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Essays on Christ as our life, the ekklesia as His living body, and the religious substitutes that have displaced Him.
Much of what we call Christianity has become a religious substitute for the life of God. These essays expose the buildings, intellectual authorities, gifted personalities, and inherited forms that have displaced Christ as the source of our living. They call us to abandon the substitute and come to Christ Himself.
Begin with These Three Essays
These three readings move from God’s purpose, through the substitutes that occupy His place, to the life of the ekklesia.
1. The Life God Intended to Give
Begin with God’s purpose to give Himself to humanity—His life becoming our living.
2. The Evil of Christian Culture
Consider how the things of Christ can replace Christ, until familiarity with Christian things is mistaken for living by Him.
3. They Had Christ Before They Had Christianity
Turn to the ekklesia as the expression of His life, and the surrender of the forms and gifted control that displace Him.
Then, Cross the River
Cross the River. Leave Babylon. Return to Jerusalem. brings these three readings to a personal invitation: leave what has replaced Christ, give up dependence upon gifted people, and allow His life to find expression among us.
For a quieter companion to the call to cross the river, read What We May Never See—on loving what God desires without assuming its completion is our assignment.
Published Essays
Read the published essays below, beginning with the newest.
Zoe Has No Nationality
America can contain Christians, but it cannot possess Christ’s identity. A call to leave national Christianity behind and live by Zoe in the heavenlies.
They Had Christ Before They Had Christianity
An exploration of what the earliest Christians shared before later church institutions, and why Christ must remain the source.
The Christian Faith Is Not Christian
A theological challenge to the substitution of Christian religion for Christ Himself and the living expression of Zoe.
The Life God Intended to Give
From the tree of life to the Spirit within, the Old Testament unfolds God’s purpose to give Himself to humanity. His life is to become our living, His nature our…
The God Who Hides Himself
The God who hides Himself has also given Himself. A reflection on unanswered questions, the life of Zoe, and the Father’s purpose to express Christ in the one new man.
The Evil of Christian Culture: When the Things of Christ Replace Christ
How Christian culture, even when centered on good teachings and practices, can replace the living experience of Christ.
What Kind of God Are We Claiming to Represent?
A letter examining claims of Christian politics in the light of Jesus Christ—and asking whether Zoe reaches our loyalties, our use of power, and our care for vulnerable people.
Zoe Has No Political Allegiance
A letter on political allegiance, the confusion of party identity with Christian faithfulness, and Christ as the sole source of our shared life.
When Even Our Dearest Stand in the Place of God
A letter on Christ’s supremacy over marriage and family, the attachments that can occupy His place, and allowing Zoe the whole ground—with quotations from Watchman Nee and Witness Lee.
When “Our Ministry” Becomes the Other Tree
A letter on ministry ambition, the cross, and the danger of preserving a work at the expense of Christ’s life. Will we surrender what we hoped to become so that…
Themes
Choose a theme to open a related essay or Dear Ray letter.
- The Source before Christian behavior
- System, ministry, and spiritual decline
- The Lord’s table and predictable religious culture
- Elders, authority, and maturity of life
- Evangelism and the meaning of fruit
- The church as a living expression of Christ
- The old creation’s death in Christ
- Time, eternity, and the finished work of God
Read related letters
These published Dear Ray letters touch several of the themes above:
- The Vision That Never Cooks — on the difference between a living vision and religious activity.
- What I Remember from Santa Barbara — a recollection of fellowship and the life of the church.
- The Difficulty of Beginning Again — on renewed attention to Christ, whose life remains ours through years of interruption.
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