Assemblies of God: Unity and Diversity

I encourage all of us to consider the weaknesses and cons of using a “conservative vs. liberal” framework in our relationships with each other in the Assemblies of God. Self-identified “liberals” and “conservatives” are usually loud, divisive, and do not help in furthering the kingdom and mission of God in a constructive manner. They are too interested in themselves and preserving their own agendas. In order to directly engage “liberals” or “conservatives” is to necessarily play into their divisive game, and only gives them more motivation for polemics!

Please pray and think about what fruit these polemics will produce. The Assemblies of God is a family which is committed to the greatest global cooperative effort to make disciples of all nations. Let’s treat each other like this is actually true, and be a people who not only proclaim but practice the ministry of reconciliation.

“In essentials, unity.  In non-essentials, liberty.  In all things, charity.”

Murray: Abide in Christ

“If, in our orthodox Churches, the abiding in Christ, the living union with Him, the experience of His daily and hourly presence and keeping, were preached with the same distinctness and urgency as His atonement and pardon through His blood, I am confident that many would be found to accept with gladness the invitation to such a life, and that its influence would be manifest in their experience of the purity and the power, the love and the joy, the fruit-bearing, and all the blessedness which the Saviour connected with the abiding in Him.”

–Andrew Murray, Abide in Christ: Thoughts on the Blessed Life of Fellowship with the Son of God [1895?], 4.

Willard: Guidance

“Divine guidance is not a gimmick we can keep on tap for our gain…. Although it is available to all those who walk with God, it is not at their disposal as they see fit, without regard to the purposes of God’s government….  Divine guidance is not for any form of self-aggrandizement.  It is not for the enhancement of the ego, for the building up of pride.  It is not to prove that ‘I’m okay.’  How many times have we heard others invoke God’s support for their cause, saying ‘God says’ or ‘God told me,’ sometimes subtly, sometimes blatantly using the voice of God to prove that they are right!  But as with all of God’s activities in human life, guidance is for the promotion of his kingdom and our good in that kingdom.”

–Dallas Willard, In Search for Guidance: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God, 67.

Justification

I heard this works-righteousness teaching from a popular preacher recently:

“God will give to each person according to what he has done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.  But for those who are self-seeking and reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.  There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil…but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good….  It is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.”1

Surely this person hasn’t read the Apostle Paul’s writings which assert the fact that works are opposed to, and negates, salvation by grace through faith!

For those who can’t hear my tone, I’m being sarcastic…

Ortberg: Christian Spirituality

“In Scripture we see a persistent conflict between what are called the ‘boundary’ and ‘centered’ approaches to spirituality.  Those concerned with the boundary try to distinguish the sheep from the goats by examining certain highly visible behaviors and beliefs.  In Paul’s time religious leaders often used circumcision, dietary laws, and Sabbath keeping to separate the in-group from the out-group.

Today the boundaries are marked around lifestyle issues, doctrinal positions, or denominational affiliation.  I grew up in a tradition in which the ‘truly converted’ sometimes envied, resented, and gossiped, but they never smoked, drank, swore, or voted Democrat.

But others in Scripture sought a centered spirituality, seeking cultivating first the kingdom and cultivating the fruit of the Spirit.  They looked not for conformed people or informed people but transformed people.  They concentrated not on people’s position inside or outside a boundary but their movement toward or away from the center.  They focused not on the edge of the target, but the bulls-eye.”

–John Ortberg, “What Changes After Conversion?” Leadership (Summer 1991), 54.