Home
We latch onto those scriptures that speak of freedom. We interpret them as broadly as our imaginations will allow. We love the passages that tell us that we are not under law. And again, we want to interpret these passages very broadly. We don't want rules. But aren't there rules in Christianity? Hasn't God given Christians a law to obey?
Let's look at a few passages.
Rom 6:14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.Here Paul came right out and said we are not under law. But throughout Romans 6 and 7, Paul repeatedly urged Christians not to continue to sin. He explained how law causes us to be tempted to sin. Yet, although being set free from the law, we are still called to obey and not to sin.
But consider a couple of Paul's other letters:
1Co 9:21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law.In the above two passages, Paul indicates that there is another law, the Law of Christ, which governs Christians. Apparently Romans 6:14 referred to a specific law that is no longer in effect (of course, the Law of Moses). But there remains another law in effect for Christians.
Gal 6:2 Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
Let's see what more we can learn about that law.
Gal 5:13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.Gal 5 tells us that the law is summed up in the command to love our neighbor. This is very much like what Jesus said about the Mosaic Law in Matt 22:37-40. Paul did not mention the need to love God in Galatians 5:13-14. Of course we would not therefore conclude that loving God is no longer important! We should take Gal 5:13-14 in the same manner that a Jew would have taken Jesus' words in Matthew -- not as a substitute for everything else in the inspired scriptures, but as a generalization of the other commands.
Gal 5:14 The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
Now lets' look at one of the early teachings of Jesus:
Mat 7:21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.Jesus was wrapping up the Sermon on the Mount, a sermon in which he had presented many challenging teachings. The theme of this sermon seems to be that God wants us to have pure hearts, not just pure actions. But in verse 23, during final judgment, we learn that Jesus will tell many people to depart from him, because they were "workers of lawlessness." They had called Jesus Lord, but they had lived as though he had not given them a law to obey. And that failure cost them their souls.
Mat 7:22 On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?'
Mat 7:23 And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'
So, there is a law for Christians, a standard of God's will for us to follow, what Jesus called the "will of my father". But what makes up that law? Surely, at a minimum, it included the teachings Jesus had been presenting in that sermon. In this early sermon Jesus was laying the foundation for a new law, the Law of Christ. As he said in the parable at the end of the sermon, those who heard this law and did not put it into practice were foolish builders. What they had built would be destroyed, because they did not do the will of the Father. God would tell them to depart, because they practiced lawlessness -- they neglected the Law of Christ.
Jeremiah prophesied about this law:
Jer 31:31 "Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,The new covenant would be a law written on people's hearts. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was introducing this new law -- a law that called on us, not only to refrain from adultery, but also from lust; not only from murder; but from anger. It is a law that addresses the heart, not merely external behavior. The new law sets us free from the external regulations of the first law. But it establishes a higher standard -- a law of the heart. Despite the fact that this new law addresses the inner being, obeying that law of the heart will still have visible external effects. And living as though Jesus had not given that law will cost many people their souls.
Jer 31:32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.
Jer 31:33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Jer 31:34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."
There is an element in modern Christianity which does not like the Law of Christ. They focus instead on freedom and grace. They love having Jesus as Savior, but not so much as Lord. For them, everything is optional. Their rallying cry is "Freedom in Christ," but they do not understand that freedom. Christ does indeed bring freedom, but freedom from what? That will be the topic of the next post. Links to this post
This summer is bringing two opportunities for members of the various streams of the Restoration Movement to come together in the interest of greater unity.
Earlier this month, the eleventh Stone-Campbell Dialogue was held in St Louis. I have not been able to find a detailed account of the event online, but there is a brief article about it at disciples.org (a web site of the Disciples of Christ). The same article appears at christianstandard.com (a journal of the independent Christian churches).
And starting July 30, the World Convention will be held in Nashville, TN. This will be the seventeenth meeting of this conference, which is held every four years. Past conferences have been scheduled all over the world, so having it in Nashville this time presents an unusual opportunity for the many churches of Christ in the southeastern US. I hope that many can advantage of the opportunity.
It is a shame that these conferences are not more prominently advertised. I'm sure there are many people in these churches who are not aware, and will not be aware of the conference. I suspect that at least part of the reason is an ambivalence (or worse) among some of these churches toward unity efforts with the other Restoration Movement branches. I would urge any who fall in that category to consider Eph 4:1-4, to rise above the disagreements, and to make every effort to promote unity. Nobody is asking any of us to abandon our convictions on the topics where there is disagreement. But surely we can come together with clear consciences to discuss areas of agreement.
Links to this post
http://christianunityblog.net/
The old URL should still work:
http://rouses.net/blog/
but I'm sure all of you will want to use the super-cool shiny new one! ;-)
Please let me know if you notice anything that is broken as a result of this change! Links to this post
I am not very fond of this point of view, nor of all the attention it is gathering. It certainly is at variance with the traditional view held for nearly 2000 years. Regardless, in my opinion all the attention on these things distracts from the core gospel message of repentance and forgiveness of sins. Focusing on theories about the redemption of the physical world leads to conclusions about environmentalism, conservation, and politics, all heavily influenced by the philosophies of our modern world. These theories are at best questionable inferences from scripture. I believe they distract from the core gospel message. Time spent talking about those things is time not spent dealing with our own sin and repentance and our own relationships with God.
Why did Jesus come into the world? In His own words:
Luk 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.
Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.The apostle Paul said the same thing:
Joh 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
1Ti 1:15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst.What was the message Jesus called the twelve to preach?
Luk 24:46 He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,And what is the message the apostles preached?
Luk 24:47 and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
1Co 15:1 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.We don't see the apostles preaching a gospel of environmentalism, nor of conservation, nor of popular political agendas. Their message was to call individual people to be reconciled to God.
1Co 15:2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
1Co 15:3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
1Co 15:4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
1Co 15:5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.
1Co 15:6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.
1Co 15:7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,
1Co 15:8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
1Co 15:9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
1Co 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.
1Co 15:11 Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
There are many things we just don't know about the second coming, the new heaven, the new earth, and the destruction (or not) of this present world. God has given us only a metaphorical picture of these things. I don't object to people having theories about the specifics, but we need to admit that we really don't know. Whatever form that takes, I'm going to go along with it! In the meantime, our focus needs to be on getting ourselves, and those around us, reconciled to God, and growing in the Christian virtues. God has revealed clearly that those are the primary matters we should be concerned about in this life. Links to this post
I do not subscribe to the GA and I am not aware of a place to read the alleged article online. But I'm concerned enough about the need for unity that I have devoted my blog to the subject. So I am naturally concerned about published efforts to keep people from meeting to make progress toward unity.
I cannot comment directly on the article since I have not seen it. But I will comment on the following quote from Jay's blog:
[T]he Gospel Advocate does not support or endorse the ecumenical meeting featuring both men and women speakers, instrumental worship, and other forms of apostasy.It's well known by long time readers of my blog that I do not believe the opposition to instrumental music is justifiable from scripture. Yet I do believe that the scriptures place limits on the role of women, including that women are prohibited from addressing the church in the general assembly. So someone might wonder what I think of the Nashville assembly, where proceedings will not necessarily always conform to my convictions.
I've blogged on this topic before. I believe there are some core issues on which Chrisitans must agree. Those issues involve the basic gospel facts about Jesus, including repentance, forgiveness of sins, and submission to Jesus as Lord. Things like the role of women, instrumental music, and the like are not core gospel issues. We obviously do have different views on those subjects, but those issues must not separate Christians. We should accept one another based on the core gospel.
Although I have strong convictions against women preaching to a mixed audience, I do not believe I would be sinning if I attended an assembly where that occurred. Similarly, I don't believe someone with convictions against instrumental music would be in sin if they attended an instrumental service. The woman who preaches, or the one playing the instrument, would be the one in sin, if anyone. But for me, attending such a service, I would be obligated by Romans 14:22 to keep my objections to myself. Unity among Christians is a higher principle.
Perhaps the GA is concerned that people sharing their convictions on such subjects might be exposed to an alternate point of view, and might be influenced to change their convictions. Perhaps therefore they seek to prevent that influence by urging people not to meet to talk about unity. Perhaps instead, they should listen to Jesus' prayer for unity, and to Paul's admonition to make every effort. Perhaps they need to return to what is most important.
Everyone whom God has adopted as a son is my brother. No man can change that. May God bless every effort to remove the walls that men have built to divide His children. Links to this post
Sixteen tons, and what do you get?
Another day older, and deeper in debt!
St. Peter, don't you call me, 'cause I can't go--
I owe my soul to the company store!
I may be the first person ever to use Joe Versus the Volcano to teach a spiritual principle to the church. Or maybe not.
Recently our congregation held a "family meeting" on a Saturday morning to discuss a laundry list of topics about how the church is doing and what each of us can do to help us improve. My part in that presentation was to talk about the financial health of the church. Since the church is comprised of all the individual members combined together, a discussion of our financial health necessarily involved a discussion of the financial health of our members.
We live in a nation that is addicted to debt. And our members are representative of that community. We are a congregation of a couple hundred members, still renting facilities for Sunday and midweek services. And we are not close to being able to buy or build a facility of our own -- in large part because of our personal indebtedness. I just can't see borrowing $30,000 per household to buy a building. Many of our members already have more debt than is healthy. As the Proverb says,
Pro 22:7 The rich rule over the poor,
and the borrower is servant to the lender
Which brings me to the introduction to Joe Versus the Volcano, and the "16 Tons" song. Like the singer, many Americans are over their heads in debt. Like Joe (Tom Hanks), they work day in and day out without hope of escaping from the prison they have built for themselves. They feel like victims and they feel helpless.
In truth, they are neither. It is within each family's power to make a decision to change their lifestyles so they can get out of debt.
Our congregation is working to encourage and to enable our members to break the addiction to debt. Until our members are free from their servitude to their multiple lenders, that will be a weight that pulls down the church from its full potential. It is a spiritual problem and it must be addressed. (We are looking into using Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University program to help our members get out of debt.)Sure, God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and he can provide us whatever we need whenever he pleases. But if we are not being good managers of what he has already given us, why would he give us more?
The movie clip was a light-hearted way of getting across a point: There is no joy in being enslaved by debt. Even the smallest joys that spring up (like the little white flower in the movie) get crushed by the relentlessness of the debt. While the congregation laughed at the song and the comic visual image of the movie, they got the point. A lot of them could relate to Joe.
Using movie clips like that can be an effective way of drawing people into the message and helping them to connect. To do so legally, a church has to buy a license. Prices are quite reasonable. Our congregation has purchased such a license, and we intend to make good use of it over the next year. If your church is using videos such as this, or plans to do so, please take the time to get legal first!
Does it draw lines between churches? No. While various churches decided not to participate for a variety of reasons, it does not influence our fellowship patterns here in San Antonio. We invite speakers here from ‘signer churches’ and ‘non-signer’ churches. I have been invited to visit ‘signer’ and ‘non-signer’ churches. It does not, nor should it ever determine with whom we fellowship. The Bible does that.From the first time I discussed the UPC with Mike, I have understood that to be his perspective on the plan. I appreciate very much that he has stated it so clearly and so publicly.
I blog about unity because I care deeply about it. I care about it because I am convinced that Jesus cares about it. Ironically, my eagerness to promote unity was a significant factor in my unwillingness to "sign" the UPC. I want to see unity extending far beyond the boundaries of the former ICOC, to all those God has adopted as his sons and daughters. To me, it seems that the UPC might make that more difficult, since many congregations of baptized believers in the churches of Christ and independent Christian churches might be reluctant to sign such an agreement. On the other hand, the fact that many of the ICOC congregations have signed does not cause me to have any less desire for unity with them. I want to be unified with all my brothers and sisters in Christ.
I also recognize that people I love and respect have disagreed with my view on the UPC. That's ok. It's not a rare thing for me to disagree with those I love on some topic (just ask my wife!) But that doesn't cause me to love less, and it absolutely doesn't cause me to want to separate from those with whom I disagree, because love transcends those disagreements.
I wrote Mike a couple of days ago thanking him for his article. I understand that he has received numerous other appreciative comments from signers as well as non-signers. It seems to me that these churches are increasingly ready to accept one another without passing judgment over disputable matters. I'm very encouraged by this growth in our love and respect for one another. And I think Jesus must be pleased to see this small step toward fulfillment of his prayer in John 17.
Labels: ICOC
Links to this post
