitfulness. Buy here: https://a.co/d/06qjjR2P

In the Christian journey, assurance of our salvation is extremely important. It is part of the essence of trusting in God, part of the gift he has given us, which comes with unshakeable peace and indescribable joy. It is also the cure to the fear of death, by which we were enslaved to sin (see Hebrews 2:15).

Hence the many scriptures which point to this reality, including a few below:

I am sure sure that [nothing] in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:37-39)

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. (John 6:37)

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. (John 10:27-29)

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee [or down payment] of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:13-14)

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)

This is obviously an important truth that God wants his children to know and believe!

However, many Christians struggle to “put it on” because of the many other verses that warn of falling away, falling asleep, returning to sin, being cut off, etc. Christians rightly intuit that our confidence in God’s promise to carry us through to the end is not something to simply presume (or take for granted) without an adequate foundation. But what is that foundation?

Moreover, it obviously doesn’t apply to those who aren’t in Christ, so the first question we’re faced with is this:

How can we know for sure whether we are in Christ, or whether Christ is in us? (same thing)

I tell you, we could argue for the next four centuries about whether it’s “once saved, always saved” or “you can lose your salvation,” but that’s not exactly the issue at hand. The far more important thing we need to hammer out first is how someone can be confident that they’re in the saving grace of God RIGHT NOW.

As a pastor, this is what I’m most concerned with because from this position comes every other grace of the spiritual life. From this comes the ability to draw near to the throne of grace with confidence, with our hearts sprinkled clean of an evil conscience, to receive help in the time of need from his Spirit that dwells within us. Without this confidence, we cannot actually walk by the Spirit. Even if we technically have the Spirit, we will never walk by the Spirit unless we’re certain that we’re in him right now.

Thus, I want people to be equipped with the understanding they need to make a proper self-assessment, so that they’re not tossed to and fro by deception, thinking that they are saved when they are not, or that they aren’t saved when they truly are. The whole point of this article today is to help you “examine yourselves,” to make a biblical assessment of whether you are “in the faith.” From there, you may then have confidence in the other promises that follow, including your eternal security.

For those who would insist that we should never self-assess, allow me to offer a serious warning to you. The Apostle Paul told the members of the church in Corinth to do it (see the scripture below), so don’t you dare tell another person that they should avoid it, lest you be the reason that they never get grounded in the truth.

If the below words aren’t a part of your ministry and practice, then you’re missing something very important:

“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” (2 Corinthians 13:5)

The reason so many Christians avoid this kind of self-examination is because they don’t know how to do it without falling back into some sort of works-righteousness. They examine their behaviors/actions/thought-life, and they inevitably see a certain degree of sin and immaturity, causing them to question whether they’re in the faith. Or they see “enough” good works/self-righteousness/maturity that they thereby conclude they must be saved. Both of these are wrong because of the criteria they use for the self-examination—that is, the ever-changing measurement of their own works, which will never be enough to save us.

Please hear me when I say that your aversion to works-righteousness is good! Let it keep you in the truth, continuing to rely on the righteousness of Christ and not your own.

But also, please understand that examining yourself as I’m proposing you do (and as Paul proposed they do) does not require you to abandon your righteousness that comes by faith. Rather, it calls you to abandon your faith that is devoid of repentance. More on that in a moment.

To avoid the works-righteousness dilemma, others will say, “Just stop looking at yourself, and look at what Christ has done!” We are now much closer to the truth of the matter, but it’s still a bit of a trap. If I quit looking at myself and only look at what Christ has done (i.e., his life, death, resurrection, etc.), then how can I properly examine myself? I cannot.

Also, if the basis of “passing the test” has only to do with Christ and nothing to do with self, then why wouldn’t we conclude that every person on earth has met the test, unbelievers included? Clearly, this is not what Paul meant.

Don’t get me wrong, the heart of a proper self-examination is indeed about what Christ has done, but more specifically, it’s about what he’s done inside of me.

Has he given me a new heart? Has he joined me to himself? Has he made me new and righteous as he is? Etc.

That’s what we need to know. And the answer to that question isn’t found in some arbitrary measurement of our works being “good enough” or “not good enough.”

If it were, then we could never say that a brand new believer (who has yet done zero works for the Lord) has a new heart.

But what we can say about every new believer (assuming their confession of faith is genuine) is that they are repentant. Having never performed a single work for the Lord, they can rightfully say, “I repent,” and God receives it as so, granting them forgiveness and the grace of new life. This definition of repentance never changes.

This should tell us all we need to know about repentance. It isn’t measured by prior actions or perfect future adherence (read that again if you need to), but by a sincere turning of your heart RIGHT NOW toward righteousness and away from sin, toward Christ-reliance and away from self-indulgence.

One point of clarification on repentance is that it has nothing to do with the desires of your flesh, but the desires of your heart (and we Christians must be careful not to confuse the two). You may very well be repentant from the heart—truly desiring deep down to do the will of God, in agreement with his word—while still feeling (in your flesh) desires and temptations for sin. The presence of these fleshly desires does not defile you nor make you unrepentant, or else we must conclude that Jesus was defiled and unrepentant (which he was not)! Therefore, for an accurate self-examination, you must not judge yourself according to the flesh, but only by the sincere intent of your heart, which is what God himself is looking at.

That’s it! That’s the examination! Are you intending from the heart to go on sinning? Or are you intending to do the will of your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?

If the latter, then you’ve met the test! Rejoice with confidence that you are in the faith and Christ is in you, that he has cleansed you of all sin and unrighteousness, that you can stand before him without fear or shame with the very righteousness of Christ!

If it’s the former, then then you currently should not have confidence that you’ve “met the test.” However, this needn’t be the last word for you. You may simply turn toward Christ, fix your heart on obedience at all costs, and then know that you’ve met the test, are in the faith, and Christ is in you!

Here, I think it’s important to note that people don’t constantly vacillate back and forth between being in Christ and out of Christ. Christ isn’t leaving you every time you sin and then coming back into you every time you repent. If you’ve been a Christian, and you’ve fallen into sin (or even a long season of unrepentance), we should still grant you the benefit of the doubt, as Paul does, in saying, “Do you not know this, that Christ is in you?” That’s the starting point. However, if you do not repent, then your confidence in this reality will be (and ought to be) increasingly challenged/suspect. God did not intend for you to rejoice in his free gift of grace while happily and continually putting him to the test. He intended his mercy to always lead you to repentance; therefore, in a state of repentance alone can you truly rejoice in his free gift with a clean conscience.

And ultimately, more than anything, my point is that we should never encourage someone to have confidence in their salvation apart from a current state of repentance.

At the same time, while repentance will lead to bearing fruit over time, it isn’t something that can always be accurately measured by fruit. Rather, it’s the inward state of someone’s heart, which can be measured by their mere acknowledgement of wrongdoing and a willingness to come into agreement with the Truth, at which point they should have full confidence that Christ is in them.

But now, there is a deeper layer to our eternal security, a theological foundation that brings clarity and weight to God’s promises, even in the face of many warnings may seem to contradict his promises.

Next week, we’ll see how our union with Christ (which is one of the main topics of this newsletter) completely transforms our understanding of our eternal security and where it comes from. If you haven’t subscribed, make sure to do so, so you won’t miss it!

I wrote this article five years ago on a different platform, but every year during Holy Week, it seems to come back to me. Thinking it’s still a word that a lot of Christians need to hear.

March 2021:

I’ve had a word for the Church that has been stirring in me for a couple years now regarding the way that Christians view/celebrate Good Friday. Allow me to preface all this by saying that I, myself, do not think much of the church calendar, but I recognize that much of the Church does. As such, this post is neither an endorsement for Good Friday (or any other holy day/season), nor is it meant to be a criticism of it. However, I humbly offer what I believe is an important correction for many who do celebrate it.

For much of my Christian life, I understood Good Friday to be a time for remembering and mourning Jesus’ death (extra emphasis on mourning). It was characterized by deep, somber reflection on the gruesome way in which Jesus suffered. Every Christian is invited to either put themselves in Jesus’ shoes, to imagine the sheer pain and shame he must have experienced, or to take on the role of his beloved followers as they watched these events unfold in horror, despair, and confusion. As I understood it, the point of Good Friday was basically to feel as terrible as possible, with the hope that this would produce something positive in me, like repentance. Or otherwise, so that I might feel the full effect of Easter.

(Note: It is likely that plenty of Christians see a different purpose for Good Friday than that which I have described above, in which case, this article may not be useful to them. However, as a leader in the church, this was my general experience and understanding of Good Friday for a number of years. So I have to assume that it’ll be relevant to some.)

To examine whether or not this is the right approach to this holiday, I’d like to look at one Scripture, which I believe contains the message that God has put on my heart.

Do Not Weep For Jesus

And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus. And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ (Luke 23:26–29, ESV)

Okay, did you catch it? Do you see how this scripture corrects the “Good Friday” mindset that I addressed above? Here’s my quick breakdown.

Jesus is in the middle of his death sentence. He’s already been beaten to a pulp, mocked, humiliated, and mutilated in a variety of ways. As far as we understand, by this point, he may have been physically unrecognizable. He had already suffered so much, but they knew that the worst was still to come.

So, here are some women who obviously loved him, gazing upon their Master, their Hope, their Leader, their Friend, in utter grief at the events unfolding in front of their eyes. In the midst of such a horrendous affair, it should be easy for us to understand their emotion. But according to Jesus, their feelings about it all are misguided. They shouldn’t be weeping for Jesus, but for themselves.

I propose that if we are going to thoughtfully put ourselves in the shoes of those who witnessed Jesus’ death, then we best listen to the words that Jesus spoke to them: “Do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.” This is the word that has been stirring in me for the Church regarding Good Friday, and I honestly believe it applies to any time that we look to the Cross. Do not weep for Jesus. To do so is to entirely miss the point. Instead, weep with Jesus.

Jesus does not want our sympathy.

He wants our eyes opened to the reason that he suffered.

His suffering was never meant to be a guilt trip but an invitation to see the world through his eyes. What on earth could ever compel someone to give their body and shed their blood so selflessly? Nothing but love. Love for those whom he came to save.

As Jesus went through this great trial, I believe that he had no time for self-reflection. The only way for him to willfully endure through such suffering, without calling on the Father to send for his rescue (see Matthew 26:53; 27:39-43), was to be totally, completely, compelled by love, which is selfless by nature.

Therefore, if we were to enter into the heart and mind of Christ on that day, I believe we would find ourselves thinking not of ourselves at all, but of the world ruled by darkness and in such great need of light. We would find our hearts filled with compassion for lost sheep. We would feel an unfathomable burden for freeing people from all forms of captivity and oppression. Though the flesh might be screaming in pain from the nail piercings, the mind of the spirit would be weeping for those who don’t know the Father.

If you think that the nails kept Jesus on the Cross, think again. Love is the reason that he didn’t come down. The only way we have any chance of understanding his suffering is to understand what he felt for this lost and broken world, seeing others (ourselves included) through his eyes of perfect love.

Peace in Christ (who is risen indeed!)

Jake