Aggressive
Yesterday at church we talked about following Christ and how this is actually very aggressive. Christians do not meekly cower (sp?) in a corner, trying to fend off the attacks of the devil. Belief and faith is offensive to Satan, and in some sense affects everywhere you go. There's no reason why not to take the power you get from worship with believers everywhere you go. These ideas correspond nicely to a few quotes I liked in the book I'm reading right now called Organic Church. I will give you a couple of them:
Can the church stop its puny, hack dreams of trying to "make a difference in the world" and start dreaming God-sized dreams of making the world different?
If you wake up in the morning and don't run into the enemy head on, then maybe you're going in the wrong direction.
Jesus, about his Church: "...and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it." The implication is that gates are defensive, not offensive. The church should be the offensive party, not trying to withstand Satan's attacks. Light invades darkness, not the other way around.
Just some thoughts. I haven't completely processed all of them yet, but I think they're good to mull over...
Can the church stop its puny, hack dreams of trying to "make a difference in the world" and start dreaming God-sized dreams of making the world different?
If you wake up in the morning and don't run into the enemy head on, then maybe you're going in the wrong direction.
Jesus, about his Church: "...and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it." The implication is that gates are defensive, not offensive. The church should be the offensive party, not trying to withstand Satan's attacks. Light invades darkness, not the other way around.
Just some thoughts. I haven't completely processed all of them yet, but I think they're good to mull over...
posted by spocktongue at 10:32 AM
2 Comments:
I agree, bum...these are good thoughts to mull over. I like the last idea the best: light invades darkness, not the other way around. (you've never seen a flashdark, have you? :) )
But something else makes me hesitate... I'm not sure how I feel about the church needing to face off against the enemy at every moment. Yes, we as Christians are locked in a struggle with the powers of darkness, but I think our main objectives (in advancing the Kingdom of God on earth) are twofold:
1. to grow (individually and corporately) closer to Christ
2. to help lead others into saving relationships with Christ
Maybe this is just the "how" of fighting against Satan. But at Woodruff Place there has been a strong pattern of conversions and baptisms in the past few months, and seeing that kind of Kingdom-work happen (which surely the enemy despises) is very exciting... is it light invading darkness? certainly.
What do you envision when you think of "God-sized dreams of making the world different"? just curious.
I guess it depends on what you mean by the church "facing off" against the enemy. To me, growing closer to Christ, and saving others, is very much a facing off against the enemy. I interpret the "run into the enemy head on" is more of a comment on Satan will either ignore you (he doesn't need to worry about making you stumble), or combat you "directly." Now, that combat may be subtle or sneaky, but it's still combative in nature.
As for God-sized dreams...I'm not sure I have a specific thing in mind. But "big" things like completely changing attitudes or beliefs of a culture, rather than something that might not be as widespread in it's impact. God has been talking to me lately about not trying to protect Him by not setting up hurdles that are so small that He can't help but jump over them. Don't be afraid to let God work in huge ways that you think never have a chance to work--if God puts His Spirit into it, anything is possible. Ie. if He wants me to heal someone, at that time I will have the power to do so.
I also like the idea of a flashdark--can you imagine how freaked out you could make people if you whipped one of those out and turned it on?
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