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I Brag on You
By daniel | July 8, 2004
Hi there!
Joy, Mahleija and I have been away for two weeks, but it?s seemed like two years. Man, I missed you guys. It?s good to be home, to be with you all again.
While we were in Michigan I had several opportunities to talk with pastors and church leaders about what we?re learning and exploring here in Antioch. I gotta? tell you, it was so good to be able to go beyond explaining theory, to be able to tell stories from our life together describing how we are beginning to apply and not just understand. I?d be sitting in a coffee shop or a restaurant or standing in a pulpit explaining the church life you see in Acts and the Epistles, and when asked what we are doing with what we?re seeing I could draw from our experiences together ? experiences of the Lord?s grace in our church?s life ? to put flesh and bone on what I was explaining. Now, that?s not to say we have mastered the church life, or even that we?re close to what we see in Acts; but we are on our way and we are moving right along. So this letter is sort of a thank-you note. Thanks for applying. Thanks for trying to live in what the elders are showing us. Thanks for staying on the path. Thanks.
I?m reading 2 Corinthians these days, and recently chapter seven. Paul?s first letter to Corinth reads like a steady rebuke. By the time he wrote the second letter, things had cleared up somewhat, and he could take a different tone. In the first letter you get a feel for Paul?s concern, in the second a feel for how proud he is of the saints at Corinth. In chapter seven, he lets them know that he had been bragging on them, and that he was grateful they hadn?t disappointed him, that they had lived up to his boasts. Chapter seven ends this way: “I rejoice that in everything, I have confidence in you all.”
I feel that way about you. When I go out of state or out of the office, anytime I?m in public and have opportunity to share what we are learning and beginning to walk in together, I brag on you guys. And, so far, you have yet to disappoint.
Mind you, I tell the truth. I let folks know that we are learning, slowly, and that we still have lots of funk ? personal, interpersonal, theological ? to work through and shake off. But I tell them we are in motion. I tell them that, on the whole, the Lord has room to be King in our midst by His Spirit. I can honestly tell them that our church is His, not just in intent, but in practice.
That fact has a lot to do with the elders. Probably you have no idea what a privilege I have every Monday morning. I sit in a room with four or five guys who each leave their egos and agendas and preferences and ideas at the door, and we listen to the Spirit together. When I tell other church leaders about what our elders do and how it?s done one of two responses can be expected. Either they?ll freeze up ? their eyes actually go cold ? because they do not want to relinquish power, even to Jesus, or they will mist up (sometimes they almost cry) at the thought of elders who have actually abandoned control in favor of guidance. I look forward to that Monday meeting more than anything else. I doubt most of you have any idea how fortunate you are.
But the room Christ has to rule in us has as much to do with the rest of us as it does with the elders (who certainly should not be understood to be different from “the rest of us,”). The Spirit can rule because the elders are open. The elders can guide because you all are open to the Spirit as He guides the elders. We could not move if we were not open together. We have the life together we have, and we are coming into more and more life, because you guys are willing to move. You are soft and teachable, more prone to expect God to act than to doubt, more open to change and development and growth than any local church I have ever known.
I spoke with the elders about this letter before I wrote it, and some of them will have read it before it comes to you. We are all grateful for the life together that the Lord gives us and that you are ready and willing to receive. It is hard to lead a stiff-necked and whiney people, and you are neither of those. And that?s a rarity in contemporary Christianity. You don?t ask to be entertained, you don?t ask to have your ears tickled, and you don?t even insist on your precious traditions. You do ask to grow, to find the Way of the Lord and to walk in it. And that makes us grateful for you.
So keep it up.
Strive to open more and more to the Spirit?s guidance, to the Lord?s way. Pray for the elders and for those who teach and lead. Devote your whole selves to applying and living in what we talk about in the Sunday meetings. Accelerate. Don?t coast. Don?t come along for the ride; pull your weight.
This letter is mostly an expression of simple gratitude ? to God and to you all. You?re braggable. But it?s also an encouragement. You are doing a good job. More importantly, we are learning to do well together. But there is so much more to touch, so much more the Lord could gain in us and (through us) in the world. When you grow, when we grow together, other churches, other communities are blessed. Much more is at stake than just your personal experience of life. What you do with what the Spirit gives us has ripples in the church worldwide. Understand that. You, little old you, are important, and therefore you are responsible.
We love you. I love you. Thank you so much. I can?t live without you. You?re wonderful. I rejoice that in everything I have confidence in you all.
So proud of you,
Virgil
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