Believers Armed and Dangerous

I’m going to narrow my topic this week to just address the men who read this, but I’m sure the women can apply some of this to their relationships within the church.  Not being a woman, I have no experience there.

 How are we brothers? In the first few centuries of the church, the Romans accused Christians of being incestuous because “brothers” were marrying “sisters.”  They simply didn’t understand the closeness of the church.   We are brothers and sisters as God’s children:

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13)

Christian brothers are closer than blood because it is not our blood that bonds us together but Christ’s blood.  Men whose biological brothers are Christian are double blessed, but those who are not in that situation still have their fellow Christians who love them, stand by them, support them, and pray for them.

In the New Testament, the Greek word for brother (adelphos) is the same for a natural brother or a Christian brother.  It’s a word denoting an intimate relationship between men. 

As Christians, men are to hold one another accountable.  We’re to share our lives with one another, build one another up, be honest with one another.  In short, we are to disciple one another and seek to be discipled.  Because of this, brotherhood has a much deeper meaning in the church than it does in the natural sense.

The general mechanics of this takes several forms.  A mature Christian man will mentor a newer Christian in the ways of the Lord.  Men who have a special gift may mentor others desiring to use the same gift more effectively.  Men’s groups are a wonderful way for men to grow in their Christian walk.  I have been a Christian since 1975, and Men’s groups are a great way for me to grow and maybe help others in their walks. 

I attend two men’s groups each week.  One is a men’s prayer group where about 40 or 50 of us gather early on Saturday morning to pray for one another.  The other is a group where we discuss the previous Sunday’s message.  There we have a chance to ask and answer questions, share how various passages of Scripture have moved us during the week and get into one another’s lives.  There’s a wonderful bond that forms among all who are involved.

Why is this important?

I became a Christian sort of all by myself.  I thought I was a Christian until something I read in a book explained I needed to go all the way, to turn control of my life over to Christ.  So, it was pretty much between God and me alone.

As a result, much of my Christian life has been one of solitude.  Sure I had Christian friends, even brothers, but they were few and far between.  I liked working out this “Christian thing” by myself.  It wasn’t until I started to share my life with other Christian men that I learned of the closeness we feel toward one another.  I was missing out.

I know I haven’t done a good job explaining how close Christian brothers can be to one another.  It’s like trying to explain color to a sightless man.  We’re more than just family.  We are men who share the same Spirit, the same beliefs, the same purpose.  Christian brothers are men that I have felt closer to than family, friends, closer than any other men on earth.

I am a brother to the Christian in South Africa, Colombia, China.  We share the same Spirit.

The most beautiful part of this is that Jesus feels that closeness, that purpose with us.  He says this directly by calling us “brothers:”

Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”  (John 20:17)

That intimacy, that closeness we Christian brothers feel for one another is simply a taste of the intimacy and closeness we have with our Lord and He with us.

Reincarnation, or transmigration as it is often called, has its origins in eastern religions, mainly Hinduism and Buddhism.  In the 1960s and 1970s, a wave of eastern philosophy and religion swept through the west.  Transcendental Meditation and the New Age Movement became prominent.  Along with these came a renewed interest in reincarnation. 

Reincarnation has even crept into the Christian church.  False teachers like Elizabeth Clare Prophet (also known as “Guru Ma Mother of the Flame”) and Edgar Cayce (the “Sleeping Prophet”) have influenced many Christians by claiming to be Christian themselves. 

When someone tells us they have new truth or have solved the ancient mysteries of Christianity, I find it hard to keep my composure.  Christianity and the Bible have been around for 2,000 years.  Some of the greatest minds who ever lived have studied the faith and its documents.  We’re not just going to stumble on some major new truth.  In fact, the famed apologist, Dr. Walter Martin, used to say “New truth is almost always old heresy,” and the studying I’ve done and the church figures I’ve read, both today and ancient, support that as an axiom.

Reincarnation in its original form is an attempt to answer the problem of man’s evil.  There is no hell in eastern religions.  If you act wickedly, after you die you may come back as a lesser being, even a plant or rock in some faiths.  You may also carry karmic debt – a belief you will receive in your next life the punishment for the evil you performed in this one.

The western mind has difficulty accepting a concept like Christianity’s eternal punishment and, so the charlatans pretty much drops the karmic debt idea.  Instead, they say transmigration simply purifies you as you progress through a series of lives.

What concerns me is the idea when some Christians accept this teaching as biblical.  Let’s see if it is: 

Paul tells us we will go directly to heaven upon our deaths not continue on in other lives:

 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord,for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.  (See also Phil. 1:23-24)

Heb. 9:27 says we will only die once and be judged afterward – note this is talking about all men, not just Christians:

 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

Jesus Himself said we will not go on to eternal lives but after this life, we will receive our punishment or reward:

“And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matt. 25:46)

Jesus told the thief on the cross he would not continue on in future lives but enter paradise with Christ:

⁴³ And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43)

Why is this important?

Since Scripture doesn’t mention reincarnation but in fact speaks of one life and one death, we know reincarnation/transmigration is not true.

If it’s a lie, then we have to ask who would initiate such a lie: The Father of Lies?

 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44)

“But how can he know so much about people’s lives,” you might say.  Satan knows all there is about our lives.  His demons keep an eye on us and can recite our secrets if need be.

“But some practitioners claim to be Christian and say what they are doing is the Lord’s work:”

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. (2 Cor. 11:13-14)

The Bible is our only standard for spiritual truth.  As Christians, we are to stay away from things the Bible speaks against.  If we don’t know if a teaching is true or a false, the Bible tells us to test all things.  Do a little research:

Do not despise prophecies, ²¹ but test everything; hold fast what is good. ²² Abstain from every form of evil.  (1 Thess. 5:20-22)

Testing new ideas against what the Bible teaches keeps the keeps us from error.

“Worship is an act, not an experience.” 

     I heard this statement the other day, and it got me thinking.  Churches have worship services, worship leaders, we are “lead” in worship, we speak of “praise and worship” and such.  I think because of this, we often believe worship is something we only do on Sunday mornings or in our devotions.  It isn’t, of course.  The variety of our acts of worship is so much broader.

Worship is simple.  It is something we do to praise, thank, or bless God.  In Genesis 24:26-27, God led Abraham’s servant to the wife He had for Isaac.  As a result, the grateful servant worshipped the Lord by simply bowing his head in praise:

The man bowed his head and worshiped the Lord  and said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the Lord has led me in the way to the house of my master’s kinsmen.

Our dedication and our godly sacrifice is considered worship by God:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.  (Rom. 12:1)

So, the things we do for God and the lives we live are as much forms of worship as singing praises, maybe even more so.  God says He prefers obedience more than sacrifice:

And Samuel said,

       “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,

as in obeying the voice of the Lord?

       Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,

and to listen than the fat of rams. (1 Sam. 15:22)

Worship is not always pleasant.  Recently many in the Afgan Church were martyred.  This wasn’t a painless time for them, but their sacrifices may well bring others to Christ as the sacrifices of the martyrs did in the first few centuries of the church.

Music does play a part in worship according to Scripture, usually in corporate worship (2 Chron. 29:25-30; Col. 3:16).  We like to sing praises to God, of course.  Some of my friends use music in their daily devotions.  That is one way they seek and to praise God.

Why is this important?

Since our Christian walk is a form of worship, we need to realize we should be in a constant state of worship.  What we do, how we act, what we say all reflect on our God.  We should act accordingly.

In my thinking about worship, I would restate the opening quote a little differently: “Worship is an act sometimes accompanied by an experience.”

We are in a constant state of worship.  This is good news to us as Christians.  Every moment of every day is available to worship the God of all things through our actions and attitudes.  It’s not just songs on a Sunday morning.  Worship is so much more. 

There is a time for corporate worship praising God directly:

⁹ And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, ¹⁰ the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

¹¹     “Worthy are you, our Lord and God,

to receive glory and honor and power,

       for you created all things,

and by your will they existed and were created.”  (Rev. 4:9-11)

And, there is a time to live out our worship:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.  (Rom. 12:1)

¹³ But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

I wasn’t able last week to write my weekly blog.  My brother passed away last Saturday, and I wanted to be there with him and with the family.

Naturally, I’ve thought quite a bit this week about death and the continuation of the soul.  I especially thought about the last portion of the verse above: “that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.”  In this case, our hope is in the continuation of our consciousness, our souls, to be with Christ.

Modern science has a real problem with consciousness/the soul.  Since science presupposes materialism, that all that exists is material, certainly the idea that consciousness exists pokes their proverbial bear.  To get around this problem, some like Dr. Philip Goff look for a straw to grasp.  Dr. Goff believes all mater might be conscious.

Shouldn’t that alarm those who are vegetarians on moral grounds?  Just a thought.

Some of the early philosophers and even today’s scientists believe there are different levels of consciousness.  Dogs have a form of consciousness.  They can make decisions, they dream, etc., but dogs can’t do calculus.  So, there are different levels.

Humans also have something besides simple dog-consciousness.  We have self-reflection.  Our consciousness, our soul, is special.  We have the ability to say “I” and to think about the things we’re thinking about.  We know of no other earthly being with that capability.

Souls, our souls, exist without being material.  They are not linked directly to matter, and so are not necessarily dependent on that matter.  The only material thing which has a self-reflective soul is us.  With only one study group and no control group, it is hard for science to come to a conclusion as to where the soul comes from or if it can exist away from a body.  We don’t have other self-reflective beings we know of here on earth, so we can’t be sure the soul is limited by what we might see materially in humans.

Some evidence for the existence of the soul, though, could be near death experiences.  In their book, Immortality, Drs. Habermas and Moreland tell of people who were clinically dead, brain dead, for up to three hours and brought back.  Why this relates to our discussion is they didn’t come back as someone else.  When the body rebooted, the soul was still the same.  It hadn’t changed into someone else or ceased to exist.  The soul doesn’t die when the body dies.

Why is this important?

Asking a scientist to prove the existence of the non-material soul or God using scientific methods would be like asking a pastor to prove the speed of light metaphysically.  It can’t be done.  The question is a category fallacy.  It’s equal to saying “prove the number two is blue.”

The soul is not material.  It is a part of us. In fact, it is us.  If it’s not material, it can’t be permanently linked to the material body.  If it can’t be linked to the material body, there is no reason to believe it dies when our material body does.

The Bible has been clear that the soul carries on after our body dies.

We are not like those who have no hope.

Years ago, I was sitting in a gym’s steam room with several other guys, and two were discussing Eternal Security, whether you can lose your salvation.  After a while I asked them if they both believed John 3:16 was true.  They both agreed it was.  Then I asked if God gave us eternal life and took it back because we sinned or something, was it really eternal and is John 3:16 was wrong?

We can know we’re saved.  The same apostle John that penned the gospel wrote this:

1 John 5:13  I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

Throughout Scripture, we are told we will have eternal life if we accept Christ as Lord of our lives.  We can be confident in that.  There is an old issue, though, is Hebrews 6:4-6:

For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit,and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come,and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

This is often interpreted as Christians can lose their salvation.  The denominations that believe this tend to shy away from the rest of the passage which says once you’ve lost it, you can never regain it.  They will instead welcome the repentant back into the flock.

Every time I read this passage I think of Simon Magus in Acts 8:9-24.  We’re told Simon heard the gospel and believed, he had been enlightened, had tasted the heavenly gift, he had even shared in the work the Holy Spirit was doing, tasted the goodness of the Word and had heard of the powers of the age to come. 

Sin was found in Simon, though (vs 20-24).  In fact, the Apostolic Father, the disciples of the apostles, often used Simon as an example of a false teacher and a false disciple.  Simon went on to become the leader of a heretical Gnostic group.

So, it is very possible, the church can have false members who have heard the message of the gospel and act like Christians in every way but have not really turned over their lives to Christ.  Sometimes it’s just ignorance.  The person doesn’t understand making a commitment to Jesus as Lord of their life is required for salvation.  They pray, they attend church, they give, they even serve, yet the Holy Spirit does not live in them.  They’re not evil, just uninformed. We need to do better to be sure everyone understands all that is involved in the salvation message.

Sometimes, a person might enter into a church to “network.”  A lot of professionals benefit from having a large number of people trusting in them and church membership lends to their credibility.  Yet, there is no dedication to the Lord, only to the bottom line.

Most people, though, in our Bible believing churches are sincere children of God (John 1:12).  I believe Simons represent a very small portion of the congregations.  It is too easy to be noticed there.  So, we shouldn’t go looking for Simons under every pew.  They are not the rule.

Sincere children of God can know their salvation is assured and sealed by the Holy Spirit:

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption (Eph 4:30).

Why is this important?

 We Christians should be confident in our relationship with God.  Once we give our lives to Christ, our fate is sealed. One of Satan’s most effective tools against the Christian is doubt. If he can “sterilize” us, he’s happy.

I heard a message today about the ark of Noah.  Once inside the ark, the door was closed, those inside were sealed and safely included in God’s salvation from the flood.  It is the same for us.  Once we are sealed by God the Holy Spirit into His body, no power can ever break that seal?

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 8:38-39)

Something only members of Christianity and Judaism can do is to ask non-believers to examine the truth claims of their faiths.  Even early on, Christian apologists argued that Christianity is founded on fact, not blind faith.  The apostles argued they had actually seen the risen Christ.  They were eye witnesses.  Their faith was founded on fact.

Within a hundred years of Christ’s ascension, Christian apologists were arguing in public letters to the Roman emperor that Christianity makes sense, it’s rational, and that Christians add to the empire because of their faith.  They were good workers, taxpayers, charitable, and helpful to others. 

The Romans rejected the Christians, though, not directly because of what they believed but because Christians would not engage in the Roman public sacrifices to their gods.  The Romans saw that as a lack of unity and, thus, rebellious and anti-Roman, a danger to the unity of the empire, so they continued to persecute Christians.

Had Christians not stood up and claimed their religion was true, it may not have convinced so many.  As Roger E. Olson puts it in his book, The Story of Christian Theology, “that gospel would quickly devolve into mere folk religion and lose all conviction as truth and influence on the church or society.”

Claiming to be true and testable brought Christianity to the forefront in the marketplace of ideas in the Roman Empire, so much so, it became the official Roman religion by the early fourth century.

So, did apostles claim Christianity is true?  Of course they did and even asked skeptics to examine their faith, to test it and see if it were true.  The apostles also challenged Christians to test all things including their faith (1 Thess 5:20-21), to have an answer for everyone who asked (1 Peter 3:15), to earnestly contend for the faith (Jude 3).  You don’t make these kinds of statements unless your belief system is testable, rational, and defensible.

God has given us the evidence.  We need only to present it.  The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the central teaching of the Christian faith.  If Christ is not raised, the faith has nothing to stand on (1 Cor. 15:17).

God prompted the writers of the New Testament to give us eye witness accounts of Christ’s resurrection from the dead.  Others outside the faith admit to His resurrection as a belief of first century Christians.  Josephus, a Roman historian wrote of Christ’s resurrection as a historic event.  Tacitus, another Roman historian mentions Christ’s resurrection as a superstition accepted by the Christians.  When your enemies acknowledge your beliefs, you have near certainty they are true.

The belief the Bible is inspired of God is another Christian claim.  External evidence shows we have a text today which is better than 99% reliably representative of the original writings of the New Testament.  We have more than 25,000 handwritten manuscripts of the New Testaments.  Some fragments of the gospel writings can be dated back to the late first or early second centuries.  So, we can rebuild what the originals say by examining the vast number of manuscripts.  We also have other writings like the apostolic fathers (the disciples of the disciples) who quoted Scripture frequently. 

We need to remember Diocletian, the Roman Emperor at the end of the third century through the beginning of the fourth, ordered all Christian writings destroyed throughout the empire.  Also the great library at Antioch, a great center of Christian thought, was destroyed in 363 a.d.  Calif Omar burned the Alexandrian Library of more than 200,000 scrolls in 640 a.d.  Alexandria was another center for Christian thought and education.  These three events made it difficult to find early manuscripts since most were copied from the holdings of these two libraries.

The church recovered even though the New Testament had become a somewhat rare book.  Scriptoriums (copy centers) were set up to make up for the shortage.  Also, the opinion of older manuscripts was not the same as it is today.  Even as late as 1844, a scholar named Tishendorf staying at the monastery on Mount Sinai saw the monks using old manuscripts to light their fires on cold nights.  Tishendorf rescued the oldest existent complete New Testament manuscript dated to the mid fourth century.  Who knows, the monks might have destroyed even earlier manuscripts. 

One proof for the inspiration of the Bible is fulfilled prophecies.  There is a detailed prophecy in Ezekiel 26:3-5 which describes the city of Tyre, an important city in the time of Ezekiel’s prophecy, completely destroyed and scraped clean from the earth so that the fishermen would dry their nets on the site.  Today that city is still a place where fishermen dry their nets.  I wrote about this a couple of years ago: the city of Tyre 

Why is this important?

Christians need to be assured ours is not a blind faith.  It is a faith found in fact.  We have a long tradition of logical argumentation for our beliefs, and they stand unbowed.  Unlike other major religions, Christianity offers absolutes, objective moral standards, and major truth claims.

The word for “tithe” in Hebrew (maser) and the word in Greek (dekatos) both mean a tenth.  So, whether the tithe is for today or not, we should agree “tithe” means a tenth.

The two main views on the tithe, of course, are that it is for today or it is not.  Simple, you say, but not so simple to explain.  I’ll try to give some arguments I’ve heard for each side objectively and let you decide what you think God is telling you to do.

There are two basic arguments in favor of the tithe not being for today I am aware of.  The first is the tithe is no longer binding since it is not repeated as an instruction in the New Testament, and secondly, the Mosaic Law where it does appear has been fulfilled.  We are free from the Law.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”  (Matthew 5:17)

So, if the Law has been fulfilled by Christ, we should no longer be shackled to the tithes of the Old Testament.  Even worse, if you add up all the tithes of the Old Testament, you’ll end up with much more than 10%.  The total comes to more like 23%.  The average church member would have great difficulty being cheerful giving 23% (2 Cor. 9:7). 

I hope I’ve stated the arguments for this well.  Now let’s look at the arguments in favor of the tithe.

The first tithe was given by Abraham to Melchizedek in Genesis 14:18-20

¹⁸ And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) ¹⁹ And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; ²⁰and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

There is a lot to study in this passage: “bread and wine,” “priest of God Most High.”  Many believe Melchizedek was either the pre-incarnate Christ or a type of Christ.  Either way, this passage tells us the tithe was a practice prior to the Mosaic Law.  So, the argument goes, this should remain as the standard.

Another passage that comes into play here is when Jesus is discussing a point of behavior with the Pharisees:

“But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others (Luke 11:42).

Jesus commended the Pharisees for tithing mint and rue, etc. saying “These you ought to have done, . . .“  So, Jesus may well have been endorsing tithing.

To be fair, this was during Old Testament times when Jesus said this, but so was nearly all of what He said since the Old Testament period didn’t end until Passion Week.

Why is this important?

Some rely on 2 Cor. 9:7 saying “I only need give a little to make me happy,” but look at the verse prior:

The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

Without wanting to sound like some of the TV hucksters, our blessings often depend on our sacrifices. 

Some become legalistic concerning tithing.  “It must be 10% or nothing,” they might say.  That’s not good either and lends itself to legalism.

We as Christians seek to please God and no one else.  Whether, like the widow in Mark 12:41-44, we give all we have or give exactly what our spirit prompts, our concern should be to please our Lord God.  What we give is nobody’s business but ours:

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you (Matt 6:3-4).

Some of us thought when we became Christians, “Wow.  Now that I accepted Christ, my life will be perfect.”  Sadly, that’s not so.  We are all tested in our Christian walks. So, why do Christians have trials in our lives?

The first thing that comes to my mind is if Christians had perfect and peaceful lives, everyone would want to become a Christian without the commitment.  This would leave out the sin issue.  It would be a purely personal and selfish act. That’s not the sort of thing God is looking for.

Another reason might be because Jesus said the rain falls on the just and the unjust (Matt. 5:44-45)

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

God is not a respecter of persons (Acts 10:34).  He shows no partiality.  The few decades we spend here on earth mean so little compared with eternity with Christ.  And, God has things for us to learn while here through trials.

James chapter one is pretty much about trials, and it tells us to “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials.”  The Greek there tells us to embrace our trials as friends.  Why would that be?  James answers that for us: “For the testing of your faith produces endurance, and let endurance have its perfect result that you may be perfect and complete.” (James 1:2-4)

A friend told me years God is like an old piano teacher.  He will give you the same test over and over again until you’ve learned your part and then move on.  Sound familiar? So, we need to try and learn from our trials so we don’t repeat them.

Sorry. No time off for good behavior.  We will all face trials.

There is still another reason for trials.  Look at Deut. 4:34

Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

How would a god draw a nation to Him through the use of trials?  Well, we tend to turn to God when we’ve reached our lowest point.  So, trials in our lives cause us to draw nearer to God.  He likes us, you know.  He wants our attention and will get it in whatever way necessary.

There’s a story of John Wesley, the famous founder of the Methodist Church and circuit rider/preacher.  John didn’t feel he’d had any trials in a few days and thought maybe God had left him.  So, he got off his horse, knelt down next to a wall in a town.  The guy on the other side of the wall was cleaning up his yard and threw a brick over the wall hitting John.  Wesley smiled, returned to his horse, and continued on his way thanking God.

Why is this important?

The Christian should expect trials.  Jesus Himself told us we would face trials

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Trials are not a problem but a blessing.  God uses them in the life of the Christian to mold him into a better ambassador for Christ.  The things we go through that test us are things we can use later on to help those who will go through the same things.

So, count it all joy when you fall into various trials.  It’s God speaking to you making a new you out of the old one.

“Communion”, or “The Lord’s Supper”, is the remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice through the taking of bread and wine.  This is celebrated regularly by Christian churches worldwide with only a few exceptions.  The early church called this “the Eucharist” (taken from the Greek word, eucharistia meaning “thankful” or “grateful”).  It has been a Christian practice since the Last Supper.

The Protestant church has represented communion as an ordinance – a prescribed religious rite.  At the Last Supper, Jesus commanded us to do this in remembrance of His sacrifice (1 Cor. 11:25).  It is symbolic.  The Eastern Orthodox and Catholic churches celebrate the Eucharist as a sacrament, a practice that bestows grace on the participant.

To most Protestants, Communion is symbolic of Christ’s sacrifice.  He gave His blood as a ransom for us (Rev, 5:9).  He bore our sins upon His body at Calvary (1 Peter 2:24).  So, communion is a serious practice, a time when we remember what Christ gave up for us so we might qualify to spend eternity with Him.

There are those who see more than a remembrance in the Lord’s Supper, though.  Lutherans, for instance, believe in “consubstantiation.”  This is the doctrine that the substance of the bread and wine remain bread and wine, but Christ is somehow present “in and around” the elements. 

The Orthodox and Catholics believe in forms of “Transubstantiation” which is the belief the “host,” the elements of bread and wine, actually become the flesh and blood of Christ but not in form.  The elements still appear as bread and wine.  There are some minor differences between the Orthodox view and that of the Catholic Church, but not enough to go into here.

The Bible doesn’t describe the bread and wine as anything more than symbols of Christ’s sacrifice.  When Jesus held up the bread and broke it, He said “This is my body . . . ,“  was that really His body?  No.  When He held up the cup and said “This is my blood . . . ,“ was that His blood?  No.  Jesus was giving us a practice we were to repeat whenever we ate bread and wine to remember what He has done for us.

The early church was actually accused of cannibalism due to many Christians quoting what Jesus said in John 6:53-56:  “ So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.”

This was just one of the misunderstandings the world had about Christians even then.  The Romans also believed Christians were incestuous since we would marry a “brother” or “sister” in the faith.  All this helped the Roman leadership influence the citizens against the Christians.

So, Communion is a simple thing but certainly not a meaningless practice.

Why is this important?

As the church has always understood, communion is a time for reflection on what has been done for us, for the grace which has been bestowed upon us through Christ’s sacrifice.  It is a time to be thankful, a time for gratitude.

Let us remember that cup of juice and the cracker mean more than just a habit we perform every so often.  It is a physical remembrance of a spiritual reality.

Baptism II

I thought I’d address infant baptism and where it comes from then some teachings of why we baptize.

The idea of infant baptism comes from an assumption made from Scripture and not a direct command.  A passage in Acts speaks of the entire household of Lydia being baptized (Acts 16:15).  The assumption is that “household” in these two verses must include infants.  The passage itself does not say anything about infants in Lydia’s home, yet many Christians believe it should be assumed. 

A major rule of biblical interpretation is not to assume anything.  Just go with what the text says.  Reading your opinion into a passage is known as eisegesis and leads to error.

There is nothing in Scripture prohibiting infant baptism, so there’s no reason to criticize others who want to do this.  Some churches who practice infant baptism see it as more of a dedication to Christ while others see it as something more meaningful.  My opinion is that it is not a salvation issue and therefore should not be condemned.  We can discuss it, but don’t condemn those who disagree on this.

Baptism is a command (Matt. 28:18-19) and is an ordinance in Protestant churches.  Eastern Orthodox and Catholics see it as a sacrament.  The difference is an ordinance is something God has commanded us to do to symbolize something such as rebirth in the case of baptism.  A sacrament is something which carries great spiritual value.  For instance, the Orthodox and Catholics believe salvation begins with baptism.

Protestants restrict themselves to the Bible alone and what it says.  That is the position of this blog, and is the view expressed here.  Baptism is simply a public declaration of an inward change.  When we are baptized, no matter in what form, we are telling the world we have accepted Jesus as our Savior and He has changed us.  We are new creatures resurrected from our dead life of sin into our glorious new life In Christ.

Baptism was so important in the early church, particularly once the persecutions began, that those who were under instruction and not yet baptized, catacumens, were not allowed to hear the message during the service.  They were asked to leave after the worship portion.  However, all churches had training for the catacumens, some required as much as three years of training before the candidate could be baptized and welcomed into the family of God.  So, baptism was an important issue in the early church.

The Romans were killing Christians just because of their faith.  What seems to be extremely long training for new believers was a commitment to make sure they knew what they were getting into, the reasons why they should believe, to prepare them to defend the faith, and for death if necessary. 

Some denominations still do something like this.  My wife was raised in a Lutheran church.  She was baptized as a child but went through two years of confirmation as a young adult where she had weekly classes at the church and daily lessons she needed to complete.  The first year was learning the Old Testament, the second year the New.  Finally, she was tested by the pastoral staff before she was “confirmed” and able to take communion.  Certainly, this is something carried over from the early church and something that would benefit churches today.

Why is this important?

While baptism is not a condition of our salvation, it is extremely important, and should be considered as such.  Baptism is not something one should enter into lightly.  Self-examination, certainty of what you believe, and much fasting and prayer would prepare you for this wonderful ordinance.

Rom. 6:1-4What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? ² By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? ³ Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

In a real sense, baptism shows exactly what Romans 6:1-4 describes.  We have been dead and buried to sin.  This is exemplified by putting us under the water, burying us.  Then when we come out of the water, we show symbolically we are a new person, raised from death and sin into new life in Christ.

Next week communion.