Paul

a disciple of Jesus of Nazareth 

1. What do you think of Postmodernism?

What i see in the emerging church is some powerful and ancient ways of bring to life the message of Jesus Christ, and that excites me.  The message being brought to hurting people in need of a grace and love that has not been expressed in the modern church is a powerful reminder that Jesus is the Christ.  The old modern way of doing this is just not working anymore.  So to see things with a new eye on Christ is exciting and refreshing; so what do i think of postmodernism?  as long as it shares Christ with the world and gets people excited about worshiping our creator God - i like it.

2. How do you find the state of the church today?

What church?  As i look around, I don't see a church!  If I walked into your town today, what church would I find?  How many groups of people claim to be "the church" in your town?  Look around.  I would say, on average in most larger towns, you would find 8 kinds of Baptists, 4 kinds of Lutherans, 3 kinds of Catholics, 5 kinds of Presbyterians, 5 kinds of Methodists, 3 other "Reformed" denominations and a hand full of smaller and non-denominational church each claiming to have gotten it right, and all preaching against one or the others - so, where is the church>

I gave a metaphor that the church was the body of Christ.  Each denomination claims to be that body, while some claim to be part of that body.  But for a healthy body to live, all parts must be working together.  No part can work independent of the other.   How far do you think you can walk if one leg wants to move to the right, while the other leg wants to go to the left?.  How long do you think you will live if the hands refuse to feed the mouth; or the ears, or eyes, refuse to share a warning of danger?  There is no "church."  There is no "body of Christ."  You don't have a body, you have a twisted, dysfunctional, disfigured, misshapen, thing you call religion.

3. When it comes to the law, how should we live?

You can't, law does not bring life; so you can not "live" under law.  The Law Contract of Moses has been fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ.  So, like any contract that has been fulfilled, it is no longer binding, we no longer live by the Law of Moses.  Now we have a "New Covenant" with God, a "new contract" is you will, where we live by the grace and guidance of God and the Holy Spirit.  Living under grace is not easy, yet it is the easiest way to live - let me explain.

Living under grace is not easy for those "paper lions" who like to tell you how you must live, act and what rules you must follow.  These people set themselves up to be the only ones who can give true "interpretations" of the law.  When you need to do anything in your life, you need their approval; they tell you if what you are doing is right or wrong.  But that is not their place.  The one we go to for all understanding of our life is Jesus Christ.  But those who like to be in control, don't like the idea of freewill in the hearts of those who follow Jesus Christ, because they want to be in control.

It is easy, because we can trust God and the Holy Spirit to work in our lives; but this requires things from us - like trust.  We need to trust that God is truly speaking to the hearts of those he called to follow, and we need to trust what God is saying to us.  We need to be open; open to the power of God in our lives and in the lives of others.  We need to be communal; community supports and uplifts - and that is what we need to be doing.

When we live by law we look for the mistakes others make and judge them for their faults.  What I have noticed about the hearts of those who follow the law today is that when one falls - they attack like animals feeding on a weaker prey.  When someone falls, you jump in for the kill; you rip them apart; you leave them for dead and you walk away.  not very Christ like if you ask me.  In a letter i wrote to the Romans I explain the final reality of "the law" is to love other people as you love yourself - the problem that I see is that many people who become "paper lions" don't even like who they are - so they treat others the same way.

4. So, how do we handle those who say they are a believer, but don't think the way we do?

Why do you want to "handle" anyone?  You make it sound like everyone must think the same way, and have the same "code" or be at the same place - why?  How about this, welcome them with open arms!  Don't jump on them because they see things different, or they don't repeat the same code you have.  Let them be who they are, let their lives share their understanding of their faith.  They may be strong in opinion, and weak in faith, but let God work in them on His time not yours.  You see, you must get along, you must accept one another and up-lift each other.  You are all striving for a common life in Christ, so strive together as a family.

5. How do you see leadership in the church today?

To start with I would have to say that I do not see leadership in the church today.  I see people who want to be CEO's, Governors, Centurions and Controllers, but I do not see many leaders.  No one in the church is a "leader" everyone is a servant - and our master is Jesus Christ.  The way humans see leadership is not the way God see it - God sees servant.  People willing to give their lives for others; people willing to give everything they have to help others; people who are willing to give from their poverty to help others receive riches.  I remember two very dear friends who were having the same problems with people who appoint themselves to be "masters;" Timothy and Titus.  In both cases i gave them a list of the qualities of a good "leader."  Not just a good "pastor" but a good "leader" of anyone who is helping to guide the earthly church.  If you had a copy of those letters you would see that in both cases they qualities are for a good servant - one who will go out of their way to help others.  Oh, how i wish those letter could have survived the ages, and you could read them, then you would see what I mean.

6. Some "church leaders" keep telling us that we can not do certain things because it could cause a brother to fall, or make people think ill of the church.  How should we handle this?

I know, and they have been using that to control people for centuries.  Here's the scoop; if we say, "You can't do this or that because it will make a weaker brother fall" we need to place it in context of reality.  If my eating meat, or drinking wine, or staying with sinners causes a person to question me about my faith, great - i have a chance to share the Gospel message with them in an honest and direct way.  But I have news for all you polyester leasure suite wearing, bible thumping, over bearing, single minded back door preachers and church leaders who are so out of date it's scary - i think you have caused more people to leave the church, or not even come in the door of the church - then anyone having a drink of wine with some friends - you drive them out and way in droves.  So, when i say "causing a brother to slip" - i do not mean having a glass of wine, or even a bottle of wine - i mean "what's your theology doing to the heart of God's people" - think about that for a while.

7. How do you think we are doing? 

I remember once standing on Mars Hill in Rome and speaking to a gathering of people.  I looked at all the "gods" they had created and noticed one called "the unknown god" - then it hit me, they knew of God but did not know God.  I have a felling, if I was standing in your church today I just might teach the exact same lesson.

Any final thoughts?   Don't look around for answers, look up.