"Free To Serve"

The study of Hebrews 9 and 10 helps us understand the difference between the physical worship of the old covenant and the spiritual worship of the new covenant. Remember, Jesus introduced us to the idea of spiritual worship in John 4 as a contrast to physical worship places and times.

First Covenant: Laws or regulations for worship
Earthly sanctuary or place
Priests performed rites
Gifts and sacrifices couldn’t perfect the worshipper
The sacrifices only made them outwardly clean (physical not spiritual)


New Covenant: No regulations for physical worship (since worship is not performed by us)
We enter the Most Holy Place individually by Jesus’ sacrifice (worship)
Jesus’ own worship is what perfects us (true worship)
Jesus’ blood makes us inwardly clean (spiritual)
God is not pleased with offerings other than Jesus own sacrifice
Since Jesus worshipped for us we are free to serve the Living God
Serving God always implies loving each other (our sacrifice)


Heb. 10:23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
Heb. 10:24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
Heb. 10:25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-- and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Isn’t it interesting that the writer of Hebrews includes in this discussion of worship an admonishment to love one another and build each other up when we meet. Nothing is said about us getting together to worship since he has just explained our new relationship with God. Understanding the admonishment in Hebrews 10:24 -25 in context is most important. It is usually used to make those feel guilty who don’t come. It is really a sign of our understanding the will of God for our lives.


Heb. 9:1 ¶ Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary.
Heb. 9:2 A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand, the table and the consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place.
Heb. 9:3 Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place,
Heb. 9:4 which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron's staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.
Heb. 9:5 Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. {Traditionally } But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.
Heb. 9:6 ¶ When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry.
Heb. 9:7 But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.
Heb. 9:8 The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing.
Heb. 9:9 This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper.
Heb. 9:10 They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings-- external regulations applying until the time of the new order.
Heb. 9:11 ¶ When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, {Some early manuscripts } he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation.
Heb. 9:12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.
Heb. 9:13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.
Heb. 9:14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, {Or } so that we may serve the living God!
Heb. 9:15 ¶ For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance-- now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
Heb. 9:16 ¶ In the case of a will, {Same Greek word as ; also in verse 17} it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it,
Heb. 9:17 because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living.
Heb. 9:18 This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood.
Heb. 9:19 When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people.
Heb. 9:20 He said, "This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep." {Exodus 24:8}
Heb. 9:21 In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies.
Heb. 9:22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
Heb. 9:23 ¶ It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Heb. 9:24 For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence.
Heb. 9:25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own.
Heb. 9:26 Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Heb. 9:27 Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,
Heb. 9:28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
Heb. 10:1 ¶ The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming-- not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.
Heb. 10:2 If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins.
Heb. 10:3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins,
Heb. 10:4 because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Heb. 10:5 ¶ Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: # "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,# but a body you prepared for me;
Heb. 10:6 #with burnt offerings and sin offerings# you were not pleased.
Heb. 10:7 #Then I said, 'Here I am-- it is written about me in the scroll--# I have come to do your will, O God.' " {Psalm 40:6-8 (see Septuagint)}
Heb. 10:8 First he said, "Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them" (although the law required them to be made).
Heb. 10:9 Then he said, "Here I am, I have come to do your will." He sets aside the first to establish the second.
Heb. 10:10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Heb. 10:11 ¶ Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
Heb. 10:12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.
Heb. 10:13 Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool,
Heb. 10:14 because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
Heb. 10:15 ¶ The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:
Heb. 10:16 # "This is the covenant I will make with them# after that time, says the Lord. #I will put my laws in their hearts,# and I will write them on their minds." {Jer. 31:33}
Heb. 10:17 Then he adds: # "Their sins and lawless acts# I will remember no more." {Jer. 31:34}
Heb. 10:18 And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.
Heb. 10:19 ¶ Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,
Heb. 10:20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,
Heb. 10:21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
Heb. 10:22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
Heb. 10:23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
Heb. 10:24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
Heb. 10:25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-- and all the more as you see the Day approaching.


The comparison in these verses is between the way people under the old covenant approached God and the way we approach God. They had to perform ritual acts (their worship) in complying with the law to approach God or remain His people. We are now free of needing to worship God with rituals in an attempt to approach Him since Jesus did it for us. Now, we are free to serve God by loving others, which, is His will for us.

Do we continue to try to approach God by our own “worship services?” Why don’t we trust that Jesus’ sacrifice has taken care of that relationship and focus on loving one another? Our worship is spiritual because it is a matter of trusting God and doing His will.
Romans 12 is Paul’s take on spiritual worship. He defines it and then explains how this sacrificed life will look. “For by grace” in verse 3 he starts showing how we must translate this grace into our lives as we deal with others. God is glorified by this sacrifice.


Rom. 12:1 ¶ Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-- this is your spiritual {Or } act of worship.
Rom. 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-- his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Rom. 12:3 ¶ For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.
Rom. 12:4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function,
Rom. 12:5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
Rom. 12:6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his {Or } faith.
Rom. 12:7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach;
Rom. 12:8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
Rom. 12:9 ¶ Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.
Rom. 12:10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.
Rom. 12:11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.
Rom. 12:12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Rom. 12:13 Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.



The significance of these words in John 4, Hebrews 9 and 10 and Romans 12 is that we don’t have to go somewhere to worship God in order to be in His presence. He has removed that lawful requirement by the sacrifice of Jesus the Christ. Jesus, as promised, has now sent his own Spirit to reside in us. God doesn’t reside in an earthly building but in us. He doesn’t meet us on Sundays in our buildings and our collective presence doesn’t mean that God is more present. Our lives of sacrifice for each other does not supplant Jesus’ sacrifice for putting us in God’s presence but rather is God’s will for our lives, which glorifies Him. We can express praise for this relationship but no praise will be pleasing to God if it does not come from a life that is filled with love for one another. The fruit of love glorifies the God that defines love through the sacrifice of His own son. The praise of our lips is an edifying recognition of our trust in God that the sacrifice of Jesus is the act that puts us in a relationship with Him. It does not, by it’s performance, put us in a relationship with God or make that relationship closer.
There is no command or example of Christians getting together to “worship” God in the New Testament writings. The examples of Christian gatherings in the New Testament always involve the acknowledgment of God’s grace and the importance of edifying the body and building it up. Meeting together was never used as a way to come into God’s presence as had been done under the old covenant because God now resides in the Christian and He declares in Heb. 10:16 "This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds." {Jer. 31:33}

Our own attempts at worship can never bring us into a relationship with God or sustain that relationship. Only the recognition that Jesus has brought us into that relationship can give us full assurance of our hope. We must trust God!

Many think that God wants us to worship Him on Sundays. Others acknowledge the importance of daily worship but continue to hold on to the tradition of coming together in “corporate worship.” God wants us to understand that Jesus has taken away our need to bridge the gap between us by our acts of worship. He now seeks those who worship Him in spirit and truth, no longer needing to go somewhere to find Him or seek to atone for our sinfulness with acts of worship. We are now worthy to approach Him through the Spirit that lives in us because of the true sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Now we are free to serve the Living God!


Don Campbell

Starving At The Feast!

In the opening scenes of the movie “Lonesome Dove,” the cowboys of the Hat Creek Cattle Company were just sitting down for their breakfast, having been up since sunup doing their chores. They were hungry. Call and Gus, the two leading characters of the movie, were involved in their daily ritual of arguing about insignificant things. Although friends and partners of many years, they sniped at each other’s ways and musings at every turn. Finally, Pea Eye, one of the cowboy wranglers sitting at the table waiting for his food said, “Can we eat now or do we have to wait till the arguments over?” Bol, the cook, immediately interjected, “You will starve if you wait for that!”

I’m starving and the table is full of food!

The feast has been set for Christians to eat and be satisfied but like Gus and Call they are mired in endless arguments about things of no consequence. Churches are continuing to divide over disputes about individual preferences and will continue to “starve” each other of food that will benefit the body. The food, Jesus’ words of life, is rotting at the table and is not being consumed because of our focus on the preferential mechanics of the assembly and running the church. Leaders have spent way to much time and effort defining their churches based on either old or modern cultural attractors and have forgotten that Jesus and his words both define and bind his followers. John 13:34 and 35 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” These words of Jesus, when consumed by us at his feast, will transform us to look like him and the fruits of this love will glorify God and unify us with Jesus and his Father.

My Dad used to tell us, “no arguing at the dinner table.” He knew that arguing would ruin a good meal and we didn’t have time to waste or the food would get cold. Now, our continuing argument about our wants and desires keep us from the unity that Jesus wants for his followers. It is this unity that attests to Jesus’ place as savior of the world.

Rise up, Oh Christians, and taste God’s mercy, and feed that mercy to the hungry world. God will be glorified and praised by your life of worship as people who have been transformed to look like His son.

Let’s Eat! or the food will be served to others who are hungry. They don’t “play” with their food.


Don Campbell

"Self Serving"

I’ve been thinking about the term “self serving” as it relates to Christian groups. If self serving describes the act of taking care of oneself, individually, I can see how that would be against everything that Jesus taught. Or, “self serving” could mean taking care of members of the group instead of spending time with those outside the group. I guess some may consider this to be “self serving.” They may think that the great commission Jesus related in Mark 16 as more important than Jesus’ command to love one another or separate these as two different concepts.

Of course, Jesus taught us to serve one another. He made a specific point to show the disciples how to serve one another in John 13 by washing their feet and asking them to follow his pattern. Jesus even taught his followers that their love for each other would be the measure of their love for him and that this love would be the mark of their discipleship.

John 13:34 ¶ "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
John 13:35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. "

The unity that this love would produce would also be a testimony to Jesus’ own deity, the connection between himself and the God of love. Paul reiterates these very concepts of service in Gal. 5 when he calls Christians to “serve one another in love.” Peter continues the theme of Christ to serve each other in 1 Peter 4 by calling for Christians to “love each other deeply,” and to “use whatever gift he has received to serve others............. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.”

This service, is actually a life of spiritual worship. The words service and worship are synonymous words. They are both used in the new testament to describe our response to God’s grace. Paul, in Romans 12, defines the spiritual worship that Jesus taught to the Samaritan woman in John 4 as a sacrifice that is pleasing to God. No longer are we asked to perform physical acts of sacrifice to God but are asked to make our lives a living sacrifice of love and service to others which is the fruit that glorifies God. This is the fruit of our love that we now have by virtue of our relationship with Jesus Christ.


John, the apostle whom Jesus loved, and the author of Jesus ministry in his gospel, reminds Christians of this special command of Jesus in his epistles.

1 John 3:11 ¶ This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

1 John 3:23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.

1 John 4:7 ¶ Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

1 John 4:11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

1 John 4:12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

2 John 1:5 And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another.

Loving one another means serving one another. Serving those fellow Christians who are on the same journey we are on. Serving the body of Christ just like Jesus himself served and gave himself for the body. Denying oneself to serve and build up the body. Edify the body with all we do. Serving the body members means building the body up. This is the command of Jesus.


Paul tells the Galatians of their responsibility towards one an other and reminds them of Jesus’ own words.

Gal. 5:13 ¶ You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.
Gal. 5:14 The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

And again to the Romans:

Rom. 12:10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.
Rom. 13:8 ¶ Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.

By God’s grace, we have all received gifts that we should use to serve others. Peter, himself the recipient of these gifts, encourages Christians to do this very thing in 1 Peter 4 and shows that this service a Christ like action that praises God. Sounds like worship to me!


1 Pet. 4:8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
1 Pet. 4:9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
1 Pet. 4:10 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.
1 Pet. 4:11 If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

More words of encouragement:

Gal. 5:13 ¶ You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature {Or ; also in verses 16, 17, 19 and 24}; rather, serve one another in love.

Eph. 4:2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Heb. 10:24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

1 Pet. 1:22 ¶ Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. {Some early manuscripts }

1 Pet. 3:8 ¶ Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.

1 Pet. 5:14 Greet one another with a kiss of love. ¶ Peace to all of you who are in Christ.


So, the next time someone tells you that your congregation is “self serving,” just say, “Thanks, we are trying to follow God’s will and the example of Jesus.”

Don Campbell

Mercy or Sacrifice?

The solemn, sacred, sacrificial assembly celebration has supplanted the God glorifying and unifying love for each other which is the mercy fruit that Jesus commands us to be know by.

Matt. 9:13 "But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. "

Matt. 15:8-9 "These people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me, in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men."

I hear man's preposterous precepts about loving God every Sunday morning while the body ignores it's own parts that are in need or, insisting on it’s own way, discards those who are consider “weaker.“ Churches, claiming to love God in their sacrificial assemblies, divide regularly over their own desires. No matter what your song claims, this does not glorify God.

Matt. 15:4 - 6 For God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,' he is not to 'honor his father with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

1 John 4:20 - 21 If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Will we continue to build our house on the sand? Is your church built on the shifting sands of mans desires and precepts? When the storm comes, and it will, it will devastate the house. Or, will we choose to build on the foundation that cannot be shaken. Is your church built on the solid foundation of Jesus and his command to love each other like he loves you? When the storm comes, and it will, we will be held together in the perfect unity that love provides. What happened when your church was hit by a storm?

Loving others is your acknowledgment of your dependency on love yourself. We depend on the love of God as demonstrated and commanded by Jesus Christ and it must show in us! The fruit of love is a unified body that reflects Jesus Christ living in us.

Don Campbell

New Christians and Love

I have always been amazed by the story of the new Christians in Acts 2. Peter had just preached the good news to them about Jesus and about three thousand became Christians. What amazes me is what came next. With no other words of teaching, those who believed in Jesus started acting like him. They shared together in love and that bound them together in unity. Why did they sell their possessions? Why did they want to be together? There was no Christian law that set this precedence. They were not told that this was the proper way for Christians to act. But they became a group, called out to demonstrate love and unity as they were filled with the spirit of Jesus.

Acts 2:37-47 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off-- for all whom the Lord our God will call. " With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles 'teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Loving each other must have been the result of their salvation. Because of this love and unity, they were seen “praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.” People saw something in them to be admired. It was Jesus! It was his love!

Later, in Acts 4, the scene is repeated and all the believers were unified and demonstrated the love that Jesus’ spirit had infused in them.

Acts 4:31-35 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles 'feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.

Quite remarkable, I’d say, for strangers to come together this way. Does it amaze you? Is this the way you are? Does the spirit of Jesus motivate you to be unified with other Christians and demonstrate the love of Jesus? Is it at the top of our list? I think we may have forgotten the zeal we had at first.

Remember to Love

Don Campbell

Like Clouds With No Rain

Growing up in West Texas always made me appreciate the times it rained. My family’s heritage was farming and ranching and I can remember the conversations that invariably came up about rain, the lack of it or it’s blessing. My grandparents would always talk about a “cloud bank” that had formed in one direction or the other. It always invoked the hope of rain but most times was only a tease of what could be. Clouds with no rain. They provided a little shade, maybe even a little hope, but nothing that would nourish the ground and make the crops grow. I even read a book once called “The Time It Never Rained” by Elmer Kelton. This was about the dust bowl days of the 50’s and how it affected the ranchers and farmers of West Texas. Once in awhile, a cloud would come up, maybe even throw out a shower, but there was no quenching rain for several years. It was devastating to the long term viability of the ranches.

Christian assemblies often remind me of clouds with no rain. They look good and maybe even provide a little respite from our week but don’t provide any lasting nourishment to the body or even glorify God. Jesus might say that they don’t produce any fruit. Like the fig tree or the temple. Is this what God wants from us?

We come together for a short time and participate in a “worship service,” using lots of modern mechanics to focus on God and “praise” Jesus. The assembly leaders, many young and immature, try to focus the group on God and chide us when our adulation is not spirited enough. Singing to God is our primary expression of love and we are encouraged to “praise” God using this method. We are told that the assembly is “not about us but about God.” The preaching upholds this notion that we are there to praise God and worship HIm. So, we spend the hour, not considering each other, as we have been told, but rather focusing on God and His son.

I guess I used to think that this was what God wanted. It sounds good, doesn’t it. Praising God. Praising Jesus. Taking each other out of the equation for a little while to focus on the important. After all, that would be humanism to focus on ourselves. Oh, we realize that God wants us to consider each other sometime, just not during this hour of “worship.” We might even spend a few minutes shaking hands, patting each other on the backs, saying “Hi!, how are you?” but we know that this is really not the time to focus on each other. Right? At least that’s what we’ve been told.

Of course, Bible believing people usually want to know what the Bible says. Specifically, we should want to know what Jesus says as he is the word of God. How are we supposed to glorify and show our love for God? How do we praise Jesus for what he’s done for us? Why do we assemble? What is acceptable worship and what isn’t? Is our worship in vain like those that Jesus criticized? What is the fruit that really glorifies God?

Could our assemblies really be just like clouds with no rain?


Don Campbell


Heb. 6:7 ¶ Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God.
Heb. 6:8 But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.

Jake's Choice

Jake Spoon was a character in the movie “Lonesome Dove.” When confronted with the theft of horses, Jake had to make a decision. Froglip, an outlaw in the movie, asked Jake, “ Are you coming?” Jake replied, “ I guess if you just watch me, you’ll find out.” Jake's decision was not so much one of words but of actions. He proceeded to stay with the group of horse thieves and as such became one. Later, when Deets, a longtime acquaintance of Jake, proclaimed that Jake was with them, Call, Jake’s old ranger partner, said that maybe it was just his horse that had been stolen. Deets said, “ No, I know the mark that Jake’s horse makes with him riding it.” Jake’s mark was readily identified when seen by those who knew him best.

We have times in our life when we must make decisions, too. As Christians, those decisions are illuminated by the word of God. We are known not so much by our words but by our actions. The mark we leave will identify us as either being followers of that word or followers of our own desires and will be seen by all and judged by the one who knows us best.
James 2:18 But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.

Reading the word of God and seeing Him through His only son, Jesus, is the way to know how to make decisions. The mark we make in our lifetime must reflect Jesus and the love that he had and demonstrated. Our identity is found in his words and not in mine or anyone else's. The mark we make will identify us as followers of Jesus or followers of others and will be plainly seen.

When the judgment comes, as in Matthew 25, what will be the mark of your passing through this world?


Don Campbell

Immature Concepts

We continue to be led by immature concepts in our assemblies. It’s easy to see as they proclaim a worship assembly in “spirit and in truth” when we do neither of those things.

First, in truth. A “worship activity” that calls for us to “be where You are, we don’t want to worship from afar” is totally lacking the truth. Other songs call for us “to enter the presence of God, for He is Holy,” or “Come, Now is the time to worship.” They sound good and have catchy tunes but miss the reality of the new covenant. Jesus is the truth and is the full revelation of God to man. He proclaims that he is the one who will come to reside with us. He promises that his own spirit will indwell man unlike the time of Old Testament worship when worshippers had to go to the place where God was. Remember, God dwelled in Jerusalem in the temple (also in Bethel and Gilgal during the divided kingdom.) Those were the only acceptable places of worship and Jews came to the feasts to “be where God was” but that residence of God was only a shadow of the truth. Now, God dwells in those whom he chooses. Our bodies are the temple of God. I feel sorry for those who have a need to “go where God is,” as it manifests their lack of understanding about where God dwells. It’s not just semantics. It is a statement that lacks understanding and truth and will continue to feed the thought of going to worship God in a place and time.

Secondly, in spirit. Since the truth is that God has chosen to dwell in man through the spirit of Jesus, our worship or service to Him is totally different. We don’t have to go anywhere to worship and are called to “continually offer our bodies as living sacrifices,” according to a Jew who should know the difference between the two worship types. Paul, in Romans 12:1-2 tells us what worshipping in spirit means. It has nothing to do with singing or any other “act” that has been proclaimed by man. The continuing call to worship in the assembly is an immature call that disregards the truth of Jesus and the call to continually offer ourselves up to God or “live for the praise of his glory.” Glorifying God has never been about lips, but lives. The fruit we bear for God is always shown as the things we do for each other as commanded by Jesus who also glorified God by his obedience. Claiming to glorify God in some other way misses the truth of Jesus and the spirit by which we worship.

Jesus looked at the fig tree in Mark 11 and was disgusted because of it’s good leafy looks but lack of fruit. Next, he saw the same thing in the temple in Jerusalem. It had “beautiful stones”, as one of disciples remarked in Luke 21:5 but did not produce fruit. Do our temples only look and sound good or do they bear the fruit of Jesus’ command to love one another? Claiming a transformed life is easy. It may look good, it may sound good, but absent the fruit of love in a life of sacrifice, it is nothing to God.

Don Campbell

Generational Paradigm

One of the main problems facing the body of Christ today and affecting it’s future is that of generational paradigms.

par·a·digm   - One that serves as a pattern or model. A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them, especially in an intellectual discipline.

Congregations are trying to be culturally relevant by creating assembly environments (assumptions, concepts, values and practices) conducive to specific generational thought. These paradigms can be from any generation, whether past or present. By doing this, churches are excluding those who do not fit the old or present paradigm or change to embrace the new patterns. This creates unbalanced groups that do not reflect the mature understanding of Christianity which transcends generational thoughts or mechanics. New converts to groups supporting generational paradigms will remain stuck in an environment that does not include the sacrifices needed in a diverse congregation. Always having your own way is a dangerous and deceiving environment. Members rally around the created environment and not around the central Christian doctrine of loving sacrifice.

This paradigm will change with every generation, leading to a continuing confrontation between the "old" and the "new." Generational paradigms are not exclusive to one age group and each paradigm will include those people from all age groups who are called to it’s pattern for one reason or another. The paradigm does, however, reflect the thinking of an old or new generation. The multi congregational areas that we now have can be a consequence of generational theology. Choices in congregational environments are indicative of the disunifying force of generational patterns. Generational paradigms cause friction to develop over church practices or doctrines that will continue to lead to congregational divisions.

Creating these environments is about seeking what you or the majority want and not about seeking the best for the body and everyone of its members. Jesus’ sacrifice and command calls for us to sacrifice our own wants for the good of others as he did. Paul reiterates this concept specifically in 1 Corinthians 13 and Romans 14 and 15.

Church splits are abhorred by the mature but are even encouraged by the immature, claiming the Paul and Barnabas “clause” of disagreements, not wanting anyone to hold them back. "Go somewhere that you can be comfortable." A comfortable environment is the call of those who seek generational patterns and practices. Created environments are embraced by some but exclude others who will not acclimatize to the new environment. Jesus would never encourage his body to be generationally exclusive in their thinking or practice. His call to “love one another “ is a sacrificial call to surrender your wants for each other and this call will produce the unity that he calls for us to have. Unity is the product of an active love and is the identifying mark of a mature assembly of Christians.

Those leaders who encourage generational assembly paradigms are encouraging immaturity in their membership. Love and acceptance is only realized by those who choose to accept the specific paradigm of the group. Others feel unloved and excluded because the predominant practices of the group do not reflect their own. Each side considers it’s wants and desires to be what is important and not the building up of the entire body.

Mature church leaders will see that generational paradigms are far from the teachings of Jesus and the New Testament writers and seek remedies that produce real love and unity among a diverse cultural or multigenerational congregation. These remedies must not attempt to persuade one group to “give in” to another but focus on building up the entire group to love and good works which calls for sacrifice of everyone's wants. Members of mature congregations who “love one another,” will not divide. Loving the “least of these” is paramount. No one can be left behind and sacrifice must be made the order of the day. We cannot just love in words but must challenge ourselves to see how our actions affect others and putting love into action, cause the whole group to be encouraged and built up. The world will see and be called to this Christ imitating group. Love will be evident and unity will be it’s fruit.

Summation:

A generationally centered paradigm creates an environment with practices that exclude many of the group by accentuating and even flaunting generational differences. Generational differences can be mechanical practices or doctrinal professions. This paradigm breeds conflict over differences which result in community fragmentation and ultimately division of the body that Jesus died for. A Christ centered paradigm is one that encourages a community of Christians to love each other so much that it’s practices build each other up so that the group is perfected in it’s unity. This community will mourn the loss of any of it’s members and seek reunification.

People are not being attracted by the sacrificial call of Jesus Christ to love one another but by the cultural and generational call of assembly methodology that they believe is the sacrifice that glorifies and honors God. As a group, we are not seeking or calling others to a sacrificial life which produces the fruit that actually glorifies God but are accepting an environment of exclusion and selfishness and calling it religion. These paths that we’ve chosen are not conducive to a unified body of diverse people. If we have to divide to create these special environments, we have missed the call of Jesus.

One of the sad consequences of generational paradigm is that parents don’t go to the assemblies with their children and vise versa. It’s a deep-seated problem caused by the freedoms of groups that don’t understand the effect of their own desires, or understanding them, they flaunt their freedom wanting no one to hold them back. Leaders who make these distinctions are setting the future of people under their care. These reflect immature understandings of the freedom we have in Jesus Christ.

We must receive the words of Paul in Colossians 3: 14 which echo Jesus’ teaching as recorded by the apostle John in all his writings. “And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” Or, as William Tyndale translated in his new testament, “Above all things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness.” No unique generational paradigm can ever take the place of the perfect love that God modeled for us in Jesus Christ and has commanded us to live by and be known by.



Don Campbell

"Where Do You Worship?"

Have you ever been asked the question "Where do you worship?" I'm sure most people just name the "church" where they "go." After all, they have been taught that the "church building "is the "place of worship" and that there are appointed times to accomplish the specific physical offerings of worship.

This is now my answer:

Going to worship was what the Jews did under the old covenant to maintain a relationship with God. I'm a believer in the "Good News" of Jesus Christ, which is that God offered Jesus to be the sacrifice for the sins of the world and that because of his sacrifice and our trust and rebirth, God comes to live in us. We no longer have to go to a place or offer physical sacrifices of worship to God in order to have this relationship and no other physical worship offerings can be made by us that will be accepted by God. Because of this grace, I'm now free to serve God by loving others everyday. Our lives of sacrifice to others becomes the spiritual worship that God seeks for us. Because we can't do anything for Him to make that relationship better, we trust His decision and Jesus' command that showing love to others is the way we show love to Him and His son, Jesus. This sacrificial love and the unity that it creates are now the offerings that are pleasing to God as we are transformed into the image of His son.

As a spiritual worshipper of God, I assemble with other Christians to build each other up to love and good works which edifies the whole body. This assembly is inspired by God's love for us as demonstrated by Jesus and allows us to demonstrate that love to each member of the body. I defer my own wants and freedoms for the good of the body, seeking what's good for others in order to keep unity and peace.


Don Campbell

Paradox

Paradox: Worship and the Christian Assembly


Paradox: 1. A seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true. 2. One exhibiting inexplicable or contradictory aspects. 3. An assertion that is essentially self-contradictory, though based on a valid deduction from acceptable premises. 4. A statement contrary to received opinion.

Worship: 1 a. The reverent love and devotion accorded a deity, an idol, or a sacred object. b. The ceremonies, prayers, or other religious forms by which this love is expressed.

Paradox is not a new concept for Christians to consider. Jesus’ teachings had paradoxical statements and ideas that have been embraced throughout religious history. The paradox of dying so that you may live is right at the top of these paradoxical teachings of Jesus. Another, is Jesus call for servant hood to those who wish to be great. How about “giving to receive.” Can you think of others?

Our understanding and practice in the Christian assembly is also a paradox. Christians for centuries have treated their assemblies as the time for worship and praise. Glorifying God at a specific time and place set aside for focusing on Him is the norm in Christianity. That is sometimes called our “tradition.” But, just because it’s the norm doesn’t mean it is what really glorifies God or praises Him.

Paradox: When we think we are worshipping God in the assembly, we aren’t. When we think we aren’t worshipping God, we are.

How can that be? Let’s look at some scriptures that will point out the paradoxes of this statement. First, lets examine the teachings of Jesus and his disciples on what really glorifies and does not glorify God. Isn’t glorifying God the purpose of our worship? How should we express it? Do the forms and mechanics of our “worship assemblies” glorify God or not?

Matt: 5:16- “Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify (or praise) your Father who is in heaven.”

John: 15 : 8 “This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 9 "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”

Phil. 1:9 - 11 “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ-- to the glory and praise of God.”


These three passages emphasize that God is glorified by the fruit you bear and that this fruit is your shining robe of identity as Jesus’ disciple. Jesus didn’t say that you glorify the Father by sitting in an assembly and singing praise songs. It is further defined in John 13:

John 13:34"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

James helps us understand that this love, the fruit of your faith, is in the works that Jesus exampled to us.

James 2:14 “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. “

Don’t we profess these same things when we sit in an assembly, focused, not on loving each other as Jesus has commanded, but on doing something for God who needs nothing that man can give him?

Acts 17:24 "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.
Acts 17:25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.”

It’s no wonder that Paul teaches in Romans 12:1 that your spiritual worship is to make your bodies a living sacrifice to God.

Romans 12:1 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. “

It’s no accident that Paul teaches this view, for it comes from Jesus very teaching in John 4 to the Samaritan woman.

John 4:23 - 24 “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” "

Worshipping God is not an external act of lip service but rather a spirit generated life that emulates the acts of Jesus and thus glorifies God the Spirit Creator in who’s image we were made. This teaching was deemed to be contrary to the law in Acts 18 when the Jews charged Paul before the court of Gallio. Worship was a big deal to the Jews and it should be a big deal to Christians. One worshipped in symbols, the other in truth.

Acts 18:13 "This man," they charged, "is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law."

This fruit we bear that glorifies God is further stated by the writer of Hebrews.

Hebrews 13:15 “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise--the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”

“Sacrifice is seen as continual confession of the name of Jesus and the sharing with people in need. This “fruit,” “sacrifices that please God” is in the context of a lifestyle of continual worship—not acts to be performed during a “church service.” -Bruce Campbell

It is the same lifestyle of good works that Paul says is the result of His mercy and saving grace as we are “created in Christ Jesus” and now are “alive with Christ.”

Eph. 2:4-10 “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-- it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Just as Jesus glorified God by doing His will, so we glorify God when we do His will. We were created to glorify God by our good works and this is the definition of a Christian. Jesus teachings on loving each other as the definition of Christianity in John 13 -14 is the most defining moment in our understanding of what God wants His people to be know by.

35 “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

He has shown us through His son that this act of loving each other is the highest display of Godliness and is that which glorifies Himself the most. It shows that we are “one” with the Father as Jesus was one with his Father. He didn’t say that we would be know for our great praise assemblies, our preachers, our buildings or anything else we choose to be our definition. We have forgotten the words of Jesus when we define ourselves with these things.

So now you can see why the new Christians in Acts 2 did what they did. With no other commandment, after accepting Jesus as Lord, they sold their possessions and gave to each other as any had need.

Acts 2:42 “They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.”

Now that’s worship! They didn’t offer Old Testament type sacrifices to God but praised Him by and for the works he was doing through them. Their love for each other cried out the name of Jesus as they were one with him and his Father. The externalism and rule keeping that had plagued the religious of their day was not evident on that day. They loved each other and all the people saw this in them as they had “favor of all the people.” That’s what happens when you have Jesus living inside you! And, THAT is what glorifies God! It is consistent with everything the New Testament teaches about what God seeks for those created in His image.

Jesus came to do the “will” of his Father. He obeyed the Father’s commands. We are told in John 14:15 "If you love me, you will obey what I command.” Our actions, loving each other, show that we love Jesus and the One who sent him. It’s by this that God is glorified and praised.

So, when we assemble, do we focus on the command of Jesus and thus glorify him and his Father? Or do we ignore each others needs, forgetting to love, requiring of each other some sort of external worship expression that we have devised as good and useful. These expressions are usually generational in nature and have been the cause of many divisions and squabbles in the church. Defining churches by these expressions of externalism diminishes the unity sought by Jesus himself in John 17. This unity is one of the signs that indicate that Jesus is the Messiah and that we are his people.

John 17:20-23 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

Allowing Christians to accept the idea that each church entity should be unique in its “worship practices” is an immature rationalization caused by the misunderstanding that God is somehow praised by these external definitions. It is evident by God’s own words to us that he seeks for us to be know by unity and love for each other and not by some outward coat that we choose to wear. Our members need to see that God is glorified by our fruits of loving and sharing with each other. These acts are the glue of unity and will not cause division. Mature understanding of these ideas will ensure that our children and generations to come will show Jesus living in his church and bring sinners to believe in him.

Do we remember the message to those in Isaiahs’ day. They had tried to circumvent true worship with meaningless prayer and sacrifices, neglecting the weightier matters of good works. Isaiah, speaking for God, reminded them of true worship.

Is. 58:2-7 “For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. 'Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?' "Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?”

Although Old Testament worship practices were only a shadow of true worship and symbolic in nature, unlike the true worshippers that John 4 references, there was still TRUTH. Jesus himself reminds of the problems with symbolic worship when he quotes Isaiah’s words.

Matt. 15:7-9 “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men. ‘ "

Of course, the setting for this statement was the question by the Pharisees concerning Jesus disciples not washing their hands. Jesus countered with this thought:

Matt. 15:1-9 “Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat!" Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,' he is not to 'honor his father' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: " 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men. ' "

Jesus was emphasizing that God’s word had commanded them to take care of their parents but the Pharisees were neglecting that practice by saying that their offering should go to God. Their misguided focus on God, who needs nothing, turned their face from the good works of taking care of those in need. It can be said that we do the same today. We bring people together to focus on God, give back to God, praise God, while all along forgetting or disallowing our members to focus on the needs of the body or others. Our worship is in vain when we do this.

Jesus concluded that the Jew’s worship was in vain when they practiced this way. When would you conclude that the worship at your church is in vain? Do you ever think of the needs of the body? Do you ever spend time taking care of each other when you assemble? Do you care when someone is unloved? Do you even pause when Christians leave the body? Do you take care of the widows? Do you take on the responsibility of caring for your parents or do you just put your money in the plate, saying it’s for God. Is that your worship?

Of course, many would say that loving each other in this way during our assemblies is just humanism and focusing on one another makes us a club. Would you condemn Jesus for teaching us to love one another as a test of our love for him? Is Jesus teaching humanism? James reminds Christians of their responsibilities to each other in James 1:22 - 27.

James 1:22 -27 “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it-- he will be blessed in what he does. If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

Jesus himself was the author of these very concepts in Matt 25 and taught us of their importance. They not only reflect Jesus in the life of the doer but also glorify God by letting their “lights shine” before men. The righteous, living by faith, are doers of the word and worship God in truth and spirit. Their worship is not in vain.

Matt. 25:34 -40 "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. ' "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? ' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' “


Conclusion: So now, I’m encouraging you to worship God in ways that are contrary to your traditions. When we meet together we need to continually remember these words:

Heb. 10:23-25 “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-- and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Love and good works are the fruits that glorify God. We need to make sure we remember this when we meet together. If not then, when?

Churches have forgotten this call if they ever knew it at all. They have placed their emphasis on the external praises that they think are important, forgetting what really glorifies God. “Better singing, that’s what matters!” “Better preaching, that will bring them in!” “Better buildings, that’s what people are drawn to!” “Contemporary gadgets, that’s what we need to define us!” All these things are superfluous definitions that have no value in glorifying God but are simply the creation of man to fulfill his own needs and wants.

It’s not that church members today don’t produce the fruit of good deeds, it’s that they are misled into thinking that the lip service of their assemblies is equal to or greater than their daily life service of loving each other as Jesus has commanded. Many of our members follow the teachings of Jesus in Matthew 25 but don’t understand that it is worship. They don’t realize that those actions are the primary things that please God and that’s the paradox! “When we think we aren’t worshiping God, we are.”

We are supposed to be known for our love and unity for the entire body while we continue to divide over cultural issues related to our “praise” or” worship service” and other frivolous matters of opinion. We seek to differentiate our churches by the assembly offerings and promote that offering in words and literature as the definition of our body. This is contrary to everything Jesus taught. He would never encourage congregational individualism as a proper response to his outpouring of love.

A false appearance of holiness and praise come from our assemblies while many are being ignored who are in need of love and good works. We have sacrificed many members in our bodies because of this very thing. They leave anytime their needs are being ignored by the body. Many leave because churches won’t bend to their immature demand of externalism, not having been taught what true worship is all about.

Singing is exampled in the New Testament but it is an ancillary expression of the joy we feel, it is not the central expression of our worship to God. Our singing to each other, as expressed in Ephesians 5:19 is a way to express our love and encouragement to each other, thus making melody in your heart to God. God loves it when we love and encourage each other in song. That smells good to God and glorifies Him but cannot be a substitute for bearing the fruit of love!

Eph. 5:19 - 20 “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Jesus always revealed action in loving each other as a way to express your love for God. My Dad defined love as “active goodwill.” It is this “active goodwill“ toward others that Jesus used as his basis for the account of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10 as the fulfillment of the greatest commandment. The two “religious” men in the story were shown to be unloving. When asking Peter in John 21 if he loved Jesus, Peter was told to “Feed my Sheep” which is showing this love to the body through action. It would not have been in Jesus nature to tell Peter to show his love for him in any other way. He wants us to express our love for him (remember the definition of worship - religious forms by which this love is expressed. ) by loving each other. What form does your expression of love for him take?

Paul taught in 1 Corinthians that love is the greatest gift of the spirit of Jesus and he knew what it meant to love having been the recipient of Jesus’ love while he was a sinner.

1 Cor. 12:31 But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way..............”

1 Cor. 13:4-8 “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

So let’s see. The fruit or good works of the saved is what glorifies God. Loving each other is what Jesus has commanded of us. We are to be know for our love, our unity and the fruit that love bears. Traditions that focus on God alone are called vain worship because they miss the central point of what Jesus taught. “Love one another.”

Now you may think that I have reached far and wide in the scriptures to prove a point. We have looked at many scriptures but they are only the tip of the iceberg of those relating to this loving nature of God. If you can grasp this nature, that God is love and the central role it plays in our creation, our discipline, our salvation and our own God glorifying expression of it based on our transformation into the image of Jesus, you will better understand it’s importance in everything you do. Jesus revealed this greatest command to us and we must never leave it out of any thing we say and do.

Paradox: When we think we are worshipping God in the assembly, we aren’t. When we think we aren’t worshipping God, we are.



Don Campbell

"Can" We or "Do" We Worship in Spirit and Truth

The “worship wars” that continue to divide those calling themselves Christians continues because of the misunderstanding of worship and the immaturity of those calling their particular paradigm of worship the correct one. Those seeking to mature in Christ and put love and unity above their particular methodology must continue to seek God’s truth in their relationship and not man’s desires. I would offer the following thoughts for your continued study.

“Can” we or “Do” we Worship in Spirit and Truth?


Jesus told the Samaritan woman in John 4 that God seeks those who worship Him in spirit and in truth because God is Spirit. She had asked the question about “where” was the proper place to worship God. Obviously, she was seeking a relationship with God based on the proper place and how she could physically come into God’s presence by her own or others actions. Jesus, understanding that worship under the old covenant was based on a physical place and procedure to come into the physical presence of God, now relates the fundamental change to this relationship. It will no longer be done in a physical place or by physical acts of men or priests but God will grant access to each through the sacrifice of His only son. Now, because of this truth, we gain access without physical worship but spiritually by Jesus’ own access to the spirit God.

This statement by Jesus is further explained in the writings to the Hebrews, especially in chapters 9 and 10. The writer tells of the old covenants regulations for worship and Holy place here on earth. He then tells us of the new covenant’s tent not made with hands when the Messiah appeared and how he entered the Holiest place once and for all by his own sacrifice. The writer says that the “Messiah, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself to God as a sacrifice without blemish, will purify our conscience from works that lead to death, so that we can serve the living God!”

So the question is, “can” we worship in spirit and truth or “do” we worship in spirit and truth because of Jesus’ sacrifice? What I mean is, is it OUR doing in physical worship that is done in spirit and truth or is it worshipping in spirit and truth BECAUSE we believe that Jesus’ sacrifice takes away our doing something physical for God to gain access. The truth is that Jesus offered this sacrifice of worship and by believing that and trusting God, we accept it and gain access to God who is spirit. If it’s Jesus’ doing, then why are so many people going to a place and time to “worship” God, as if they are required to? They seem to think it is their responsibility to “worship” God in spirit and truth not understanding what Jesus has said. They seek ways to be “more spiritual” in their worship services thinking that they are the ones who make worship spiritually better or more pleasing to God. Jesus pleased God by his sacrifice for all of us. We cannot make that reconciled worship better although many try to come up with their own physical worship instead of trusting in Jesus’ sacrifice for us. It is no wonder that not one New Testament scripture or teaching suggests believers should meet together to worship God in a physical place and time or with physical acts. God is spirit, and he seeks for us to gain access to him in spirit by this truth.

Paul points out in Romans 12:1 that our sacrifices are pleasing to God but those sacrifices are not what puts us into His presence. Jesus’ worship does that for us. Thank God! Our sacrifices, doing good and sharing with others, are the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. The fruit of loving others is the one thing that we can do that glorifies God and is the only thing that Jesus specifically commands of us.


Don Campbell

Church and Worship

There is a direct correlation between the mistranslation and use of the Greek word ekklesia into the English language Bible translations and the misunderstanding of worship in the new covenant. Mistranslating ekklesia to the English word church perpetuated the use of a place where members gathered to meet God in worship and an institutional structure of clergy or priests to facilitate that relationship. God is even seen to be more present at this place during times of worship assembly. The place then becomes a “holy place” where God exists which directly correlates to the concept of the holy place in the old covenant. Holy men (worship leaders) are needed to care for the “holy place” and connect “lay” people to God during specific times. It relegates worship to a corporate event which is not found in the New Testament and encourages church members to seek their relationship with God based on this physical institutional method.

Translating the Greek word ekklesia correctly as assembly or congregation separates it from a specific place, building or institution. William Tyndale, the first to translate the bible from the original Greek to English, correctly translated ekklesia as congregation and made numerous writings about the importance of that meaning. He was faced with the political and religious pressure of the Roman Catholic Church and the English religious leaders to translate the Greek word ekklesia into the English religious institutional word “church.” Tyndale never used the word church in his translated New Testament and was martyred for his efforts to make God’s word accessible and accurate to the masses of English speakers. It was not until later English translations that the word “church” was used. There had been no Greek word for the English word “church” in the early Greek text.

Understanding that there is no “place” or “house made with hands” in which God exists or meets us is important in our understanding of worship in the new covenant. Jesus made specific remarks to the Samaritan woman in John 4 about the new spiritual nature of worship and how God now sought those who came to Him through this spiritual relationship. She sought the correct place to worship God because under the old covenant worship was the way men came into God’s presence. It was always relegated to a place and time and with the help of certain men and procedures. This was the physical worship of the old covenant and it had specific regulations that allowed the relationship between a holy God and sinful man to exist. The temple in Jerusalem was the only place that Jewish worship could take place after David moved it from Shiloh except during the divided kingdom when Bethel and Gilgal became acceptable worship centers in the northern kingdom. The Samaritans, seeking their own relationship with God and barred from worship in Jerusalem, had made Mount Gerizim a worship center or place that they thought they could have a relationship with God. It was always centered around a place that God made holy by His presence and this physical worship regimen was the basis of the Samaritan woman’s question.

Deut. 12:5-6 “But you are to seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go; there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.” - NIV

John 4:20 - 21 “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem. " Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.” - NIV



Now, according to the New Testament writers, God indwells us individually. The holy God comes to reside in us because the sacrifice of His perfect son now puts us into that relationship. We don’t have to go anywhere or present any offerings to have that relationship or have it mediated by men since Christ himself became the mediator and God chose to come into our bodies and make them His temple.

1 Cor. 6:19 - 20 “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” - NIV


The writer to the Hebrews specifically details this new relationship in Hebrews 9 and 10 and it’s comparison to the worship of the old covenant. We now can boldly be in God’s presence without going anywhere or having anyone mediate that experience since God has chosen to reside in us.

Heb. 10:19 - 23 “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” - NIV


This is the heart of the gospel. Understanding this good news, that this new relationship with God requires no physical worship in special places or at specific times, is essential in our maturing. This was good news to those Jews who had been separated from God since the fall of man. This was good news to the Gentiles who had been outsiders to a relationship with God. This was good news to the Samaritans. All men can now be in a relationship with God because of Jesus’ sacrifice without bringing new offerings to God. Man can not make that sacrifice better on their own or with the help of an institution or “holy men.” Attempting to make physical worship “spiritual” or “more spiritual” misses the whole point of our new relationship with God. We are not free TO worship God the way we want but are now free FROM having to physically worship God in order to serve Him by serving others.

Serving God by doing His will now can be our focus since our relationship is secured in Jesus Christ. It is no coincidence that the same Greek words used for worship in the Old Testament are translated worship and service in the New Testament. Seeing that our service to God now takes on a whole different concept under the new promise is the heart of our maturing as followers. The Hebrews writer compares the old physical acts of worship that only lead to death and the new spiritual worship that accompanies salvation.

Heb. 9:14 “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, {Or } so that we may serve the living God!” - NIV

His exhortation in Hebrews 12:28 is that it is this service that is acceptable to God and goes on to define the breadth of this service in Chapter 13 starting with “Let brotherly love continue” and then going on to specify the loving actions that glorify God.

Heb. 12:28 “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe," - NIV


Heb 12:28 “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:” - KJ

These thoughts mirror those of Paul in his letter to the Romans. He wants his readers to understand that the loving fruit of their lives is the fragrant offering that glorifies God.

Rom. 12:1-2 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-- this is your spiritual {Or } act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-- his good, pleasing and perfect will.” - NIV

Rom. 12: 1-2 “ I exhort you, therefore, brothers, in view of God’s mercies, to offer yourselves as a sacrifice, living and set apart for God. This will please him; it is the logical “Temple worship” for you. In other words, do not let yourselves be conformed to the standards of the olam hazeh (this world). Instead, keep letting yourselves be transformed by the renewing of your minds; so that you will know what God wants and will agree that what he wants is good, satisfying and able to succeed.” - Jewish New Testament

The Hebrews writer continues this same idea in chapter 13 when he encourages Jesus’ disciples to continually offer pleasing sacrifices to God which is the fruit of lips that confess His name. After all, loving others is the very command of Jesus and the only way we can show God that we love Him. Jesus said that it is that love that identifies us as his disciples.

Heb. 13:15-16 “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise-- the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” - NIV

Heb. 13: 15-16 “Through him, therefore, let us offer God a sacrifice of praise continually. for this is the natural product of lips that acknowledge his name. But don’t forget doing good and sharing with others, for with such sacrifices god is well pleased.” - Jewish New Testament

We need to understand that we cannot do anything for God, as if He needed anything, but that our service to others is the spiritual sacrifices that please and glorify God. Paul helped the Philippians understand that their service to him was what pleased God and used worship word power in his description.

Phil. 4:17 - 18 “Not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account. I have received full payment and even more; I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.” - NIV

Summary:

Spiritual worship relies totally on Jesus Christ’s sacrifice. Our assembling to do physical worship acts or offerings to please God is not mentioned in the New Testament because it is contrary to the good news that was taught. Focusing on a place where God comes to meet us is essentially a repeat of the old covenant's worship mechanism that we have been freed from and is directly tied to the concept and role of the institutional church. We must understand properly the revealed body of Christ by the writers in it’s original word and context and in so doing trust and serve God by doing His will in loving others the way he loves us. Our assemblies must be about reflecting this revealed truth.

Heb. 10:24 - 25 “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-- and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” - NIV



Don Campbell

Hardest Things We Do

This is my list of the hardest things we do in life. Although I recognize them, I’m not sure I’m better than anyone else at accomplishing them. - dc

1. Communicate

2. Change

3. Admit You’re Wrong

4. Forgive

5. Be Patient

"Imagine"

“Imagine” - John Lennon

Imagine there's no heaven, It's easy if you try,
No hell below us, Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people, living for today...

Imagine there's no countries, It isn't hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for, No religion too,
Imagine all the people, living life in peace...

Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger, A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people, Sharing all the world...

You may say Im a dreamer, but Im not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us, And the world will live as one.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's sad that John Lennon saw in religion the very worst of man. Religion has done much to cover up the love of God and relegate that love to a low place. Jesus' command to "love one another" is not even on the radar screen of many "christians" today. Lennon, by writing these words, must have thought that loving each other was an invention of man and that religion could do nothing to promote it. I guess he never tasted the love of God or saw it reflected by man.
Will the body of Christ ever be known for it's love? Does Jesus' declaration that his disciples will be know for their love mean anything to you? Imagine the impact we would make on the world if we were known for our love for each other.

"You may say Im a dreamer,
but Im not the only one,"

Don Campbell


“All You Need is Love” - John Lennon

Love, Love, Love.
Love, Love, Love.
Love, Love, Love.

There's nothing you can do that can't be done.
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game.
It's easy.

Nothing you can make that can't be made.
No one you can save that can't be saved.
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time.
It's easy.

Chorus:
All you need is love.
All you need is love.
All you need is love, love.
Love is all you need.

Chorus

Nothing you can know that isn't known.
Nothing you can see that isn't shown.
Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be.
It's easy.

Chorus

All you need is love (Paul: All together, now!)
All you need is love. (Everybody!)
All you need is love, love.
Love is all you need (love is all you need).

Leaders

Leaders who take people where the people want to go - aren’t.

They are just expediters.

Leaders take people where the people need to be but don’t know it.

dc

"Make Every Effort"

I have heard many religious people use the example of the disagreement between Paul and Barnabas as a proof text for going each other’s way in disputable matters. Like a lawyer citing a case ruling as precedence setting for their case, they actually think that this example gives them license to devise their own mechanics of religion and split with others who disagree, calling them “dissenters” or the “weaker brother.” “We won’t let the minority run our church,” they say. “We have the freedom to do what we want and we won’t let anyone hold us back.” I wonder what is so important that they are being held back from?

This is a sad testimony of those who have been saved by the grace of our loving God and the sacrifice of His son. Paul himself, the recipient of this grace, calls us to something higher than our own wants.


Rom. 14:13 - 15:7 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way. As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men. Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall. So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin. We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: "The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me." For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

Unity is more important than anything we devise to bring praise to God. Loving each other, as Jesus has commanded, is the mark of a Christian and will bring about the unity that God seeks for us to have. This is how others will know that we are Christians and it’s fruit is what glorifies God.

So, don’t seek your own way when deciding matters of opinion in the church. Don’t use the majorities stance to create things that are pleasing to man but seek the unity that comes with loving each other and deferring to each other in matters of opinion which is pleasing to God. Seek to bind the church together in love. Look to include the “least of these” instead of devising mechanics and citing scriptures that exclude even one brother or sister. This is what the Pharisees did.

What’s become so important to you that you would split the body? Meat sacrificed to idols, a water fountain in the building, a kitchen, bible classes, one cup or multiple cups, one assembly or two, a praise team, women’s roles, the name of the church? What is pleasing to you? Would you give up your wants for your brother? It’s called love. Jesus did and commanded us to do the same to show our love for him.

Paul puts it another way in 1 Corinthians:

1 Cor. 8:9 - 13 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.

Paul again:

1 Cor. 13:2 - 13 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Let’s quit being children and exercising our freedom. “Make every effort” to love each other. Protect those who are weak and encourage the body to love each other. Let love be the catalyst for the unity that is so easily undermined by mans wants and desires. Put others first. Let others see Jesus living in us by being like-minded with him. Put love in it’s proper place so that the world will see us and know we are the disciples of the one who defined love and thus proclaim him as the savior of the world. Anything we can dream up as being good and important pales in comparison to loving one another as commanded by Jesus Christ.


Don Campbell

Christlike Identity

The two hardest things that we do in life:

Communicate
h
a
n
g
e


I don’t do either of these particularly well and I imagine that you don’t either.

Jesus is the master communicator. He came to communicate to us the true nature of God. He, Jesus, is that true nature and communicated to us in word and deed. Do you see God through Jesus or do you look to see God through other ways?

It’s he that I want you to listen to when I speak.

No one likes to change. I’m not talking about changing things, i.e. the church or others, but changing yourself. We say we want to change to be like Jesus. Do we really? Do we hear him communicate change to us? What would we look like if we changed to be like him?

What would we clothe ourselves in?

How would others identify us? Is it by what we wear like some?

Does Jesus say how we would look if we changed to look like him?

Does it matter what we look like?

Does it matter what our identity is?

Can we decide for ourselves what we want to look like?

Let’s look at some of Jesus teachings about our identity. Let’s see what a Christian disciple will look like and what we will “wear” when we “put on” Jesus.

Looking at the scriptures, I see two things that are of the utmost importance in defining a disciple of Jesus. These two things go hand in hand and you can’t have one without the other. But they are identified as being separate marks of a disciple.

Do you know what they are?

LOVE & UNITY

Today, we will focus on our identity in Love.


Love: Defining the Disciple

It’s been interesting to watch churches try to define themselves over the years in various ways. I guess it’s been that way for a long time. Men decide how they will “clothe” themselves in an attempt to let others see them and know who they are. It seems like now churches are busy defining themselves in our brotherhood by many things. We see some clinging on to the rules and traditions that they grew up with, not wanting to give up the identify of themselves or their predecessors. We see others, claiming freedom from the old ways, proceed to dismantle the “look” that they had and establish their identity in new mechanisms of worship, dress or structure. They throw out the old and bring in the new in an attempt to define themselves as progressive and modern, claiming that these things will be the new attractant to the “unchurched.” Of course, this sets up the inevitable struggle between groups, pitting one against another in a battle to prove one’s identity is the true likeness of God. Looking back on history, I guess it’s always been this way. Man seems self motivated to create his own identity.

Of course, looking back at the history of man’s relationship with God, we know that man has missed the mark on many occasions. Has man missed it in how he is trying to define himself? Is our identity found in Jesus and his teaching or in the things that we invent to define ourselves?

The defining characteristics of God were finally and forever demonstrated in the life of His only Son, Jesus Christ. We see in Jesus’ life and teaching these defining characteristics and they are related to us clearly in John’s writings.

John 14:6 -13 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him. " Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.

Bringing glory to his Father was the way Jesus showed the world who He, God, was and thus declared the truth of God. Jesus did as the Father had commanded him so that the world would know Him. Jesus defined himself with the commands of God. He “clothed” himself with the characteristics of God. He wanted the world to see the Father living through him and spoke the Father’s words. Jesus’ life defined God perfectly.

Jesus obeyed the Father because he loved him and wanted to do his will. That’s why he came. And now we, because we love Jesus, want to do his will. Jesus, reflecting his relationship with his Father, said in John 14:


John 14:15 ¶ "If you love me, you will obey what I command.

He now has asked the same of us and declared that our identity or defining characteristics must reflect him and thus reflect God. This is what defines us as his disciples.


John 15:8 - 17 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit-- fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.

Bearing the fruit of loving each other becomes the defining characteristic of his disciples. Now, when Jesus speaks, I try to listen! He, Jesus, God incarnate, commands that we love each other. He, Jesus, says that bearing this fruit is what shows that we are his disciples. It’s not in how good we are, how good we sing, how good we pray, how good we look, our buildings, our preachers, our organization, etc. The defining characteristics of Jesus’ disciples are that we love one another. Is this something we recognize? Is this something we acknowledge? Is this something we “clothe” ourselves with? Does it define you?

John further states in 1 John 2:


1 John 2:3 - 11 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.

Obedience to Jesus commands is not an option for Christian disciples. It is THE defining characteristic that they must wear. “This is how we know we are in him.” John repeats this defining characteristic in chapter 4:


1 John 4:10 - 5:3 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,

Loving each other is the defining characteristic of Jesus’ disciples. He showed the disciples in John 13 how to practice love. Getting down on his knees, he washed their feet as an example of this defining love.

John 13:14 -15 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

So, what is your conclusion? Do you seek to define yourself in some traditional human form? Do you seek to claim your “freedom” to define yourself in some new mechanism? Are you inclusive in your definition or does it exclude? Jesus wants to know. Putting love in it’s proper and defining role is Jesus’ call for us. You can’t say you love God without loving each other. It’s impossible! Jesus, in Matthew 25, declared the fruit of loving each other is the defining characteristics of God’s people. Loving the unlovable. Remember, God loved us first, defining what the word means.

Love Defines Jesus’ Disciples

1 Cor. 12:31 But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way.
1 Cor. 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
1 Cor. 13:2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
1 Cor. 13:3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, {Some early manuscripts but have not love, I gain nothing.
1 Cor. 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
1 Cor. 13:5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
1 Cor. 13:6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
1 Cor. 13:7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Don Campbell