JUNIOR DESOUZA MINISTRIES
I lift up my eyes to the hills--where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord. --Psalm 121:1,2
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Junior deSouza Broadcasting
Monday-Friday, 12-12:30pm (CST, USA)
This week's topic (June 29-July 3): Your Calling
Generational Mandates
Hello church!
Understanding generations and generational mandates opens our perceptions to the work of our God in our day. Not understanding these can lead to various spiritual frustrations and obstacles never intended.
Every generation is under particular divine mandates. The fulfillment of such mandates continues the ongoing evolution of God's kingdom on earth, non-fulfillment to the kingdom's deceleration, stagnation, and redundancy.
Noah's generation was to preserve a remnant from the Flood and begin a new, post-Diluvian world (Gen 7:1). David's generation was to conquer the Gentile world militarily, establish Israel as the head of nations, and through the spoils amass wealth to finance the temple's construction in the next generation. Solomon generation was to foster peace with the previously conquered world, create international alliances that would further bless Israel, and construct a magnificent temple that would attract even Gentiles. Peter's generation was to birth the church and inaugurate the New Covenant administration. Martin Luther's generation was to exodus the church out of Romanized Christianity and return it to its basic, biblical foundation.
Noah's generation was to preserve a remnant from the Flood and begin a new, post-Diluvian world (Gen 7:1). David's generation was to conquer the Gentile world militarily, establish Israel as the head of nations, and through the spoils amass wealth to finance the temple's construction in the next generation. Solomon generation was to foster peace with the previously conquered world, create international alliances that would further bless Israel, and construct a magnificent temple that would attract even Gentiles. Peter's generation was to birth the church and inaugurate the New Covenant administration. Martin Luther's generation was to exodus the church out of Romanized Christianity and return it to its basic, biblical foundation.
If every generation is obligated to certain divine mandates, what is ours?
Mandate #1: Recentralize the Gospel
We are a generation of Christian lingo, Christian fads, Christian schools, Christian programs, Christian movements, Christian music, Christian clothing lines, Christian dating, Christian entertainment...but have we crowded out the saving gospel in the midst of our abundant Christianness? Thankfully, some have not. Tragically, some have. There's nothing wrong with societal Christianization, though our motivating center and emphatic message must remain, Repent and believe.
All of our Christianizing is worthless, a mockery of Christ, if we marginalize the desperate meaning of it all: Jesus came to seek and save what was lost (Lk 19:10). If our Christian stuff is not saving lost sinners racing to a very real lake of fire, we have merchandised holy things for common gain. Woe to us! Mandate #1 for this generation: marginalize the "Christian clutter", recentralize the pure gospel of salvation that can save sinners still under the wrath of a holy God.
All of our Christianizing is worthless, a mockery of Christ, if we marginalize the desperate meaning of it all: Jesus came to seek and save what was lost (Lk 19:10). If our Christian stuff is not saving lost sinners racing to a very real lake of fire, we have merchandised holy things for common gain. Woe to us! Mandate #1 for this generation: marginalize the "Christian clutter", recentralize the pure gospel of salvation that can save sinners still under the wrath of a holy God.
Mandate #2: Rediscover Self-death
Jesus did not point us to "self-help" or "self-improvement". He called people to exchange their life for His, their goals for His, their way of doing things for His--total self-death. Our generation is one of pop psychology, self-help, personal makeovers, and self-deifying humanistic alternatives to the crucified life. Such inferior, worldly wisdom has encroached on holy ground, challenging the church's die-to-self ideal, luring us to play the self-help game garbed in Christian lingo. Some Christian circles have minimized or abandoned the personal cross altogether.
Luke 9:23: Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." Philippians 3:7,8: But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ. Galatians 2:20: I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
Though self-death be true, Scripture equally celebrates God's will as good, pleasing, and perfect (Ro 12:2), a delightful inheritance (Ps 16:6), a Father joyfully giving good gifts to His children (Mt 7:11), a God who richly provides us with all things for our enjoyment (1Ti 6:17). However, we can never feast on this promised blessedness until we have first lost ourselves to find Him, first died to our reality to be resurrected in His (Mt 10:39). In doing so, God often returns those very things back to us that we have faithfully sacrificed to Him. On the return though, we are matured with new intentions to use that thing for His glory and purpose.
Luke 9:23: Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." Philippians 3:7,8: But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ. Galatians 2:20: I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
Though self-death be true, Scripture equally celebrates God's will as good, pleasing, and perfect (Ro 12:2), a delightful inheritance (Ps 16:6), a Father joyfully giving good gifts to His children (Mt 7:11), a God who richly provides us with all things for our enjoyment (1Ti 6:17). However, we can never feast on this promised blessedness until we have first lost ourselves to find Him, first died to our reality to be resurrected in His (Mt 10:39). In doing so, God often returns those very things back to us that we have faithfully sacrificed to Him. On the return though, we are matured with new intentions to use that thing for His glory and purpose.
Mandate #3: Reunite Spirit & Truth
Around 150AD a civil war began in Christianity--the mystics versus the intellectuals. The Montanists propagated a Christian hypermysticism fixated on ecstatic experiences, prophetic utterances, extreme fasting, grueling moralism, and other related emphases. The episcopacy countered with a Christian hyperintellectualism, restricting legitimate spiritual expressions to the sober and disciplined study of theology, regular prayer, and practical obligations to others. If we could simplify the conflict, it was the "Spirit" group versus the "Truth" group...the mystics versus the intellectuals.
The civil war continues to this very day. It continues in websites, blogs, YouTube uploads, articles, books, sermons, denominational fortresses, parking lot arguments, church splits, bitter feelings, and on and on. On one side we have the "Spirit" Christians. They emphasize the mystical side of Christian spirituality, often using mystical rhetoric along the lines of spiritual gifts, revelations, power, miracles, manifestations, experiences, encounters, visions, and so on. These Christians champion the Spirit's active and vocal presence.
On the other side we have the "Truth" Christians. They emphasize the intellectual side of Christian spirituality, often using intellectual rhetoric along the lines of orthodoxy (in a positive sense), doctrine, teaching, education, study, counseling, Christian duty, practical service, and so on. They champion Scripture's authority and sufficiency.
In the middle are the spiritually keen who have discerned the contest, and have concluded, wisely, that a child of God must come forth with both. Ecclesiastes 7:18: It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. The man who fears God will avoid all extremes. Jesus, the author of the Spirit-Truth paradigm, said true worship only happens when a person approaches the Father with both. John 4:23,24 is one of the most important statements Jesus ever made, one of the most important passages in all of Scripture. Every Christian and Christian group is situated somewhere on this Spirit-Truth spectrum.
Admitted, it is a daunting mandate, but one we can fulfill with His never-failing grace and a heavenly amount of humility. Our generation is charged with the task of ending this civil war once and for all, and reunite Spirit and Truth into that remarkable, first-century balance.
The civil war continues to this very day. It continues in websites, blogs, YouTube uploads, articles, books, sermons, denominational fortresses, parking lot arguments, church splits, bitter feelings, and on and on. On one side we have the "Spirit" Christians. They emphasize the mystical side of Christian spirituality, often using mystical rhetoric along the lines of spiritual gifts, revelations, power, miracles, manifestations, experiences, encounters, visions, and so on. These Christians champion the Spirit's active and vocal presence.
On the other side we have the "Truth" Christians. They emphasize the intellectual side of Christian spirituality, often using intellectual rhetoric along the lines of orthodoxy (in a positive sense), doctrine, teaching, education, study, counseling, Christian duty, practical service, and so on. They champion Scripture's authority and sufficiency.
In the middle are the spiritually keen who have discerned the contest, and have concluded, wisely, that a child of God must come forth with both. Ecclesiastes 7:18: It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. The man who fears God will avoid all extremes. Jesus, the author of the Spirit-Truth paradigm, said true worship only happens when a person approaches the Father with both. John 4:23,24 is one of the most important statements Jesus ever made, one of the most important passages in all of Scripture. Every Christian and Christian group is situated somewhere on this Spirit-Truth spectrum.
Admitted, it is a daunting mandate, but one we can fulfill with His never-failing grace and a heavenly amount of humility. Our generation is charged with the task of ending this civil war once and for all, and reunite Spirit and Truth into that remarkable, first-century balance.
Mandate #4: Rescue the Poor
The church is responsible for its poor--period. Not the US government and not secular social services. The church. 1John 3:17,18. Acts 2:44,45.
While some Christian leaders are buying their fourth, two million dollar house, some under their care can't even pay their medical bill. While some churches are fundraising to build their next ecclesiastical Eiffel Tower, some of their very members are sleeping on a cold floor with an empty fridge. Tell me brothers and sisters, how can we bask in our unnecessary opulence when our own people are suffering lack? Which is more important, lives that are magnificent or buildings that are magnificent? How about selling that $10,000 Rolex and giving the money to the single mother raising three kids who barely has a working car to get to work! We should be horrified by the opulence, greed, and materialism that has infected parts of Christianity.
When the great apostle Paul met the great apostle Peter and the others for the first time, did they tell him to squeeze every drachma and denarius out of God's flock, buy three or four beach houses on the Mediterranean next to Ceasar, three or four luxury Roman ships for his ministry team, and a fleet of fifty of Rome's finest horses for ground transportation? Here's what Peter said, Galatians 2:10: All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. What has happened to us I cry.
Is it a sin to have ministerial facilities? Of course not. Is it a sin to have nice things in moderation? Not at all. As long as primary New Testament financial obligations are met first. In the majority of cases I have witnessed, a few bucks are thrown at the poor while the multi-million dollar building campaign goes on. An occasional check is sent to an orphanage somewhere in Romania while more and more luxuries are accumulated almost indiscriminately. Saints, our generation is mandated by Heaven to remove this materialistic curse from God's people and return to the biblical operations of prioritizing, educating, and rescuing our poor.
While some Christian leaders are buying their fourth, two million dollar house, some under their care can't even pay their medical bill. While some churches are fundraising to build their next ecclesiastical Eiffel Tower, some of their very members are sleeping on a cold floor with an empty fridge. Tell me brothers and sisters, how can we bask in our unnecessary opulence when our own people are suffering lack? Which is more important, lives that are magnificent or buildings that are magnificent? How about selling that $10,000 Rolex and giving the money to the single mother raising three kids who barely has a working car to get to work! We should be horrified by the opulence, greed, and materialism that has infected parts of Christianity.
When the great apostle Paul met the great apostle Peter and the others for the first time, did they tell him to squeeze every drachma and denarius out of God's flock, buy three or four beach houses on the Mediterranean next to Ceasar, three or four luxury Roman ships for his ministry team, and a fleet of fifty of Rome's finest horses for ground transportation? Here's what Peter said, Galatians 2:10: All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. What has happened to us I cry.
Is it a sin to have ministerial facilities? Of course not. Is it a sin to have nice things in moderation? Not at all. As long as primary New Testament financial obligations are met first. In the majority of cases I have witnessed, a few bucks are thrown at the poor while the multi-million dollar building campaign goes on. An occasional check is sent to an orphanage somewhere in Romania while more and more luxuries are accumulated almost indiscriminately. Saints, our generation is mandated by Heaven to remove this materialistic curse from God's people and return to the biblical operations of prioritizing, educating, and rescuing our poor.
Mandate #5: Reestablish House Churches
The early church did not use house churches for a lack of money or buildings. Remember, several early Christians were very wealthy (1Ti 6:17,18) and some had positions of societal influence (Mk 15:43, Ac 17:4,12). At any time they could have rented or bought or built a church building. At times, the church did use public facilities as a meeting place, such as the lecture hall of Tyrannus (Ac 19:9) or the temple courts (Ac 2:46, 3:1). The early church used house churches because it is the one location that exerts the greatest influence over us. In a literal sense, home is where the heart is.
Why have we venerated the church building as a Christian temple, pedestaled with Mosaic terminology like "the sanctuary" and "the altar" and "the house of the Lord"? Because it is easier to manage and control. It makes Christian consolidarity structural, associated with the building, geographical, associated with a specific location, and clerical, associated with a priest-like pastor who is perceived as the high priest of the building (some pastors even live with the building, in parsonages or apartments on site).
When a congregation meets often in home groups, true spiritual consolidarity becomes critical. The consolidarity is intangible, invisible, and cannot be faked. More leaders are needed to facilitate and shepherd, making leadership development essential, not optional. With house churches, the structural hangup is minimized by the multiplicity of structures (houses), the geographical hangup is minimized by the multiplicity of sites (various neighborhoods), and the clerical hangup is minimized by the multiplicity of shepherds.
Once again, is it wrong to have a church building or ministerial facility? No; let's not go beyond Scripture. It is our generational mandate, though, to decentralize church life away from the "Christian temple", taking kingdom realities to the setting where they are needed most--the home.
Why have we venerated the church building as a Christian temple, pedestaled with Mosaic terminology like "the sanctuary" and "the altar" and "the house of the Lord"? Because it is easier to manage and control. It makes Christian consolidarity structural, associated with the building, geographical, associated with a specific location, and clerical, associated with a priest-like pastor who is perceived as the high priest of the building (some pastors even live with the building, in parsonages or apartments on site).
When a congregation meets often in home groups, true spiritual consolidarity becomes critical. The consolidarity is intangible, invisible, and cannot be faked. More leaders are needed to facilitate and shepherd, making leadership development essential, not optional. With house churches, the structural hangup is minimized by the multiplicity of structures (houses), the geographical hangup is minimized by the multiplicity of sites (various neighborhoods), and the clerical hangup is minimized by the multiplicity of shepherds.
Once again, is it wrong to have a church building or ministerial facility? No; let's not go beyond Scripture. It is our generational mandate, though, to decentralize church life away from the "Christian temple", taking kingdom realities to the setting where they are needed most--the home.
Mandate #6: Reconcile the Various "Moves" with Broader Christianity for Corporate Maturation
God moves and initiates movements in His church to produce corporate maturation. To supply a missing or struggling element of the church, an element necessary to progress the church to greater maturity (1Th 3:10, Ro 1:11). All genuine moves of God are motivated by this purpose in Ephesians 4:12,13: ...so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
If the human stewards of a divine move do not fully embrace and enforce this intention, sadly, the move eventually dissipates. God then schedules another move, in another season, with the same intention. This cycle will repeat itself until the move has been successfully integrated into the true, cross-denominational church, and a new level of corporate maturity has been reached. For example, the Protestant Reformation brought about a tremendous move of the Spirit concerning salvation by grace through faith alone. We have not seen any more significant moves along these lines because the corporate church, for the most part, is established and mature in this area.
If the human stewards of a divine move do not fully embrace and enforce this intention, sadly, the move eventually dissipates. God then schedules another move, in another season, with the same intention. This cycle will repeat itself until the move has been successfully integrated into the true, cross-denominational church, and a new level of corporate maturity has been reached. For example, the Protestant Reformation brought about a tremendous move of the Spirit concerning salvation by grace through faith alone. We have not seen any more significant moves along these lines because the corporate church, for the most part, is established and mature in this area.
Every move of God, then, must be successfully reconciled with the broader church for corporate maturation. If not, we will abdicate this particular generational mandate and its reward to the next generation, and the Day of God will not be hastened, but further delayed (2Pet 3:12).
