My wife and I have been doing something recently that we haven’t done together since the Covid years. We’ve been experiencing that special intimacy that comes when a couple getsto share something that comes from deep inside each of them. I mean, of course, those unique moments when you get to look into each other’s eyes and exchange descriptions of varying stages of misery … the kind of misery associated with the virus currently wreaking havoc with our upper respiratory systems. Many of you have probably experienced what that’s like this season, too. But in spite of the joy that such oneness affords, this week has been challenging in lots of ways. It coincided with a wave of other urgent things crowding the rapidly approaching day when we leave for our second pilgrimage to Israel together. Neither of us has been allowed the luxury of just parking everything for a while and yielding to our symptoms. All that to apologize if today’s post seems a little different than usual, but there’s one point I feel compelled to share that reaches back in some ways to last week’s edition, What Did ‘You’ Do with It?

Hard to Keep Up ~
Sometimes life seems to move faster than usual and we feel like it’s hard to keep up, and for most of us, the last couple of months would definitely qualify as one of those times. Both here and around the world, major changes are being initiated at a rate that defies our concept of “normal.” In our own country, many of the standard ways governmental organizations are accustomed to operating are either being set aside, overridden, or eliminated altogether. The result is that the actions of entrenched Federal agencies and the equally entrenched bureaucrats in charge of running them are finally being exposed. 

Jaw dropping revelations are coming on an almost daily basis, and responses vary between astonishment, outrage, incredulity, and praise for those finally uncovering it all. But other than the hope that it might eventually result in lower taxes and a sense of relief in having a more efficient government, is there anything about it that might affect those of us who aren’t directly involved? Granted, it will be encouraging, and in some cases maybe even entertaining, to watch some of the largest money laundering schemes ever devised in the history of the world get dismantled. But as always, there’s one question followers of Jesus should always ask when major events unfold around us. That is, what are we to learn as this historically significant process unfolds before our eyes? In response to that provocative question, I have at least one suggestion. 

Imagining Another Version ~
Watching the DOGE team go to work and seeing the explosive impact of some of its findings, I couldn’t help asking what it might look like if there was a DOGE-like team dispatched to investigate any fraud, waste, and abuse that might be going on under the auspices of the Church of Jesus Christ. Imagine if God sent a team of qualified, gifted, Divinely-anointed spiritual “experts” to see how effectively and efficiently we’ve been doing our jobs. Suppose they were empowered to examine all our books and records, scrutinize all our programs, expose all our policies and procedures, and examine our performance in reference to the model established by Jesus Himself? If a team like that investigated whether we, as the collective Body of Christ, have been applying the resources entrusted to it as Jesus directed, I wonder what the outcome would look like.

Now before you accuse me of suggesting that we start looking for some kind of “Christian” Elon Musk and start a nationwide purge of the Church in America, let me assure you that such a thing couldn’t be farther from my mind. I’m just asking what would happen if followers of Jesus collectively and individually were subjected to examinations like the DOGE team is conducting with some of our Federal agencies and bureaucrats. I wonder …

• • How many activities and programs purportedly approved by the Lord Jesus would be flagged as supporting principles and practices Jesus clearly condemned. 
  • Would assertions of authority in some areas be found fraudulent? 
  • Would unqualified officials and wasteful use of resources be exposed?

You and I both know the answer is ‘Yes, of course they would.’ 

Some Clarification Needed ~
But if we were to consider what an examination of the Church of Jesus Christ would look like, we ought to begin by identifying what the Church is and is not. First of all, such an examination would not equate to conducting a building inspection. The Church is not a building. It would also not involve simply reviewing organizational charts. The Church is not just an organization. Neither would a review of the Church’s effectiveness amount to a detailed examination of rituals, procedures, creeds, constitutions, approved gestures for worship, dietary restrictions, or sanctified clothing. The Church is none of those things. 

In simple terms, the Church is people. The Greek term translated as church in our Bibles is ekklēsía, and it means an assembly of people called out for a particular purpose. The church is more than a gathering of people with a common interest. It is a community, a family of flawed, broken, sinful, hopeless people for whom the sinless Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth, loved enough to die for. The Church is a worldwide collection of ordinary people with an extraordinary Savior who are bound together by love and who share a common faith. They are a people equipped and commissioned to bring Jesus’ Kingdom to life and to make this violent, evil, hate-filled world better – and this is how the Church’s Founder said we’re to get it done:

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen (Matthew 28:18–20 NKJV)

Getting Back to the Issue ~
But to get back to the question we suggested earlier, what might it be like if God decided to send a DOGE-like team authorized to check up on how we’re doing? Well, I happen to think that He did. But this team that God sent us and subjected us to isn’t a collection of gifted and divinely anointed young dudes with off-the-chart spiritual IQs. The DOGE team God sent us isn’t a group of people. It’s actually a collection of letters inspired by the very Spirit of Jesus Himself. These letters were transmitted to a representative group of 1st Century gatherings, and they are filled with probing questions prompting self-examination. They contain directives about how problems ought to be handled, about how Jesus’ mission is to be conducted in the midst of cultural and political opposition. These letters offer guidance about things like personal behavior, organizational structure, mission objectives, and conflict resolution. They tell us how to maintain harmony and how to thrive as a community. 

A New Acronym ~
These letters comprise, of course, most of what we call the New Testament. Together they make the best DOGE team ever. They define what the Church of Jesus Christ, collectively and personally, is supposed to be. They identify its strengths and address its weaknesses. They reveal what the Church is supposed to do and highlight its priorities. They proclaim how the Church is supposed to behave, and what the outcome of its presence ought to be in any cultural surrounding. The DOGE team God sent us is an incredible resource, but maybe we ought to change the acronym . . . We could call it the team for Dismantling Obstacles to the Gospel’s Effectiveness.

I wonder how much fraud, waste, and abuse would be eliminated if we all honestly examined our role and performance as Jesus’ ambassadors against the principles and directives that those letters bring with them. If we invited God’s DOGE team into the hidden areas of both our personal lives and our assemblies and allowed them to revive and refine us from the inside out, it might be the most powerful and exciting resurgence of righteousness and justice we’ve ever imagined. And the impact in our country might put the other DOGE team out of work.

“TWEETABLES” ~ Click to tweet and share from the pull quotes below.  Each one links directly back to this article through Twitter . . .

• • If examined by a DOGE-like team, how many church activities and programs purportedly approved by the Lord Jesus would be flagged as supporting principles and practices Jesus clearly condemned? Would assertions of authority be found fraudulent? @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)  
  • Imagine if God sent qualified, gifted, Divinely-anointed spiritual “experts” to examine all our books and records, scrutinize our programs, expose our policies and procedures, and examine our performance in reference to the model established by Jesus Himself. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
  • The NT letters make the best DOGE team ever. They identify the Church’s strengths, address its weaknesses, reveal and highlight its priorities, proclaim how the Church, collectively and personally, should behave and what the outcome of its presence ought to be. @GallaghersPen  (Click here to Tweet)
  • If we invited God’s DOGE team into the hidden areas of both our personal lives and our assemblies, allowing them to revive and refine us from the inside out, it could be the most powerful, exciting resurgence of righteousness and justice ever imagined. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)

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