Posted by
admin on July 8, 2010 at 12:43 pm.
If I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth (1 Tim 3:15-16).
I still recall the pictures in my 6th grade Social Studies book of the ruins of ancient Greece and Rome. They are among only a very few places in the world where pillars are left standing, even when the building they were supporting was destroyed, although the same might be said in our day of the Church!
Paul describes the Church in this passage as “the pillar and foundation of the truth.” Its purpose is to be the place where the Truth is sought and found. Sadly, though, the Western Church is more concerned with impressive “pillars” than it is with the promotion of the Truth. It’s no wonder that we are making no difference in the world at large – we’re concerned about the wrong things! The pillars at the Parthenon in ancient Greece are impressive, but they don’t support a building! They are a relic of a bygone era, and many in our world think of the Church in the same way.
But it is not the pillar that will set people free. Jesus told us that it was the Truth (John 8:32). The Church’s job is to proclaim the Truth, to stand for the Truth in a world that has chosen to believe a lie. The freedom that Christ wants to provide for us is not a magical thing, as if simply by attending a Church we could be freed. Freedom is an internal thing that comes as we read, listen and apply the Truth to our hearts. The Church is that assemblage of believers that are also committed to the Truth. Their love and support of one another is what will attract the world to the Truth – not the fancy programs that make the pillars shiny and beautiful (John 13:35).
The Western Church needs to return to the Truth. It is the Truth that attracts many to Christ in places where there is severe persecution – not the programs or the impressive edifice. But here in the West, the more we try to preserve the “pillar” the more the “building” will crumble around us. Pretty soon, just like in ancient Greece and Rome, all that will be left will be some beautiful pillars.
Posted by
admin on March 5, 2010 at 5:20 pm.
Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him. Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words. Luke 19:47-48
Things certainly are different in our day! Today we ignore, rather than “hang on to,” His words. The difference between the response in the time of Jesus and our own is not a matter of the delivery because the Holy Spirit has breathed life into the words of Scripture just as the breath of Jesus carried them through His lips. It is also not because men are innately different today than in that day. I would suggest that the reason we don’t hang on Jesus’ words because we don’t have the motivation that they had in the time of Jesus.
The people of Jesus’ day were looking for a Messiah, a deliverer. They were oppressed by an authoritarian political regime that didn’t care about their Jewish laws and practices. Rather than being the head, they were the tail (see Deut. 28:13-14) because they had not paid attention to the Lord’s commands. His judgment upon them had led to their subservient position.
People in America today – even Christians – are not looking for a Messiah, at least not a Messiah like Jesus. We are too comfortable in our position on top of the world. When our bank accounts run dry, when our health gives out, when our families decide to blow us off, then we’ll hang on Jesus’ words. But probably not before, unless we have been trained well (and sometimes, not even then!).
I’m glad that the Church can be there when life happens for people in our world, but the truth is that the fix is not an easy one. It’s always simpler to get into trouble than to get out of it, because the source of that trouble is always sin. Sometimes it’s the original sin that plagues all mankind on this side of heaven, sometimes it is a specific sin that has led to our circumstances. But either way, the remedy is Jesus – His death for us or His words to us.
I am very thankful for the easy life God has blessed us with in America with our many freedoms and creature comforts and I recognize their Source, but I fear that unless we wake up and hang on his words again like our Founding Fathers did, we’ll repeat the cycle that plagued the Jewish people.
Posted by
admin on February 18, 2010 at 10:03 pm.
1 Cor 5:7-8
For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival…
Having been raised in the strictest sect of Judaism and having spent his lifetime studying the Hebrew Scriptures, the Apostle Paul understood the connection between the Passover Lamb and the death of Christ. In I Corinthians 5, he called Christ our Passover lamb and encouraged us to “keep the [Passover] feast” in sincerity and truth. A few years back we learned how so much of the Passover Seder points to Y’Shua ha-Mashiach (Jesus the Messiah), so we began to celebrate this with our Christian congregation. Each year we invite other believers in Y’Shua to join with us. Most of us are not ethnically Jewish, so our celebration has a distinctively Christian flavor, but the imagery is clear.
The Passover was the meal that Jesus ate with His disciples just before the betrayal and crucifixion. Christians call it “the Last Supper.” It was here that He instituted the Lord’s Supper and offered some of the most important teaching of His ministry. To see these things in the context of the Passover Seder adds greatly to our understanding of His words and example.
Our Seder is intended to follow the events that Jesus would have followed that night before His crucifixion, right through to the institution of the Lord’s Supper. When the Disciples (later, Apostles) would have recalled the events of that evening, they would have seen how clearly the Passover pictured the death of Jesus that would happen on the following day, and it would have helped them understand why He had to allow Himself to be crucified. It will do the same for us. This order of events is largely followed by Jewish families to this day on their celebration of this feast.
Bread of Life,
Church,
Disciples,
Eternal Life,
Eternal Son of God,
Jesus,
Jesus' Teachings,
John 6:68-69,
Moses,
Peter,
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Posted by
admin on January 25, 2010 at 2:46 am.
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that You are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:68-69 NIV)
It’s easy to forget in the ministry of Jesus that He also faced the attrition of His following. In John 6, after He spoke so clearly about being the “Bread of Life” many of His disciples left Him. There were several hard teachings in this passage that they stumbled over. Among them,
- The connection between Jesus and the manna that sustained the Hebrews in the wilderness. As it came down from heaven, so did Jesus. As it nourished them, so does Jesus.
- That we must “eat” His body and “drink” His blood. These are obvious metaphors that describe the assimilation of His life and teaching into our lives.
- That what we do with Jesus determines whether or not we inherit eternal life.
But it is interesting to read the response of Peter when Jesus asks him if he also would leave. Rather than taking his cue from the crowd that was leaving, Peter chose to stick with the One who would show him the way to eternal life.
We face the same issues in our day. Many people struggle with the exclusive nature of Jesus’ teachings, and so they turn from Him and His Church. Many are unwilling to assimilate His teaching into their lives – the relentless assault of the world’s values is too difficult to overcome – so they turn away from Him. Many in our day struggle with the idea that Jesus is the eternal Son of God – that He actually existed during the time that Moses led the Hebrews out of Egypt. These things are too supernatural to believe. So they fall away.
Peter seemed to understand that following Jesus was not a matter of joining the popular band wagon. He chose between those that followed until the going got tough or until Jesus quit making them feel good and eternal Truth. He followed because he could trust Jesus’ “words of eternal life.” He became a real “disciple,” not just a “convert.”
