Introduction to the Deeper Christian Life Part 2 (July 1988)

You like the first and second Thessalonians? You like that? You can have first and second Thessalonians, and not a verse in there belongs to you; not a one. First and Second Thessalonians were written to a church in a city in the land of Greece. Those promises and those beautiful words and all those nice things, and you quote them at people and throw them at people, and you claim them for yourself; you have no right to them, you individualistic, spiritual, miser.

You like the First and Second Corinthians? All you Pentecostals love First and Second Corinthians; it’s your book. Well, you can’t have it. It’s written to a church. Not the kind of church you’d want to be a member of, but a church.

Man, I tell you, people living in our day could not have handled Corinth. We’re so used to walking out of what we don’t like. I don’t like this church; I’m going to go down the street for another church. I’m going down here. I’m going to leave that church alone; I don’t like the way he prays. I don’t like the way they sing; I don’t like that. I’m going to come down here. I’m going to be with y’all until y’all make me unhappy.

Boy, in Corinth, you were stuck with the church in Corinth. There was only one there. There weren’t two. You were stuck with it, and that’s what the church is. It’s a group of miserable people with all sorts of psychoses, and you’re stuck with them. And the only way it’s tolerable is when you all know the Lord together. And then it’s more than tolerable, it’s wonderful, it’s even forgivable. You can’t have any promise or any verse in the book of Corinthians that doesn’t belong to you.

Do you like Romans? Well, go to Romans 16; you’ll find out who that book was written to. You’ll find their names listed there; every one of them. That’s who the book was written to. It’s written to the church in Rome. They gathered in homes. The gathering.

You, like the Philippians, it’s really beautiful, isn’t it? There are just all sorts of verses in there for you. Well, that was written for a church, honey; you can’t have it. Not one of those verses are any good for you. You can’t claim those verses. They’re for a body of believers.

Ephesians can’t have it. Colossians, nothing in there for you. It’s for a church. Well, that’d still leave me First Timothy and Second Timothy. Well, is your name Timothy? No. First and Second Timothy and Titus were written to men who plant churches, telling them how to do it and what their responsibilities were, and the responsibilities of people in that church. That’s what it’s for. Those three books are for church planters. You know what you’re left with? You’re left with the book of Philemon, and there is the only personal letter Paul ever wrote. You may have it, but you got 11 verses. They’re all yours. Great. Now, aren’t you going to enjoy that? There’s just one little problem: the subject under discussion is slavery. So, the first time you become a slave, you get the book just for you. But Gene, I’ve got Revelation; I’ve got the last book in the Bible; I’ve got Revelation…to the seven churches in Asia…right. Sorry. So sorry. You can’t have Revelation either. You’re going to have one very tiny little New Testament.

Brothers and sisters, I am telling you that the Christian movement of the first, second, and third centuries was not individuals loving God, and it wasn’t a lot of people getting saved. It was that glorious church that was catching everyone’s attention; the world had never seen anything like it. Never before, and tragically rarely since, was there ever such a community, such a magnetism. Everybody noticed it. You were a Christian and a member of the body of Christ synonymously. Read a book recently, and the book was entitled How the Roman Empire was Evangelized. I was very struck by it. This man is a secular person; he’s a secular historian. He studied all the available information. He got down to two things. Two things. Forget all the romantic stuff you’ve heard. Two things that he found the way that Christians evangelized the Roman Empire.

One, I think he called them itinerant mad men, who went out preaching everywhere. Do you know what he’s talking about? He’s talking about church planters. Those men are all crazy. You just can’t be one of those if you’re not half cracked. Well, it’s true, they’re crazy people, and I’ll tell you something else: Don’t let one of them stay around very long. They’re not supposed to. They’ll just destroy a church, but you need them so much; but just shortly, just for a little while, they’ll come in and start making all sorts of crazy statements like “brothers shouldn’t marry, sisters shouldn’t marry.” Well, you know better than that. And you know better than that, but they don’t know; they’re crazy. Itinerate mad men going everywhere preaching. They were church planters.

And the other one, he said, was the magnetism…and this is a secular historian…the magnetism of the Christian community. You met one of these Christians. You saw them together. They were always together. They were helping one another, living with one another. And the world had never seen anything like that, and you would saunter up to him not so much to find out about his Savior and his Lord but try to figure out what in the world was going on that made all those people so happy. And then he would say, ‘Our Lord’s doing that’. Well, the guy might not be impressed with that either, but he might go and visit in the homes, might be in a meeting, and then suddenly he would think, tell me again what it was that did all this to you, and then suddenly he’d want the Lord because he had met the Lord’s bride.

I wish every one of us and every one of God’s redeemed would be in such a state. I don’t want to compromise her; I don’t want to water her down. She’s where we ought to be, but I will say this, and to me it’s a compromise, and I don’t want to say it. In your pursuit of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ, will you do it with somebody else? Don’t do it alone. Don’t do it alone. You’re not going to make it. And those of you who belong to some little group, listen, batten down the hatches, forget everything else; you’ve got nothing else to do but to know the Lord together. And you’ll never know Him better than when you leave this realm and find Him in another realm.

Now, tomorrow morning, I didn’t ask you to get up alone. Did you notice? I asked you to come to the Lord with another person. If you haven’t done that tonight, will you please do so? Tomorrow morning, when we meet, I wish to give you some more things to do; you’re going to have to do them with someone else. And those of you who live somewhere near Port Huron, I may see you again. I hope I see you again. In fact, I hope I see all of you again.