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.
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Jesus explained that the seed represents the word of God (Luke 8:11). There are many lessons that can be learned by the analogy between seed and the word. For
ReplyDeleteexample, seed always produces after its kind. That is, rice seed always produces rice plants, corn seed produces corn plants, and pumpkin seed pumpkin plants. There are no exceptions. By the plant that results, one can determine what seed was planted. So it is in the spiritual realm. When the pure word of God is planted, the resulting plants are Christians. When you end up with other things−−say Buddhists, Mormons, or Jehovah's Witnesses, you know that something besides the word of God was planted. To produce a Buddhist, you must plant the teachings of Buddha. To get a Mormon, the book of Mormon and the teachings of the Mormon church must be planted. Jehovah's Witnesses are formed by planting the teachings of their organizational headquarters, the Watchtower Society. What would happen if you merely planted the Scriptures, without mixing in any other teachings? Seed never changes. It would be theoretically possible to eliminate pumpkin plants from the face of the earth. Yet if pumpkin seeds were preserved, someone many years later could plant them, and again produce pumpkins. So also in Christ. The seed is the word of God (1 Peter 1:23−25). Even if there had not been servants of Christ on the earth for a long time, when people returned to following the Bible only, they would become Christians. Our goal should be to reproduce pure disciples of Christ in the twentieth century, just like they were in the first.
John Powell
Good post, John. We should teach what will produce the Lord's church. Often folks want to try a new formula, but if it is different from the Biblical truth, that cannot produce the genuine church. We can rejoice that God shows us how to keep the church alive and do His will. The parable shows us that, in the daily activity of the church, even when the good seed is planted, it will fall into different places, different hearts. In studying the parable, we should recognize that and think about our own heart and what we should do with the teachings of Christ. Thanks for your comment!
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