grace

Natural Church Development Principles and the Bible

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Why are the nations so angry? Why do they waste their time with futile plans? 2 The kings of the earth prepare for battle; the rulers plot together against the Lord and against his anointed one. 3 “Let us break their chains,” they cry, “and free ourselves from slavery to God.” Psalms 2:1-3 (NLT)

When the people who rule the world, the most influential people on the planet irrespective of the position they hold, want to ‘break their chains’ and ‘free ourselves from slavery to God,’ what are they talking about?

It seems to me they want to turn their backs on the great unchanging and unchangeable principles that God has woven through every atom and molecule and cell of His creation, and they want to establish their own way of doing things that will result in disaster. Perhaps it is not only that they want to get rid of God as a Person and the great Creator; they also want to find their way around principles, like sowing and reaping, and multiplication. In part this may be seen in the so-called sexual revolution and freedom from the restraints as imposed by the seventh commandment, with subsequent STDs that have developed and spread (principles: sowing and reaping, and multiplication, working against us).

It can also be observed in the development of plants that will not reproduce, even the suggestion that it may become law that individuals are not permitted to grow crops from seed they have carefully gathered for that purpose. Those principles are like the iron rod that will break these decision-makers and leaders of earth (v.9).

It may appear to us that these unfortunate people are being punished for their sins after they have committed them, and that is true enough; but it is equally true to say that the ‘punishment’ was written into the matter from which God formed the earth, and even deeper than that, it was written into the very character of God Himself!. There is no way of escape from God’s great principles.

We may as well respond to the invitation of Jesus and ‘learn the unforced rhythms of grace.’

Natural Church Development Principles and the Bible

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Don’t cheat your neighbor by moving the ancient boundary markers; don’t take the land of defenseless orphans. For their Redeemer is strong; he himself will bring their charges against you. (Proverbs 23:10-11)
If we are in a position of power we must not take advantage of that position for personal gain, or even so that some other party may gain. People with power are to ensure than justice prevails, whatever form that may take. And justice (don’t cheat your neighbor) must be guided by truth (the ancient boundary markers) and grace (defenseless orphans). These three qualities together in balance equate to love.
As if the Preacher’s directive is not sufficient in itself, he continues with another strong deterrent for such action:
Their Redeemer is always on the side of the oppressed and disadvantaged. If we do not love them, He does, and in the great accounting day – if not in this life – we will discover ourselves to be in the dock. We will discover that it all belonged to Him anyway and we were but stewards; we will have nothing with which to pay for our ‘crimes.’
Sometimes in these days, when change is the only constant, some people are always wanting to change things, to make them more relevant and appealing to the unchurched. In many cases they are changing cosmetics things, making changes that irritate others, changing things that do not really need to be changed. Ancient boundary markers – like the eight quality characteristics of Natural Church Development – cannot and should not be changed. Perhaps in a church, the only changes that should be made at the commencement of the NCD process, are those changes that will facilitate improvements in church health; such changes will give members sufficient to grapple with, without making them all angry by changing a few cosmetic things and sending church health plummeting!