The Lord Said ... The Servant Said

The lord said: My church (and I can get anyone in it to resign).
The servant said: The church of God that He bought with His blood.

The lord said: listen to my sermon.
The servant said: listen to my confession of sin,and I will listen to yours, and let us pray for one another that we sin not.

The lord said: listen to my sermon now, and pray later on your own.
The servant said: let us pray, so God's house will be a house of prayer.

The lord said: let us pray that God will bless the things we have decided to do.
The servant said: first of all, let us pray for what God exhorts us to pray for "first of all."

I asked the lord: what do you mean? He said: it's disruptive to interrupt the sermon.
I asked the servant: what do you mean? And he explained what he meant.

The lord said: Don't spill coffee on the rug, and don't run or talk in the halls, and don't let your cell phones ring during the service.
The servant said: Remember that fornication is sin. When tempted by it this week, run away from it.

I said to the lord: I think the Bible says the opposite of what you just said. He replied: it's very disruptive to argue during the sermon, and I know the Bible can't mean what you think it means, even if it uses the word you say.
I said to the servant: I think the Bible says the opposite of what you just said. And we discussed the matter.

I said to the lord: You say the Bible teaches us to do A; but if it teaches us to do A, then it also teaches us to do B. He replied: Of COURSE we don't do B!
I said to the servant: If the Bible teaches us to do A, then it also teaches us to do B. He replied: B would be hard and expensive, but you have a point there.

The lord said: I believe the Bible teaches A and B, but I don't preach them.
The servant said: Brothers and sisters, I'm sorry if this shocks or offends you, but the Bible teaches A and B, so we must do them.

The lord said: go join a small group.
The servant said: I'm in a small group every ordinary Wednesday night.

The lord said: I wish my gifts were greater, but they suffice.
The servant said: Oh, oh for the best gifts!

The lord said: go make disciples of all ethnicities and bring them here for me to baptize.
The servant said: Make and baptize disciples of all nations.

The lord said: I will preach to you, and you will not preach to me.
The servant said: unless EACH of us edifies the rest, some will not be edified. Unless we ALL prophecy, some will not be converted. And a good student comes up to the level of his teacher.

The lord said: God told me to explain these few verses to you at length.
The servant said: What God thought worth saying, I think worth reading to you, and explaining and applying briefly. I preach a sermon when God gives me one, but I have to make room for ALL His word, even the parts I don't understand or don't like.

The lord said: Here's what the Bible says happened - or he said: here's a good story.
The servant said: Here are God's orders. Repent and obey them.

The lord said: listen to my sermon.
The servant said: let us thank God for his body and blood, and rejoice in the salvation our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ brings to us, and work out our salvation with fear and trembling.

The lord said: when you can explain communion, you can partake.
The servant said: allow the little children to come to Jesus. Despise them not. Forbid them not. Of such is the kingdom of heaven. As we show the Lord's death, we show that he died for them.
(The joker said: you cannot eat the food until you can explain the recipe. The joker said: Good fathers don't feed their children until the kids are 12 years old, or even 20.)

The lord said: But communicants must examine themselves!
The servant replied: They must examine themselves specifically to make sure they're including everyone who should be included. So those who keep God's children from their Father's table have never truly examined themselves.

The lord said: use grape juice.
The servant said: use what Jesus used.
The lord said: but wine might set off alcoholics!
The joker said: reading material might set off logoholics--so make sure there's nothing to read in church.

The lord prayed: O Lord, separate these elements from common use.
The servant prayed: Lord, we bless you for this bread. He prayed again: Lord, we bless you for this cup.
The joker said: if God the Son prayed twice, who are we to pray but once (if that)?

The lord said: sing my chosen songs, and leave out what doesn't fit.
The servant said: let us learn to love all of each of God's own songs-for God Himself gave them to us-and respond with new songs, as God's own songs teach us.
The joker said: I'd rather tell Madonna that Psalm 119 is a singable lyric than tell the Holy Ghost that it is not.

The lord said: sing my chosen songs; notice how smoothly they fit together in my order!
The servant said: every man hath a psalm.

The lord said: do it my way or you're on your own.
The servant said: I bless you, and I pray you to bless me.

The lord said: my habits are right.
The servant said: may God's people be one like the Holy Trinity, and change to unite with Him.

The lord said: let all things be done decently and in order. I will decide the order.
The servant said: Quench not the Spirit; let all things be done.

The lord said: do as I say.
The servant said: when we obey God, we will light up the world.

The lord said: in the Old Testament God gave detailed instructions, but now we have a mature relationship with Him; little details need not bother us.
Just then his wife said: lord, come here!
Ah, lord, said the joker, you and your wife have a mature relationship. You need not do what she says.

The lord said: what God does not command in church, He forbids.
The servant said: let us keep getting more and more Biblical.
The joker said: Where does God command church buildings, passing the plate, tithing to the local church, years of uninterrupted sermons by one man, and benedictions, and command that church officials monopolize certain duties?

I said to the lord with a smile in my voice: us anarchists have a hard time with you control freaks.

AFTERWARD

Q Who is "the lord"?
A Is it you? Reader, is it you? At one or another of these points, could you (and I) be more like our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Is the attitude underlying these particulars an attitude we have more of than we need?

Q Are "the lord," "the servant," "the joker," and "I" real people?
A Is what this item says about them the whole truth about them? No. Does it give due credit to the models for "the lord" for their good work for God's Kingdom? No. Is it therefore a caricature of them? You may well say so. Do I love them? Yes. Does Jesus Christ love them, and do they love Him? Yes, as best I can tell. Are they doing things the church can learn from? Yes. Having said that, most of what comes from "the lord" I have heard or read or felt coming from church officials. I've worshipped in 30 or so denominations, and taken communion in at least twelve, so if you think you recognize some action of yours it might be that you are not wrong. Repent. Most of what comes from "I" does come from Andrew Lohr. I think it good to offer specific alternatives when possible, not just complain (I learned this from James B. Jordan, www.biblicalhorizons.com , I think from an article in his book THE SOCIOLOGY OF THE CHURCH.) So most of what comes from "the servant" is what I think better expresses the mind and will of Christ than what I did hear. The joker usually speaks for me (Andrew Lohr)--in the incident of the lord, his wife, and the joker I did say to that lord what the joker said.

Q Did you really say to "the lord" what "I" said?
A Most of it. I didn't interrupt sermons.

Q This item is kind of cryptic; can I find things that expand on it?
A Yeah, try my website www.lohr84.com for more of what I think. Try www.geneedwards.com and www.seedsowers.com and open church ministries and www.simplechurch.com for more interactive models of doing church. Try www.biblicalhorizons.com for more liturgical ideas. I think both open church (interactive, like Jesus among his disciples) and liturgical (making sure some things get done) have their points, and I don't know how to mesh them.