“Once more I will shake not only the
earth but also the heavens.”
The words “once more” indicate the
removing of what can be shaken
- that is, created things - so that what
cannot be shaken may remain.
(Hebrews 12:26-27 NIV)/
The fact is that, while certain things
characterized the New Testament
churches, the New Testament /does
not /give us a complete pattern
according to which churches are to be
set up or formed! There is no
blue-print for churches in the New
Testament, and to try to form New
Testament churches is only to create
another system which may be as
legal, sectarian and dead as others.
Churches, like the Church, are
organisms which spring out of Life,
which Life itself springs out of
/the Cross of Christ wrought into the
very being of believers./
This brings us to our particular point.
What is the pressing
imperative in view of this oncoming
flood of testing, which has
already carried away very many of
those who were called Christian, and
even evangelical Christians? Surely
there is only one answer:- On the
one hand, a ministry which has as its
substance and object the
"rooting and grounding," the
establishing, the building up of
believers, and the real increase of "the
measure of Christ." This must
get behind evangelism, so that the
work is deep, not superficial;
enduring, not transient; intrinsic, not
general! On the other hand,
believers must really take stock of their
Christianity. Is it just a
tradition, an assumption, an external
system, the thing which is
common acceptance - more or less?
Or is it really "by revelation of
Jesus Christ" in the heart? A real walk
with God, and a /growing
/knowledge of Christ, a life in the
Spirit? God has said it: the
things which can be shaken will be.
What have we got that, being
unshakable, will remain? Hmm!!