"Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, 'Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?' Jesus answered him, 'If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.' " - John 14:22-24 ESV
It is very possible to live in a theological of philosophical bubble. If you are surrounded by people that all think the same way and function in similar ways. There is a sense in us that discerns the group dynamic and either wants to blend into it or break out of it.
Subcultures and countercultures are born from the desire to do something different and be free from social pressure to conform.
Life with God is a different life. You can be buried in the social workings of a Church and not have God's culture. The difference between a Church and other social structures is that God initiated it and God moves inside it's workings if God has liberty to do so.
The disciples thought that the group they were apart of was social group that formed around Jesus. But, Jesus revealed to them that it was formed by the Father.
What is a family? Is it a social group formed by people who just wanted to get together and think in similar ways and have babies? Evolutionary thinking would tell you that. No, A family is something God has made and He has a mind for it. So is a marriage. So is a Church.
God's thinking has gates and walls. Walls that preserve the sanctity of the structure and gates that allow entrances and exits to reach out of that structure. His thinking is large and broad in that is covers all of humanity and yet it is Holy and therefore specific in it's desires.
"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." - John 12:24-25 ESV
It is easy to love your life in a comfortable social structure and if you don't love your life to think that leaving your current structure will make it better.
Jesus had to leave the Earth for us to get it.
"Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged." - John 16:7-11 ESV
He had to die so we would not have to die. He had to go so we do not have to. We can experience the thoughts of the Father when we no longer see Jesus as just a man and His Church as a place were people live in natural social circles.
There are plenty of dead Churches that bear the name but have no life. It is sad. But, There are also living ones where the people have been like a corn of wheat that has fallen into the ground and died in order to live in the multiplication of God's life.
"A Song of Ascents. Of David. Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes!" - Psalms 133:1-2 ESV
I want to use the gates God has provided.
"I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture." - John 10:9 ESV
I don't want to be stagnant. Missions is the way we break out of our culture and into another one. Missions abroad and missions at home. The live of faith is not natural. Going shows us that again and again.
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