Disillusioned "Freely Ye Have Received, Freely Give"

Matthew 10

1And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.

2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;

3 Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;

4 Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:

6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

9 Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses,

10 Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.

11 And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, enquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence.

12 And when ye come into an house, salute it.

13 And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.

14 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.

15 Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.

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Along the journey of my salvation experience which began in 1973, I began a downhill spiral of being disillusioned with Christianity-Church and how it did not live out (as I saw it) the model set forth in the Word of God — especially the epistles of Paul to the local assemblies. In all honesty, … I lost something.

If my memory is correct, it seems the big church growth movement got into full swing in the ‘70’s. It has continued on, in ever increasing momentum, right into our day. And along with it, my personal disillusionment has remained, and grown, even into the present “Messianic Movement.”

However, within the last 5 years or so, something has been taking place during my times of daily Bible reading. I didn’t set out to rediscover what I had lost. Things had become so muddied along the way, I wasn’t even sure of what it was I had lost. Thankfully through all these years God, using His Word, has been in the process of slowly bringing me back to my first love.

But truth be told:

I hadn’t “lost” my first love, I “LEFT” my first love … all the while focusing upon, and blaming, everything and everybody … BUT me.

Revelation 2

1 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;

2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:

3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.

4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast LEFT thy first love.

5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

Isn’t interesting, you can be so right, doing all the right things and yet be so … wrong?

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Presently I’m reading through Matthew. I’ve been parked in chapter 10 for a few days now. Today while reading it again, for some reason verse 8 took me back to the beginning days of my salvation and Bible reading times. So I wrote some notes and along came this blog.

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Let me share a story to help present a similar mindset I had early on in my Christian life.

It’s the story of my unsaved grandfather Warren A. Tanner Sr. Think of this like a parable: all aspects don’t fit “perfectly” into what I’m trying to get across. However, it does give the essence of what I want us to get a hold of i.e.,

“Freely ye have received, freely give.”

Here’s my thesis statement …

The disciples Jesus sent out were not to use their ability to cast out unclean spirits (demons), heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease, cleanse lepers, and raise the dead so they could establish their own “Brand” and fill their coffers fleecing the flock.

Seems like Judas Iscariot did try but, in the end, it didn’t work out so well for him.

Back to my grandfather ——

My grandfather was a doctor of medicine who graduated from Brown University and entered a lifelong vocation of being a doctor.

Growing up, when we would visit my grandparents, I always wondered why they didn’t live a more lavish lifestyle. I knew my grandfather had a successful practice for many years in the town which they lived. So why?

I need to take you back many years to an important moment in my life. At this point my grandfather had been dead many years.

One time while visiting my grandmother (it was either just before I went to college or after my first year), she sent me to the dry cleaners in town to pick up some things for her. I walked the 5 minutes it took to get there. When I went in and told the lady my name and that I was there to pick up some things for my grandmother, a look came over her face as she remained stationary looking at me. After a moment, she asked in amazement: “Are you Dr. Tanner’s grandson?” When I said “Yes” a look of joy came over her face. She then proceeded to tell me some of her memories about “Dr. Tanner” and what a wonderful man he was. I can’t tell you what that meant to me.

From what I’ve been able to piece together over the years, it appears my grandfather was like one of the old fashioned doctors that helped people according to what they were able. He would, at times, provide free (or at reduced prices) medicine to the folks that came to his home office. He had a literal medicine closet in his office from which he dispensed the medicines. Even long after his death, when the office space was used differently, the smell of the medicines remained in that closet.

With learning the backstory of my grandfather, it started to dawn on me why they, possibly, lived a basic and simple lifestyle when they could have done differently.

Don’t get me wrong, they didn’t live like paupers. They had nice things. The house was very nice and of a good size compared to the average size of houses. They built a cottage on a lake (decades before I was born) when there was only one other cottage on the lake. But all through the years they never changed who and what they were at their core.

But compared to what their lives could have been … ????

I want to think my grandfather realized he had been afforded (due to earlier significant family wealth) a good, above average up-bringing along with a Brown University education. He knew he had a good platform from which to build upon.

And so …

Freely he had received and freely he chose to give.

Just like we’re supposed to do.

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At some point …

My mind began a (subconscious?) process of wondering how and when the early big church movement eventually morphed into our present day mega-churches with all their opulence, celebrity preachers, private jets, helicopters, mansions ….

And I also began to wonder ——

How, in such a short time:

*The modest local town church

which was

*Pastored by the humble town preacher,

became the Mega Campus Complex headed by a celebrity therapist in the pulpit.

*Didn’t the Apostle Paul establish small localized congregations rather than one Mega Campus Complex for everybody to drive their new four-wheel drive all-purpose terrain carts to?

*Didn’t the Apostle Paul work with his own hands to supply his needs while relying upon God and the goodwill of those he ministered to for whatever needs remained?

Perhaps people like my grandparents had no respect for us type believers because they could see through the facade of it all — even back in their day. They “sacrificed” for the good of their community while we in our churches live lives that don’t add up to what the unchurched intuitively know it should be.

Any lost person that has even a very basic, rudimentary knowledge of Christ knows He didn’t live like what they see us excuse ourselves for in the name of Jesus.

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As my disillusion grew, I entered into —

The Twilight Zone of: “Why Bother?”

I wasn’t in. I wasn’t out. I wasn’t in the middle. I was just kind of … marooned.

And to no fault other than my own, I walked away from, I LEFT …

A life and walk of faith that is modeled after scriptural ethics and principles such as:

*Foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head.

*It’s more blessed to give than to receive.

*Get the big log out of your own eye first.

*Don’t let your right hand know what your left hand does.

*Be not as the hypocrites that do a lot of what they do to be seen by, and for the praise of, men all the while feigning self-depreciation and humility.

But thankfully … The simplicity of, and enthusiasm for, my first love is waxing once again.

Which means …

It’s back to the basics of what Yeshua, Paul and the other inspired writers wrote regarding life in the assemblies of God’s people. The instructions that are so clearly laid out in the Apostolic Scriptures were not just for the early church in its “infancy.”

*We don’t start there and evolve into something bigger and better.

*We don’t change biblical principles in an attempt to become more relevant, more in step with the times.

No.

We are to model and reflect the heart and spirit of God so as to expose the misery of sin and the emptiness of worldliness.

Lost folks know “stuff” doesn’t satisfy their emptiness. They’re not looking for more of that which has entrapped them.

Perhaps ——

We need to readjust our version of Jesus so it looks more like the Bible’s version. All He had to offer those who chose to follow Him was:

*Persecution,

*Jail,

*Hatred,

*Loss of family, friends, houses, lands and

*A cross to carry daily unto death.

Yet amazingly, the early disciples of Christ TURNED THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN with just the plain message of the gospel.

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To draw this all to a close, I ask two things:

*Why is it we think we know better, and can accomplish more, than the early “primitive” church?

*What increasingly conforms us into its image: Christ or Mammon? Which one do we really serve? Which one do we really bow down to?

I think WE HAVE left something. In our quest to arrive and achieve, we have not even come close to the impact the early church accomplished during the days of Christ, the Apostles and those that came shortly thereafter. There was a rawness and reality in the message and lives of those early disciples of Christ that caused those around them to want the same.

That’s what the world was hungering for then and that is what they’re hungering for now. They want that which compels men and women to yield their lives unto death, if necessary.

If it’s worth dying for, then it must be worth living for.

If any of what I’m saying resonates within you, I pray you too will begin the joyous journey of restoring and rebuilding that which you left along your journey.

Our wonderful Lord and Saviour is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. Therefore, if we can keep “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith” there is no reason EVER to be:

Disillusioned.

Now let’s go out and freely give to others what has been so freely given to us through Christ.