Breaking Geographical Barriers

"Equipping for works of service"

6/7/2001

Is it wrong to get help from people outside of those you are walking with daily? What can you tell us? Is there some sort of “balance” to attain here?

Hi, Paul didn’t seem to mind that he had never even VISITED Colosse before he wrote a direct letter to them. Gifts and relationships are not as bound by geography as human reasoning often insists. OF COURSE it is inappropriate to run back and forth, back and forth, like little children, crying, “Tattle-tale, Tattle-tale!” and not desiring and attempting to resolve issues in the homes and locality first. But there is nothing at all shameful about breaking the sacred geo-political lines called “city limits” in order to pursue God’s heart and mind on a matter. You will judge angels. Learn how, on the limited level of your homes and daily relationships. But, as we spoke of at dinner, seeing HOW to go about this will feed you fish for the day, and teach you to fish for a lifetime (although we will ALWAYS have need of one another, since this is NOT about knowledge or experience, but GIFT). “You became mimickers of us, and the Lord” and, in so doing, have become “a model assembly for all of Macedonia and Achaia.” Obviously, the Spirit didn’t view that as a problem. Nor do I. Y’all have worked hard for Life, and I admire that. Love,

….next letter…

I also have heard many, many times over the years “We can handle it ourselves”—(or as Korah said, “WE have the Holy Spirit too!”)—and Dorcas stays dead as a result. That’s the other side. And I certainly HAVE seen MASSIVE efforts to handle things face to face there, before anyone anywhere else was brought in. That’s NOT to say there must be a “vacuum of emails” on any given topic. Sometimes, when a person is groping for what to do, afraid they’ll get massacred or hurt someone unnecessarily, then to say, “How can I best say this to get the Job done?” or “Am I way off in this, or should I give it a try?” is VERY different than “emails flying around.” “Equipping for works of service” is pressing folks to do the Work, and do it in the Right way. Else wise, you can expect them (regardless of their bible knowledge or desires) to be “tossed to and fro” and not “learn how to do their Work in love.” It is the NECESSITY of those Gifts, not just desire or sincerity, which makes communication necessary, LONG before there is some mega-crisis. In fact, the VAST majority of crises will NEVER HAPPEN (“nipped in the bud”) if the Life is built God’s Way, rather than what is common to man. So, if emailing averts catastrophe because folks are pushed back towards each other with Wisdom and impartation of Gift for the situation, there will be far less difficulty and bloodshed overall.

I know you have never witnessed that sort of thing, so I don’t blame you for viewing it just as you do, but truthfully, things can be handled in a way that is not “out of bounds” in the dialogues with other saints, irrespective of geo-political boundaries. Whenever it “crosses the line”—folks can be told so. Overall, miracles have transpired because people DIDN’T just “work it out themselves” in spite of what God spoke of as essential elements of Life that are imparted by Gifts (Eph.4). And if those Gifts necessary for the Task were already present and established, the problems would have already been resolved. Anyone with the appropriate Gifts would have likely seen it coming long BEFORE it came to crisis, and Built into the lives what was necessary to AVOID the crisis in the first place. So, daily Life doesn’t need a lot of “tattling”—but it DOES easily involve others for a word of encouragement or a word of Wisdom about HOW to solve a problem that may have arisen, that they have found no Answers for locally. A word of guidance to DO the Work locally is not as big of a problem as it may be if there is NO “equipping for Works of service” in the picture. I can name you 400 places where there are SINCERE followers of Jesus, where the best intentions and little or no equipping resulted in catastrophic failure, from the standpoint of Life expressed in the Body of Christ. Many “escape as through the flames, but their work is burnt up.” SO, this IS an important topic, isn’t it?! Glad it came up…. : )

So, yes, try locally to find what is Needed, but there is NO shame in crossing imaginary lines to get Help when it is needed. I’m sure some from “the household of Chloe” were ridiculed for fetching help, but it was needed, nonetheless. How much more of Jesus might be expressed in town after town, and city after city, if we were not bound by the curse of Korah, “We ALL have the Holy Spirit—Moses is just like us—we can do it ourselves!” that Jude prophesied would be (along with Balaam and Cain) a major threat to the Body of Christ in the New Covenant age. I’m sure that finding the place of not “tattling” like children, OR neglecting Gifts and relationships unbound by men’s measurements in miles or kilometers… can be accomplished. And, the Fruit of pursuing the Right place will be evident in people’s lives as they are radically changed and changing, to the praise of His Glory. : ) SO, no paranoia of Gifts, no prejudices of geo-political boundaries, and no childish “tattling” without mature desire to find Him and His Ways from the Inside, working out……. We can all do that, right? : )

Love,