RACE TO THE EGG
Every one of you reading this is the result of a single WINNING race contestant who let nothing stop him from achieving his one and only goal: Being first to reach the egg!
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Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. [1Corinthians 9:24]
In traditional churches this is represented as winning the contest to become the one who controls everything at the very top—becoming the one who commands the bridge and inhabits the one and only pulpit, while everyone else sits back in silence giving full credit and obedience to the worthy one who won the summit.
This, of course, is a complete reversal of that which the Lord Jesus created. Rather than all the spoils going to a single man at the top of the mountain, whether it is a small mountain with a dozen or a massive Everest with tens of thousands over which the single winning contestant rules, the Lord has instead created a process in which every single one of His children can succeed and reach their full potential as a fully developed disciple instead of a mere silent spectator.
We can call these spectator churches. Only one person is allowed to speak. However, I would like to bring your attention to a much different paradigm straight out the Gospels:
Have you ever noticed just how many regular everyday people actually spoke to the Lord? It can easily be argued that the Lord allowed such freedom of speech and the right to question only for the reason of creating a spiritual opportunity for growth and teaching. Really. Go read the gospels and see if this is not true. There was always someone somewhere coming up to Him and asking for His help or asking a question, even His enemies. He never denied them. He always allowed them to approach Him and speak up.
NEWS FLASH: THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN IN MOST CHURCHES.
You are a non-entity. Your presence rarely matters. The service would be the same whether you were there or not. You will be the same whether being there or not. You spend your time tucked away on a bench and are refused any participation except for group-oriented pre-planned participation. Your heart remains the same. It has no outlet.
During the Lord’s ministry, though, you could actually go talk to Him. Your freedom of speech would be restored. He would treat you with respect and honor your input. And from that YOU WOULD GROW AND DEVELOP.
This is His intention. There is no possible way you would ever make it to the egg otherwise and the egg would remain unfertilized and all the greatness the Lord put within you would be wasted and come to nothing simply because you were never allowed to speak up and be who the Lord created you to be.
This is why so many churches are so boring. Ninety-nine percent of all God’s resources (YOU!) are not being utilized. God has created a great world of incredible diversity and action but the faux lords of Christianity are determined to tamp everything down, organize creativity out of existence, and form a strictly controlled unit of virtual automatons who merely parrot what they are told and exist zombie-like in a vast sea of silence occupying mere pews or folding chairs. This is NOT the picture of lively anointed believers dedicated to excellence. This misuse and non-use of God’s greatest resources must stop.
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.
For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. [Romans 12:1-8] [1]
We must each continue to strive to achieve our ministry callings. There is an egg somewhere depending on you to get there.
© 2017 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Posted on April 20, 2017, in Real Christianity and tagged Apostle Paul, Discipleship, Early Church, Holy Spirit, Jesus Created One Church, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity, The Gift of the Holy Spirit, The Great Awakening, Traditional Christianity. Bookmark the permalink. 14 Comments.
Real Christianity 
Not sure about the 99%, there are a good number of Churches that are teaching churches, having groups that meet throughout the week and fellowship etc. I do agree that these teaching churches are not the majority. Also agree that the body of Christ is largely under utilized. I’m always hesitant when I hear someone saying that virtually all of what we see is wrong. Remember the 7000! What we should propagate is building up, not necessarily tearing it all down. Blessings!
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Thanks Bruce. The point I was making regarding the 99% is that everyone but the man in the pulpit in those churches not adhering to the Lord’s model are not being used as the Lord intended. Each and every believer has a vital function and purpose. There is certainly a time to sit quietly and listen, and be taught in the early going when one is a learning disciple. But such a time is relatively brief according to the New Covenant model. Also, the Lord taught in a manner that used an open format in which people were allowed to respond. He used this especially among His close disciples, those who were more dedicated, and allowed for much lively give and take since this greatly assists quick development.
It should be obvious that most churches never use this approach. Official Christianity in general has certainly grown in part toward the Lord’s model but there is still an agenda not His and this is borne out by the results. I am an advocate of allowing every single one of the Lord’s greatest resources—us—to come to full development and utilization within the Body of Christ. My own experience of a few decades is one in which I was always dedicated but was forced to do the vast majority of my learning and spiritual development on my own or among a few. The New Covenant writings illustrate a very different learning and development structure than that which official Christianity has been putting forth for centuries. It is almost always top down with an agenda benefitting those in charge. This is why we have perpetual students.
The apostle Paul said we must reach a point fairly quickly where we must attend to our callings. I’ve listed some of these in his letter to the Romans. This means our schooling must be exceptional but also relatively quick. The early Church, for example, spread the Gospel very quickly over vast territories and millions were not only saved but filled with the Holy Spirit and sent forth as powerful witnesses. This is the Lord’s real model. This is what we all must attain to.
For all those doing so, and there are many, it is a great thing, but they are in the minority. Also, the Lord did His share of “tearing down,” in that there are many of the Lord’s long rebukeathons directed toward those religious ones in control who were getting it wrong and refused to change. There was a decided lack of repentance especially among the religious leaders because their agenda was not His. In adopting His model, they had much to lose and in their minds little to gain. Those in their care were hurting and needed help. They were undeveloped spiritually and were yearning for truth and spiritual reality. It is in part why so many tens of thousands quickly found the Lord’s new message so refreshing.
This is not an easy subject to deal with and never has been but Christians in general must become more aware of the practices of the early Church and the Lord’s real teachings and adopt them and become real disciples rather than settling for much less. It is why there must be a Great Awakening. When all of the Lord’s people are dedicated to doing the Father’s work as they were in the early Church we will see a powerful body of Living Stones, the real temple, having the great spiritual impact in the world as per the Lord’s intentions and the greatest effect will be that every single individual matters. The only way to get it done is for everyone to be involved in the work.
Blessings to you my friend.
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I agree, you need the opportunity to ask questions, respond and learn together. We use groups called C2’s throughout the city in various geographical locations where we meet in homes whenever we want to study, fellowship and do collective community work to further the Gospel. Far too many still on milk versus meat. For discernment considerations alone it is scary, and the body is crippled because of lack of knowledge. Have a great day my friend!
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That’s a great report Bruce! Because of such efforts as you describe and are engaged in, I believe we are getting there. There is excellent work being done in the world and those engaged know they must simply keep walking it out knowing the greatest resistance always comes from within. Some of the resistance responds properly though it takes much time when they see servant leadership from those never considered or recognized as leaders having much spiritual success in their work.
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The Lord created us to cross the” finish line” together, in step with Him and each other.
Thank you for exercising the “love that compels”.
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Thank you Gary. THAT is a rich and meaningful phrase. Blessings to you.
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Your words are true, RJ. God used me as His instrument for 6 months, speaking forth God’s truth to my pastor about what He wants His church to be. God wants truth to be proclaimed, obedience and repentance, gospel taken to the streets, servants instead of leaders, spiritual maturity, holiness, reverence in worship, and prayer. Things were great at first, we began a prayer group and his sermons became full of truth, and new small groups started for the purposes of spiritual maturity. But then my pastor began rejecting truths I delivered; it became too hard for him. My weekly meetings with him became tougher and I increasingly left feeling frustrated because he would no longer listen to what God was showing me. He developed an appetite for trying to debate with me the scriptures as a means to deflect truths. He said to me recently that as long as we both believe in the macro that Jesus is Savior that the micros should not tear us apart. Even the demons believe Jesus is Savior! While it is true that there are micro issues that are not that important, you have to get the salvation issues right. My pastor is being deceived, I believe, and is now toying with the concept of universal reconciliation among other things.
It is an unsettling and traumatic turn of events for me. I can no longer sit in the pew and watch the show, RJ. I worshiped at home with my family on Sunday and felt the Holy Spirit presence where there is none in the sanctuary of my church anymore. I’m praying for God’s direction at this time.
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We can never go wrong in following the Lord Jesus. I am reminded of the following:
They said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?” [Luke 24:32]
I will pray with you on this. Blessings to you Stephanie.
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Thank you, RJ.
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Reblogged this on YAHWEH-NISSI.
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Would you believe I was ask to leave the last church I attended because the Pastor kept trying to fit my calling into the way he believed I. Should be. Serving our Lord!
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Thanks James. Sorry that happened to you, but you are not alone. It’s the usual round peg-square hole syndrome in which management is so full of itself and off-base that it creates its own parameters in opposition to the Lord. It doesn’t help that almost everyone else has been conditioned to be too chicken to speak up. All the control has been vested in the top dog in many cases and when he is aligned with those few who support him the most financially there is nothing anyone else can do except go along with the program.
This is why I listed the section from Romans 12 in Race To The Egg that lists the seven motivational gifts. Every believer has one of these gifts which is predominate and he or she is spiritually motivated by it regarding the work they do in the kingdom. This creates a very diverse community. Some dunderhead preachers, however, in their insistence on forcing everyone “on the same page,” force the majority to reject the very thing the Lord has called them to do, just as it was in your case. I don’t know if you are aware of this teaching but if not I suggest we all study the relevant passage in Romans 12:6-8 as a beginning point to eventually identify which gift of the seven we have been given. It sure clears a lot up. Be blessed!
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I am thankful for a godly pastor who welcomes questions and walks humbly with his God.
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You are blessed. It is hard to be a servant without being humble. Though being knowledgeable, it is hard to welcome questions and answer properly without recognizing one’s lack of knowledge. Great blessings to you!
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