First Love and a Lost Cause

"We have now taken on a 'mixed multitude', and the seeds of apostasy have had time to work. 'First love' has been largely lost. The dog had 'returned to its vomit' in many cases - i.e., to Babylonian doctrines and practices. An enfeebled mother can hardly be expected to bring forth healthy children." - Frank Bartleman, "Azusa Street"

The church is not ready. There, I said it. As much as I love the things of God, as much as I am indebted to the institution which God uses to bring people into a greater relationship with Him, and as much as I enjoy the company of Christians (especially those who desire to go the extra mile and live their faith in every way possible), I must admit that I am not in love with the system and practices we use. There was something profound about the early 20th century revivals in Los Angeles, Wales, India, and other parts only God knows fully. There was almost a mystery about them, when we compare their experiences to the norms. Today, I am sure that many of our leaders would reject the methods and mayhem which accompanied those experiences, much the same way the leadership of their day did. Among the hyperbole and rhetoric about revival and apostolic restoration that is so common among us, there is little recognition of precisely what that looks like.

It is a lost cause. Not a hopeless cause, mind you, but a lost sense of identity. A missing personal conception of who we are, what we are, and how we are designed. The very first key to becoming the CHURCH (versus the church) is to rediscover the "first love" that the pioneers had. We are not to be doctrine-wielding, bible-thumping, hate-mongering control freaks who demand others conform to a rigid system of rules. That is the descriptive of the religious zealots Jesus dealt with and was punished by. He came to love. To release captives. To heal the wounded. To impoverish the rich with an understanding of their own shortcomings. What we have become in large part is nothing but a substitute for the Roman institutions of priest-class royalty and rule over a laity that hears more about regulations than relationship.

Oh that we could see ourselves through the lens of God's Wisdom!

That "God so loved the World" is not just some opposite form of doctrine that we must disprove in order to establish the need for discipleship. It is THE cause. The FIRST LOVE is that we love the people we are trying to reach. But also that we love God so fully, so uninhibitedly, that we shun our own prejudices and preconceptions about how He is able to move and whom He uses and approves. The early Church and the pioneers of the modern pentecostal movement had something in common that we are lacking in large degree: Unity.

Unity is not just a by-word for doctrinal agreement. It is not just possible where we agree. I have heard it said "submission isn't submission until we disagree". That is true. And the Scripture also admonishes us to "submit ye one to another". That means that in the areas in which we disagree, we ought to have enough love to stay united in the First Love and the Cause of Christ. It is this unity which leads to an empowering Presence of the Holy Ghost among us. Where we no longer contend for our views and opinions, but authentically and sincerely allow the Lord to be the King of all.

For us to be ready for the days ahead, we must (MUST!) become more of an organism than many organizations. When we get wounded, disappointed, disgusted and rejected by others, it causes us to recoil and be hesitant and reclusive. But the greatest love and cause of all is to forgive. To treat others as though they never hurt us. To make ourselves vulnerable again to those same emotions, all for the sake of unifying the Body and defeating the enemy who uses divisive tactics.

Love and Cause, they are intertwined. Find the First Love, and we will find our Lost Cause!