"Intimacy" a Pentecostal Model

INTIMACY A PENTECOSTAL MODEL

“But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.”
2 Peter 1:9

“…perhaps the greatest obstacle to a proper understanding of the church is the tendency to absolutize one historical form or one particular image or model of the church. The gospel of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ is always greater than our theologies, including our theologies of the church.  When the church keeps its eyes on Christ and remains open to the Holy Spirit, it is in touch with the one necessary power of continuous reform and renewal of ecclesial life.”

(Daniel L. Migliore)

This statement by Milgliore grabbed me the deepest of all in chapter 11 of his book. 

-I’M GOING BACK TO CALVARY-

With what little I have learned of theologies the doctrines of men and all that is concerning them

The greatest thing I’ve ever learned is Jesus died for me and by His blood I know I am free

I am going back to Calvary – I don’t want to be too far from the tree where Jesus bled and He died for me – I’m going back to Calvary –

The most common ground in Christianity is on the cross where Jesus died for you and me

Our enmities started on a tree in the garden and it will end on a tree at Calvary

I am going back to Calvary – I don’t want to be too far from the tree where Jesus bled and He died for me – I’m going back to Calvary –

Song Written by Joseph Robinson

            As I see it, nothing can take the place of intimacy with God. This is where ecclesiology has its foundation, it is from here that it begins and it is from here that all its efforts come back to. Jesus said, “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church…” (Matthew 16:18). It is upon the foundational ground that Peter knew who Jesus was and even more so that Jesus knew who Peter was; this becomes the foundation that all things are built upon concerning ecclesiology (2 Timothy 2;19; 1 Corinthians 8:3).

            “He went in and knew her.”  This is a biblical term for intimacy between a man and a woman.  It simply means, in knowing each other, they intimately own each other (1 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 5:31). When we as the church marry what we a doing and become more intimate with our mission than we do God, then what we are doing becomes more important than God.

            This was the case with those Jesus spoke of: “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:22-23) [Emphases added].

            I was at a funeral in the country the other day. A ninety year old man walked up to me at the grave site.  I did not know him; he gave no greetings, just spoke this to me: “I have come to know that if I am friendly and open to God, He is willing to be friendly and open to me.”

            Sometimes we get too busy trying to complete an agenda that we miss relationships that can become greater than our mission; what these relationships can offer is lost in our self-interest and self-centeredness.  This is the case with iniquity driven ministries, although they may be full of good intentions; unless our ministries and ways of doing things are not flowing out of intimacy with God, it is our goodness leading us rather than God.

            This is no deep theology or some knew thought concerning ecclesiology; nonetheless, it is simple truth and when lived out, it is called “being led by the Spirit.”  Now that is Pentecostal in nature. As Dr. Gause said, “Pentecostal is Christianity and Christianity is Pentecostal.”

            This was the model of the New Testament Church as I see it.  They were simply led by the Spirit to go places and to do certain things in the places where they found themselves. This was the case with Philip in Samaria (Acts 8:5-25), and this was the case with Paul concerning Macedonia (Acts 16:9-10). As far as that goes, that was the case with the “acts of the apostles” in the whole book of Acts.

            As I read Milgliore’s “Critique of Current Models of the Church” it was as though I was reading something similar to Jesus talking to the seven churches of Asia.  He would point out the positives then he would point out the negatives, then he came to the conclusion I recorded above as what grabbed me the deepest.

            We become blind and cannot see afar off (prophetically) when we lose the gratefulness and the value of intimacy found in the shed blood of Jesus. I was broken down and tore up from the floor up when Jesus reach down with His great mercy and put His love all over me and inside me. If I in my living should walk away from that point of reference, I have moved away from the source that drives me as a believer; my eyes are taken off of the sweetness of His grace and cannot see the opportunities standing right in front of me.

            As I stood out in the middle of the land of Ur serving my country with the 82^nd Airborne Division during the Desert Storm Gulf War, there was this old sheep herdsmen out in the middle of no-where walked up to me.  The way he was clothed, he looked like somebody walking out of the Bible.

            His face was deeply wrinkled from the years of desert life.  As he looked into my eyes, I saw wisdom of a kind I have never witnessed before; I knew that old man knew more than I ever thought I could know. About that time, with curiosity, he reaches out his hand and takes one of the buttons on my shirt and looked at it with amazement. Evidently, he had never seen a button. He could not speak my language and I could not speak his.  However, as we stood there and encountered each other, somehow, we understood each other. 

            Why am I saying this? What does this have to do with ecclesiology?  I did a little sign language for prayer, and the old man closed his eyes and bowed his head and let me pray for him.  When done praying, he smiled at me and walked away into the desert with his sheep.

            We are the church wherever we are.  I shared a prayer and the old man received it; we were from different cultures and whatever else was different did not matter, we gave friendship and relationship to each other.

            This was what Abraham and Melchisedec gave each other, and from that premise a relationship was fostered into something that God was a part of.  When the Bible is living inside of us; when God is living inside of us, we do not need a script telling us what to do.  The life of God is in us and is capable out of intimacy to accomplish anything that needs to be accomplished (Mark 16:20).

            One may ask, if that is all you need to be the church anywhere, then why are you in seminary? I am massaging that intimacy I have with God.  The Spirit and the Word are the agents that inspire us and lead us into being the Body of Christ on this planet.

            One of the things I have noticed in the study of soteriology was that everything in salvation was dynamic in nature. If I understand correctly what Milgliore is saying in his statement above concerning ecclesiology, the life and mission of the church is also dynamic in nature. 

            This does not surprise me; the reason being, if the life of God in us is dynamic in nature, then I am thinking we as the church will be dynamic in nature as well, and as we evolve and come closer to the end (eschatology) we will always need to shape ourselves according to what the Spirit is leading us to do and be.

            This is even so with our revelation concerning doctrine.  For example, in the beatitude discourse Jesus gave, He went into saying over and over, “You have heard it said, but I say unto you.” Here Jesus was teaching us that our understanding and revelation should not become static, but also must be dynamic in nature.

            Therefore, my reflection concerning ecclesiology is that if we keep our intimacy open and friendly to God, then God will keep Himself open and friendly to us.  John the beloved said in his writings that we were to remember the things from our beginning (1 John 1:1-40). I conclude that there is something in what God does in us at the beginning that we need to take with us through to the end.

            I believe “that something” has to do with intimacy; we need to cultivate it and keep it fresh. The life of the church depends upon it regardless of what portion of theology we may be working through.  We, being the church need to hear from God.  I am a proponent of educating ourselves, this is why I am in this seminary; however, there is no knowledge, no brain large enough to take the place of intimacy with God.

            This takes that deep gratefulness, respect, and honor for the gift of salvation that God has given us. If we fail to keep it fresh, our models for the church will become molded and as rotten as the manna did in the wilderness.  Give us “this day” our “daily” bread.