Today at Arborlawn United Methodist Church, Reverend Ben Disney spoke about the story of Elijah and the widow that is recorded in I Kings 17: 8-16. The story tells us that Elijah was sent to a certain city where God told him a widow had been appointed to take care of him during the drought. The story does not seem to imply that the widow herself knew that she had been chosen for this task. Especially since, when Elijah found her and asked her to make him some bread, she replied that she could not, since she had only enough oil and flour to make a last meal for herself and her son, and then they would prepare to die. Elijah's response? "Fear not." He tells her to make the bread for him first, and God would make sure that there was enough to make bread until the drought ended.
In the Scriptures, "Fear not" always comes just before something truly terrifying. But, if we turn to fear, we won't be able to receive the blessings that God wants to give us in the face of that terror. Whenever God offeres you a blessing, fear is the only thing that can rob you of it.
The widow in this passage would have starved with her son if she had given in to fear.
The Hebrew slaves fleeing Pharoah's army would have perished if they had not trusted God's provision of the way through the Jordan.
And if Mary and Joseph had given in to their fears. where would the world be? Christ's own earthly family had a choice. Let the nations rejoice today that they chose blessings over fear.
It seems that there are so many things to fear today: a cratering economy that seems painfully slow to rebound, a global war on terror that seems to claim almost as many lives as it saves, and a political climate that seems to feed on mudslinging, name-calling, and blaiming the other guy.
And this pervasive fear in the secular world seems to be infesting the church as well. We are afraid of those who think and worship differently than we do. We are afraid of allowing God to work in ways we do not understand. We are afraid of being wrong, so we scream at the top of our lungs that we are right.
What kind of amazing revelation of grace could we begin if we let go of our fears and embraced the blessings that God always wants to provide through the frightening moment?
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Usually, wild animals' response to humans is either to run away or to become aggressive. Both are protection measures taken in response to fear. The animal does this because it does not understand the human, and instinct tells it to protect.
ReplyDeleteHumans tend to act in a similar fashion, and Christians are not immune to this behavior that is "of the world". When people do not understand other people, they tend to get self-righteous as a defense mechanism. They may speak with authority in their beliefs and use it to lift themself up by condemning another, when all they're doing is responding to their offended pride and self-righteous nature. All to often, Christians respond in this manner. This behavior circumvents Christ's love, thus serving the enemy instead.
The modern church is a complete backward version of the church Paul set-up in the New Testament. Christians were not taught to scour scriptures and defend their doctrines. They didn't even have a New Testament yet. Instead, they were each used in their meetings by Jesus, so that Jesus could direct each church meeting in love and use each person to teach every other person in attendance. It was all about relationship, whereas today, it's all about man-made tradition and institution.
In the New Testament church, no one was higher than anyone else. The pastor was a church planter and missionary, not a leader that controlled in what direction the church would go and preach a sermon each weak.
Back then, Christians actually got to be used by Jesus each week, which encouraged relationship with Him and others. This also allowed each person to be a functioning limb of the body of Christ, as intended by Paul. Christ led, not man. The more research I do into this, the more man's twisted traditions come into view, showing how far the church has gone astray.
Faith and fear are opposites. If one has faith, they do not fear, because they trust the Lord to protect them. If one has fear, they do not have faith that the Lord will protect them. The church needs to operate in faith instead of fear. In doing so, many of its problems would disappear.
Christ's message is of love and acceptance, not condemnation. Yet, the church operates in the latter out of fear and self-centeredness. If we were being used by Christ each week like the First-Century church, I doubt we'd have that problem nearly as much today, and far more people would view Christians as loving and welcoming rather than condemning and controlling.
It sounds like an interesting sermon, Leslie. I think I will enjoy reading your blog.. I am going to attempt to leave a thought-out, coherent comment here.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I want to politely disagree with Brian on a few points. First, Jesus Himself was constantly referring to OT scriptures in his teachings throughout the gospels. In turn, once the Apostles had received the Holy Spirit (after Jesus returned to Heaven), their teachings were peppered with references to OT scriptures as well. This is our example as Christians how to live and how to teach, no? So as a Christian, I am, in fact called to know what the Bible (OT and NT) says.. how it applies to truth (not my church's doctrine or any Church's positions) and how God is directing us, as believers , to live. As a Christian, I am told that ALL scripture is God breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Tim 3:16). Even the passages that are controversial and/or uncomfortable.
Secondly, I need to argue that Jesus' message was of repentance (of sins) and faith in Him (God). (Mark 1:15). Jesus also plainly talked about His work on earth being to do the will of God, who sent him (John 4:34). Scripture clearly states that God is Love (1 John) but we can't lose sight of the fact that our sin separates us from God (andh is love) and we can only be saved by the work Jesus did on the cross. I think that message is in fact lost by many churches out there today.
People need a savior and they need to know what it is they're being saved from.
As for condemnation and judgement, Jesus talked about that in Matthew 7:1-5. His words are weighty. Do some churches need a good review of Matthew 7 as well as the entire book of James? I'll drink to that (myself included). I will whole-heartedly agree with you that a lot of Church dogma/doctrine is created based on fear. It's no good. I'm right there with you.. But I think believers need to also remember that we are called to keep one another accountable in a godly manner (gently). We also need to remember (myself included) that God is the judge of our hearts. Even when I think someone is acting out of selfishness, ignorance or fear, I need to be aware of the plank in my eye before I go about trying to remove their speck.. It's so easy for my pride to get the better of me in these discussions so I apologize if I have come across as judgmental or as "churchy". I strive to be neither. I just want to know God and His word, to bring him honor and glory during my time on this earth.
Praise God that He is faithful. Thank God he will draw near to us when we draw near to Him. Thank you Jesus that your word says that if our hearts are truly seeing you, that you will find us. May your blog do exactly these things, my friend Leslie.
In response to April, I must apologize if I did not convey my thoughts properly. And after rereading the broad terms of my post, I can see how it could be easily misinterpreted.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to state that I was not making an attack on the church by any means. I, too, am a fellow Christian. I was simply conveying that historical documentation, both Biblical and extra-Biblical, show that the First-Century church meeting was far different than what we have today (for the purpose of showing one reason Christians struggle harder nowadays in their relationship with Christ). I'll explain.
In the First-Century church, the meeting which we today call a "church service" started at sun-down on Saturday, because the Jews saw the new day as starting at sundown. At this point, the Christians would gather in homes, of which is was common to have a large open court are in the middle of the home, very hospitible for a party. When a Christian walked in, he or she would immediately be hit with an atmosphere of celebration, because each meeting was a party.
The Christian would enter into an atmosphere filled with the melody of pan flutes, tamborines, other insturments and singing. People were celebrating and having a wonderful time. If you have ever seen a Jewish party, that party would be similar to the atmosphere at the beginning of one of their "church services".
Once everyone arrived with the food they had brought, everyone would sit down for a "family" meal in the style of the last supper. Words of joy at Jesus' sacrifice would be given and bread would be broken and passed around as Jesus ask: "Do this often in rememberance of Me." At the end of the meal, the wine cup would be passed around, again, commemorating Jesus' last supper.
After the meal, an elder would stand and read scripture, usually a Psalm, from the Old Testament, or he would read a letter from an apostle to a specific church, such as Paul's letters to the Corinthian or Thessalonian church.
Once this was finished, the floor was opened up to everyone to function as a member, or limb, of the Body of Christ. Paul said that when they gathered, each brought a psalm. He spoke of each person having a gift and being used in the Body of Christ. Historical records, both Christian and secular, describe this, as well. Each person would either share a song, give a word of wisdom, speak a prophecy over someone's life (usually a new-comer that may not have been saved yet) or maybe share what God had taught them throughout the week. This portion of the meeting would have some symbolance of a modern-day home Bible study, but without the direction of a topic of discussion. In other words, God would move in each person to share His love, guidance and wisdom with each and everyone of the people present. This would continue until God stopped laying His words, wisdom and songs on people's hearts to express.
That is how a New Testament group of believers functioned in the First-Century church.
I did not intent to attack my fellow Christians in any way. I was simply explaining that in the past, we all were used by God in celebration of Jesus' sacrifice which took place in living rooms in a circle where everyone was functioning as a "king and priest" under Jesus' guidance. Now, we meet in a building with all chairs facing a pastor whom dominates the meeting. No one human controlled the church in the First-Century; Jesus controlled it through each believer. We didn't have all of these different denominations. It was just one big happy family built on relationship with God and one another. That's what I meant by the church doing things backward from the New Testament church. I was speaking strictly from historical fact to show how different things are nowadays in order to show a partial cause as to why Christians have a tough time today with their relationship with Christ. They're no longer being utilized weekly like they were before.
ReplyDeleteMany people sit in church every week and haven't really given their lives to Christ. And many of those whom are saved are wanting to be used far more, because they don't feel like they're fulfilling God's purpose in their lives. I know that's how I've always felt in church.
In reference to your comment about the Old Testament being used. I did not intend to imply that the Old Testament was not used. Rather, I meant to imply that even though they read from the Old Testament, the church was not putting a huge focus on learning its denomination's doctrins and then defending those doctrines in selfrighteousness. There was no denomination - only unity in Christ. And because those people understood Christ love, both in the Old Testament, in the modern day and in their lives, they were much more considerate of the world, working to love, accept and help them in hopes of winning them over in Christ.
I was addressing church division and the fear of Christians, both of which may not be nearly as present and problematic if we were being used like Christ daily and weekly when we came together to celebrate His victory over our enemy.
I sincerely apologize for not conveying this properly. I hope I didn't offend or mislead anyone.
No offense on this end of the world. I enjoy the dialogue.
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