For a better life and a better eternity
The following video is allegedly the answering machine for a school in Australia. I’m pretty sure that is not true. However, I think the point about personal responsibility is great.
I will admit that I’m not quite as harsh about the different languages point at the end, but we’ll overlook that to have fun with the rest of the message.
Enjoy!
(If you landed on this post without seeing the others in this series, let me explain what is going on here. Thursdays is my day to talk about God’s way for our congregations. Right now I’m in the middle of a series on the Jerusalem church and it’s success. This is the fourth post in the series. I encourage you to check out the introduction to this series to know more about what is going on and to find an index of the posts in this series as they are put up. Enjoy.)
No doubt, the Jerusalem church is the most successful church in all of history. It grew in times of peace. It grew in times of adversity. It was the start of every other congregation in its day; in essence the start of every other congregation throughout all history. Because of the work the Jerusalem church did, when the first persecution hit in earnest, the members were ready to take their message to other cities and towns. When other churches were started, even after so many were scattered, the Jerusalem church sent helpers to strengthen the fledgling congregations.
As we continue to examine the Jerusalem church, we can very quickly develop some mistaken perceptions. We can highlight the wrong things and miss what really made them so successful. We need to make sure we keep the Jerusalem vision clear or we will not be able to have the success she enjoyed for so long.
Sadly, many modern Christians turn to Acts 15:2 and misunderstand the Jerusalem vision. They see a mother church. They read into this verse 1500 years of Catholicism and 400 years of Protestant denominationalism. They think Paul and Barnabas were traveling to Jerusalem to learn what they were supposed to teach about the circumcision issue or to participate in a meeting to decide what they were to teach. They were going back to the mother church to learn the truth so they would teach correctly. This is often seen as the first “church council” or “synod” in a long line of many.
That, however, is not at all what is going on here. Paul was not traveling to Jerusalem to find out what to teach. They were not having a council to figure out what all the churches should teach. Remember what Paul said in Galatians 1:11-12:
For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, not was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
Paul did not learn what to teach about the gospel by going to the apostles or to the Jerusalem church. He didn’t learn the gospel message from a church council or synod. He received direct revelation from Jesus Christ Himself. The next two chapters are Paul’s detailed explanation of how he didn’t get his message from men.
In fact, look at Paul’s own participation in the Jerusalem debate. There is no question. There is not, “Let us find out what to teach.” There is simply his own teaching that he had confirmed by the work of the Holy Spirit during his ministry. “And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.”
What is going on then? First, notice what prompted Paul’s trip to Jerusalem.
“But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved'” (Acts 15:1).
However, the letter the Jerusalem church wrote at the end of this debate gets even more specific.
“Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions…” (Acts 15:24).
Why did Paul and his companions from Antioch travel to council with the apostles and brethren in Jerusalem? Because that was the source of error that had gone out. They were not going to meet with a mother church to find out or figure out what to teach. They were going to a church to find out why teachers of error were coming out from them. Apparently, the Jerusalem church was divided on this issue and hadn’t realized it yet. This was not a debate to determine what all churches would teach. This was a debate to determine what Jerusalem would teach. Paul and Barnabas were not traveling to learn, they were traveling to teach and correct.
Of course, we still ask why this matters. If Jerusalem wasn’t the mother church, who cares what her teachers taught? Even though she wasn’t the mother church, she was an exemplary church. After all, she was the first. Further, she did have the apostles. While other churches did not bow to the church of Jerusalem, they did look up to her.
If we are going to be like Jerusalem, we must not seek to make our congregations mother churches. Sadly, there are organizations of churches cropping up everywhere. Some church has success and starts spreading out satellites all over the nation, establishing themselves as a mother church. We must not do that. Jerusalem did not. Certainly, we can and should seek to be exemplary. We should seek to be an example of godly conduct and proper congregational work and teaching. There is nothing wrong with others looking to our congregation for good advice and council. But each church should be left to govern itself with the shepherds the Holy Spirit has raised up among them submitting directly to the Chief Shepherd (Acts 20:28; I Peter 5:1-4).
Yes, we will be looking to the Jerusalem church. But we will not do so because she was the mother church. Rather, she was an exemplary church who blazed the trail for us in so many ways.
Sorry I missed last week. We had a lot going on, mostly stressful.
We were out of town over the last weekend. We came home to a house with a busted water heater that had to be repaired. On Wednesday, Marita’s Maw-maw died. On Friday, we held her funeral. On Sunday, I announced to people that I love dearly that we believe it is time for us to move to a new congregation. On June 20 of this year, I’ll start working with the Brownsburg Church of Christ in Brownsburg, Indiana. I’ll say again here as I have in so many places, I have many mixed emotions. I have a great deal of sadness about being separated from so many good friends who I love so much. I also have a great deal of excitement about new possibilities with a new group of people.
What does all of this mean?
First, it means the next three months are going to be a very stress filled time for my family and me. I’ll try to keep up the blog regularly, but this may mean I miss some days as I devote time to getting my house ready. Be patient with me.
Second, it means change. I fear change. I like status quo. With status quo, there is no second-guessing. Except, there is. There is always the second guess that change might have been good. How do we cope with change, whether it was a personal decision to change or a change thrust upon us by others or by circumstances?
Perhaps this won’t shock anyone, but I am learning to rely on the message of Romans 8:28: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
Too many of us sit in paralyzed fear wondering if the proposed change is God’s secret will for our lives. What I am learning is my job today is to love God. That means, whatever choice I make needs to be in accord with God revealed Word. That’s simply because I need to serve God. When I live by the principle to simply to do the next right thing because I love God, He’ll work together whatever I do and whatever anyone else does and whatever happens in the world to help me be glorified. I may not see how what is happening today will allow for that. I may be terribly sad, awfully angry, even cruelly hurt today. However, sometime down the road, I’ll be able to see that all of this worked together for good. Maybe I won’t even be able to see it until I stand in eternity. However, I will be able to look back and see it.
We often say, “Hindsight is 20/20.” Romans 8:28 is asking us to live with that hindsight right now. It is asking us not to wait until years down the road to realize whatever is going on today will actually work out for my good in the end. It is asking me to trust God and learn that whatever change is taking place today will be used by God to lead to my glorification in Jesus Christ.
That’s how I am learning to cope with change. I’m sure I’ll need you to remind me of that sometimes. I don’t always keep that in my head properly. Today, I’m remembering it.
Have a great week and remember that God’s way works.
I recently read a very interesting book that provided an intriguing look at growing up, maturing (wait for it…wait for it… yes, here it is, an associate link: The Life Model: Living from the heart Jesus gave you). In the past few Mondays, as we looked at God’s way for our individual lives, I’ve been sharing some of what I learned from this book. I’ve already looked at the infant stage, the child stage, the adult stage and the parent stage of maturity. Today, let’s look at the elder stage (beginning when the youngest child has become an adult).
While we always continue to mature, this is the highest level of maturity shared by the authors of The Life Model. We need to remember that just because someone’s children have become adults, doesn’t mean they automatically enter this elder stage of maturity. Sadly, some may have biologically raised children to adulthood but still be children themselves. This is simply the authors’ marker for when this stage can begin.
True elders are comfortable in their own skin. They act like themselves in the midst of difficulty. They don’t check the winds of change, putting their finger to the air, to see how they need to act and react. They have become comfortable with who God has made them to be, with their actions, their reactions, their responses. They are also comfortable helping their community grow based on its God-given identity, not trying to force on the community what the elder wants it to be. They see the value and potential in all others, helping them accomplish their reach their potential and goals. Elders are able to look past the flaws and facades of others to see what God has designed them to be.
Elders do not simply parent their own children, they work to parent the community. “They can handle criticism and rejection, speak the truth even when it is not easy or popular, serve without being appreciated, encourage needed growth and change, delight in younger people’s skill and power, and place what is best for the community over personal fairness and preference” (p. 23).
Finally, true elders recognize that those with struggling biological families need a spiritual family. They need a spiritual family to help them heal, grow, and thrive. These elders are willing to give the nurture and care needed in these situations treating these “spiritual adoptees” with the same care they would their own biological children.
According to the authors, there are four tasks for the elders to accomplish as they continue to grow within the community.
The elders accomplish these tasks as the community responds in the following ways, respectively.
If elders fail to accomplish these maturity tasks, the community suffers. There is disorder. There is meaninglessness. There is lack of direction for the community. The community will begin to disintegrate at every level. When elders fail to prize and value each member of the community, life-giving interactions diminish. At-risk, hurting, and struggling people fail to heal and survive. Interdependence within the community is stunted, and thus, the community’s growth is stunted. When true elders don’t lead, parenting the community properly, unqualified people do, resulting in immaturity across the community. When true elders do not parent and adopt those whose biological families are not sufficient, poverty, violence, crisis, crime, and mental disorders increase. Obviously, when those whose biological parents aren’t bringing them to maturity have no one who mentors them, they simply won’t mature.
Seeing the sad prospect of a community without qualified and true elders helps us understand the sad statement made by the authors: “Sadly, most in our culture never make it to this level of maturity. This is unfortunate because the success of any country, community, school or church body will have a direct correlation to the presence of true elders who are guiding and advising” (p. 23). In other words, when elders fail to fulfill their tasks, the community fails to grow to maturity as a whole.
I think the spiritual application at this level is abundantly clear. Churches need elders. Without true and qualified elders, churches cannot mature and grow. Without men who will parent and grow the brethren within the congregation, the congregation will be stunted. Look at churches across the nation. What is the real problem going on within so many? Do they not have elders because they are small? Or are they small because they don’t have true elders?
I can’t help but think of Ezekiel 34:2-10. God was bringing judgment upon Judah because her shepherds weren’t shepherding. The flock had disintegrated and was scattered across the mountains. This was written within the context of the Babylonian captivity. Babylon was destroying Judah and it was because there weren’t true elders guiding that nation. I find Ezekiel 34:10 very interesting. God was delivering Judah up to captivity, but He called it a deliverance from these awful shepherds who had dealt so poorly with Judah.
God has given qualifications for elders within His communities (I Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9). Without getting in depth with these qualifications, I think we can all see that the essence of these lists says God wants mature Christians to be elders within His churches. If we want more true shepherds in our congregations, then more of us have to work on spiritual maturity. We have to start by first being disciples, surrendering our lives to God. We have to begin with personal growth. If no one matures, then there will be no elders and eventually there will be no churches. Oh, sure there will be groups that call themselves churches, but they will not be what God wants. Eventually, as He did with the seven churches of Asia, He will judge the churches and remove their lampstand.
I spoke with one friend who said he was reading this series, but then got depressed and had to quit. I can completely understand that. As I read The Life Model, I became quite discouraged. As I’ve thought more about maturing, I see more clearly how far I have to grow. That can seem overwhelming. However, I’ve begun to emotionally grasp another concept that is helping me. Time is not my enemy. Time is my friend. I don’t have to be at the elder level of maturity by the weekend. I just need to grow some more between now and then. I can grow a little today. Then tomorrow, I’ll grow a little more. And the next day. And the next. In God’s good time, if I continue to grow in Him, He’ll mature me.
Let’s keep growing together.
(If you landed on this post without seeing the others in this series, let me explain what is going on here. Thursdays is my day to talk about God’s way for our congregations. Right now I’m in the middle of a series on the Jerusalem church and it’s success. This is the third post in the series. I encourage you to check out the introduction to this series to know more about what is going on and to find an index of the posts in this series as they are put up. Enjoy.)
I think we have a tendency to goldenize the past (yes, I just made up that word), or perhaps I should say we engoldify (made that one up too) the past. That is, we look around and see how bad things seem to us today and think the “days of yore” were golden. “Oh, we can’t be as successful as Jerusalem because the times were just different back then. Today, there is so much religious division, there is so much sin, and there are so many enemies, we just can’t have their success.” Baloney.
Granted, times were different. Perhaps we won’t have success using every method that seemed to work in those days, but we can still have the same success by having the same attitude and by following their same general example. I’m guessing going to the downtown square of Franklin and starting to preach will not have the same success rating that Paul had when he preached in the Areopagus in Acts 17:22. That sort of thing was common. Paul wasn’t actually standing out so much with his actions as he was with his teaching. Today, if I went down to the city square and started preaching, folks would think I was nuts. Of course, Paul couldn’t use a radio, a television, or a blog to preach. We can. The point for us to learn is not that we have to use the exact same methods and media as the Jerusalem church and early Christians did. Rather, we need to learn that we can keep teaching in ways that are normal today and we can have success as well. The times are not so different that our teaching will be completely and totally ignored–if we are teaching the truth.
Not as much religious division? Have you heard of Sadducees and Pharisees? What about Zealots and Herodians? “Don’t be a Christian, ” some would say, “Those guys don’t follow the law enough like us Pharisees.” Or they might hear, “There’s no such thing as resurrection, Jesus wasn’t raised from the dead. Just ask us Sadducees. We know what’s up.” “Christians aren’t political enough,” the Zealots might say. The Herodians might respond, “Don’t get caught up with those Christians, they don’t know which side of the toast their bread is buttered on. The Romans and Caesar are taking care of us. If you keep calling Jesus your king, the emperor will eat your for lunch.”
Then there were the pagan worshippers following after all kinds of different gods. We think times are tough because there is a lot of division among supposedly Christian churches. There are numerous people all claiming different ways to be saved in Jesus. During the days of the Jerusalem church, there were numerous people all claiming different gods that would save them. “You don’t have to follow that ‘Jewish god’ Jesus,” some would say, “Instead, follow Athena, Apollos, Zeus, or any combination.” Or they might hear “You don’t want to get mixed up with those crazy Christians, they think their God is the only one.”
Further, and this is very sad, there was even division that occurred among the Christians relatively quickly. The Judaizing teachers kept trying to get Christians to submit to the old law, especially enforcing circumcision on Gentiles. We see that happening in Acts 15. Jerusalem handled that division well, but Galatians demonstrates there was continued division among Christians over this issue.
The point being there was religious division, but Jerusalem still succeeded. So can we.
It is certainly true that sin is everywhere these days. The momentary pleasures of sin are lauded on the radio and television. Billboards invite us to sin. The internet provides a seemingly anonymous highway for sin. If we are not careful, we might believe that it is so much easier to sin these days that we just can’t be successful with a message of freedom from sin through Jesus Christ.
I’d like to address this by looking at two possibilities.
First, I really don’t think it is easier to sin today than it was during Jerusalem’s days. Romans 3:23 applied as much then as it does now. Everyone around the Christians had sinned then and everyone has sinned now. Doesn’t seem that different to me. “Oh, but the effects of sin have increased and the ability to escape sin have gotten harder.” Really? Ephesians 2:1-3 says we all became by nature children of wrath. That was true for them and it is true for us. Romans 7:24-25 says there is only one way to be free from sin and that is through Jesus Christ. That was true for them and it is true for us. There is a lot of sin now. There was a lot of sin then. Sin is hard to overcome now. It was hard to overcome then.
Second, perhaps you are right. Maybe there is more sin and harder sins to overcome now than in Jerusalem’s days. If that is true, does it really mean we can’t have success? Or does it instead mean there will be more people recognizing more quickly how much they need freedom from their sins? Perhaps if we’d quit being worried that people don’t want to escape sin and instead start showing people that we know the way to escape sin through Jesus Christ, we’d have much more success than Jerusalem and than we can possibly imagine.
People are so mean today. There are just too many enemies. There are too many people who are attacking us. There are the worldly, there are false denominations, there are cults, there are new agers, there are atheists, and on the list could go.
Really, you think there weren’t “new agers” in the Bible days? You do realize that most of the New Age movement is going back to the paganism of the early centuries, right? We’re dealing with the exact same stuff they were. Atheists have existed almost from the beginning. We addressed the issue of false denominations in the religious division point above.
Can we honestly make this point after reading Acts 8:1-3? Sure, we have people who put up blogs against us. We have people that say mean and untrue things about us. But very few of us have been chased out of our home towns by our enemies. Here in America, I bet only a handful could even talk about any kind of physical persecution they’ve received. I like to talk about the time I was called by the police after following up on a wayward brother and sister, but that’s the closest I can come to talking about real physical persecution. Do you know anyone that was beaten for their faith? Anyone that was killed for it?
Sure, we have enemies today and they are vicious in their attacks. But we don’t have so many enemies who are being so harsh that we can’t have the success they did. They had just as many harsh, mean enemies, if not more and they still grew. So can we.
Let’s keep getting rid of our excuses. Let’s keep remembering that God is on our side. He is working through us, so we can’t lose. But that is only true if we’ll rely on Him. He worked through the Jerusalem Christians. He worked through the Antioch Christians. He can work through us.
(Be back next Thursday for our continued look at Jerusalem’s success and how we can pursue it.)
This week, I have to offer an apology. I guess I thought my 10-year-old son wouldn’t get around to reading my blog ever and so last week wasn’t too worried about using our great moment as an example. I’m still thankful for the example we got to share, but I apparently embarrassed my son. I don’t ever want to do that.
So, I encourage you to learn from my mistake and be really, really careful when you use your family as an example. The best bet is to get permission first.
Anyway, to Ethan:
Thank you for reading my blog.
Thank you for being willing to share your emotions with me.
I’m sorry for embarrassing you. I hope you can forgive me.