The following comments apply to chapter 23 of Batsell Barrett Baxter's book, The Family of God. The chapter starts with the prayer of Christ in John 17 and discusses the serious issue of division in the church.
In discussing chapter 22 on fellowship, we said that John 17:20-21 expresses the hope of Jesus that the fellowship of the church would be all that it should be. If it is, then the unity Christ prayed for will be prevalent. In full unity, the church is easy to identify worldwide. It stands as an example for the world and is the ultimate endorsement of the teachings of Christ.
As Baxter notes, the apostles gave numerous warnings to the church about staying on track, remaining together in heart and mind, and not listening to any harmful ideas that would surely come from church members and leaders who, for whatever reason, were motivated to change the church from what it should be to what they wanted it to be.
Paul's message to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20 included the advice to take heed and watch over the church, because grievous wolves would come and ravage the fellowship. Galatians 1:8-9 includes the famous passage in which Paul says that if he or an angel from heaven presented to the church a different gospel than the one first delivered to them, let that individual be "anathema."
This word is explained in most commentaries as meaning "accursed." It combines the Koine Greek terms ana and thema. Ana means lifted out, separate, outside, and to some extent against. Thema refers to the theme, group, faith, fellowship, or belief of the church. In other words, whoever preaches such a false gospel should be considered as outside of the fellowship (and blessing) of the church.
Of course 1 Timothy 4:1-3 includes a well known passage saying that people would face the temptation to turn aside to myths, seeking what their itching ears want to hear. 2 Peter 2:1 has a stern warning about false prophets and false teachers, and 1 John 4:1 begins with the apostle's advice to prove the spirits, not simply taking for granted that everyone will be motivated to teach the truth of the gospel.
In spite of all the earnest efforts evidenced by these verses, and in spite of all that is recorded about what Paul did to combat division and factions in the church, departures did occur in later years. Baxter lists several of them, ranging from doing away with the plurality of elders to a heirarchical structure to changing the age and method of baptism to using different names and different add-on creeds to govern the church.
Baxter then outlines some noble efforts to reform the church, but those efforts were not quite far reaching enough to bring back the new testament church that the Lord established. Later, in different places and at different times, groups formed with the goal of actually restoring the church. Those groups, which were often unaware of the others like them, finally succeeded in restoring the church, and the response was tremendous throughout the nineteenth century. Although there have been struggles to keep the restoration movement intact, it remains the modern version of the church that Jesus died for, to this day.
One more thing Baxter emphasizes that is very important is that in what we call the restoration church or the Lord's church, we do not go back to any nineteeth century preacher to trace the origin of the church. We go back to Christ, the pioneer and perfecter of the Christian faith. A hallmark of restoration churches is that nothing newer than the New Testament is used as a guide to govern the church. All we need is there in God's word. We just need to teach the Bible, or as first uttered in Jeremiah 6:16, "ask for the old paths." That puts us in good stead with the prayer of Christ for unity and the earnest plea of the apostles.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Fellowship
The following comments apply to chapter 22 of Batsell Barrett Baxter's book, The Family of God. This chapter is all about fellowship, specifically what it means to be in fellowship within the church.
Koinonia, the Greek word for fellowship, is often translated as "partnership," as in a business partnership. In the New Testament it can mean participation, partnership, sharing, or fellowship.
We all know that we can find different types of fellowship in many places, based on just about anything we can think of. Often these relationships can fade or turn out to be shallow. When we come to Christ, we see that the church has a rich fellowship, and we want to take part.
Based on my own experience, I would say that people first approach fellowship in Christ by asking what they can receive from it. Then, they might progress to asking what they can give to it. Eventually, they begin to ask how they can grow in their ability to participate. After some time, they will be thinking about where they stand in relation to the fellowship of Christ, hoping to remain inside of it.
In John 13:34-35 Jesus said that the way people could identify his followers was if they have love for one another. That statement is very much addressed to the nature of fellowship as a way of life in the church and a way of seeing when the church is what it should be.
The prayer of Jesus in John 17:20-21 is often taught simply as a prayer for unity, but it really points to the need for full fellowhip in the church. Full fellowship brings unity, and when there are problems with fellowship, unity is at risk.
In Galatians 6:2, Paul sums up the task of fellowship when he says, "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." This is fellowship. When he says in Galatians 3:28, "You are all one [man] in Christ Jesus," he encourages Christians to get over any form of division within the church, even the circumstantial ones, such as Jew vs. Greek, slave and free, or male and female.
The church was to stand together as one. If the church is as one man, that man would be a godly man, single-minded in his purpose and character. In this way unity is essential to fellowship.
In 1 Peter 4:7-8 the apostle uses a phrase that is also used by James, when he encourages church members to be fervent in their love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. This is a major function of fellowship, because if one member is not all that he or she should be, the fellowship can support that person in working through and overcoming their weaknesses and dealing with sin.
In 1 Corinthians Paul strikes a blow against factions and divisiveness that had arisen in the church. He does his best to rid the church of it. He discusses that differences are needed, and that one body part would not say to another that it is not needed or is inferior. He then goes on to say that love is the most excellent way, going to great lengths to point out that love is more durable than the spiritual gifts that caused such discussion in the church. He leads the Corinthians to the conclusion that fellowship will save the church from ruin and reach the lost.
Charles Swindoll notes that fellowship included all believers, held them together, and met their needs. He says that believers today can paddle around near the shore of their relationship with other Christians, or they can venture out into the sea, where the currents are stronger and the risks are greater. It takes personal sacrifice and involvement to make a true commitment to fellowship, but it is worth the risk.
Author Larry Deason says that for mutual ministry to occur, there must be covenant, community, communion, and commitment, with equality of position and diversity of function.
Fellowship can be nurtured or neglected. It can be finely tuned to do God's will, or it can be broken. Baxter notes that there is only one method of discipline for the church to use when fellowship is broken, and that is to withdraw fellowship from one who is in the wrong. Church discipline is difficult, because it can be hard to know where lines should be drawn in some situations. Yet, the godly man must take a stand.
Broken fellowship can be the result of individual wrongdoing or doctrinal mishandling by an entire group. In any such case, the goal of the church is to restore fellowship by helping those in the wrong to see their mistake and ask for forgiveness. God wants all to come to repentance, and so does the church. Therefore, if someone is said to have broken fellowship with the church, it is accurate to say that they took themselves out of the fellowship, not that the church would abandon them or their souls.
Despite Paul's efforts to rid Corinth of divisiveness, it is said that the seeds of division planted in those days when the fellowship of the church was broken in several ways have grown up into the many types of churches that teach various things that are opposed to Biblical teaching today. That draws a sharp focus on love, commitment, and unity for us to consider when talking about fellowship.
Koinonia, the Greek word for fellowship, is often translated as "partnership," as in a business partnership. In the New Testament it can mean participation, partnership, sharing, or fellowship.
We all know that we can find different types of fellowship in many places, based on just about anything we can think of. Often these relationships can fade or turn out to be shallow. When we come to Christ, we see that the church has a rich fellowship, and we want to take part.
Based on my own experience, I would say that people first approach fellowship in Christ by asking what they can receive from it. Then, they might progress to asking what they can give to it. Eventually, they begin to ask how they can grow in their ability to participate. After some time, they will be thinking about where they stand in relation to the fellowship of Christ, hoping to remain inside of it.
In John 13:34-35 Jesus said that the way people could identify his followers was if they have love for one another. That statement is very much addressed to the nature of fellowship as a way of life in the church and a way of seeing when the church is what it should be.
The prayer of Jesus in John 17:20-21 is often taught simply as a prayer for unity, but it really points to the need for full fellowhip in the church. Full fellowship brings unity, and when there are problems with fellowship, unity is at risk.
In Galatians 6:2, Paul sums up the task of fellowship when he says, "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." This is fellowship. When he says in Galatians 3:28, "You are all one [man] in Christ Jesus," he encourages Christians to get over any form of division within the church, even the circumstantial ones, such as Jew vs. Greek, slave and free, or male and female.
The church was to stand together as one. If the church is as one man, that man would be a godly man, single-minded in his purpose and character. In this way unity is essential to fellowship.
In 1 Peter 4:7-8 the apostle uses a phrase that is also used by James, when he encourages church members to be fervent in their love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. This is a major function of fellowship, because if one member is not all that he or she should be, the fellowship can support that person in working through and overcoming their weaknesses and dealing with sin.
In 1 Corinthians Paul strikes a blow against factions and divisiveness that had arisen in the church. He does his best to rid the church of it. He discusses that differences are needed, and that one body part would not say to another that it is not needed or is inferior. He then goes on to say that love is the most excellent way, going to great lengths to point out that love is more durable than the spiritual gifts that caused such discussion in the church. He leads the Corinthians to the conclusion that fellowship will save the church from ruin and reach the lost.
Charles Swindoll notes that fellowship included all believers, held them together, and met their needs. He says that believers today can paddle around near the shore of their relationship with other Christians, or they can venture out into the sea, where the currents are stronger and the risks are greater. It takes personal sacrifice and involvement to make a true commitment to fellowship, but it is worth the risk.
Author Larry Deason says that for mutual ministry to occur, there must be covenant, community, communion, and commitment, with equality of position and diversity of function.
Fellowship can be nurtured or neglected. It can be finely tuned to do God's will, or it can be broken. Baxter notes that there is only one method of discipline for the church to use when fellowship is broken, and that is to withdraw fellowship from one who is in the wrong. Church discipline is difficult, because it can be hard to know where lines should be drawn in some situations. Yet, the godly man must take a stand.
Broken fellowship can be the result of individual wrongdoing or doctrinal mishandling by an entire group. In any such case, the goal of the church is to restore fellowship by helping those in the wrong to see their mistake and ask for forgiveness. God wants all to come to repentance, and so does the church. Therefore, if someone is said to have broken fellowship with the church, it is accurate to say that they took themselves out of the fellowship, not that the church would abandon them or their souls.
Despite Paul's efforts to rid Corinth of divisiveness, it is said that the seeds of division planted in those days when the fellowship of the church was broken in several ways have grown up into the many types of churches that teach various things that are opposed to Biblical teaching today. That draws a sharp focus on love, commitment, and unity for us to consider when talking about fellowship.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
The Gifts of the Holy Spirit
The comments in this segment refer to Chapter 21 of Batsell Barrett Baxter's book, The Family of God. This chapter covers some important information about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, as taught in the Bible, and what the position of the church should be.
First let me say that I believe the gifts of the Holy Spirit described in the New Testament were real and miraculous. I believe that God has worked in miraculous ways at certain times, and that He has the power to do His will in miraculous ways at all times. Yet, I do not believe that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit are active in the church today.
I once had an extended discussion with someone who described my position on the matter as not believing in miracles. I hope that by reading the paragraph above, you will see that I do. So, how can someone who believes in what is written in the New Testament say that miracles have ceased? Is it just a position we choose and then develop elaborate logic to defend it? Do we have the Holy Spirit, as promised in Acts 2, or do we not? And, if we do, why not the miraculous gifts?
The nine gifts are listed in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11. In the very next chapter, 13:8-13, Paul says that they will be done away with, and other things will go on instead. John, in John 20:30-31, shows their purpose, that we might believe in Jesus, and in believing have the abundant life. The Christian who is educated by God through the Bible knows what the gifts of the Holy Spirit are, knows their purpose, and also knows when they were manifested.
There are only two sources of miraculous power in the church. One is the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which happened only twice and for a good purpose each time. The second is the laying on of the apostles' hands. As long as they were around they could provide other church members with miraculous abilities by laying on hands, but those people could not pass on the abilities. Therefore, when the apostles were gone, the ability to pass on miraculous gifts disappeared.
1 Corinthians 13:8-11 shows that the miraculous gifts would cease, provided that we properly understand that "when the perfect comes" does not refer to the end time but refers to the establishment of the church in its maturity and the completion of the New Testament. If you think it refers to the end time, then you see no reason why miraculous gifts should have ceased.
Yet, this passage only mentions a few of the gifts. Also, it says that the manifestation of the gifts would cease, but life would go on and other things would be continued. That can't be the end time. For example, faith, hope, and love would remain, yet at the end time faith will be sight and hope will become realization. There will be no need for faith and hope at the end time, but they will remain when the perfect comes, according to Paul's inspired and authoritative writing.
It is good to view miraculous gifts as a type of scaffolding for the church. Once a building is complete, scaffolding is taken away, because it is no longer needed. With the New Testament written and canonized and the church in fully complete existence, the scaffolding that is the miraculous gifts is no longer needed to point the way to Christ.
God has done other things like this. He created a man, and then He created no more men. After Adam and Eve, people reproduced and populated the earth. He will not do the same thing for me that He did for Adam. He caused Jesus to be born of a virgin, yet neither I nor anyone else has reason to think that he might have provided such a birth for us or would do it for our children.
Modern teaching on miraculous gifts varies from group to group, but God is not the author of confusion (1 Cor 14:33). Christians should respect and revere the miraculous gifts, but all Christians should be of one mind that they have ceased.
Above all, we in the church need to fully and completely lay claim to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, in the measure that exists in all Christians, knowing that we are blessed not only with the hope of eternity, but with the wonderful blessings of today because we have the Holy Spirit working in our lives now and accomplishing many great things for us in the present time. No one who claims to have miraculous powers can take that away from us.
First let me say that I believe the gifts of the Holy Spirit described in the New Testament were real and miraculous. I believe that God has worked in miraculous ways at certain times, and that He has the power to do His will in miraculous ways at all times. Yet, I do not believe that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit are active in the church today.
I once had an extended discussion with someone who described my position on the matter as not believing in miracles. I hope that by reading the paragraph above, you will see that I do. So, how can someone who believes in what is written in the New Testament say that miracles have ceased? Is it just a position we choose and then develop elaborate logic to defend it? Do we have the Holy Spirit, as promised in Acts 2, or do we not? And, if we do, why not the miraculous gifts?
The nine gifts are listed in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11. In the very next chapter, 13:8-13, Paul says that they will be done away with, and other things will go on instead. John, in John 20:30-31, shows their purpose, that we might believe in Jesus, and in believing have the abundant life. The Christian who is educated by God through the Bible knows what the gifts of the Holy Spirit are, knows their purpose, and also knows when they were manifested.
There are only two sources of miraculous power in the church. One is the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which happened only twice and for a good purpose each time. The second is the laying on of the apostles' hands. As long as they were around they could provide other church members with miraculous abilities by laying on hands, but those people could not pass on the abilities. Therefore, when the apostles were gone, the ability to pass on miraculous gifts disappeared.
1 Corinthians 13:8-11 shows that the miraculous gifts would cease, provided that we properly understand that "when the perfect comes" does not refer to the end time but refers to the establishment of the church in its maturity and the completion of the New Testament. If you think it refers to the end time, then you see no reason why miraculous gifts should have ceased.
Yet, this passage only mentions a few of the gifts. Also, it says that the manifestation of the gifts would cease, but life would go on and other things would be continued. That can't be the end time. For example, faith, hope, and love would remain, yet at the end time faith will be sight and hope will become realization. There will be no need for faith and hope at the end time, but they will remain when the perfect comes, according to Paul's inspired and authoritative writing.
It is good to view miraculous gifts as a type of scaffolding for the church. Once a building is complete, scaffolding is taken away, because it is no longer needed. With the New Testament written and canonized and the church in fully complete existence, the scaffolding that is the miraculous gifts is no longer needed to point the way to Christ.
God has done other things like this. He created a man, and then He created no more men. After Adam and Eve, people reproduced and populated the earth. He will not do the same thing for me that He did for Adam. He caused Jesus to be born of a virgin, yet neither I nor anyone else has reason to think that he might have provided such a birth for us or would do it for our children.
Modern teaching on miraculous gifts varies from group to group, but God is not the author of confusion (1 Cor 14:33). Christians should respect and revere the miraculous gifts, but all Christians should be of one mind that they have ceased.
Above all, we in the church need to fully and completely lay claim to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, in the measure that exists in all Christians, knowing that we are blessed not only with the hope of eternity, but with the wonderful blessings of today because we have the Holy Spirit working in our lives now and accomplishing many great things for us in the present time. No one who claims to have miraculous powers can take that away from us.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
The Holy Spirit
This segment accompanies chapter 20 of Batsell Barrett Baxter's book, The Family of God. It is an overview of the information that is found in the Bible about the Holy Spirit. It is important that this be a Bible lesson and not just some modern religious teaching. The Holy Spirit is one of the three persons within the whole of the Almighty God, yet people use the name of the Holy Spirit to teach any number of things that are not biblical.
In Baxter's book, it is easier to read chapter 20 backwards. The a modified version of the conclusion is a good place to start. There are different measures of the power that the Holy Spirit has to give. We can count four such measures in the Bible. Jesus possessed the power of the Holy Spirit without measure, so that's one level.
The apostles on the day of Pentecost and Cornelius and the people in his household were visited by the Holy Spirit in the baptismal measure, the only two instances ever. The apostles laid hands on some church members, who received the power of the Holy Spirit in a miraculous measure, although those people could not pass on that measure of the Holy Spirit's power to more and more people, so that measure along with its purpose in establishing the church passed into history.
The only unqualified promise to any and every Christian is that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit will prevail in a measure of power that we might call the normal or ordinary measure. So, after the apostolic age, no person has had the power of the Holy Spirit without measure, none has had that power in the baptismal measure, and none has had it in the miraculous measure.
The Holy Spirit is a lifetime friend and guide to the Christian. We can be fully satisfied with and humbly grateful for the ordinary measure of the working of the Holy Spirit, because of all the wonderful things that involves.
Some of those things include giving evidence of our son-ship in the family of God which is in Christ Jesus; giving us strength in our everyday living; helping us to pray, since we do need that help many times; producing good fruit in our lives, because of that indwelling; giving us a reason to seek after a godly life; giving us a great sense of hope; and providing for us a guarantee of eternal life for faithful Christians.
Just as the love of the Father is still active, work of the church goes on, and the ministry of Christ goes on, the work of the Holy Spirit continues throughout the church today. With so much to be thankful for, we can lay claim to just what the Bible teaches about the Holy Spirit and still never use up all the blessings He brings into our lives.
In Baxter's book, it is easier to read chapter 20 backwards. The a modified version of the conclusion is a good place to start. There are different measures of the power that the Holy Spirit has to give. We can count four such measures in the Bible. Jesus possessed the power of the Holy Spirit without measure, so that's one level.
The apostles on the day of Pentecost and Cornelius and the people in his household were visited by the Holy Spirit in the baptismal measure, the only two instances ever. The apostles laid hands on some church members, who received the power of the Holy Spirit in a miraculous measure, although those people could not pass on that measure of the Holy Spirit's power to more and more people, so that measure along with its purpose in establishing the church passed into history.
The only unqualified promise to any and every Christian is that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit will prevail in a measure of power that we might call the normal or ordinary measure. So, after the apostolic age, no person has had the power of the Holy Spirit without measure, none has had that power in the baptismal measure, and none has had it in the miraculous measure.
The Holy Spirit is a lifetime friend and guide to the Christian. We can be fully satisfied with and humbly grateful for the ordinary measure of the working of the Holy Spirit, because of all the wonderful things that involves.
Some of those things include giving evidence of our son-ship in the family of God which is in Christ Jesus; giving us strength in our everyday living; helping us to pray, since we do need that help many times; producing good fruit in our lives, because of that indwelling; giving us a reason to seek after a godly life; giving us a great sense of hope; and providing for us a guarantee of eternal life for faithful Christians.
Just as the love of the Father is still active, work of the church goes on, and the ministry of Christ goes on, the work of the Holy Spirit continues throughout the church today. With so much to be thankful for, we can lay claim to just what the Bible teaches about the Holy Spirit and still never use up all the blessings He brings into our lives.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Giving - Stewardship
The comments below accompany Chapter 19 of Batsell Barrett Baxter's book, The Family of God. Although the chapter title varies from the previous four, the discussion is about giving as one of the five acts of Christian worship in which we participate on the first day of every week.
The church needs to teach the right attitude toward material things. People who come to Christ from the world outside all too often have the wrong attitude. Also, church members either drift in their thinking or have not seriously looked at where they stand--or where they should stand in Christ Jesus--regarding material posessions. Matthew 6:19-33 is a great place to start on the study of stewardship.
In this chapter, Baxter shows that there are two basic attitudes. The wrong one says my things are mine, bought and paid for with my effort, and I will see about giving some part back to God. The right one says all things belong to God, and how I use them makes up a big part of my spiritual life. Therefore I wll use a necessary portion while giving as I have prospered, as I am able, and as I joyfully make my plans to do (Psalm 24:1).
For just a moment, take stock of your image of a person who was faithful to God in the time when Jesus lived, or perhaps before that. There are quite a few circumstances we tend to take in stride. Yes, they gave one-tenth of everything they produced and everything they earned. Yes, they made purchases for animal sacrifices to God. Yes, they also made material sacrifices to join in the pilgrimages and observances of special days on the Jewish calendar. Yes, they left their land idle one year out of seven. Yes, they forgave debts.
If this is part of being faithful to God, where is its counterpart in Christianity? If we look for an example in the early church, we see that what people had gathered or accumulated for themselves was no longer important to them, but the welfare of the church and those who were being helped by the church was important. When I review those passages, the term esprit de corps comes to mind. Followers of Christ were laying their trophies down, because of their excitement, joy, and convction that God had come in the flesh to guide them into all truth, and they were going there together, sharing all things, bearing one another's burdens, and providing for those in need.
This image is a far cry from begrudging a small amount for the contribution each week. That in itself should teach us a lot about giving. God loves a cheerful giver, as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 9:7. In our spiritual growth, we need to understand the cheer in giving. That is the path to the right attitude in stewardship.
So, we find that giving had its place in the activity of the early church, and as it compares to the material sacrifices made by God's people under the old covenant, it is worship to the Christian. Even though much of what we read about giving in the church is in response to specific needs that arose, we can put together from scripture that giving should be periodic, personal, proportional, preventative, and purposeful. That is a good framework that will keep our stewardship healthy.
Jesus made two statements that ring in our ears when we discuss stewardship and giving. One is from His instructions to the disciples in Matthew 10:8, "Freely you received; freely give." The other is from Luke 6:38 following the beatitudes, "Give and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure--pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return." The tone of these directive statements gives us the confidence that Jesus is looking for joyful generosity in His followers.
Baxter includes a few paragraphs carrying this spirit on through life and into the death and estate management of a Christian. As we grow spiritually into the right attitude toward stewardship, this aspect of it will become clear to us. Many people die having accumulated more than is needed for the care of themselves and their loved ones. We must not forget the work of the church in this last aspect of our lives.
The discussion of stewardship can be expanded into many lessons. Paul M. Tucker has done just that with a study book called Christian Stewardship. It would be wonderful if Christians would submit to this instruction, and if young people in the church could understand its principles. Yet, as with any number of problems the church faces, problems with attitudes toward material things can only be changed by teaching the truth and demonstrating that we care. If we teach and learn these things, we will certainly be blessed in "good measure."
The church needs to teach the right attitude toward material things. People who come to Christ from the world outside all too often have the wrong attitude. Also, church members either drift in their thinking or have not seriously looked at where they stand--or where they should stand in Christ Jesus--regarding material posessions. Matthew 6:19-33 is a great place to start on the study of stewardship.
In this chapter, Baxter shows that there are two basic attitudes. The wrong one says my things are mine, bought and paid for with my effort, and I will see about giving some part back to God. The right one says all things belong to God, and how I use them makes up a big part of my spiritual life. Therefore I wll use a necessary portion while giving as I have prospered, as I am able, and as I joyfully make my plans to do (Psalm 24:1).
For just a moment, take stock of your image of a person who was faithful to God in the time when Jesus lived, or perhaps before that. There are quite a few circumstances we tend to take in stride. Yes, they gave one-tenth of everything they produced and everything they earned. Yes, they made purchases for animal sacrifices to God. Yes, they also made material sacrifices to join in the pilgrimages and observances of special days on the Jewish calendar. Yes, they left their land idle one year out of seven. Yes, they forgave debts.
If this is part of being faithful to God, where is its counterpart in Christianity? If we look for an example in the early church, we see that what people had gathered or accumulated for themselves was no longer important to them, but the welfare of the church and those who were being helped by the church was important. When I review those passages, the term esprit de corps comes to mind. Followers of Christ were laying their trophies down, because of their excitement, joy, and convction that God had come in the flesh to guide them into all truth, and they were going there together, sharing all things, bearing one another's burdens, and providing for those in need.
This image is a far cry from begrudging a small amount for the contribution each week. That in itself should teach us a lot about giving. God loves a cheerful giver, as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 9:7. In our spiritual growth, we need to understand the cheer in giving. That is the path to the right attitude in stewardship.
So, we find that giving had its place in the activity of the early church, and as it compares to the material sacrifices made by God's people under the old covenant, it is worship to the Christian. Even though much of what we read about giving in the church is in response to specific needs that arose, we can put together from scripture that giving should be periodic, personal, proportional, preventative, and purposeful. That is a good framework that will keep our stewardship healthy.
Jesus made two statements that ring in our ears when we discuss stewardship and giving. One is from His instructions to the disciples in Matthew 10:8, "Freely you received; freely give." The other is from Luke 6:38 following the beatitudes, "Give and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure--pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return." The tone of these directive statements gives us the confidence that Jesus is looking for joyful generosity in His followers.
Baxter includes a few paragraphs carrying this spirit on through life and into the death and estate management of a Christian. As we grow spiritually into the right attitude toward stewardship, this aspect of it will become clear to us. Many people die having accumulated more than is needed for the care of themselves and their loved ones. We must not forget the work of the church in this last aspect of our lives.
The discussion of stewardship can be expanded into many lessons. Paul M. Tucker has done just that with a study book called Christian Stewardship. It would be wonderful if Christians would submit to this instruction, and if young people in the church could understand its principles. Yet, as with any number of problems the church faces, problems with attitudes toward material things can only be changed by teaching the truth and demonstrating that we care. If we teach and learn these things, we will certainly be blessed in "good measure."
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Worship - Supper of the Lord
The following comments accompany Chapter 18 of Batsell Barrett Baxter's book, The Family of God. This chapter discusses the Lord's supper as one of the five elements of Christian worship.
At some point in history the word "communion" became a complete substitute for the idea of observing the Lord's supper. Someone said to me once that he didn't need to attend worship, because he could have communion with God in his home. I knew what he meant. The word "communion," while still referring to the Lord's supper, had come to mean a different thing, something that could be done anywhere, in a variety of ways. Maybe he had an answer for this too, but I wondered how he could take part in the Lord's supper by himself at home, by his own choice, while his church presumably met to take part in it together. Of course that doesn't make sense. We come together to break bread in the supper of the Lord. We commune, but we do it by observing the supper.
Have you ever wondered how the bread and fruit of the vine happened to be in the presence of Jesus when He instituted the Lord's supper? They were part of the passover meal that was prepared for Jesus and the disciples in the "guest chamber where [they] should eat the passover." The meal consisted of a roasted lamb, unleavened bread, bitter herbs, and a drink referred to as fruit of the vine. When Jesus made His points about the bread being His body and the wine being His blood, he used only two of the items. Because these two relate back to the statements made by Jesus on that occasion, these are the elements of the Lord's supper.
The bread is without yeast. The drink is grape juice, wine, or wine with water. No one can authoritatively make a case for one meaning or the other in the phrase, "fruit of the vine," but there are some good reasons to minimize or avoid alcohol content in the observance.
We cannot find a place where Jesus said how often to observe the Lord's supper. It is in the example of the early church, in places such as Acts 20:7, that we see it observed every first day of the week, and we fail to find it observed on any other weekday. Yet, the fact that it is mentioned as a reason the church came together does not make it the only reason they met.
People have commented or behaved as if the Lord's supper was the entire sum of our worship. Perhaps it is also because Jesus said directly, "Do this in remembrance of me." Surely, of all the elements of worship, it can be the most intensely personal and central act of worship. Yet, to discount the other things we do in worship and put this element on a higher pedistal can lead to a legalistic approach, in which we touch base on one thing while ignoring other important--and necessary--things.
There is a retrospective purpose for the Lord's supper, because we do it in Christ's memory. Truly it is a living monument to a life and a sacrifice greater than any other one can name. Also there is a prospective purpose for it. We look forward to the Lord coming again, and as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, we proclaim His death "until He comes," looking forward to that day.
A lot of prayers have been lifted up through the years about whether we will eat and drink the Lord's supper "in a worthy manner." Baxter points out that the passage in 1 Corinthians 11 that mentions this does not refer to some recent deeds that are wrong but what the person should and should not do while taking the Lord's supper. Not thinking of Jesus and His sacrifice for us is what the passage warns against. Having a problem with sin might cause someone to need to straighten it out before participating, but Baxter rightly remarks that such a person then needs to take part, to be strengthened by receiving what the Lord's supper provides to a person.
It is only when the practices of the church began to be "modernized" in denominational doctrine that the Lord's supper became anything other than a weekly observance. The Biblical stand is to take part in it on the first day of every week, and that is what the church should uphold. Baxter writes that it calls us back to the central facts of the Christian religion, and that is so very true. May the church continue to honor this practice, "until He comes."
At some point in history the word "communion" became a complete substitute for the idea of observing the Lord's supper. Someone said to me once that he didn't need to attend worship, because he could have communion with God in his home. I knew what he meant. The word "communion," while still referring to the Lord's supper, had come to mean a different thing, something that could be done anywhere, in a variety of ways. Maybe he had an answer for this too, but I wondered how he could take part in the Lord's supper by himself at home, by his own choice, while his church presumably met to take part in it together. Of course that doesn't make sense. We come together to break bread in the supper of the Lord. We commune, but we do it by observing the supper.
Have you ever wondered how the bread and fruit of the vine happened to be in the presence of Jesus when He instituted the Lord's supper? They were part of the passover meal that was prepared for Jesus and the disciples in the "guest chamber where [they] should eat the passover." The meal consisted of a roasted lamb, unleavened bread, bitter herbs, and a drink referred to as fruit of the vine. When Jesus made His points about the bread being His body and the wine being His blood, he used only two of the items. Because these two relate back to the statements made by Jesus on that occasion, these are the elements of the Lord's supper.
The bread is without yeast. The drink is grape juice, wine, or wine with water. No one can authoritatively make a case for one meaning or the other in the phrase, "fruit of the vine," but there are some good reasons to minimize or avoid alcohol content in the observance.
We cannot find a place where Jesus said how often to observe the Lord's supper. It is in the example of the early church, in places such as Acts 20:7, that we see it observed every first day of the week, and we fail to find it observed on any other weekday. Yet, the fact that it is mentioned as a reason the church came together does not make it the only reason they met.
People have commented or behaved as if the Lord's supper was the entire sum of our worship. Perhaps it is also because Jesus said directly, "Do this in remembrance of me." Surely, of all the elements of worship, it can be the most intensely personal and central act of worship. Yet, to discount the other things we do in worship and put this element on a higher pedistal can lead to a legalistic approach, in which we touch base on one thing while ignoring other important--and necessary--things.
There is a retrospective purpose for the Lord's supper, because we do it in Christ's memory. Truly it is a living monument to a life and a sacrifice greater than any other one can name. Also there is a prospective purpose for it. We look forward to the Lord coming again, and as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, we proclaim His death "until He comes," looking forward to that day.
A lot of prayers have been lifted up through the years about whether we will eat and drink the Lord's supper "in a worthy manner." Baxter points out that the passage in 1 Corinthians 11 that mentions this does not refer to some recent deeds that are wrong but what the person should and should not do while taking the Lord's supper. Not thinking of Jesus and His sacrifice for us is what the passage warns against. Having a problem with sin might cause someone to need to straighten it out before participating, but Baxter rightly remarks that such a person then needs to take part, to be strengthened by receiving what the Lord's supper provides to a person.
It is only when the practices of the church began to be "modernized" in denominational doctrine that the Lord's supper became anything other than a weekly observance. The Biblical stand is to take part in it on the first day of every week, and that is what the church should uphold. Baxter writes that it calls us back to the central facts of the Christian religion, and that is so very true. May the church continue to honor this practice, "until He comes."
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Worship - Songs, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs
The following comments are to accompany Chapter 17 of Batsell Barrett Baxter's book, The Family of God. This chapter is on singing as one of the five essential parts of Christian worship.
I can't let this opportunity go by without saying what great joy it brings to me that singing somehow got to be something we do every time we worship God. I love music and singing, and I look forward to singing in church. It is one of those things for which I am always thankful.
My path to the church is an interesting one. Just before I met the people who taught me to believe in Jesus, I had been working for months restoring some old recordings from the Smithsonian for a grant project. They documented the lives of people who lived in the Okefenokee Swamp and rarely ventured outside.
The usual practice of the swamp dwellers was to sit on their porches at night and sing hymns entirely a capella. Imagine my surprise not too long after that to find a church that also kept this practice to honor the example of the early church and the directives in scripture, using a capella singing exclusively in worship.
We find authority in scripture for singing, and we should do what we see is called for, skipping--or we might say avoiding--any extra things that are not called for. So, we sing with enjoyment and with purpose in worship, and we don't feel compelled or pressured to make a production out of it or play one or more instruments.
We do feel compelled to obey God, and that's really what it's all about. Studying the New Testament, we come to the conclusion that singing was exemplified, encouraged, and reqested, only with voices, by God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the apostles. The writing of historians also supports the conclusion that the church used a capella singing.
Having said all that, I will add that I hardly ever spend much time making speeches about the exact right way to sing. We should learn it and practice it in the interest of restoring the New Testament church, but perpetuating an endless argument about it causes us to completely lose focus on the value of singing in worship. The worship of God is a human activity, not a mathematical formula that can be distilled into ones and zeroes by scientific management. I firmly believe there is some room for expressiveness in the song service, although we all understand that there are some things we will do and some things we won't do, out of respect for God.
So, let's move on to the positive things in Baxter's chapter. He starts by mentioning that in Matthew 26:30 Jesus and the disciples sang, giving the early church the example that we follow today. A topic that can become quite fascinating is what song Jesus and the disciples sang after the last supper, before going to the Mount of Olives. Many scholars say that because the Great Hallel was an integral part of the closing of the Passover observance, it is most likely the selection. Psalms 113 to 118 are Hallel (praise) verses, apparently sung from memory. If it was the Hallel, we would know another major part of what was said (sung) at the last supper.
Some scholars say that it might have been a new, perhaps shorter hymn more closely fit to the occasion. The reason they suggest that is because the group sang this hymn at the end of their supper, not the main Passover rites, and this could mean that Jesus intended to keep singing a part of worship in His church, and therefore might have done something different from the ordinances of the old covenant.
Regardless of what they sang, it is of great importance that we see Jesus singing as the events began to unfold that would lead Him to the cross. We also see the disciples singing, even though this time was rather sorrowful for them. Truly that set the tone for the church.
When Paul and Silas sang in prison, Acts 16:25, we see that singing was very much like prayer, something Christians turned to as a way of dealing with whatever came their way. Writings of Paul and James show us the purposes of singing in worship and what our task is when we sing. We teach, we admonish, we exhort, we praise, we adore, we give thanks, we dedicate ourselves, and we sing directly to God and to Christ. That's a lot to do, so it is no wonder we often spend the second highest amount of time in our worship on singing.
Nearly everyone wishes they could sing better, but it's great and it helps our worship when we give up thinking about that and just let our songs go up from the assembly in a way that is pleasing to God. One of our greatest blessings as a part of the family of God is that we will never have to quit, ever.
I can't let this opportunity go by without saying what great joy it brings to me that singing somehow got to be something we do every time we worship God. I love music and singing, and I look forward to singing in church. It is one of those things for which I am always thankful.
My path to the church is an interesting one. Just before I met the people who taught me to believe in Jesus, I had been working for months restoring some old recordings from the Smithsonian for a grant project. They documented the lives of people who lived in the Okefenokee Swamp and rarely ventured outside.
The usual practice of the swamp dwellers was to sit on their porches at night and sing hymns entirely a capella. Imagine my surprise not too long after that to find a church that also kept this practice to honor the example of the early church and the directives in scripture, using a capella singing exclusively in worship.
We find authority in scripture for singing, and we should do what we see is called for, skipping--or we might say avoiding--any extra things that are not called for. So, we sing with enjoyment and with purpose in worship, and we don't feel compelled or pressured to make a production out of it or play one or more instruments.
We do feel compelled to obey God, and that's really what it's all about. Studying the New Testament, we come to the conclusion that singing was exemplified, encouraged, and reqested, only with voices, by God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the apostles. The writing of historians also supports the conclusion that the church used a capella singing.
Having said all that, I will add that I hardly ever spend much time making speeches about the exact right way to sing. We should learn it and practice it in the interest of restoring the New Testament church, but perpetuating an endless argument about it causes us to completely lose focus on the value of singing in worship. The worship of God is a human activity, not a mathematical formula that can be distilled into ones and zeroes by scientific management. I firmly believe there is some room for expressiveness in the song service, although we all understand that there are some things we will do and some things we won't do, out of respect for God.
So, let's move on to the positive things in Baxter's chapter. He starts by mentioning that in Matthew 26:30 Jesus and the disciples sang, giving the early church the example that we follow today. A topic that can become quite fascinating is what song Jesus and the disciples sang after the last supper, before going to the Mount of Olives. Many scholars say that because the Great Hallel was an integral part of the closing of the Passover observance, it is most likely the selection. Psalms 113 to 118 are Hallel (praise) verses, apparently sung from memory. If it was the Hallel, we would know another major part of what was said (sung) at the last supper.
Some scholars say that it might have been a new, perhaps shorter hymn more closely fit to the occasion. The reason they suggest that is because the group sang this hymn at the end of their supper, not the main Passover rites, and this could mean that Jesus intended to keep singing a part of worship in His church, and therefore might have done something different from the ordinances of the old covenant.
Regardless of what they sang, it is of great importance that we see Jesus singing as the events began to unfold that would lead Him to the cross. We also see the disciples singing, even though this time was rather sorrowful for them. Truly that set the tone for the church.
When Paul and Silas sang in prison, Acts 16:25, we see that singing was very much like prayer, something Christians turned to as a way of dealing with whatever came their way. Writings of Paul and James show us the purposes of singing in worship and what our task is when we sing. We teach, we admonish, we exhort, we praise, we adore, we give thanks, we dedicate ourselves, and we sing directly to God and to Christ. That's a lot to do, so it is no wonder we often spend the second highest amount of time in our worship on singing.
Nearly everyone wishes they could sing better, but it's great and it helps our worship when we give up thinking about that and just let our songs go up from the assembly in a way that is pleasing to God. One of our greatest blessings as a part of the family of God is that we will never have to quit, ever.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Worship - The Prayer of Faith, part 2
The comments below apply to Chapter 16 of Batsell Barrett Baxter's book, The Family of God, and they are supplemented with material from James M. Tolle's book, Prayer. Chapter 16 of The Family of God is about prayer as a part of Christian worship.
Tolle identifies a practice of the early church in the New Testament that he calls social prayer. The setting might or might not be a worship assembly, but anywhere Christians are together. We can see it in Acts 2:42. It is public or group prayer that helped define the relationship among the Christians.
Tolle says that social prayer can help with resolving conflicts among brethren, can help the group in emergencies or special occasions, and can become a characteristic of the group just as togetherness in prayer marked the early church. The early Christians each presented the interests of all the brethren, Tolle says, and they considered all of those interests their own.
If the church today uses social prayer as a way of approaching things, Tolle says it would increase the "fighting power" of the church, give us strength to meet every emergency, and lead to growth in love and fellowship.
Prayer in worship is something that Tolle finds to be an integral part of the spiritual welfare and development of Christians and a necessary ingredient for harmony and unity in the church. Leading public prayer is important work, a weighty responsibility.
Tolle suggests that prayer leaders speak audibly and clearly; offer prayers to God, not as sermons, even though they are to be heard by everyone; avoid vain repetition, which means to be careful about anything that is repeated over and over or inserted to fill time; avoid trite words and expressions, which tend to attract atention to themselves rather than to the actual request; and be sincere and natural. We should think about what we are doing and use our words rather than "aping" someone else. We are directing hearts and minds, not proving how much we know, not proving how capable we are in expressing ourselves, not being less than our best self. We try to offer prayers of good understanding.
In our lesson from Baxter, we looked at some things the disciples learned from Christ about prayer. He said not to pray like the hyprocrites, to be seen praying by lots of people. He said not to use vain repetition, because such mindlesss practices were abundant in pagan religion both then and before then. He modeled a prayer for both physical and spiritual needs. His prayer was simple. It was direct, specific, and vivid. It was addressed to God, and it included a good measure of praise to God.
There are several lessons about prayer contained in James 5:13-18. When James writes, "let him pray," he suggests the importance of individual prayer. But, he also says, "let them pray," showing that united or group prayer has significance. He mentions the prayer of faith, which denotes believing prayer that is prayed in faith. He depicts the Christians praying for one another, which upholds the concept of intercessory prayer. He mentions effective, fervent prayer, showing that a Christian should pursue his or her requests to God with some effort. He discusses Elijah praying for no rain, then for rain, which points to specific prayer. Finally, he demonstrates that Elijah prayed more than once about this Old Testament event, thus highlighting the need for repeated or habitual prayer.
If we can combine these and other lessons on prayer and work them all into our worship assembly, we will have a mighty force working for us as a congregation. The public prayer life of the congregation is fed and supported by the individual prayer lives of the members. That should cause us to ask the challenging question, "How are my prayers contributing to the life of my congregation?"
Tolle identifies a practice of the early church in the New Testament that he calls social prayer. The setting might or might not be a worship assembly, but anywhere Christians are together. We can see it in Acts 2:42. It is public or group prayer that helped define the relationship among the Christians.
Tolle says that social prayer can help with resolving conflicts among brethren, can help the group in emergencies or special occasions, and can become a characteristic of the group just as togetherness in prayer marked the early church. The early Christians each presented the interests of all the brethren, Tolle says, and they considered all of those interests their own.
If the church today uses social prayer as a way of approaching things, Tolle says it would increase the "fighting power" of the church, give us strength to meet every emergency, and lead to growth in love and fellowship.
Prayer in worship is something that Tolle finds to be an integral part of the spiritual welfare and development of Christians and a necessary ingredient for harmony and unity in the church. Leading public prayer is important work, a weighty responsibility.
Tolle suggests that prayer leaders speak audibly and clearly; offer prayers to God, not as sermons, even though they are to be heard by everyone; avoid vain repetition, which means to be careful about anything that is repeated over and over or inserted to fill time; avoid trite words and expressions, which tend to attract atention to themselves rather than to the actual request; and be sincere and natural. We should think about what we are doing and use our words rather than "aping" someone else. We are directing hearts and minds, not proving how much we know, not proving how capable we are in expressing ourselves, not being less than our best self. We try to offer prayers of good understanding.
In our lesson from Baxter, we looked at some things the disciples learned from Christ about prayer. He said not to pray like the hyprocrites, to be seen praying by lots of people. He said not to use vain repetition, because such mindlesss practices were abundant in pagan religion both then and before then. He modeled a prayer for both physical and spiritual needs. His prayer was simple. It was direct, specific, and vivid. It was addressed to God, and it included a good measure of praise to God.
There are several lessons about prayer contained in James 5:13-18. When James writes, "let him pray," he suggests the importance of individual prayer. But, he also says, "let them pray," showing that united or group prayer has significance. He mentions the prayer of faith, which denotes believing prayer that is prayed in faith. He depicts the Christians praying for one another, which upholds the concept of intercessory prayer. He mentions effective, fervent prayer, showing that a Christian should pursue his or her requests to God with some effort. He discusses Elijah praying for no rain, then for rain, which points to specific prayer. Finally, he demonstrates that Elijah prayed more than once about this Old Testament event, thus highlighting the need for repeated or habitual prayer.
If we can combine these and other lessons on prayer and work them all into our worship assembly, we will have a mighty force working for us as a congregation. The public prayer life of the congregation is fed and supported by the individual prayer lives of the members. That should cause us to ask the challenging question, "How are my prayers contributing to the life of my congregation?"
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Worship - The Prayer of Faith
The following notes apply to Chapter 16 of Batsell Barrett Baxter's book, The Family of God. This chapter covers prayer as a part of Christian worship.
If we took an empty blackboard and started a list of things we want to be sure to do in worship, speaking to our Creator to express our thoughts and feelings seems like an indispensable element. The New Testament is filled with examples of Christians praying in the worship assembly and at other times. Therefore, we know there is something important about it.
Baxter mentions that in worship, Christians are inspired and encouraged to do the things the Lord wants done. If we think about the things Jesus asked His followers to do, prayer is certainly on the list. Baxter adds that prayer is essential to Christian living, even though some Christians do not make use of prayer as God intended. He says that maybe some people have not been taught to pray. We want to worship God fully, and we search for a basis for prayer in our lives. It makes us think about how we are taught at home and how valuable it is to see the example of our parents and know that they believe in prayer.
Several examples in our lesson show that Jesus believed in prayer. Right up to His time on the cross, he prayed often and with purpose. Jesus' followers believed in prayer. Mary believed in prayer. The early church members believed in prayer and got the church started in a prayerful manner. Then they continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and prayers (Acts 2:42).
Baxter calls attention to the fact that mature adult men who were followers of Jesus, after a full life of religious teaching in the Old Testament law, would ask Jesus to teach them how to pray. Jesus then told them what not to do (Matthew 6:5-8) and some things they could do (6:9-13, the model prayer). From that example, Baxter notes in particular that Jesus' prayer was rather short but still covered both physical and spiritual needs. It was simple and direct, specific and vivid, not vague and indefinite. It was addressed to God, and its simplicity gave it beauty and power.
Several characteristics of prayer for Christians become evident. Prayers should be addressed to God through Christ. They should contain both praise to God and thanksgiving. They should include confession of sins and requests for forgiveness. Also, they should include requests to God for things we need, be they spiritual or physical.
Prayers should be prayed in faith. They should be prayed by someone who is obedient to God. They should be prayed with the understanding that God's will is the most important thing.
A passage in James 5 is filled with information about effective prayer. From it we can see that individual prayer is important, as well as united prayer. Believing prayer is needed. Prayer that intercedes for others is important. Prayer that is intense or fervent, specific, and repeated in more than one session are effective.
Finally, Baxter deals with questions about whether prayers are answered. If someone studied Christ, the apostles, and the Lord's church in the Bible, they would come away with rock solid assurance that prayers are answered. Baxter uses a really good phrase to describe the effect of prayer, saying that God has promised that when faithful Christians pray, things will happen that otherwise would not have happened. This helps us to see how, in God's infinite wisdom, He doesn't always send a "yes" answer, but He answers every prayer.
If we took an empty blackboard and started a list of things we want to be sure to do in worship, speaking to our Creator to express our thoughts and feelings seems like an indispensable element. The New Testament is filled with examples of Christians praying in the worship assembly and at other times. Therefore, we know there is something important about it.
Baxter mentions that in worship, Christians are inspired and encouraged to do the things the Lord wants done. If we think about the things Jesus asked His followers to do, prayer is certainly on the list. Baxter adds that prayer is essential to Christian living, even though some Christians do not make use of prayer as God intended. He says that maybe some people have not been taught to pray. We want to worship God fully, and we search for a basis for prayer in our lives. It makes us think about how we are taught at home and how valuable it is to see the example of our parents and know that they believe in prayer.
Several examples in our lesson show that Jesus believed in prayer. Right up to His time on the cross, he prayed often and with purpose. Jesus' followers believed in prayer. Mary believed in prayer. The early church members believed in prayer and got the church started in a prayerful manner. Then they continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and prayers (Acts 2:42).
Baxter calls attention to the fact that mature adult men who were followers of Jesus, after a full life of religious teaching in the Old Testament law, would ask Jesus to teach them how to pray. Jesus then told them what not to do (Matthew 6:5-8) and some things they could do (6:9-13, the model prayer). From that example, Baxter notes in particular that Jesus' prayer was rather short but still covered both physical and spiritual needs. It was simple and direct, specific and vivid, not vague and indefinite. It was addressed to God, and its simplicity gave it beauty and power.
Several characteristics of prayer for Christians become evident. Prayers should be addressed to God through Christ. They should contain both praise to God and thanksgiving. They should include confession of sins and requests for forgiveness. Also, they should include requests to God for things we need, be they spiritual or physical.
Prayers should be prayed in faith. They should be prayed by someone who is obedient to God. They should be prayed with the understanding that God's will is the most important thing.
A passage in James 5 is filled with information about effective prayer. From it we can see that individual prayer is important, as well as united prayer. Believing prayer is needed. Prayer that intercedes for others is important. Prayer that is intense or fervent, specific, and repeated in more than one session are effective.
Finally, Baxter deals with questions about whether prayers are answered. If someone studied Christ, the apostles, and the Lord's church in the Bible, they would come away with rock solid assurance that prayers are answered. Baxter uses a really good phrase to describe the effect of prayer, saying that God has promised that when faithful Christians pray, things will happen that otherwise would not have happened. This helps us to see how, in God's infinite wisdom, He doesn't always send a "yes" answer, but He answers every prayer.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Worship - Listening to God
The following comments apply to Chapter 15 of Batsell Barrett Baxter's book, The Family of God. This is the first of five chapters devoted to the individual "acts of worship" or things we do in Christian worship.
Among the numerous things that Jesus is known for, one of the more enigmatic occurs when he is telling a parable and tacks on the statement, "He who has ears, let him hear." Matthew 11:15 and 13:9 are two examples. In these teaching situations, one can imagine the questions in the minds of Jesus' followers: Who is this message intended for? Some people say that Jesus is trying to be as all-inclusive as possible by creating a category of those with ears.
Most scholars agree that the Lord's intent is to show that spiritually minded people will understand the spiritual message in His sayings--especially the parables--while those with worldly minds, who figuratively speaking can be said to have no ears with which to hear the spiritual truths, would not understand the message but would see only the surface story in a parable, because they are not tuned into the moral value.
Local newspapers sometimes ask the poll question, "If you could have dinner with anyone in the world, who would it be?" I've seen several responses indicating that people would really give up a lot to spend time with Jesus. What a shame it would be for those who were fortunate enough to be in the presence of Jesus, if they turned out to be the ones who "didn't have ears," and could not understand His teaching due to shallowness or worldliness.
Baxter says the same thing happened when Robert Fulton tried to describe his idea for the steamboat to Napoleon. He got only two minutes to make his pitch, and Napoleon was not intererested. Napoleon might have had significant victories if only he had listened and understood what Fulton was trying to tell him.
So it is with this first element of Christian worship. God's message is taught and heard as part of our worship. Everyone has a part in it, even though only one person is doing the speaking. Having ears for spiritual things, we listen and absorb something that God wants us to know, and that in turn provides us with a blessing that extends through the week and beyond.
Baxter points out that this teaching is different from the other elements of worship. Singing, praying, participating in the Lord's Supper, and giving of our means are all from us to God. The message is from God to us. So, if we count the worship acts on the fingers of one hand, we might want to make the thumb represent preaching, because it is a good bit different than the four fingers.
This one element takes up a large portion of the worship time. For that reason, among others, we need to know and remember that each of us has an active role in that act of worship where the message is presented.
Some day you might be explaining to someone how to be saved, and you would tell the person that it all starts with hearing the message of Christ. We should be thankful that hearing the message doesn't stop after it is first accomplished. It goes on and on, and there is much more to be heard as we become a member of the church and begin each week in worship.
I remember as a child getting pretty excited about collecting trading cards. We had cards with baseball and football players, cards with elephant jokes, and even cards with Civil War scenes. As we mature, we try to put more meaningful things in our lives. Some people try to remember as much as they can from each sermon. Let's all hope that we can get as excited about hearing biblical messages as we used to get when we bought a pack of trading cards. Certain ones of those cards have gone up in value quite a bit as time has progressed, but none can compare with the ultimate value of the gospel.
Baxter says there are two things needed for preaching and two main purposes for it. The two things needed are man and the message. The two purposes are to bring people to the Lord and to help people who are in Christ to live by faith.
For the Bible to be in written form helps make it permanent. It is a time-tested method of bringing the message to people that a spokesman teach in the worship assembly. That goes all the way back to the time before Christ, but it seems that with the coming of new technologies, this method has been challenged as the primary means of teaching. Radio, movies, television, the Internet, wireless communication, and social media on the Web all beg for our attention, and they deserve consideration as teaching tools. Yet, when a preacher stands in a pulpit and teaches God's word, he spans the entire history of creation with the method he uses. There is a lot to be said for maintaining and upholding that skill, because in the final analysis, faith in Christ is passed from person to person, just like a spoken message.
The message is equally important. A preacher must know what he is presenting to his hearers. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4 that we have this treasure (God's message) in earthen vessels (that's us). Elsewhere, in Romans 1, he announced rather pointedly that he was not ashamed of the gospel and its power. When it is regarded in that way, the message will be worthwhile and will produce its desired effect.
The preacher has a responsibility and so do the hearers. We should remember from the last chapter that the sermon is not done until the hearers go out and demonstrate that they know how to "walk in the light" and are willing to do it.
Among the numerous things that Jesus is known for, one of the more enigmatic occurs when he is telling a parable and tacks on the statement, "He who has ears, let him hear." Matthew 11:15 and 13:9 are two examples. In these teaching situations, one can imagine the questions in the minds of Jesus' followers: Who is this message intended for? Some people say that Jesus is trying to be as all-inclusive as possible by creating a category of those with ears.
Most scholars agree that the Lord's intent is to show that spiritually minded people will understand the spiritual message in His sayings--especially the parables--while those with worldly minds, who figuratively speaking can be said to have no ears with which to hear the spiritual truths, would not understand the message but would see only the surface story in a parable, because they are not tuned into the moral value.
Local newspapers sometimes ask the poll question, "If you could have dinner with anyone in the world, who would it be?" I've seen several responses indicating that people would really give up a lot to spend time with Jesus. What a shame it would be for those who were fortunate enough to be in the presence of Jesus, if they turned out to be the ones who "didn't have ears," and could not understand His teaching due to shallowness or worldliness.
Baxter says the same thing happened when Robert Fulton tried to describe his idea for the steamboat to Napoleon. He got only two minutes to make his pitch, and Napoleon was not intererested. Napoleon might have had significant victories if only he had listened and understood what Fulton was trying to tell him.
So it is with this first element of Christian worship. God's message is taught and heard as part of our worship. Everyone has a part in it, even though only one person is doing the speaking. Having ears for spiritual things, we listen and absorb something that God wants us to know, and that in turn provides us with a blessing that extends through the week and beyond.
Baxter points out that this teaching is different from the other elements of worship. Singing, praying, participating in the Lord's Supper, and giving of our means are all from us to God. The message is from God to us. So, if we count the worship acts on the fingers of one hand, we might want to make the thumb represent preaching, because it is a good bit different than the four fingers.
This one element takes up a large portion of the worship time. For that reason, among others, we need to know and remember that each of us has an active role in that act of worship where the message is presented.
Some day you might be explaining to someone how to be saved, and you would tell the person that it all starts with hearing the message of Christ. We should be thankful that hearing the message doesn't stop after it is first accomplished. It goes on and on, and there is much more to be heard as we become a member of the church and begin each week in worship.
I remember as a child getting pretty excited about collecting trading cards. We had cards with baseball and football players, cards with elephant jokes, and even cards with Civil War scenes. As we mature, we try to put more meaningful things in our lives. Some people try to remember as much as they can from each sermon. Let's all hope that we can get as excited about hearing biblical messages as we used to get when we bought a pack of trading cards. Certain ones of those cards have gone up in value quite a bit as time has progressed, but none can compare with the ultimate value of the gospel.
Baxter says there are two things needed for preaching and two main purposes for it. The two things needed are man and the message. The two purposes are to bring people to the Lord and to help people who are in Christ to live by faith.
For the Bible to be in written form helps make it permanent. It is a time-tested method of bringing the message to people that a spokesman teach in the worship assembly. That goes all the way back to the time before Christ, but it seems that with the coming of new technologies, this method has been challenged as the primary means of teaching. Radio, movies, television, the Internet, wireless communication, and social media on the Web all beg for our attention, and they deserve consideration as teaching tools. Yet, when a preacher stands in a pulpit and teaches God's word, he spans the entire history of creation with the method he uses. There is a lot to be said for maintaining and upholding that skill, because in the final analysis, faith in Christ is passed from person to person, just like a spoken message.
The message is equally important. A preacher must know what he is presenting to his hearers. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4 that we have this treasure (God's message) in earthen vessels (that's us). Elsewhere, in Romans 1, he announced rather pointedly that he was not ashamed of the gospel and its power. When it is regarded in that way, the message will be worthwhile and will produce its desired effect.
The preacher has a responsibility and so do the hearers. We should remember from the last chapter that the sermon is not done until the hearers go out and demonstrate that they know how to "walk in the light" and are willing to do it.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Worship
The following comments apply to chapter 14 of Batsell Barrett Baxter's book, The Family of God, a chapter on worship.
Christians get their detailed directions for worship from the pages of the New Testament. Looking for the methods of worship Christians should use reveals five elements. Listening to some teaching, participating in prayer, singing, taking part in the Lord's Supper, and giving of our means are the things we do over and over each week, because of what God shows us in the New Testament.
Sometimes we might get bored with the same routine or begin to question why we do this or that. I just had a conversation about that with someone this week. It has been a long time since Jesus made the great sacrifice for the sins of many. We must ask ourselves whether Christian worship, as exemplified by the early church, is intact today and can remain that way as long as the earth continues. That's the real question, and any thought about whether we are totally happy with worship or not can usually be traced to a temporary and insignificant longing on our part.
The way to avoid dissatisfaction with worship is to think not about ourselves and what we might long for, but about our Creator and what He wants from us. If we look at it that way, the same five elements come alive and become a big part of our very purpose here on earth. As we think about four and twenty elders bowing down to the Lord as depicted in Revelation and constantly praising His name, we can say that what God has given us to do in Christian worship, we are doing.
The Old Testament informs our approach to a greater extent than we might realize. Isaiah 6 shows us first the magnificent greatness of God, then the utter sinfulness of man, then how man is able to be cleansed and made holy by God, and then how our cleansing gives us a purpose in serving God. What we do in worship today in the Christian age all relates back to the principles found there.
Worship glorifies God and meets needs of ours such as the desire to identify with something greater than himself, the need to express gratitude and love, the need for something to soothe and calm our spirit, and the need for safety and security.
The book has a great list of definitions for worship, but we can sum up by saying that in worship we return to God what He wants from us, and in doing so, we define and understand who we are and whose we are. Every Christian should be thinking about how he or she can keep worship intact for future generations, according to what God reveals in the Bible. Maybe there are some details in which we have choices, but on the whole, once we are convinced that the survival of Christian worship is important, we as members of the Lord's church will work together to recognize it, uphold it, unify it, and give ourselves fully to it throughout our lives.
Christians get their detailed directions for worship from the pages of the New Testament. Looking for the methods of worship Christians should use reveals five elements. Listening to some teaching, participating in prayer, singing, taking part in the Lord's Supper, and giving of our means are the things we do over and over each week, because of what God shows us in the New Testament.
Sometimes we might get bored with the same routine or begin to question why we do this or that. I just had a conversation about that with someone this week. It has been a long time since Jesus made the great sacrifice for the sins of many. We must ask ourselves whether Christian worship, as exemplified by the early church, is intact today and can remain that way as long as the earth continues. That's the real question, and any thought about whether we are totally happy with worship or not can usually be traced to a temporary and insignificant longing on our part.
The way to avoid dissatisfaction with worship is to think not about ourselves and what we might long for, but about our Creator and what He wants from us. If we look at it that way, the same five elements come alive and become a big part of our very purpose here on earth. As we think about four and twenty elders bowing down to the Lord as depicted in Revelation and constantly praising His name, we can say that what God has given us to do in Christian worship, we are doing.
The Old Testament informs our approach to a greater extent than we might realize. Isaiah 6 shows us first the magnificent greatness of God, then the utter sinfulness of man, then how man is able to be cleansed and made holy by God, and then how our cleansing gives us a purpose in serving God. What we do in worship today in the Christian age all relates back to the principles found there.
Worship glorifies God and meets needs of ours such as the desire to identify with something greater than himself, the need to express gratitude and love, the need for something to soothe and calm our spirit, and the need for safety and security.
The book has a great list of definitions for worship, but we can sum up by saying that in worship we return to God what He wants from us, and in doing so, we define and understand who we are and whose we are. Every Christian should be thinking about how he or she can keep worship intact for future generations, according to what God reveals in the Bible. Maybe there are some details in which we have choices, but on the whole, once we are convinced that the survival of Christian worship is important, we as members of the Lord's church will work together to recognize it, uphold it, unify it, and give ourselves fully to it throughout our lives.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
The Qualifications of Deacons
The following comments are for chapter 13 of Batsell Barrett Baxter's book, The Family of God, concerning the qualifications of deacons and a few related topics.
Deacons are servants, helpers in the church, who look after certain aspects of church life. The task can be anything from helping those in need to just making sure everything gets done that the church needs to have done. A deacon can be treasurer, but a treasurer does not have to be a deacon. A deacon can be a teacher or education coordinator, but that duty also does not have to be done by a deacon.
Facetiously, someone told me once that a deacon is defined by the duty of mowing the lawn of the church building. Then, as now, my hope is that the office of deacon would not be defined or contained by one duty, and yet it truly is the day-to-day and week-to-week practical things that characterize the responsibility of a deacon.
Baxter says deacons are often men who are younger and perhaps more physically able than elders, but in practice, it seems to me that is all relative. The reason he mentions younger men is that some qualifications for a deacon seem to indicate that his family might not have progressed to the point where his children are members of the church.
In Acts 6 certain men were appointed to take care of the Grecian widows, so that they would not be neglected in the distribution of food to the needy. That way, the apostles would have more time for spiritual matters. Commentaries through the years have debated about whether these appointed men were simply that and nothing more, were actually elders, or were in fact the first deacons in the early church. One writer makes the interesting point that if the men appointed in Acts 6 are not deacons, then we have no place in the Bible to find what deacons are supposed to do.
The qualifications for deacons in 1 Timothy 3:8-13 are not as numerous or varied among different translations as are those for elders. The most interesting one by far is where, in the middle of the list, it addresses characteristics of women. Is there a precedent for deaconesses? Using the King James Version in his commentary, David Lipscomb does not come right out and say that he thinks this mention of women refers to the wives of deacons. Most translations and commentaries today do make that statement. One good reason is that, farther in the list, Paul writes that a deacon must be the husband of one wife. That might still leave room for argument about a deaconess, but it seems certain that women deacons were not described by the inspired writer.
Romans 16:1 says that Phoebe is a servant of the church in Cenchrea, using the same word as for deacon, but if you find a reliable scholar willing to use the term deacon to describe her, that writer is not likely to say that her status is that of a deacon as described in 1 Timothy 3. She is a servant, surely, and a church member who takes seriously her role in the ministry of the church.
We will again look at the variant translations for the qualifications, and we will discuss how both deacons and elders can be appointed in a congregation. While most translations say that elders should not be "given to, indulging in, fond of, or addicted to drinking wine, the qualifications for deacons undoubtedly say the same thing, except that the phrase is "much wine." With all we know about the use of wine in Bible times, do we really think today that deacons may drink, but elders should not? This bears closer examination, and Baxter gives a list of the most compelling reasons why any Christian, including those who would be deacons and elders, cannot justify drinking. To me, the church is a place where people find refuge from things like drinking, and the more you think about it, the more you realize that a life of faith and an intoxicating habit just do not go together. We will talk more about it in class, and it promises to be an interesting discussion.
Deacons are servants, helpers in the church, who look after certain aspects of church life. The task can be anything from helping those in need to just making sure everything gets done that the church needs to have done. A deacon can be treasurer, but a treasurer does not have to be a deacon. A deacon can be a teacher or education coordinator, but that duty also does not have to be done by a deacon.
Facetiously, someone told me once that a deacon is defined by the duty of mowing the lawn of the church building. Then, as now, my hope is that the office of deacon would not be defined or contained by one duty, and yet it truly is the day-to-day and week-to-week practical things that characterize the responsibility of a deacon.
Baxter says deacons are often men who are younger and perhaps more physically able than elders, but in practice, it seems to me that is all relative. The reason he mentions younger men is that some qualifications for a deacon seem to indicate that his family might not have progressed to the point where his children are members of the church.
In Acts 6 certain men were appointed to take care of the Grecian widows, so that they would not be neglected in the distribution of food to the needy. That way, the apostles would have more time for spiritual matters. Commentaries through the years have debated about whether these appointed men were simply that and nothing more, were actually elders, or were in fact the first deacons in the early church. One writer makes the interesting point that if the men appointed in Acts 6 are not deacons, then we have no place in the Bible to find what deacons are supposed to do.
The qualifications for deacons in 1 Timothy 3:8-13 are not as numerous or varied among different translations as are those for elders. The most interesting one by far is where, in the middle of the list, it addresses characteristics of women. Is there a precedent for deaconesses? Using the King James Version in his commentary, David Lipscomb does not come right out and say that he thinks this mention of women refers to the wives of deacons. Most translations and commentaries today do make that statement. One good reason is that, farther in the list, Paul writes that a deacon must be the husband of one wife. That might still leave room for argument about a deaconess, but it seems certain that women deacons were not described by the inspired writer.
Romans 16:1 says that Phoebe is a servant of the church in Cenchrea, using the same word as for deacon, but if you find a reliable scholar willing to use the term deacon to describe her, that writer is not likely to say that her status is that of a deacon as described in 1 Timothy 3. She is a servant, surely, and a church member who takes seriously her role in the ministry of the church.
We will again look at the variant translations for the qualifications, and we will discuss how both deacons and elders can be appointed in a congregation. While most translations say that elders should not be "given to, indulging in, fond of, or addicted to drinking wine, the qualifications for deacons undoubtedly say the same thing, except that the phrase is "much wine." With all we know about the use of wine in Bible times, do we really think today that deacons may drink, but elders should not? This bears closer examination, and Baxter gives a list of the most compelling reasons why any Christian, including those who would be deacons and elders, cannot justify drinking. To me, the church is a place where people find refuge from things like drinking, and the more you think about it, the more you realize that a life of faith and an intoxicating habit just do not go together. We will talk more about it in class, and it promises to be an interesting discussion.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
The Qualifications of Elders
The following comments apply to Chapter 12 of Batsell Barrett Baxter's book, The Family of God. This chapter discusses the qualifications of elders. If you have read the class book or were in our class last week, you remember from chapter 11 that elder, overseer, bishop, presbyter, pastor, and shepherd are used interchangeably in the New Testament for the same designation for the leaders of a local congregation.
Autonomous congregations work side by side, yet independently, with other congregations worldwide for the cause of the Lord. In each one, elders are to rule, deacons are to serve, evangelists are to preach, and teachers are to teach. It has been just this way since the apostles passed away, and so it remains today.
Baxter says we should think about the quality of leadership represented by the elders in a congregation--their knowledge of the Bible, their vision, their zeal and dedication. The role of elder is a great responsibility, and it is also a great honor, one that Baxter calls the greatest honor the church can bestow on a man.
The qualifications are found in 1 Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-9, and 1 Peter 5:1-4, and elders are mentioned in a number of other places regarding their roles, relationships, and duties. Not all groups who would be churches today teach heavily on these passages, probably because their concept of what these leaders are is not clear. They omit this teaching at their own peril, because elders are a major part of God's plan for sustaining the church. The qualifications can be placed in three groups: positive, negative, and special.
I gathered several translations for this lesson and wrote down the phrasing of each qualification in as many different ways as I could find. This should prove to be an interesting comparison, shedding more and more light on what is expected of elders.
Baxter says that the full import of the special qualifications is only for elders, but all the others are qualities that all Christians should have. Still, it is reasonable to expect that elders would exhibit these qualities more strongly than many other Christians.
Elders have general oversight of a LOCAL congregation. They should be bulwarks against false teaching. They have oversight in material things involving the congregation. They should constantly serve as examples to other Christians. They exercise full authority, but often they do so by leading and example. Christians, in turn, should respect the elders.
Spending time looking at the qualifications and expectations God has for elders, it seems like a wonderful arrangement. We should give a lot of thought to whether we are willing and able to make it work.
Autonomous congregations work side by side, yet independently, with other congregations worldwide for the cause of the Lord. In each one, elders are to rule, deacons are to serve, evangelists are to preach, and teachers are to teach. It has been just this way since the apostles passed away, and so it remains today.
Baxter says we should think about the quality of leadership represented by the elders in a congregation--their knowledge of the Bible, their vision, their zeal and dedication. The role of elder is a great responsibility, and it is also a great honor, one that Baxter calls the greatest honor the church can bestow on a man.
The qualifications are found in 1 Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-9, and 1 Peter 5:1-4, and elders are mentioned in a number of other places regarding their roles, relationships, and duties. Not all groups who would be churches today teach heavily on these passages, probably because their concept of what these leaders are is not clear. They omit this teaching at their own peril, because elders are a major part of God's plan for sustaining the church. The qualifications can be placed in three groups: positive, negative, and special.
I gathered several translations for this lesson and wrote down the phrasing of each qualification in as many different ways as I could find. This should prove to be an interesting comparison, shedding more and more light on what is expected of elders.
Baxter says that the full import of the special qualifications is only for elders, but all the others are qualities that all Christians should have. Still, it is reasonable to expect that elders would exhibit these qualities more strongly than many other Christians.
Elders have general oversight of a LOCAL congregation. They should be bulwarks against false teaching. They have oversight in material things involving the congregation. They should constantly serve as examples to other Christians. They exercise full authority, but often they do so by leading and example. Christians, in turn, should respect the elders.
Spending time looking at the qualifications and expectations God has for elders, it seems like a wonderful arrangement. We should give a lot of thought to whether we are willing and able to make it work.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
The Government of the Church
The following comments apply to chapter 11 of Batsell Barrett Baxter's book, The Family of God. The chapter discusses how the church is governed.
This lesson revolves around the points that Christ is the head of the church, He rules through His inspired word in the Bible, local leaders alternately called elders, bishops, presbyters, overseers, or pastors operate under the guidance of Christ, and under their leadership deacons, evangelists, teachers (and other members) serve their functions.
Baxter starts by showing the distinction between the church worldwide and the local congregation. Both are at times referred to as "the church," but there are important differences made in scripture.
Every saved person is a member of the church worldwide, which can also be called the church universal. We are members throughout all time and throughout the whole world. It might be hard for us to understand this, but the church worldwide has no single headquarters, no "permanent worldwide organization" to administer all the local churches. Baxter comments that the only influence exerted is through teaching, not any worldwide machine to activate the church.
Whose idea was that? Remember, we study the Bible to discover how the church is governed. When we survey the New Testament, we find no central government, only an established pattern of leadership in each congregation. We will look at several verses that demonstrate this fact.
So, who is steering the whole thing? That is a legitimate question, and the answer is that Christ and His word are the final authority for the church. With no separate set of rules or separate ruler between Christ and the church, we have our only real opportunity to be what the church, and we as members, should be.
The Bible shows us that the local church does have a form of government. Each congregation is autonomous and exists side by side with other congregations, but independent of them. Some people cannot understand that, because they like big organizations that are controlled by a hierarchy from the top. Yet, the Bible sets forth autonomous congregations. It gives local leaders a great responsibility, but that is the way God planned it.
The beauty of this plan can be seen in the defense of the church against corruption. A centralized organization can be corrupted worldwide by central decision makers. We can point to some shifting doctrines in denominations that show this effect. With autonomous congregations, in the undesirable event that one is corrupted, others need not be.
Baxter points out that if this organization or form of government for the church had been respected through the centuries, a big, huge problem with division in the religious world would have been prevented, and millions more people would have found a way to be saved. You might have started reading this lesson wondering just how important the topic is. In light of these possibilities, it is hard to imagine how it could be any more important than it is.
This lesson revolves around the points that Christ is the head of the church, He rules through His inspired word in the Bible, local leaders alternately called elders, bishops, presbyters, overseers, or pastors operate under the guidance of Christ, and under their leadership deacons, evangelists, teachers (and other members) serve their functions.
Baxter starts by showing the distinction between the church worldwide and the local congregation. Both are at times referred to as "the church," but there are important differences made in scripture.
Every saved person is a member of the church worldwide, which can also be called the church universal. We are members throughout all time and throughout the whole world. It might be hard for us to understand this, but the church worldwide has no single headquarters, no "permanent worldwide organization" to administer all the local churches. Baxter comments that the only influence exerted is through teaching, not any worldwide machine to activate the church.
Whose idea was that? Remember, we study the Bible to discover how the church is governed. When we survey the New Testament, we find no central government, only an established pattern of leadership in each congregation. We will look at several verses that demonstrate this fact.
So, who is steering the whole thing? That is a legitimate question, and the answer is that Christ and His word are the final authority for the church. With no separate set of rules or separate ruler between Christ and the church, we have our only real opportunity to be what the church, and we as members, should be.
The Bible shows us that the local church does have a form of government. Each congregation is autonomous and exists side by side with other congregations, but independent of them. Some people cannot understand that, because they like big organizations that are controlled by a hierarchy from the top. Yet, the Bible sets forth autonomous congregations. It gives local leaders a great responsibility, but that is the way God planned it.
The beauty of this plan can be seen in the defense of the church against corruption. A centralized organization can be corrupted worldwide by central decision makers. We can point to some shifting doctrines in denominations that show this effect. With autonomous congregations, in the undesirable event that one is corrupted, others need not be.
Baxter points out that if this organization or form of government for the church had been respected through the centuries, a big, huge problem with division in the religious world would have been prevented, and millions more people would have found a way to be saved. You might have started reading this lesson wondering just how important the topic is. In light of these possibilities, it is hard to imagine how it could be any more important than it is.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
The Work of the Church - Benevolence
The following comments apply to chapter ten of Batsell Barrett Baxter's book, The Family of God. This chapter covers a third major portion of the work of the church, benevolence.
"Each day I'll do a golden deed by helping those who are in need. My life on earth is but a span, and so I'll do the best I can--the best I can." This is the first verse of an old hymn that someone just told me the other day was one of their favorites. The song book we use in our congregation has it included under the title, A Beautiful Life. I can't think of a better way to sum up the attitude this lesson attempts to create in us.
To understand the nature of benevolence, we really have to absorb the events of the life of Christ and try to resolve in our minds what He did in His ministry and why. He helped people, and there is just no getting around that. Our faith must include the way we respond to the needs of others. We not only want to share what we know and build up the church, but we want to help others.
Baxter includes in this lesson the story of the good Samaritan from Luke 10:25-35. Someone who was well versed in the law asked Jesus, technically speaking, who his neighbor was. Jesus told the story and then asked the man which of the potential helpers in the story proved to be a neighbor to the one in need. The obvious answer is the one who had mercy and helped him. At this point our Lord could have given a three point sermon on why that answer was correct, but instead He simply said to go and do likewise. The answer then presents a few questions for us. Who needs our help? Do we consider ourselves their neighbor?
Baxter mentions some other teachings but says that the message of Jesus in Matthew 25 about the time of judgment would be sufficient by itself to point the church and its members in a big way toward benevolence. The saved are welcomed into heaven because, having done good things for the least of those in need, they honored the Lord. The condemned are those who have chosen to abstain from such activity. This is very serious and requires us to search our souls to see where we stand.
Are we really a helper? Do we really share what we have? I remember going in on a lawn mower one time with a member of the church, after having read that the early church had all things in common. Even that took a toll on me, because my idea of lawn mower maintenance and his son's idea were two different things. I was frustrated by that, but I understood the circumstances. How much bigger do our hearts need to grow to actually have compassion on those in situations we cannot completely understand? More importantly, what is our role in their lives?
Baxter mentions a lot of needs people have and how we might be able to help. He points out that scripture does not spell out exactly what the method is. We have to use our best judgment. Helping those in need opens closed doors and can bring people to the Lord. It allows us to show that Jesus is our example of unselfish service. Many individual decisions must be made on this topic, but we must keep in mind the fact that benevolence is a major thrust of the work of the church.
"Each day I'll do a golden deed by helping those who are in need. My life on earth is but a span, and so I'll do the best I can--the best I can." This is the first verse of an old hymn that someone just told me the other day was one of their favorites. The song book we use in our congregation has it included under the title, A Beautiful Life. I can't think of a better way to sum up the attitude this lesson attempts to create in us.
To understand the nature of benevolence, we really have to absorb the events of the life of Christ and try to resolve in our minds what He did in His ministry and why. He helped people, and there is just no getting around that. Our faith must include the way we respond to the needs of others. We not only want to share what we know and build up the church, but we want to help others.
Baxter includes in this lesson the story of the good Samaritan from Luke 10:25-35. Someone who was well versed in the law asked Jesus, technically speaking, who his neighbor was. Jesus told the story and then asked the man which of the potential helpers in the story proved to be a neighbor to the one in need. The obvious answer is the one who had mercy and helped him. At this point our Lord could have given a three point sermon on why that answer was correct, but instead He simply said to go and do likewise. The answer then presents a few questions for us. Who needs our help? Do we consider ourselves their neighbor?
Baxter mentions some other teachings but says that the message of Jesus in Matthew 25 about the time of judgment would be sufficient by itself to point the church and its members in a big way toward benevolence. The saved are welcomed into heaven because, having done good things for the least of those in need, they honored the Lord. The condemned are those who have chosen to abstain from such activity. This is very serious and requires us to search our souls to see where we stand.
Are we really a helper? Do we really share what we have? I remember going in on a lawn mower one time with a member of the church, after having read that the early church had all things in common. Even that took a toll on me, because my idea of lawn mower maintenance and his son's idea were two different things. I was frustrated by that, but I understood the circumstances. How much bigger do our hearts need to grow to actually have compassion on those in situations we cannot completely understand? More importantly, what is our role in their lives?
Baxter mentions a lot of needs people have and how we might be able to help. He points out that scripture does not spell out exactly what the method is. We have to use our best judgment. Helping those in need opens closed doors and can bring people to the Lord. It allows us to show that Jesus is our example of unselfish service. Many individual decisions must be made on this topic, but we must keep in mind the fact that benevolence is a major thrust of the work of the church.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
The Work of the Church - Edification
The following thoughts accompany chapter 9 of Batsell Barrett Baxter's book, The Family of God, dealing with the second major task of the church, edification.
"Open my eyes to what You know, so I can stretch, so I can grow." Those are the words of a hymn that depicts the singer praying for the Lord to provide spiritual insight. Wouldn't it be great if people spent more of their time seeking that kind of thing? Another song says, "Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die." People who give themselves to the Lord come saying that they want to learn, grow, and develop spiritually. Then the question becomes, do they want to continue pursuing those things for the rest of their days?
What Baxter says in this chapter about the sheer mass of secular, non-spiritual activities tending to crowd out spiritual growth is extremely significant. The responsibility of the family of God is to counteract spiritual inertia, no matter what the reason for it, and to promote spiritual growth in the members. That, says Baxter, is the second of three major tasks of the church, the task of edification, known in scripture as equipping the saints.
There are numerous passages in the New Testament to show the desirability of growth and maturity, or to show the problems that come from not incorporating those qualities into one's character. The saying is taught, "If you are not growing, you are dying," and here we can see the truth in it. Followers of Jesus should be well acquainted with the parable of the sower, as found in Matthew 13 and Mark 4, because we are in it. Someone has sown the teachings of Christ into our hearts, and now the struggle is to bring those teachings to fruition. Daily cares, the illusions of life, and our own spiritual shallowness must be overcome so that the soul may prosper in God's sight.
What are the best tools to help us in t6his task of producing a bumper crop of spiritual fruit? Baxter suggests five things that the church should use.
Do you think your congregation is working in all these areas for the good of its members? Can you point to experiences of your own in all five areas? Maybe you can, and now you see them all as the means of your edification.
"Open my eyes to what You know, so I can stretch, so I can grow." Those are the words of a hymn that depicts the singer praying for the Lord to provide spiritual insight. Wouldn't it be great if people spent more of their time seeking that kind of thing? Another song says, "Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die." People who give themselves to the Lord come saying that they want to learn, grow, and develop spiritually. Then the question becomes, do they want to continue pursuing those things for the rest of their days?
What Baxter says in this chapter about the sheer mass of secular, non-spiritual activities tending to crowd out spiritual growth is extremely significant. The responsibility of the family of God is to counteract spiritual inertia, no matter what the reason for it, and to promote spiritual growth in the members. That, says Baxter, is the second of three major tasks of the church, the task of edification, known in scripture as equipping the saints.
There are numerous passages in the New Testament to show the desirability of growth and maturity, or to show the problems that come from not incorporating those qualities into one's character. The saying is taught, "If you are not growing, you are dying," and here we can see the truth in it. Followers of Jesus should be well acquainted with the parable of the sower, as found in Matthew 13 and Mark 4, because we are in it. Someone has sown the teachings of Christ into our hearts, and now the struggle is to bring those teachings to fruition. Daily cares, the illusions of life, and our own spiritual shallowness must be overcome so that the soul may prosper in God's sight.
What are the best tools to help us in t6his task of producing a bumper crop of spiritual fruit? Baxter suggests five things that the church should use.
- Elders - Hebrews 13:7 and 17 show that the leadership and spiritual-mindedness of elders is good for the members of a congregation. The general observation is correct that elders do what Christians should do, and committed Christians do as elders do in many ways. Therefore, elders help not only by being responsive to spiritual needs, but by upholding Christian principles.
- Worship - Where do we get worship from? We put it together from scriptural example, but we do it with a purpose, and that purpose is growth--edification. Congregational, small group, and personal private worship all play a part. Baxter correctly emphasizes that the significance of worship becomes apparent when we look back on our lives and take stock of our activities.
- Teaching - 2 Timothy 2:2 and Titus 2:1 describe the church very well. Baxter comments that Christianity is a teaching religion, and neglect results in serious problems.
- Association - When we think about how the apostles were able to propagate the church worldwide, all we have to do is look back to the time when they were in close association with Jesus and one another to see where their strength came from. We grow by association with our fellow church members, with Christians from other times, with Christ, and with God. Thus we avoid conformity with the world and are transformed by the renewing of our minds, as in Romans 12.
- Suffering - What? How did this get in here? Whatever kind of Christlike approach we can bring to times of suffering and sorrow helps greatly in allowing God to use our trials to refine our spirit, just as pure gold must be refined by fire. Discipline comes to us as God shapes our attitudes, and it comes as we properly apply those attitudes, even in the worst of circumstances. Hebrews 12 says that God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in His holiness. Suffering then becomes not so much a fate as a means to a glorious end with Christ in heaven.
Do you think your congregation is working in all these areas for the good of its members? Can you point to experiences of your own in all five areas? Maybe you can, and now you see them all as the means of your edification.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
The Work of the Church - Evangelism, Week 2
Christians the world over are excited about restoring the New Testament church, and our time spent searching the scriptures convinces us of many things we should do to keep alive the nature and purpose of the church. As we think about that, we need to ask ourselves what should be restored. The more we study and reflect on the Bible, the more definitive the list becomes, until we start to get an image of the church as it should be.
One remarkable characteristic of the early Christians is their urgency in taking the news of Christ to an uninformed world. We have discussed how they continued in this effort until the entire known world had been traversed by evangelistic church members holding out hope for a better, more meaningful life and a home in heaven with the Lord.
Ivan Stewart wrote a book in 1974 called Go Ye Means Go Me. In the preface he explains that he was in the Navy, stationed in Hawaii when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Badly shaken by the experience, he later turned to God for help and strength. He found himself leading Bible studies and worship services during his tour of duty. Thus began a lifetime of working with people to teach them the gospel.
In chapter one of the book, Stewart says the "great commission" in Matthew 28:18-20 is surely great, but it is really the New Testament commission, not just a message for the immediate hearers who surrounded Jesus on that day. Stewart says that, as we get busy restoring the church, the urgency of evangelism is something we should be restoring. Has it been restored? If not, what can be done to light the fire so it burns brightly again?
Stewart then takes his readers to 2 Corinthians 5, where we read about church members who say, "...knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men," because "...the love of Christ controls (constrains, compels) us." Stewart explains that the strong force referred to in this passage is not some oppressive sense of obligation but the kind of compelling love that causes a mother to charge into a burning building to save her baby--compelling, constraining, controlling love!
This week we are going to mention several ways for the church, and for us as members, to reach out to others. Stewart takes us to Paul's farewell to Ephesus, particularly Acts 20:20, to show that visiting people at home is a time-tested way of getting people interested in spiritual things. Lately we have compartmentalized it by calling it personal work, but I'm not sure there was much of a distinction in the early church. Paul simply says they declared the message, "...publicly and from house to house."
Stewart then gives a quick scan of New Testament verses to show the biblical concept that the urgency of the need to be on the Lord's side is the same as the urgency to help people get there. As we discuss our outreach and the different forms it can take, let's remember that urgency in these matters is a proven characteristic of Christians.
One remarkable characteristic of the early Christians is their urgency in taking the news of Christ to an uninformed world. We have discussed how they continued in this effort until the entire known world had been traversed by evangelistic church members holding out hope for a better, more meaningful life and a home in heaven with the Lord.
Ivan Stewart wrote a book in 1974 called Go Ye Means Go Me. In the preface he explains that he was in the Navy, stationed in Hawaii when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Badly shaken by the experience, he later turned to God for help and strength. He found himself leading Bible studies and worship services during his tour of duty. Thus began a lifetime of working with people to teach them the gospel.
In chapter one of the book, Stewart says the "great commission" in Matthew 28:18-20 is surely great, but it is really the New Testament commission, not just a message for the immediate hearers who surrounded Jesus on that day. Stewart says that, as we get busy restoring the church, the urgency of evangelism is something we should be restoring. Has it been restored? If not, what can be done to light the fire so it burns brightly again?
Stewart then takes his readers to 2 Corinthians 5, where we read about church members who say, "...knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men," because "...the love of Christ controls (constrains, compels) us." Stewart explains that the strong force referred to in this passage is not some oppressive sense of obligation but the kind of compelling love that causes a mother to charge into a burning building to save her baby--compelling, constraining, controlling love!
This week we are going to mention several ways for the church, and for us as members, to reach out to others. Stewart takes us to Paul's farewell to Ephesus, particularly Acts 20:20, to show that visiting people at home is a time-tested way of getting people interested in spiritual things. Lately we have compartmentalized it by calling it personal work, but I'm not sure there was much of a distinction in the early church. Paul simply says they declared the message, "...publicly and from house to house."
Stewart then gives a quick scan of New Testament verses to show the biblical concept that the urgency of the need to be on the Lord's side is the same as the urgency to help people get there. As we discuss our outreach and the different forms it can take, let's remember that urgency in these matters is a proven characteristic of Christians.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
The Work of the Church - Evangelism
These comments supplement chapter 8 of Batsell Barrett Baxter's book, The Family of God. Chapter 8 is the first of three chapters on the work of the church, this one covering evangelism.
What is evangelism? One definition says it is the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The Koine Greek root word meant something like "I bring a good message," or "the good bringing of a message." In Greek and Latin New Testaments this root word is used for our word, "gospel." In the church today, we can say it means carrying the gospel message to others or seeking to win souls to Christ.
What motivates Christians to practice evangelism? We have shown in our class discussion that Christ left His followers with this same mission and instructed them to teach others not only to become followers but also to become teachers. He said, "...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you," and He had just commanded them to go into all the world and preach the gospel. So begins the unending chain of self-perpetuation in the church.
The heroic efforts of the early church to evangelize the entire known world were neither accidental nor incidental. The early Christians acted with purpose in obedience to a concerted set of directives from the Lord Jesus Himself. It is important to see that their actions were not undertaken once and for all, like Christ's sacrifice on the cross, but over and over for every individual or group who would hear their teaching.
If we are looking for an example to follow in the story of the early church, study reveals to us that the Christians were entirely convinced that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Because of that, they adopted the lifelong pursuit of reaching the lost. Forgiveness of their own sins, rather than being the final conclusion of faith, was the beginning of true and happy service to the cause of Christ.
It is useful to acknowledge that not every group claiming to follow Christ today adopts the view that evangelism is important. Such a view gives outreach a different rational and takes away much of its biblical substance. In recognizing that unfortunate fact, we can face the task of evangelism and accept it as our task, the work of the church. Having that decision made is one of the first signs of true understanding of Christ's message and the mark of developing maturity in a Christian.
Baxter calls attention to 1 Timothy 3:14-15, in which Paul refers to the church as the pillar and ground or support and foundation of the truth. Here again not every one knows what we mean by "the truth," but let us just say it is the message from God to humanity, as given by Jesus and personified in Him as well. The church holds it up and holds it out to the world. This image of pillar and ground should make a deep impression on us all as followers of Jesus. What have we done, what can we do, what will we do to hold out the truth of God for others to receive? We know this from the New Testament: It involves activity, not just a state of mind.
Mid McKnight helped a lot of Christians learn how to teach the gospel to others in his lifetime. In his book, Journey to Eternity, he says that over the years the church has become to church-building-centered. He says, "When we rediscover personal evangelism, we will have uncovered the life-giving element of the church in the first century." Those of us who have been in the church for some time can think of many examples to show how much more joy there is in bringing others to the Lord, helping to save them, building up the body of Christ, and making good use of all we know about our Creator.
There is a list of examples of organized evangelistic efforts at the end of this chapter in Baxter's book, ranging from nationwide broadcasts to summer camps to bus ministries. It will be good for us to look at them all, maybe add some of our own ideas. We can talk about which ones we might want to work on, and which ones our congregation can most advantageously use. Any discussion of evangelism should be permeated with thoughts of what a great privilege it is to be the people who are entrusted with this magnificent task.
What is evangelism? One definition says it is the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The Koine Greek root word meant something like "I bring a good message," or "the good bringing of a message." In Greek and Latin New Testaments this root word is used for our word, "gospel." In the church today, we can say it means carrying the gospel message to others or seeking to win souls to Christ.
What motivates Christians to practice evangelism? We have shown in our class discussion that Christ left His followers with this same mission and instructed them to teach others not only to become followers but also to become teachers. He said, "...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you," and He had just commanded them to go into all the world and preach the gospel. So begins the unending chain of self-perpetuation in the church.
The heroic efforts of the early church to evangelize the entire known world were neither accidental nor incidental. The early Christians acted with purpose in obedience to a concerted set of directives from the Lord Jesus Himself. It is important to see that their actions were not undertaken once and for all, like Christ's sacrifice on the cross, but over and over for every individual or group who would hear their teaching.
If we are looking for an example to follow in the story of the early church, study reveals to us that the Christians were entirely convinced that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Because of that, they adopted the lifelong pursuit of reaching the lost. Forgiveness of their own sins, rather than being the final conclusion of faith, was the beginning of true and happy service to the cause of Christ.
It is useful to acknowledge that not every group claiming to follow Christ today adopts the view that evangelism is important. Such a view gives outreach a different rational and takes away much of its biblical substance. In recognizing that unfortunate fact, we can face the task of evangelism and accept it as our task, the work of the church. Having that decision made is one of the first signs of true understanding of Christ's message and the mark of developing maturity in a Christian.
Baxter calls attention to 1 Timothy 3:14-15, in which Paul refers to the church as the pillar and ground or support and foundation of the truth. Here again not every one knows what we mean by "the truth," but let us just say it is the message from God to humanity, as given by Jesus and personified in Him as well. The church holds it up and holds it out to the world. This image of pillar and ground should make a deep impression on us all as followers of Jesus. What have we done, what can we do, what will we do to hold out the truth of God for others to receive? We know this from the New Testament: It involves activity, not just a state of mind.
Mid McKnight helped a lot of Christians learn how to teach the gospel to others in his lifetime. In his book, Journey to Eternity, he says that over the years the church has become to church-building-centered. He says, "When we rediscover personal evangelism, we will have uncovered the life-giving element of the church in the first century." Those of us who have been in the church for some time can think of many examples to show how much more joy there is in bringing others to the Lord, helping to save them, building up the body of Christ, and making good use of all we know about our Creator.
There is a list of examples of organized evangelistic efforts at the end of this chapter in Baxter's book, ranging from nationwide broadcasts to summer camps to bus ministries. It will be good for us to look at them all, maybe add some of our own ideas. We can talk about which ones we might want to work on, and which ones our congregation can most advantageously use. Any discussion of evangelism should be permeated with thoughts of what a great privilege it is to be the people who are entrusted with this magnificent task.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
The Work of the Church
The following thoughts serve as an introduction to chapters 8, 9, and 10 of Batsell Barrett Baxter's book, The Family of God. These chapters describe the work of the church.
Over the next four sessions of this class we will be talking about what the Lord's church is supposed to actually do on a day-to-day basis. What are the tasks we have before us? How do we know what they are? What guidelines do we have for carrying out what God wants us to do?
If you have been keeping up with the book or these posts from the start, you know that we will be looking into God's word to find the answers to our questions about what the church should do. The first line of a hymn says, "There is much to do, there's work on every hand." The more we study, the more specific and purposeful our vision for the work of the church becomes. I have seen that happen in church members and leaders that I can call to mind right now, and that gives me great encouragement.
The three areas we will cover are evangelism, edification, and benevolence. All are excellent uses of our time and effort for the Lord. Churches that thrive are covering all of these bases, not just one. Every church has and is a ministry, and the ministry needs to be a balance of everything Christians should do.
We have recently discussed how members of the church are like parts of a body, and all are needed to make the body whole. I think we will see that one beautiful way God blesses the church is with people who have different skills and talents, to balance out the ministry and broaden its reach into all these areas of service.
At the same time every Christian naturally is looking for something to do in grateful response to salvation, as we just recently discussed. In that search, every Christian is accountable for a willing response to God in all areas of the ministry.
Church leaders should look at the balance of activity and see if the local congregation is functioning well. If one aspect of the work of the church is lacking, it is easy to find out how to get back on track through individual and group study. In some cases it might not be quite as easy to actually do what we learn about, but in the larger sense it is not a problem, because our motivation is pure. Again adapting a hymn verse, "Our Shepherd is beside us, and nothing can we lack!"
Over the next four sessions of this class we will be talking about what the Lord's church is supposed to actually do on a day-to-day basis. What are the tasks we have before us? How do we know what they are? What guidelines do we have for carrying out what God wants us to do?
If you have been keeping up with the book or these posts from the start, you know that we will be looking into God's word to find the answers to our questions about what the church should do. The first line of a hymn says, "There is much to do, there's work on every hand." The more we study, the more specific and purposeful our vision for the work of the church becomes. I have seen that happen in church members and leaders that I can call to mind right now, and that gives me great encouragement.
The three areas we will cover are evangelism, edification, and benevolence. All are excellent uses of our time and effort for the Lord. Churches that thrive are covering all of these bases, not just one. Every church has and is a ministry, and the ministry needs to be a balance of everything Christians should do.
We have recently discussed how members of the church are like parts of a body, and all are needed to make the body whole. I think we will see that one beautiful way God blesses the church is with people who have different skills and talents, to balance out the ministry and broaden its reach into all these areas of service.
At the same time every Christian naturally is looking for something to do in grateful response to salvation, as we just recently discussed. In that search, every Christian is accountable for a willing response to God in all areas of the ministry.
Church leaders should look at the balance of activity and see if the local congregation is functioning well. If one aspect of the work of the church is lacking, it is easy to find out how to get back on track through individual and group study. In some cases it might not be quite as easy to actually do what we learn about, but in the larger sense it is not a problem, because our motivation is pure. Again adapting a hymn verse, "Our Shepherd is beside us, and nothing can we lack!"
Friday, May 21, 2010
Thanks to My Visitors!
I would like to send out special thanks to those of you from around the world who have visited this site. I pray that the lessons will be of use to you, and that you will be able to get Dr. Baxter's book, if this makes you want a copy. With new methods of publishing on demand, the book will not go out of print. I noticed that the ink in my copy was somewhat shiny, so I looked on the last page and saw that it was printed in LaVergne, Tennessee on March 8, 2010. That means it almost certainly came from the Lightning Source division of Ingram Books. I've toured their plant, and they can literally get an order in the morning and have it on a pallette ready to ship to vendors that afternoon. So, even though some vendors might be temporarily out of stock, there will not be any shortage of The Family of God. That's good news!
Salvation
The following text includes my thoughts on Chapter 7 of Batsell Barrett Baxter's book, The Family of God.
Salvation is redemption. God has bought our freedom from sin with the life of His dear Son. It is justification, an acquittal from paying the penalty for sin. It is reconciliation, in which we are restored to a loving family relationship with God.
Romans 5:11 paints a picture of a redeemed soul, reconciled to God and rejoicing over it. People love this snapshot image of a Christian, and why not! It is uplifting, encouraging, and immediately positive. It should be noted, and will be proven in this lesson, that the rejoicing comes after one responds in faith to God's grace and enters into the relationship with God that can be described as reconciliation or salvation. How can we get there? Read on.
The story is told about a soldier who learned just a little karate and killed himself while trying to give a salute. In a similar way, casual students and even some skeptical scholars of the New Testament might come to an incorrect conclusion that James 2:14-26 means something just the opposite of Ephesians 2:8-9. To get a better perspective, the first thing we can do is include all of Ephesians 2:4-10 in that comparison.
Then God's message becomes apparent: We are saved (1) by grace, (2) through faith, (3) for the actions or deeds of faith known as good works. If we have faith, it will show up in our deeds. If it does not, we must ask ourselves if it is real, because God's grace cannot be accepted by a person whose faith does not exist or cannot be evidenced as real. Voila! The two passages are truly in harmony, and not just because your teacher says so.
Baxter mentions the difficulty we have accepting grace as God's free gift. We want so badly to rack up a good score, so that we can "make the cut" and earn a spot in God's kingdom. More study reveals that good works will never accomplish that. Good works are the evidence of our gratitude for God's grace, which is unearned and undeserved. That is because there is none good but God alone, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and if we say we have no sin, we are not telling the truth. All this is in Romans 3 and 1 John 1.
Not only the New Testament but Jesus Himself says that not everyone will be saved, but only those who do the will of God. So, there is a will of God, and we would do well to find out what it is. That path to salvation is even called the narrow way. How can that be, if grace is God's free gift? Because we must actively accept God's grace in faith. Jesus discusses the matter in Matthew 7:21 and 24-27, and His words pack quite a punch. How can we ignore His teaching and reduce our faith response to a simple mental assent? We cannot.
Faith is an active acceptance, not a passive assent. Baxter says that grace is like fresh air, and God provides both freely to all. We can't get fresh air unless we actually breathe, even though it is freely available. We don't earn air by breathing, but we must breathe to live. What a thought-provoking analogy!
If you have heard most of this material before, you can still learn something by paying special attention to what Baxter observes about the timing of grace. It is not something that will be handed out at judgment. It is here now, and it came in the form of Jesus Christ. Going back to our thoughts on rejoicing, we can rejoice for someone that Christ came and made the sacrifice for us, but rejoicing for our own reconciliation to God can only come after the relationship becomes real and evident.
At this point you might be thinking the same thing as the people in Acts 2, when they asked, "...what shall we do?" How do we go from talking the empty talk to walking the saving walk? In a word, obedience. We do what the Bible says people must do to be saved. We don't spend our time trying to prove that we are saved by doing nothing. Remember, this is the Bible itself we are looking at, not some creed book.
Adding up all the examples of conversion \ aka becoming a Christian \ aka "putting on Christ" in the New Testament, we can see that listening to the gospel message and believing it are the places where it all starts. In our breathing analogy, we have already taken two significant breaths at this point. Life changing or repentance from sin is then mentioned, and it is not merely suggested but commanded in the Bible. Speaking and showing (aka confessing) your belief that Jesus is the Son of God, a fact which was hotly debated during the formation of the church, is most certainly included, and you would not want to skip over it and then read Romans 10:8-10, which would apply to you as a Christian. Finally, in every single example of putting on Christ, without exception, there is baptism by immersion in water for the forgiveness of sins.
Some people can see that baptism is clearly part of becoming a Christian. Others might ask why the Bible says that it works that way. 1 Peter 3:21 probably sheds more light than any other single verse on this question. Bible teachers may come and go, but God's will undeniably remains, and the obedient faith response that brings salvation is crystal clear in the examples of putting on Christ in God's word. Even if we spend months debating how immersion in water works for the forgiveness of our sins, we still find it there, and we must yield to the authority of inspiration. Then comes the rejoicing and a life of grateful service.
Salvation is redemption. God has bought our freedom from sin with the life of His dear Son. It is justification, an acquittal from paying the penalty for sin. It is reconciliation, in which we are restored to a loving family relationship with God.
Romans 5:11 paints a picture of a redeemed soul, reconciled to God and rejoicing over it. People love this snapshot image of a Christian, and why not! It is uplifting, encouraging, and immediately positive. It should be noted, and will be proven in this lesson, that the rejoicing comes after one responds in faith to God's grace and enters into the relationship with God that can be described as reconciliation or salvation. How can we get there? Read on.
The story is told about a soldier who learned just a little karate and killed himself while trying to give a salute. In a similar way, casual students and even some skeptical scholars of the New Testament might come to an incorrect conclusion that James 2:14-26 means something just the opposite of Ephesians 2:8-9. To get a better perspective, the first thing we can do is include all of Ephesians 2:4-10 in that comparison.
Then God's message becomes apparent: We are saved (1) by grace, (2) through faith, (3) for the actions or deeds of faith known as good works. If we have faith, it will show up in our deeds. If it does not, we must ask ourselves if it is real, because God's grace cannot be accepted by a person whose faith does not exist or cannot be evidenced as real. Voila! The two passages are truly in harmony, and not just because your teacher says so.
Baxter mentions the difficulty we have accepting grace as God's free gift. We want so badly to rack up a good score, so that we can "make the cut" and earn a spot in God's kingdom. More study reveals that good works will never accomplish that. Good works are the evidence of our gratitude for God's grace, which is unearned and undeserved. That is because there is none good but God alone, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and if we say we have no sin, we are not telling the truth. All this is in Romans 3 and 1 John 1.
Not only the New Testament but Jesus Himself says that not everyone will be saved, but only those who do the will of God. So, there is a will of God, and we would do well to find out what it is. That path to salvation is even called the narrow way. How can that be, if grace is God's free gift? Because we must actively accept God's grace in faith. Jesus discusses the matter in Matthew 7:21 and 24-27, and His words pack quite a punch. How can we ignore His teaching and reduce our faith response to a simple mental assent? We cannot.
Faith is an active acceptance, not a passive assent. Baxter says that grace is like fresh air, and God provides both freely to all. We can't get fresh air unless we actually breathe, even though it is freely available. We don't earn air by breathing, but we must breathe to live. What a thought-provoking analogy!
If you have heard most of this material before, you can still learn something by paying special attention to what Baxter observes about the timing of grace. It is not something that will be handed out at judgment. It is here now, and it came in the form of Jesus Christ. Going back to our thoughts on rejoicing, we can rejoice for someone that Christ came and made the sacrifice for us, but rejoicing for our own reconciliation to God can only come after the relationship becomes real and evident.
At this point you might be thinking the same thing as the people in Acts 2, when they asked, "...what shall we do?" How do we go from talking the empty talk to walking the saving walk? In a word, obedience. We do what the Bible says people must do to be saved. We don't spend our time trying to prove that we are saved by doing nothing. Remember, this is the Bible itself we are looking at, not some creed book.
Adding up all the examples of conversion \ aka becoming a Christian \ aka "putting on Christ" in the New Testament, we can see that listening to the gospel message and believing it are the places where it all starts. In our breathing analogy, we have already taken two significant breaths at this point. Life changing or repentance from sin is then mentioned, and it is not merely suggested but commanded in the Bible. Speaking and showing (aka confessing) your belief that Jesus is the Son of God, a fact which was hotly debated during the formation of the church, is most certainly included, and you would not want to skip over it and then read Romans 10:8-10, which would apply to you as a Christian. Finally, in every single example of putting on Christ, without exception, there is baptism by immersion in water for the forgiveness of sins.
Some people can see that baptism is clearly part of becoming a Christian. Others might ask why the Bible says that it works that way. 1 Peter 3:21 probably sheds more light than any other single verse on this question. Bible teachers may come and go, but God's will undeniably remains, and the obedient faith response that brings salvation is crystal clear in the examples of putting on Christ in God's word. Even if we spend months debating how immersion in water works for the forgiveness of our sins, we still find it there, and we must yield to the authority of inspiration. Then comes the rejoicing and a life of grateful service.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Authority in Religion
The following comments are observations on chapter six of Batsell Barrett Baxter's book, The Family of God.
Have you ever met someone who seemed to be afraid of the church or the Bible? It is hard for us within the church to understand, but it is quite common. The Bible has the power of God within its pages, so it needs to be used properly if we want to really help people and provide them with the benefits of knowing their Creator.
Hebrews 4 says it is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword. 2 Timothy 2:15 says we should be diligent to handle it accurately, and we can see that is because of its power. If we saw a three-year-old child walking through a crowd with a nuclear fusion device, we might be apprehensive. To say that it has the power to change lives is an understatement. So it is with God's word.
This chapter introduces the need for seeking God's authority in the Bible for whatever we do with it. We could substitute the word "permission," but it is really more than just permission. It is permission combined with encouragement, assignment, enabling, strengthening, and convincing. To me the word authority embodies all these concepts, pointing us in a certain direction. It is God's guidance, and anyone who prays for His guidance should be looking in His word to see what He authorizes.
Baxter compares authority to a job description. He shows how Jesus demonstrated in at least four ways that His authority came from God the Father. So, can we go back to the question in Matthew 21:23 and give a substantial response when asked by what authority we do what we do in the church? I think we must start from the position that we cannot simply claim it. We've seen many people do that and go down in flames.
We must search the scriptures like the Bereans in Acts 17:11 to find out what authority we have as Christians. In that environment practices and doctrines would not all be equal. Some things would be authorized and some would not. We could trust each other to help us in our walk with God, to the extent that we would search for authority and do only what God truly does authorize.
Baxter looks at three places where most people search for authority in religion. They become the source of authority in the groups that rely on them. The first is the church itself, then people's ideas, and finally the Bible. If you have read this far, maybe you can already pick the best choice.
Authority of the church emphasizes church leadership as the final authority that trumps all other. Hierarchy is important, along with traditions and creeds. A leadership group might meet and vote on a change in practice, but as Baxter points out, they are not able to change God's will.
The authority of people's ideas comes through feelings and constructed lines of reasoning, which Baxter calls a "creature of education," not in the positive sense, but in the sense that shows potential weakness and bias. Back when the apostle Paul was known as Saul of Tarsus, he wreaked havoc on the Lord's church, in all good conscience (Acts 23:1) against Jesus (Acts 26:9-10). Feelings, opinions, humanism, and philosophical modernism certainly have a seductive power, but their limited value in arriving at objective truth makes them extremely fallible.
The authority of God is what we really need, and the place to find it is in the Bible. We in the church must stand down and submit to God's authority before asking people to trust us in teaching them. Even the apostles were given the message they would speak (Matthew 10:19-20).
When studying the Bible, we should pay attention to how it teaches us what to do. A two-dollar name for that is hermeneutics. Many, many people give no attention to that question or rely on a do-it-yourself approach or hermeneutic, so they cannot receive instruction when studying. Are there any specific directions (direct commands) for Christians? Which apostolic examples apply to the whole church and should be followed? Also, what elements or practices are necessarily inferred by the text of the New Testament? The wise application of these questions pulls us out of the doctrinal mire of a confused world and safely onto solid ground under God's authority.
Have you ever met someone who seemed to be afraid of the church or the Bible? It is hard for us within the church to understand, but it is quite common. The Bible has the power of God within its pages, so it needs to be used properly if we want to really help people and provide them with the benefits of knowing their Creator.
Hebrews 4 says it is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword. 2 Timothy 2:15 says we should be diligent to handle it accurately, and we can see that is because of its power. If we saw a three-year-old child walking through a crowd with a nuclear fusion device, we might be apprehensive. To say that it has the power to change lives is an understatement. So it is with God's word.
This chapter introduces the need for seeking God's authority in the Bible for whatever we do with it. We could substitute the word "permission," but it is really more than just permission. It is permission combined with encouragement, assignment, enabling, strengthening, and convincing. To me the word authority embodies all these concepts, pointing us in a certain direction. It is God's guidance, and anyone who prays for His guidance should be looking in His word to see what He authorizes.
Baxter compares authority to a job description. He shows how Jesus demonstrated in at least four ways that His authority came from God the Father. So, can we go back to the question in Matthew 21:23 and give a substantial response when asked by what authority we do what we do in the church? I think we must start from the position that we cannot simply claim it. We've seen many people do that and go down in flames.
We must search the scriptures like the Bereans in Acts 17:11 to find out what authority we have as Christians. In that environment practices and doctrines would not all be equal. Some things would be authorized and some would not. We could trust each other to help us in our walk with God, to the extent that we would search for authority and do only what God truly does authorize.
Baxter looks at three places where most people search for authority in religion. They become the source of authority in the groups that rely on them. The first is the church itself, then people's ideas, and finally the Bible. If you have read this far, maybe you can already pick the best choice.
Authority of the church emphasizes church leadership as the final authority that trumps all other. Hierarchy is important, along with traditions and creeds. A leadership group might meet and vote on a change in practice, but as Baxter points out, they are not able to change God's will.
The authority of people's ideas comes through feelings and constructed lines of reasoning, which Baxter calls a "creature of education," not in the positive sense, but in the sense that shows potential weakness and bias. Back when the apostle Paul was known as Saul of Tarsus, he wreaked havoc on the Lord's church, in all good conscience (Acts 23:1) against Jesus (Acts 26:9-10). Feelings, opinions, humanism, and philosophical modernism certainly have a seductive power, but their limited value in arriving at objective truth makes them extremely fallible.
The authority of God is what we really need, and the place to find it is in the Bible. We in the church must stand down and submit to God's authority before asking people to trust us in teaching them. Even the apostles were given the message they would speak (Matthew 10:19-20).
When studying the Bible, we should pay attention to how it teaches us what to do. A two-dollar name for that is hermeneutics. Many, many people give no attention to that question or rely on a do-it-yourself approach or hermeneutic, so they cannot receive instruction when studying. Are there any specific directions (direct commands) for Christians? Which apostolic examples apply to the whole church and should be followed? Also, what elements or practices are necessarily inferred by the text of the New Testament? The wise application of these questions pulls us out of the doctrinal mire of a confused world and safely onto solid ground under God's authority.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
What's in a Name?
The following comments refer to chapter five in Batsell Barrett Baxter's book, The Family of God. In this chapter are some thoughts on what makes a good name for the church and why. This study is a great help in learning about the church. Most people come in with the idea that names are like opinions--everybody has one, and in the long run there is not much difference among them. Let's take a closer look and then decide.
Whether it's in a class like ours, in which we try to define the church, or just a general lesson on why we do some of the things we do, the topic of what name we use comes up every few years. The discussion often starts on the premise that the exact name doesn't matter, but it's who we are that matters. It eventually concludes with someone saying the name does matter and should never be changed. Classes like that can reveal some truth, but usually people are more confused afterward than when they started. Now we have an opportunity to lift ourselves above all that.
Let's explore the question, "Can a name provide the intended unity to the church?" This line of thinking sends us on a search through the New Testament for a name that stands above any other to represent the hope we have and the way we should approach God. What is the source of our hope? That narrows things down quite a bit. If you found yourself in the presence of God, what name would you utter to show whether you were friend or foe? Your own name? No, that even brings to mind the hymn phrase, "my worthless name." The Koine Greek word for church, ekklesia, might work, but that is just a practical designation, used to show that the church was not just any cluster of people. Pulling a name out of thin air would not do the job, and we need to keep that in mind as we search.
In Matthew 16 Jesus told Peter that, on the rock of his statement of faith, "...I will build my church." Then, as He went through the gruesome work of providing the very foundation for the church, Jesus prayed for its unity, as shown in John 17:20-21. Baxter makes two really good points here. First, Jesus prayed for as much unity in the church as He had with God the Father. What a staggering thought! How can we achieve that? Next, He asked for that unity so that the world would believe that God sent Jesus to save us. Check it out--it's in John 17. Baxter comments that, if we settle for division in Christianity, the price we pay for that is an unbelieving world. Take a look around and see if you agree.
Names can be divisive or unifying, based on the scope of what is referred to in the name. Looking at Baxter's examples of divisive names, we are motivated to avoid any name that would jeopardize fellowship across all of the Lord's church throughout the world.
Back to the search, we see that Peter asked the potential respondents to the first gospel sermon at the beginning of the church to repent and be baptized, every one of them, "...in the name of Jesus Christ..." Then, in Acts 4, Peter explains a miraculous healing as, "in the name of Jesus Christ... And in none other is there salvation..." Evidently Peter was convinced of whose name he would hold up before God as well as other people. Jesus Christ is the foundation and the key unifying force among Christ-ians, who were first called Christians at Antioch in the first century, according to Acts 11:26.
There are several terms used for the church in the New Testament, and among them are church of the Lord, body of Christ, and churches of Christ. These names also do what Peter would do, because they hold up the name of Christ. Even with these slightly different alternating terms, there was no serious division in the church until the years began to roll on and separate doctrines, leaders, and causes led to the use of divisive names that ripped the Lord's church into hundreds of self-exiled, isolated groups. If we see the church as the body of Christ and Jesus Himself as the head, we must ask why any part of the body would separate itself from the head in this way.
Baxter shows that even the leaders of some prominent divisions in Christianity pleaded with others of their time not to substitute their names or the names given to their modified doctrines for the "name which is above every name," as we read in Philippians 2:9-10. Bam! Please go and read that.
Paul writes by the inspiration of God in Colossians 3:17 that we should do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. In that light we can see how much less effective it would be to use the name of a doctrine, an ordinary person, or an arrangement of church government as the name of the church. That is enough to convince me that it does matter what's in a name for the church. The name of Christ is the obvious choice. Maybe next time we discuss this topic, we can start and finish on that level. I plan to keep this lesson in my heart as long as I have any teaching to do.
Whether it's in a class like ours, in which we try to define the church, or just a general lesson on why we do some of the things we do, the topic of what name we use comes up every few years. The discussion often starts on the premise that the exact name doesn't matter, but it's who we are that matters. It eventually concludes with someone saying the name does matter and should never be changed. Classes like that can reveal some truth, but usually people are more confused afterward than when they started. Now we have an opportunity to lift ourselves above all that.
Let's explore the question, "Can a name provide the intended unity to the church?" This line of thinking sends us on a search through the New Testament for a name that stands above any other to represent the hope we have and the way we should approach God. What is the source of our hope? That narrows things down quite a bit. If you found yourself in the presence of God, what name would you utter to show whether you were friend or foe? Your own name? No, that even brings to mind the hymn phrase, "my worthless name." The Koine Greek word for church, ekklesia, might work, but that is just a practical designation, used to show that the church was not just any cluster of people. Pulling a name out of thin air would not do the job, and we need to keep that in mind as we search.
In Matthew 16 Jesus told Peter that, on the rock of his statement of faith, "...I will build my church." Then, as He went through the gruesome work of providing the very foundation for the church, Jesus prayed for its unity, as shown in John 17:20-21. Baxter makes two really good points here. First, Jesus prayed for as much unity in the church as He had with God the Father. What a staggering thought! How can we achieve that? Next, He asked for that unity so that the world would believe that God sent Jesus to save us. Check it out--it's in John 17. Baxter comments that, if we settle for division in Christianity, the price we pay for that is an unbelieving world. Take a look around and see if you agree.
Names can be divisive or unifying, based on the scope of what is referred to in the name. Looking at Baxter's examples of divisive names, we are motivated to avoid any name that would jeopardize fellowship across all of the Lord's church throughout the world.
Back to the search, we see that Peter asked the potential respondents to the first gospel sermon at the beginning of the church to repent and be baptized, every one of them, "...in the name of Jesus Christ..." Then, in Acts 4, Peter explains a miraculous healing as, "in the name of Jesus Christ... And in none other is there salvation..." Evidently Peter was convinced of whose name he would hold up before God as well as other people. Jesus Christ is the foundation and the key unifying force among Christ-ians, who were first called Christians at Antioch in the first century, according to Acts 11:26.
There are several terms used for the church in the New Testament, and among them are church of the Lord, body of Christ, and churches of Christ. These names also do what Peter would do, because they hold up the name of Christ. Even with these slightly different alternating terms, there was no serious division in the church until the years began to roll on and separate doctrines, leaders, and causes led to the use of divisive names that ripped the Lord's church into hundreds of self-exiled, isolated groups. If we see the church as the body of Christ and Jesus Himself as the head, we must ask why any part of the body would separate itself from the head in this way.
Baxter shows that even the leaders of some prominent divisions in Christianity pleaded with others of their time not to substitute their names or the names given to their modified doctrines for the "name which is above every name," as we read in Philippians 2:9-10. Bam! Please go and read that.
Paul writes by the inspiration of God in Colossians 3:17 that we should do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. In that light we can see how much less effective it would be to use the name of a doctrine, an ordinary person, or an arrangement of church government as the name of the church. That is enough to convince me that it does matter what's in a name for the church. The name of Christ is the obvious choice. Maybe next time we discuss this topic, we can start and finish on that level. I plan to keep this lesson in my heart as long as I have any teaching to do.
Monday, May 3, 2010
The Beginning of the Church
This entry covers chapter four of Batsell Barrett Baxter's book, The Family of God. In this chapter, we consider the question, "When did the church of Christ begin?"
Some people accustomed to thinking of Christianity in terms of denominations might ask, "When did your denomination begin," or, "When did your church begin? Here's when ours began..." An in-depth understanding of the church as described in the Bible shows that, stated this way, the question does not really apply. The church is one worldwide, as shown in Ephesians 4:4-6. It is made up of autonomous congregations that are also called churches, but it is never defined in the Bible as being divided into groups like denominations. The inspired New Testament writer, Paul, taught the church not to divide in such a way, in 1 Corinthians 1-3.
I believe it was the Encyclopedia of American Religions by J. Gordon Melton that included a top-ten list of the most significant events in American religious history. In the doctrinally competitive environment of frontier America in 1801, a revival known as the Cane Ridge meeting, led by Barton Stone, became one of those significant events.
Stone told the attendees that being part of the Lord's church meant that they must lay down their doctrinal differences and be of one mind on the essential issues that would affect their standing before the Lord, or if you will, their salvation. On minor, non-essential things they should tolerate opinions. Both of these biblical directives, if practiced, allow much greater unity. The sad thing about it is that the biblical message was astonishingly fresh and untried by that time.
This meeting was a pivotal event that began a return to the use of the Bible to define Christianity rather than using creed books with their individual biases and doctrinal weaknesses. So, was it the beginning of yet another denomination, or was it a return to the truth? The churches of Christ maintain that it represented the restoration of true, New Testament Christianity, the kind that Paul was trying to save from the ravages of division. The restoration movement is an attempt to unify all Christians on solely biblical terms, to return the church to what it should be, not to create a new church, denomination, or sect.
If you re able to grasp this concept of the body of Christ, you can see what strength it has--the sheer, awesome power of the almighty God living in His church, as opposed to some person in the 1800's who might have given an inspiring speech. No one who has embraced this concept thinks or teaches that any recent date marked the beginning of the church that Jesus established. Let's look at when it did start.
Baxter notes that references to the church in the Old Testament were made in prophecy and described as being in the future. For example, Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream told of a kingdom that would outlast all the earthly kingdoms represented by the multi-layered statue in Daniel 2 and never be destroyed.
During the life and ministry of Jesus, the church, also referred to as the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven, is seen as being in the near future. Jesus appropriately taught his followers to pray to God, "...Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done..." He told them in Mark 9:1 that a number of them would be around to see it established. As the New Testament moves ahead in time beyond the four gospels, the church is referred to as being already established and in existence.
We find its beginnings in Acts 2 and the events that occurred on the Pentecost, after Jesus had been crucified, buried, raised, and seen again among His followers. Acts 2 also happened after Jesus had instructed them how to spread the word, then ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God. Described in Galatians 4:4 as "the fullness of time," this period was the perfect place in history for Christ to save humanity and pave the way for all of us to be reconciled to God.
Jesus had said in Matthew 16:18, after Peter's heartfelt statement of faith, that He would (in the immediate future) build His church. He told Peter and the disciples, who would become apostles, that He would give them the keys of the kingdom, meaning that it was their responsibility to explain to people how to get inside God's family. They later took advantage of a perfect opportunity to do that, and Peter himself stood up in Acts 2 and gave the first gospel sermon ever recorded. It was entirely guided and accompanied by the Holy Spirit, as is plainly shown in Acts 1 and 2.
Peter asked people to change their ways (repent) and allow themselves to be immersed in water (be baptized) for the forgiveness of their sins. Today I feel we as a society have lost much of the humility and willingness to obey that was present in the crowd that day. Imagine 3,000 adults, presumably of sound mind, willing to leave behind their familiar lives and make a radical new commitment to Christ.
If we turn to the Bible to find the beginning of the church, the phenomenal events of Acts 2 form the starting place. It could not have started before Jesus died on the cross, as He demonstrated by remaining under the Law of Moses His whole life. He had not yet paid the price for the sin of humankind. Likewise, the church could not have started after the rest of the New Testament was written, because most of the New Testament is about the church.
A big part of the reason we have such a great hope in Christ is because we don't depend on any recently devised doctrinal position, but instead draw strength, encouragement, and unity in knowing when the church actually began.
Sometimes it takes many years for someone to appreciate the sense of greatness that pervades the church. Knowing when and how it started increases the overwhelming sense of security surrounding the house that is built on the Rock of ages. I want to live there!
Some people accustomed to thinking of Christianity in terms of denominations might ask, "When did your denomination begin," or, "When did your church begin? Here's when ours began..." An in-depth understanding of the church as described in the Bible shows that, stated this way, the question does not really apply. The church is one worldwide, as shown in Ephesians 4:4-6. It is made up of autonomous congregations that are also called churches, but it is never defined in the Bible as being divided into groups like denominations. The inspired New Testament writer, Paul, taught the church not to divide in such a way, in 1 Corinthians 1-3.
I believe it was the Encyclopedia of American Religions by J. Gordon Melton that included a top-ten list of the most significant events in American religious history. In the doctrinally competitive environment of frontier America in 1801, a revival known as the Cane Ridge meeting, led by Barton Stone, became one of those significant events.
Stone told the attendees that being part of the Lord's church meant that they must lay down their doctrinal differences and be of one mind on the essential issues that would affect their standing before the Lord, or if you will, their salvation. On minor, non-essential things they should tolerate opinions. Both of these biblical directives, if practiced, allow much greater unity. The sad thing about it is that the biblical message was astonishingly fresh and untried by that time.
This meeting was a pivotal event that began a return to the use of the Bible to define Christianity rather than using creed books with their individual biases and doctrinal weaknesses. So, was it the beginning of yet another denomination, or was it a return to the truth? The churches of Christ maintain that it represented the restoration of true, New Testament Christianity, the kind that Paul was trying to save from the ravages of division. The restoration movement is an attempt to unify all Christians on solely biblical terms, to return the church to what it should be, not to create a new church, denomination, or sect.
If you re able to grasp this concept of the body of Christ, you can see what strength it has--the sheer, awesome power of the almighty God living in His church, as opposed to some person in the 1800's who might have given an inspiring speech. No one who has embraced this concept thinks or teaches that any recent date marked the beginning of the church that Jesus established. Let's look at when it did start.
Baxter notes that references to the church in the Old Testament were made in prophecy and described as being in the future. For example, Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream told of a kingdom that would outlast all the earthly kingdoms represented by the multi-layered statue in Daniel 2 and never be destroyed.
During the life and ministry of Jesus, the church, also referred to as the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven, is seen as being in the near future. Jesus appropriately taught his followers to pray to God, "...Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done..." He told them in Mark 9:1 that a number of them would be around to see it established. As the New Testament moves ahead in time beyond the four gospels, the church is referred to as being already established and in existence.
We find its beginnings in Acts 2 and the events that occurred on the Pentecost, after Jesus had been crucified, buried, raised, and seen again among His followers. Acts 2 also happened after Jesus had instructed them how to spread the word, then ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God. Described in Galatians 4:4 as "the fullness of time," this period was the perfect place in history for Christ to save humanity and pave the way for all of us to be reconciled to God.
Jesus had said in Matthew 16:18, after Peter's heartfelt statement of faith, that He would (in the immediate future) build His church. He told Peter and the disciples, who would become apostles, that He would give them the keys of the kingdom, meaning that it was their responsibility to explain to people how to get inside God's family. They later took advantage of a perfect opportunity to do that, and Peter himself stood up in Acts 2 and gave the first gospel sermon ever recorded. It was entirely guided and accompanied by the Holy Spirit, as is plainly shown in Acts 1 and 2.
Peter asked people to change their ways (repent) and allow themselves to be immersed in water (be baptized) for the forgiveness of their sins. Today I feel we as a society have lost much of the humility and willingness to obey that was present in the crowd that day. Imagine 3,000 adults, presumably of sound mind, willing to leave behind their familiar lives and make a radical new commitment to Christ.
If we turn to the Bible to find the beginning of the church, the phenomenal events of Acts 2 form the starting place. It could not have started before Jesus died on the cross, as He demonstrated by remaining under the Law of Moses His whole life. He had not yet paid the price for the sin of humankind. Likewise, the church could not have started after the rest of the New Testament was written, because most of the New Testament is about the church.
A big part of the reason we have such a great hope in Christ is because we don't depend on any recently devised doctrinal position, but instead draw strength, encouragement, and unity in knowing when the church actually began.
Sometimes it takes many years for someone to appreciate the sense of greatness that pervades the church. Knowing when and how it started increases the overwhelming sense of security surrounding the house that is built on the Rock of ages. I want to live there!
Sunday, April 18, 2010
The Church Is Like...
These comments cover the third chapter in Batsell Barrett Baxter's book, The Family of God. The chapter helps us get a clear picture of the church by showing what Jesus and the New Testament writers said about it. No matter how sophisticated our understanding of the church becomes, it is always good to return to these fundamental ideas that were written by the inspiration of God at the time when the church was just beginning.
Baxter first takes images of the church from the parables of Jesus. Parables are fascinating, because they use everyday events to illustrate many of the highest spiritual truths. They should be closely studied, because the conditions and lifestyles prevalent at the time of their telling would cause them to be much deeper and richer to their original hearers than they might be to a casual reader today. The study of first century society and culture amplifies the communicative effect of each parable and brings its message into sharp focus.
Parables have often been called earthly stories with heavenly meanings. They play a big part in revealing the mystery of God to His potential followers, according to Jesus Himself. Because they are told for illustrative purposes, it is not necessary to assume that every parable is entirely factual, in my opinion. Yet, some hold to the perfectly understandable view that Jesus could not and would not utter anything that might not prove true, so the parables must all be associated with factual events. Fortunately most of them are so general in nature that one can say they are entirely believable, even though it is also safe to say that they never were intended to be a historical record of any kind. What we must believe from the Bible is that Jesus told them and they apply to the church as God's kingdom.
The parable of the sower shows what happens when the message of redemption through Christ is taught. Sometimes it produces the desired result, and sometimes it falls into a "place" (heart) where it cannot thrive.
The parable of the wheat and the tares observes that both the faithful and unfaithful may enjoy some of God's blessings, but they will be separated in a time of final judgment, all of which reflects the importance of the church in helping to determine the eternal character of an individual.
The parable of the mustard seed predicts the remarkable growth of the church from its small beginnings. The parable of the leaven shows that followers of Christ can influence those around them. The parable of the hidden treasure shows us just how highly we should value our opportunity to be part of the church.
The pearl of great price is another parable that illustrates the extremely great value of the church. The parable about a dragnet cast into the sea shows that the church will attract people who manage to do God's will and people who, for whatever reason, fall short or go wrong in a big way. All these parables are part of a mosaic of images informing us about the church, what it is, how it works, and who its inhabitants are.
New Testament writers used certain major analogies to describe the church. It is like a physical body with many parts. It is like a kingdom, a building, and a family. Relationships among Christians and their Lord can be much better understood by studying all the references to these analogies.
Baxter compares each parable and analogy to a facet in a jewel that helps define its beauty. He notes that the new and different nature of the church made these devices necessary. Finally he makes the excellent point that the richness and permanence of the images show the remarkable way God inspired the writings of the New Testament.
Baxter first takes images of the church from the parables of Jesus. Parables are fascinating, because they use everyday events to illustrate many of the highest spiritual truths. They should be closely studied, because the conditions and lifestyles prevalent at the time of their telling would cause them to be much deeper and richer to their original hearers than they might be to a casual reader today. The study of first century society and culture amplifies the communicative effect of each parable and brings its message into sharp focus.
Parables have often been called earthly stories with heavenly meanings. They play a big part in revealing the mystery of God to His potential followers, according to Jesus Himself. Because they are told for illustrative purposes, it is not necessary to assume that every parable is entirely factual, in my opinion. Yet, some hold to the perfectly understandable view that Jesus could not and would not utter anything that might not prove true, so the parables must all be associated with factual events. Fortunately most of them are so general in nature that one can say they are entirely believable, even though it is also safe to say that they never were intended to be a historical record of any kind. What we must believe from the Bible is that Jesus told them and they apply to the church as God's kingdom.
The parable of the sower shows what happens when the message of redemption through Christ is taught. Sometimes it produces the desired result, and sometimes it falls into a "place" (heart) where it cannot thrive.
The parable of the wheat and the tares observes that both the faithful and unfaithful may enjoy some of God's blessings, but they will be separated in a time of final judgment, all of which reflects the importance of the church in helping to determine the eternal character of an individual.
The parable of the mustard seed predicts the remarkable growth of the church from its small beginnings. The parable of the leaven shows that followers of Christ can influence those around them. The parable of the hidden treasure shows us just how highly we should value our opportunity to be part of the church.
The pearl of great price is another parable that illustrates the extremely great value of the church. The parable about a dragnet cast into the sea shows that the church will attract people who manage to do God's will and people who, for whatever reason, fall short or go wrong in a big way. All these parables are part of a mosaic of images informing us about the church, what it is, how it works, and who its inhabitants are.
New Testament writers used certain major analogies to describe the church. It is like a physical body with many parts. It is like a kingdom, a building, and a family. Relationships among Christians and their Lord can be much better understood by studying all the references to these analogies.
Baxter compares each parable and analogy to a facet in a jewel that helps define its beauty. He notes that the new and different nature of the church made these devices necessary. Finally he makes the excellent point that the richness and permanence of the images show the remarkable way God inspired the writings of the New Testament.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)