I want to take this chance to talk about the very controversial New Creation Church doctrine. I have not personally been there myself, but I have heard a lot from my friends who have been there. What I do know about their doctrine is that it emphasizes that we as people must decrease and decrease until we are nothing, and let God increase. It also emphasizes receiving- life is all about God's grace, and receiving God's great and wonderful gifts, material or spiritual. We must stop trying in the flesh, and let the Spirit take over.
When I first heard it I believed that was something wrong about it, and yet I also felt that there was something right. I believe it is right that we should receive gifts from God, most of all His love and grace. Yes I believe it is right to decrease and let God increase. I believe it is right that we should become nothing so that God can become everything, and so that He can use us as He wills.
And yet I believe there are some things that are wrong. First of all, the emphasis on material gifts. If we find ourselves constantly asking God to bless us with material things because He is good, then I think something is fundamentally wrong. Because if we really knew God and had a relationship with Him, we would know that what matters are really not material things, but spiritual things. We would be praying to know God more and to love Him more.
And secondly, more importantly, receiving is not everything. It definitely isn't. When we place the emphasis on receiving, we are already beginning to focus on ourselves, and if that is so we cannot decrease. Yes, when we learn to love God with all our hearts and souls and minds as in the first commandment that Jesus gave, we will receive wonderful things from God. But Jesus also gave a second commandment, which was to "love thy neighbour as thyself". The Christian life is about loving and giving.
So how do we reconcile receiving, and giving? How do we reconcile the ceasing of effort, or trying, and being able to reach our and love our neighbours. The key lies in the commandment itself. "love thy neighbour as thyself." God did not give us His love and His gifts for us to be happy by ourselves in our own shells. God wants the whole world, every single person, to receive those things. If we really love our neighbours as ourselves, that means that whatever we have received from God, we would also want them to receive from God! If we have received such great love from God, would we want to keep it for ourselves? If we are selfish, as in by nature, maybe, but when we decrease and our self dies, then definitely not. God's love compels us, stirs us to love our neighbours. This is what it is really about- the more we decrease and receive the love of God, the more we will very naturally and willingly want to bring it to others, in very practical ways, and to attempt great things for God, to reach a world in need of Christ. And that is one of the greatest marks of a life truly touched by Christ- that it lives not for itself, but for others.
"Master, which is the great commandment in the law?"
Jesus said unto him, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."
Matthew 22: 37-39
When I first heard it I believed that was something wrong about it, and yet I also felt that there was something right. I believe it is right that we should receive gifts from God, most of all His love and grace. Yes I believe it is right to decrease and let God increase. I believe it is right that we should become nothing so that God can become everything, and so that He can use us as He wills.
And yet I believe there are some things that are wrong. First of all, the emphasis on material gifts. If we find ourselves constantly asking God to bless us with material things because He is good, then I think something is fundamentally wrong. Because if we really knew God and had a relationship with Him, we would know that what matters are really not material things, but spiritual things. We would be praying to know God more and to love Him more.
And secondly, more importantly, receiving is not everything. It definitely isn't. When we place the emphasis on receiving, we are already beginning to focus on ourselves, and if that is so we cannot decrease. Yes, when we learn to love God with all our hearts and souls and minds as in the first commandment that Jesus gave, we will receive wonderful things from God. But Jesus also gave a second commandment, which was to "love thy neighbour as thyself". The Christian life is about loving and giving.
So how do we reconcile receiving, and giving? How do we reconcile the ceasing of effort, or trying, and being able to reach our and love our neighbours. The key lies in the commandment itself. "love thy neighbour as thyself." God did not give us His love and His gifts for us to be happy by ourselves in our own shells. God wants the whole world, every single person, to receive those things. If we really love our neighbours as ourselves, that means that whatever we have received from God, we would also want them to receive from God! If we have received such great love from God, would we want to keep it for ourselves? If we are selfish, as in by nature, maybe, but when we decrease and our self dies, then definitely not. God's love compels us, stirs us to love our neighbours. This is what it is really about- the more we decrease and receive the love of God, the more we will very naturally and willingly want to bring it to others, in very practical ways, and to attempt great things for God, to reach a world in need of Christ. And that is one of the greatest marks of a life truly touched by Christ- that it lives not for itself, but for others.
"Master, which is the great commandment in the law?"
Jesus said unto him, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."
Matthew 22: 37-39
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