This was written by an elder in our church and I thought it was an excellent article-Enjoy
Tyris Horton Sr.
Author: Jim Elliff
Let me tell you why church discipline is important to me.
A number of years ago my minister father left my mother after an adulterous affair with his secretary. I’m telling this story with his permission. My father is now 90 years old.
This turn of events jarred us. We’ve not seen divorce often in our extended family. All of us are believers, and most of us are in the ministry, for four generations. While my father was working as a denominational executive, he began to counsel his secretary about her marriage. She found in him what she could not find in her husband. Soon, compromises entered in and adultery followed. My father did what he had often told us never to do—counsel someone of the opposite sex in a closed room. What seemed impossible to him and to us actually happened. And it happened within months of his retirement.
The four children gathered, from long distances, at my parent’s home to beg for dad’s repentance. He appeared to repent at that time, but soon backed away from it. Like Lot’s wife, his heart was gone, even though, by his own admission, there was nothing on my mother’s part to cause his sin. He did not turn around. Rather, he divorced my mother, married his secretary, and moved to another city. His retirement years, which at one time were going to be filled with ministerial activity and travel, were now an impossible dream.
Then came my mother’s death, just two years later. She died of Alzheimer’s disease, the effects of which were not noticeable until after the divorce. She had remained godly, fervent in her prayers for her former husband, and amazingly forgiving. But, to put it mildly, she was devastated, never before imagining that this could possibly happen to her.
Before she died, father truly repented. With tears of anguish over his actions, he asked the family’s forgiveness. He even came to the bedside of my mother to speak with her prior to her death. But the damage was done. He had lost his job, his reputation, his confidence, his family’s respect, his future ministry, his joy, and even the assurance of his own salvation. He had been a fool.
We are now twenty-two years beyond that awful period of time. Thankfully, Dad has been restored to Christian vitality, though with scars. His repentance was real and lasting. He has attempted to help others avoid the sinful actions of his past. Recently, as an old man, he stood before the Baptist pastors of one of our states and said that “he was a testimony of failure in the ministry.” But he also spoke of God’s remarkable grace. He spoke on this subject as well at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas, where he had been a student. (Hear his story here)
Just this last year the four children took my father on the trip of his life. We traveled to ten small towns to visit all the memorable places of his childhood. We went to the place of his conversion, his call to preach, and his first church. This was a trip that none of us will ever forget. We laughed and cried, took pictures, and told stories all the way.
One day we drove down the dirt road to the quiet, secluded cemetery where my mother was buried, several miles outside of that familiar southern town where she grew up. This was the first time my father had seen the grave. He had refused to be disruptive by going to her funeral twenty-two years earlier. As we approached the grave, his body convulsed with tears as he clung to us. “How could I have done what I did to such a sweet person?” he cried. It was an agonizing, but cathartic moment for us all.
Why have I told this personal story? At the time of the affair, our family had attempted to convince the pastor of his church, one of the most prominent churches in the large city where my parents lived, to practice church discipline on my father. We had hoped that, at that vulnerable period, he would listen and repent if the church lovingly exercised this restorative biblical practice. They refused. I’m sure it was because they were not accustomed to such action and also because of the stature of my father in the church and community.
When we were in the car after that experience at the cemetery, I asked my father this question: “Dad, we tried to get your church to discipline you when you committed adultery. They would not do it. Do you think it would have stopped you from leaving mother if they had?”
Dad, who always takes the blame for his sin himself and would not let anyone else share in it, nonetheless, very humbly admitted, “I think it would have.”
Now, let me ask you, was the church where my parents attended loving my father by refusing to discipline him? Were they being gracious and kind? Were they doing what was best for him?
More that that, was the church loving God when they did not discipline my father? Were they following the Head of the church, Jesus Christ? Were they helping other families? Were they helping the believers throughout the city? Were they instructing younger children and youth in their church in the way of holiness and the sanctity of marriage?
What is the truth here? The truth is, church discipline is the most benevolent action that can ever be taken toward an erring church member, and when it is not done, it is flagrant disobedience toward God.
Restoring Those Who Fall
Let me be practical about an important matter. You need to have a comprehensive discipline statement for your church. We have a church discipline statement that may be adopted, or adapted for your use. It is called Restoring Those Who Fall, and it is the church discipline statement that I helped to write along with one of the pastors of the church I serve. The two of us were the first pastors of the church.
I have been involved in writing several statements like this in the past, but this is the clearest and most usable presentation of this doctrine I have had the privilege to work on. Since other churches through the years have asked for this statement we decided to put it in a book called Our Church on Solid Ground. We are not publishing that book presently, but will soon offer this discipline statement, now revised, as a small booklet. Dr. Jay Adams put the first writing of this statement in his Journal of Modern Ministry making it even more accessible to leaders. FIEL Ministries of Brazil distributed 22,000 copies of this statement to pastors and leaders in a small booklet for Portuguese-speaking people also.
I do not want to presume that all of you will find our statement the best for you. However, if you cannot find a better statement, or cannot write your own, you may consider accepting this as your discipline plan.
Let me suggest that you obtain copies of this booklet when they become available for your leaders. Or, you may download the statement in electronic form found on this site. Take them carefully through each line, looking up Scriptures and talking through the implications and strategy your church will take when sin enters the fellowship. Then you might consider taking the men as a whole through a period of study on church discipline, using the statement. Finally, it could be presented to all of the members. Then, according to the way your church makes decisions, the statement could be adopted as your church discipline policy.
We have found it helpful to have all incoming members read the discipline statement. We even include these words in our church membership agreement (church covenant):
I will submit to the church’s discipline upon myself and lovingly assume my responsibility to participate in the discipline of other members, as taught in Scripture.[1]
You can understand my burden for restoring this practice. If you love people and love God, you will do it. If you neglect church discipline you will be disobeying the Head of the church, Jesus Christ, who commanded that you do it.
Restoring Those Who Fall, a church discipline statement, may be ordered from CCW for inexpensive bulk rates. The publication date for this booklet will be announced soon on this site. An electronic copy of Restoring Those Who Fall may be found online at www.CCWtoday.org or www.ChristFellowshipKC.org.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Saturday, July 19, 2008
The Relinquishing of Sound Doctrine
The Deceiver (2 John 1:7-9)7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. 8 Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward. 9 Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.
The True Doctrine 1 (John 7:14-36)14 Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught. 15 And the Jews marveled, saying, “How does this Man know letters, having never studied?” 16 Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. 17 If anyone wants to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. 18 He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.
At a time in my walk with the Shepherd and Overseer of my soul I could not tell you nor did I care what sound doctrine was all about. Sound Doctrine may be mentioned in the typical charismatic or seeker sensitive churches but not thoroughly examined. You may ask, “What is Sound Doctrine and how detrimental to the Body of Christ is it?” Pastor John E. Coleman personally interviewed Frederick Price. Mr. Price would tell you that, “Doctrine is what screwed up the Church in the first place” Is this true? Unlike some of the popular professing Christians, I will hold fast to God’s infallible Word and say no.
True Doctrine 2 (1 Timothy 4:6-16)6 If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed.
I will not make any assumptions in defining sound doctrine, to some it may be apparent, and to others it may not. What is sound doctrine? Biblically speaking sound is defined as following a systematic pattern without any defect in logic or in other words the Bible must be harmonious within itself. Now that definition in and of itself just cancelled out the majority of the televangelist that you have become accustomed to listening to on TBN, Daystar, and a slew of other heretical so called Christian stations. There are a few sound preachers that air on these stations; maybe a small percentage but that would be pushing it.
Doctrine is something that is taught or a group of collective teachings, also defined as a rule or principle of law, especially when established by precedent. The Bible itself is sound doctrine. This is why Paul mentioned at least five times in the books of Timothy and Titus to adhere to sound doctrine. Paul without a shadow of a doubt understood that ravenous wolves would come in and distort the truth and Paul wrote about this in the book of Galatians. If Apostle Paul was so tenacious about this one thing why do we sit back in the church and act as if it is no issue.
Do you recall when you were a teenager or little kid and someone had the temerity to talk about your mother or father? At the drop of a hat we were ready to defend the name of our parents and some of your will even do this now. Should we not be this zealous for the Lord? I am somewhat ashamed at how Christians avoid opportunities to witness for the Lord because they do not want to be called controversial or rebellious. I would not encourage those traits but think for a minute…. Are we not called out from the world? Aren’t we supposed to be ambassadors in a foreign land? Then why are we so concerned about being everyone’s friend verses giving the people what they need and that is truth. I like most of you, wrestle with my flesh and sometimes-really most of the time doing what is righteous does not feel good on the outside. It is almost as if the majority of the things that are good for you end up being the most difficult.
Isn’t it our God given duty to defend the Faith that Christ our Savior died for? How about when we hear about charlatans who say they have been to Heaven or Hell and back and we ignorantly do not contest their claims even though they contradict scripture. What is the difference between Jesse Duplantis and Joseph Smith or Creflo Dollar and Charles Taze Russell? There is none because they all veer a mile away from the orthodox foundational teachings that were laid by Christ and the Apostles. All heresy streams from extra-Biblical emotional subjective experiences.
As I write this article you know and I know that America’s Christianity(or the typical church-of course their are exceptions) is as shallow as Joel Osteen’s theology. We have been duped!!! Here is the test of legitimacy. A great preacher named Paul Washer once said, “Have Joel Osteen, T. D. Jakes, or any other prosperity preachers go to the jungles of Peru like I do and try preaching that prosperity mess and see what happens.” The truth is that we know that these so called preachers do not preach the whole counsel of God; would that not be defined as a lie? When bringing forth the Gospel of Jesus Christ we must understand that God is totally sovereign and the truth of the Gospel is something supernatural that totally supersedes all socioeconomic hang-ups in our culture. Some of us choose our churches based on the style of music instead of the accuracy of the Gospel being preached. The majority of the Gospel music we hear today is based on God doing something for us instead of pointing us to our depravity and total dependence on the Holy Spirit and the washing of the Word to continue what God started in us. We are to speak as Paul did.
(Acts 20:27)For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.
With all the television shows that desensitize us to the reality of our sin and our total depravity, we have lost sight of the holiness of our Righteous God. How can we sit in our seats at the theater and laugh at the very things that God hates? Are we not to love the things that God loves and hate what He hates? All the things that I am mentioning come from a contorted view of the importance of adhering to sound doctrine. We don’t ask questions like, “What does the Lord think about this?” The charlatans in the pulpit have set our affections on the things of this world rather than on spiritual things of eternal significance. Honestly all the blame cannot be put on the shallow preaching, for they do exactly what scripture says they will do. This can be attributed to people wanting to have their ears tickled and just plain not wanting to hear the truth of the Gospel. Do we really believe what Peter repeated to us from the book of Isaiah?
Examine Yourself (1 Peter 1:24-25)24 For, “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25 but the word of the Lord stands forever
Please thoroughly examine yourselves to see if you are really in the Faith as Paul warns us to do in II Corinthians 13:5. Listen, we spend all life doing everything else and investing time in temporal things. Take a week or longer and examine if you are a true Christian. Separate yourself from the carnal things of this world for a minute and read 1 John to see where your affections are set. This is so much more than saying a sinner’s prayer at the altar, which is not Biblical anyway. Read Matthew 24 & 25 this confirms that this is more than tongue aerobics or an emotional frenzy. The reality of eternity may be closer than we think.
The True Doctrine 1 (John 7:14-36)14 Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught. 15 And the Jews marveled, saying, “How does this Man know letters, having never studied?” 16 Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. 17 If anyone wants to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. 18 He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.
At a time in my walk with the Shepherd and Overseer of my soul I could not tell you nor did I care what sound doctrine was all about. Sound Doctrine may be mentioned in the typical charismatic or seeker sensitive churches but not thoroughly examined. You may ask, “What is Sound Doctrine and how detrimental to the Body of Christ is it?” Pastor John E. Coleman personally interviewed Frederick Price. Mr. Price would tell you that, “Doctrine is what screwed up the Church in the first place” Is this true? Unlike some of the popular professing Christians, I will hold fast to God’s infallible Word and say no.
True Doctrine 2 (1 Timothy 4:6-16)6 If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed.
I will not make any assumptions in defining sound doctrine, to some it may be apparent, and to others it may not. What is sound doctrine? Biblically speaking sound is defined as following a systematic pattern without any defect in logic or in other words the Bible must be harmonious within itself. Now that definition in and of itself just cancelled out the majority of the televangelist that you have become accustomed to listening to on TBN, Daystar, and a slew of other heretical so called Christian stations. There are a few sound preachers that air on these stations; maybe a small percentage but that would be pushing it.
Doctrine is something that is taught or a group of collective teachings, also defined as a rule or principle of law, especially when established by precedent. The Bible itself is sound doctrine. This is why Paul mentioned at least five times in the books of Timothy and Titus to adhere to sound doctrine. Paul without a shadow of a doubt understood that ravenous wolves would come in and distort the truth and Paul wrote about this in the book of Galatians. If Apostle Paul was so tenacious about this one thing why do we sit back in the church and act as if it is no issue.
Do you recall when you were a teenager or little kid and someone had the temerity to talk about your mother or father? At the drop of a hat we were ready to defend the name of our parents and some of your will even do this now. Should we not be this zealous for the Lord? I am somewhat ashamed at how Christians avoid opportunities to witness for the Lord because they do not want to be called controversial or rebellious. I would not encourage those traits but think for a minute…. Are we not called out from the world? Aren’t we supposed to be ambassadors in a foreign land? Then why are we so concerned about being everyone’s friend verses giving the people what they need and that is truth. I like most of you, wrestle with my flesh and sometimes-really most of the time doing what is righteous does not feel good on the outside. It is almost as if the majority of the things that are good for you end up being the most difficult.
Isn’t it our God given duty to defend the Faith that Christ our Savior died for? How about when we hear about charlatans who say they have been to Heaven or Hell and back and we ignorantly do not contest their claims even though they contradict scripture. What is the difference between Jesse Duplantis and Joseph Smith or Creflo Dollar and Charles Taze Russell? There is none because they all veer a mile away from the orthodox foundational teachings that were laid by Christ and the Apostles. All heresy streams from extra-Biblical emotional subjective experiences.
As I write this article you know and I know that America’s Christianity(or the typical church-of course their are exceptions) is as shallow as Joel Osteen’s theology. We have been duped!!! Here is the test of legitimacy. A great preacher named Paul Washer once said, “Have Joel Osteen, T. D. Jakes, or any other prosperity preachers go to the jungles of Peru like I do and try preaching that prosperity mess and see what happens.” The truth is that we know that these so called preachers do not preach the whole counsel of God; would that not be defined as a lie? When bringing forth the Gospel of Jesus Christ we must understand that God is totally sovereign and the truth of the Gospel is something supernatural that totally supersedes all socioeconomic hang-ups in our culture. Some of us choose our churches based on the style of music instead of the accuracy of the Gospel being preached. The majority of the Gospel music we hear today is based on God doing something for us instead of pointing us to our depravity and total dependence on the Holy Spirit and the washing of the Word to continue what God started in us. We are to speak as Paul did.
(Acts 20:27)For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.
With all the television shows that desensitize us to the reality of our sin and our total depravity, we have lost sight of the holiness of our Righteous God. How can we sit in our seats at the theater and laugh at the very things that God hates? Are we not to love the things that God loves and hate what He hates? All the things that I am mentioning come from a contorted view of the importance of adhering to sound doctrine. We don’t ask questions like, “What does the Lord think about this?” The charlatans in the pulpit have set our affections on the things of this world rather than on spiritual things of eternal significance. Honestly all the blame cannot be put on the shallow preaching, for they do exactly what scripture says they will do. This can be attributed to people wanting to have their ears tickled and just plain not wanting to hear the truth of the Gospel. Do we really believe what Peter repeated to us from the book of Isaiah?
Examine Yourself (1 Peter 1:24-25)24 For, “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25 but the word of the Lord stands forever
Please thoroughly examine yourselves to see if you are really in the Faith as Paul warns us to do in II Corinthians 13:5. Listen, we spend all life doing everything else and investing time in temporal things. Take a week or longer and examine if you are a true Christian. Separate yourself from the carnal things of this world for a minute and read 1 John to see where your affections are set. This is so much more than saying a sinner’s prayer at the altar, which is not Biblical anyway. Read Matthew 24 & 25 this confirms that this is more than tongue aerobics or an emotional frenzy. The reality of eternity may be closer than we think.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Fasten Your Theology:Engaging A Remnant Culture
Here in Kansas City, Missouri some families have decided to pack up and move from the suburbs to the “HOOD.” The church they attend is a church I could have easily been apart of but God saw it better for me to be a part of Christ Fellowship of KC. Some of the families at this church(Faith Community Church) have been living there for years. Jason Dawson who is a member at that church and fellow blogger lives in the Northeast part of KC with his family and others from his church have followed. (his blog is http://urbanreformation.com) We have heard of this at my church and have decided to do the same. Many at our church like myself have put their house on the market and this will be their next move God willing. I think this is an excellent sense of community that believers desire and even want to mimic when looking at the first century church. Jason wrote this article and I thought it was great! Enjoy!
Today started off innocent enough, we are preparing for our annual BYBC (Back Yard Bible Club) out of our home next week. One of the things I’ve noticed from living in the city for a few years now is the fact that when we moved down here, it was to bring Christ into this place. It was to bring light into darkness.
However one of the things that our flesh automatically does without our taking notice, is it has us in the same routines we used to do when we lived in the suburbs. In other words, we have not been engaged in the city like we should. We would often eat out in restaurants outside of the the North East, and do most of our shopping outside of the north east. I would go to work and come home. This is what most of America does, we live in these compartments of comfort and safety and we have been no different.
My family and I started the day off by considering these things, and making our way to Budd Park city pool not too far from our home, in order to be intentional. We have always managed to find the ability to swim outside of the city because often it’s been outside of what we know and our comfort zone. However today we went there with the intention of passing out flyer's for the back yard bible club next week. I was surprised when there were several there who seemed interested especially one Hispanic man and his son.
It was a small pool but the whole family enjoyed themselves and well I got a little too much sun. Regardless we were able to pass out several flyer's for the BYBC and we are hopeful some might come. May we continue to pray for the families we spoke to as well.
And then if I didn’t have enough I spoke with a friend of mine who’s in our shepherding group and he came over for dinner this evening. Things went very well at the pool so I asked him if he would go down to Independence Avenue with me. Little did I know what we would encounter as we went out to share Christ. We prayed and both of us having a conversation of this to be genuine sharing Christ and we desired that it not be just something wrote or disingenuous, but that the Holy Spirit would empower His people to share His Grace.
The first guy we ran into started speaking about terrestrials, and he was speaking to himself in the air before we got there. He spoke of uncloaking people. We did the best we could to speak to him but he was not receptive, we gave him a book Pursuing God—A Seeker’s Guide and just then another gentleman walked up to us probably late 20’s with a baseball cap, white guy with gold fronts. He was wanting to go “kick it” somewhere and just then Bobby mentioned that we are here to share the gospel with him. We let him speak for quite a while, it was a bi-polar conversation, and just as there was a crack for us to make our way in the bus came and he took off, yes with a book as well.
As we began to walk down the street slowly looking around finally we crossed, and there was a guy who we attempted to speak to, asking him “do you know who Jesus Christ is?” he replied, ” that’s a funny question because I think you know who I am” and then he walked off. We by this time were perplexed about our encounters.
Until we came down the block and as I prayed I was wondering if we’d encounter anyone who’s conscience wasn’t so seared by the things of this world so that they could hear a crying out for them to believe on Jesus Christ that they might be saved.
Right about this time we see this woman sitting right about where the back of this white car is now. We asked her simply, ” Did she know who Jesus was?” Almost in an instant her eyes welled up with tears. This poor haggard woman was probably in her early to mid 40’s. She had kind of colored reddish brown hair. She had one top tooth and her bottom teeth were black and crooked. She looked worn from drugs, abuse, possibly prostitution at some point.
Bobby and I weren’t prepared for the conversation that we had next. She said yes she knows who Jesus is, and she said that she believes in Jesus. I have counseled and spoken to dozens of addicts who say Jesus and then they love the world. This woman was different. I don’t have the conversation verbatim, however one of the first things she said is that, “God chooses people and he hasn’t chosen me.” She said she married a Christian man at the age of 33 and lived as a believer for 5 years, and gave her whole heart to God, but God would never free her from her addictions. She had heard countless stories and seen them of how people came into churches and were saved and then freed from their addiction but she’s cried and pleaded to God to free her, and she said all the immoral things I do, I’ve asked him to take it from me and he just won’t. If you could see the pain and agony in her tears, the worn face, and the tired and probably high countenance.
We had never encountered someone who had in a sense “right” doctrine and saw that in spite of her incessant crying out to God, she could not free herself, and He seemingly to her, would not help her. Bobby comforted her with these words, if you had to live in torment all the days of your life, and in agony, and pain, would your faith be worth it, is God whom you trust in? She insisted that she believes in God and that she will until the day she dies, but He has not chosen her, and so she’s given up. I tried to point her to the fact that as long as she has breath it’s not too late, and that even right now if God’s in control of everything, that us meeting her in that very moment was His purposed plan to call her back out of darkness into light.
Bobby had more words of comfort for her in the sense that he has experience with similar situations and to be truthful we were shown a glimpse of a perspective that we knew was out there but never had anticipated an articulation of theology from an addict on the streets. I pray that God will use this meeting with Donna to bring her to Himself, I’ve never seen anyone so seemingly desperate for God, and honest about it since I’ve been down here.
This was an encounter I will never forget. I’m sure Bobby won’t either, and it’s a wake up call to sitting, living compartmentally, socially detracted, and distracted from the movement of the Gospel to move men and women to engage the people around them.
We pray soon that we’ll make this a regular practice and we’ve picked out a starting point on Independence Avenue. For those of you that don’t know Independence Avenue is one of the most difficult places in Kansas City MO in regards to sin and crime. I’m still processing through everything that happened tonight so please forgive me if I’ve not articulated well, or that I leave any theological cliff hangers dangling because these are things that when they are on paper, and in the pages of books they can seem very comforting, and trustworthy but this increased God’s enormity in my life this evening in the sense that I am nothing before Him but an instrument. I hope an instrument that He might use to people to really engage people who are not like themselves.
For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.
For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. -1 Corinthians 9:16-23
If anyone knows me I don’t use this passage to justify being like the world but I view this passage as having to know and be engaged in peoples life, in their context for the genuine purpose, like Paul, to Share Christ with the lost.
So I charge all of you to pray for Donna, the lady we met this evening! And then I challenge all of you to look up, and see what we’re missing when it comes to lost souls!!!
The same savior that saved you desires for others to make disciples as an imperative in Mathew 28, in an authentic genuine way that will bring honor and Glory to His name.
If you’re interested in sharing Christ on Independence Avenue we will be doing it again next week starting here.
Today started off innocent enough, we are preparing for our annual BYBC (Back Yard Bible Club) out of our home next week. One of the things I’ve noticed from living in the city for a few years now is the fact that when we moved down here, it was to bring Christ into this place. It was to bring light into darkness.
However one of the things that our flesh automatically does without our taking notice, is it has us in the same routines we used to do when we lived in the suburbs. In other words, we have not been engaged in the city like we should. We would often eat out in restaurants outside of the the North East, and do most of our shopping outside of the north east. I would go to work and come home. This is what most of America does, we live in these compartments of comfort and safety and we have been no different.
My family and I started the day off by considering these things, and making our way to Budd Park city pool not too far from our home, in order to be intentional. We have always managed to find the ability to swim outside of the city because often it’s been outside of what we know and our comfort zone. However today we went there with the intention of passing out flyer's for the back yard bible club next week. I was surprised when there were several there who seemed interested especially one Hispanic man and his son.
It was a small pool but the whole family enjoyed themselves and well I got a little too much sun. Regardless we were able to pass out several flyer's for the BYBC and we are hopeful some might come. May we continue to pray for the families we spoke to as well.
And then if I didn’t have enough I spoke with a friend of mine who’s in our shepherding group and he came over for dinner this evening. Things went very well at the pool so I asked him if he would go down to Independence Avenue with me. Little did I know what we would encounter as we went out to share Christ. We prayed and both of us having a conversation of this to be genuine sharing Christ and we desired that it not be just something wrote or disingenuous, but that the Holy Spirit would empower His people to share His Grace.
The first guy we ran into started speaking about terrestrials, and he was speaking to himself in the air before we got there. He spoke of uncloaking people. We did the best we could to speak to him but he was not receptive, we gave him a book Pursuing God—A Seeker’s Guide and just then another gentleman walked up to us probably late 20’s with a baseball cap, white guy with gold fronts. He was wanting to go “kick it” somewhere and just then Bobby mentioned that we are here to share the gospel with him. We let him speak for quite a while, it was a bi-polar conversation, and just as there was a crack for us to make our way in the bus came and he took off, yes with a book as well.
As we began to walk down the street slowly looking around finally we crossed, and there was a guy who we attempted to speak to, asking him “do you know who Jesus Christ is?” he replied, ” that’s a funny question because I think you know who I am” and then he walked off. We by this time were perplexed about our encounters.
Until we came down the block and as I prayed I was wondering if we’d encounter anyone who’s conscience wasn’t so seared by the things of this world so that they could hear a crying out for them to believe on Jesus Christ that they might be saved.
Right about this time we see this woman sitting right about where the back of this white car is now. We asked her simply, ” Did she know who Jesus was?” Almost in an instant her eyes welled up with tears. This poor haggard woman was probably in her early to mid 40’s. She had kind of colored reddish brown hair. She had one top tooth and her bottom teeth were black and crooked. She looked worn from drugs, abuse, possibly prostitution at some point.
Bobby and I weren’t prepared for the conversation that we had next. She said yes she knows who Jesus is, and she said that she believes in Jesus. I have counseled and spoken to dozens of addicts who say Jesus and then they love the world. This woman was different. I don’t have the conversation verbatim, however one of the first things she said is that, “God chooses people and he hasn’t chosen me.” She said she married a Christian man at the age of 33 and lived as a believer for 5 years, and gave her whole heart to God, but God would never free her from her addictions. She had heard countless stories and seen them of how people came into churches and were saved and then freed from their addiction but she’s cried and pleaded to God to free her, and she said all the immoral things I do, I’ve asked him to take it from me and he just won’t. If you could see the pain and agony in her tears, the worn face, and the tired and probably high countenance.
We had never encountered someone who had in a sense “right” doctrine and saw that in spite of her incessant crying out to God, she could not free herself, and He seemingly to her, would not help her. Bobby comforted her with these words, if you had to live in torment all the days of your life, and in agony, and pain, would your faith be worth it, is God whom you trust in? She insisted that she believes in God and that she will until the day she dies, but He has not chosen her, and so she’s given up. I tried to point her to the fact that as long as she has breath it’s not too late, and that even right now if God’s in control of everything, that us meeting her in that very moment was His purposed plan to call her back out of darkness into light.
Bobby had more words of comfort for her in the sense that he has experience with similar situations and to be truthful we were shown a glimpse of a perspective that we knew was out there but never had anticipated an articulation of theology from an addict on the streets. I pray that God will use this meeting with Donna to bring her to Himself, I’ve never seen anyone so seemingly desperate for God, and honest about it since I’ve been down here.
This was an encounter I will never forget. I’m sure Bobby won’t either, and it’s a wake up call to sitting, living compartmentally, socially detracted, and distracted from the movement of the Gospel to move men and women to engage the people around them.
We pray soon that we’ll make this a regular practice and we’ve picked out a starting point on Independence Avenue. For those of you that don’t know Independence Avenue is one of the most difficult places in Kansas City MO in regards to sin and crime. I’m still processing through everything that happened tonight so please forgive me if I’ve not articulated well, or that I leave any theological cliff hangers dangling because these are things that when they are on paper, and in the pages of books they can seem very comforting, and trustworthy but this increased God’s enormity in my life this evening in the sense that I am nothing before Him but an instrument. I hope an instrument that He might use to people to really engage people who are not like themselves.
For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.
For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. -1 Corinthians 9:16-23
If anyone knows me I don’t use this passage to justify being like the world but I view this passage as having to know and be engaged in peoples life, in their context for the genuine purpose, like Paul, to Share Christ with the lost.
So I charge all of you to pray for Donna, the lady we met this evening! And then I challenge all of you to look up, and see what we’re missing when it comes to lost souls!!!
The same savior that saved you desires for others to make disciples as an imperative in Mathew 28, in an authentic genuine way that will bring honor and Glory to His name.
If you’re interested in sharing Christ on Independence Avenue we will be doing it again next week starting here.
Monday, June 16, 2008
The New Covenant and Jeremiah 17:9
By Lionel Woods
I was listening to a specific album and also reading a really good blog yesterday. Both of them referenced Jer 17:9 which says:
9 The heart is deceitful above all things,and desperately sick;who can understand it?
I have no problem with this being referenced at all. Actually I even use at times when I am sharing the gospel, especially when someone says “oh God knows my heart”. There is also a parallel in the Gospel according to Matthew in which Jesus says “it is not what goes into a man’s mouth what defiles him…….For out of the heart comes evil thoughts”. So again I think this is a very weighty truth and shows the depravity of mankind and the verse can be used in such an instance but……….
The current usage of the verse
In both instances the person applied these verses to themselves or others as Christians and this is where I have the problem. Christian’s don’t have wicked hearts we have new hearts. I understand where people are trying to go when quoting this verse and applying it to Christians but I think they are wrong and gravely wrong at that. You may think I am splitting hairs and that this conversation isn’t relevant but give me a few minutes and I will explain why this isn’t so. The current usage is in the battle between our fallen flesh and our new nature. Both are at war with one another so this verse is used in the sense of saying “I really can’t trust myself, I must trust the word of God and the Spirit”. I agree that we struggle with the flesh because we have dual citizenship. Our primary citizenship is in heaven while simultaneously we are strangers or aliens in this sinful world and we have the ability to sin because we still have this corrupting flesh that we occupy. This however doesn’t make this verse applicable, although I get the point that is trying to be made.
The audiences view of this scripture
First lets see exactly what is being said just a few verses previous to verse 9 to understand what the prophet Jeremiah was conveying:
17:1 “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of their altars, 2 while their children remember their altars and their Asherim, beside every green tree and on the high hills, 3 on the mountains in the open country. Your wealth and all your treasures I will give for spoil as the price of your high places for sin throughout all your territory. 4 You shall loosen your hand from your heritage that I gave to you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.”
God is speaking to Judah through Jeremiah and proclaiming His judgment upon them. He tells them “I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know”. Why is this? Because they have turned to other gods to serve them. Just as Israel will be conquered so will Judah. Judah held on a little while longer but eventually they gave themselves over to idolatry and the violating of the Covenant God made with them (thus the Old Covenant had land promises that were conditional upon covenantal faithfulness).
So first we must see how does this apply to us. The observation is quite simple. It does not apply to gentiles in its immediate context; however in its broader context we understand that all who reject the Messiah have wicked hearts and we see that in Matthew when Christ addresses what comes out of the heart is which defiles but what goes in the mouth is digested and discarded (the focus not on clean hands but clean hearts).
A Future Promise of a New Heart
Even if this did apply to all people there is a huge prophecy given 14 chapters later in which I hold in high regard because of its fulfillment in Christ. It is found in Jeremiah 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, 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. 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. 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.”
At last we see an answer for Israel’s problems. We have to understand what is going on here. Israel CANT KEEP THE TERMS OF THE OLD COVENANT! We must see that. We have to see that. We see in the New Testament Paul calling this covenant good and spiritual but also powerless. The covenant leaves mankind to himself and if left to ourselves we are in trouble. Israel can’t keep the terms folks. We see that quite easily.
1. Moses is gone for 40 days and they already make a god in the form of a calf
2. God keeps them and conquers their enemies and when they are on the brink of entering the promise land they punk out (we would have also) send some spies and shake their fist at God.
3. God conquers their enemies in Joshua and not a hundred years pass before they are already unfaithful to the covenant and we see the cycle of judges for 500 years.
4. They reject God’s rule over them and beg for a king.
5. The 3 king violates all the terms of the covenant by intermarriage and we see the rapid decline of Israel, the subsequent division of the kingdoms and idol worship becomes the norm.
All of this proves that God is faithful but the covenant made with the people is conditional. God always keeps His side of the deal but the mutual party can’t. It is impossible there is no life giving power in that covenant it is a covenant or ministry of death (2 Cor 3).
The prophecy fulfilled
In Hebrews 8 we see:
6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second…………
…….13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
The writer takes Jeremiah 31 and applies it to those who have placed saving faith in Jesus Christ. What is the centrality of this New Covenant? Lets see:
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord:I will put my laws into their minds,and write them on their hearts,and I will be their God,and they shall be my people.
The New Covenant writes God’s law on our hearts and our minds and we are given the power to obey and respond. Ezekiel also makes a prophecy in chapter 36 but that is up for debate. Even if you believe that some of those promises will be fully realized in the Millennium you still must believe that the “new heart” and the “new spirit” are realized today in those who have been born again.
In Closing
Once again this may seem like I am splitting hairs but I am not. My home church is going through Ephesians and it is important that we understand our position in Christ and exactly what God has done for us in Christ. We have a high status before God and I don’t want us infringing upon this status by calling our new hearts purchased by the blood of Christ, chosen by God the Father and sealed by Spirit of God , wicked! We don’t have wicked hearts. We have new hearts which are beautiful, we have been born-again, we are new creatures, and we no longer have to struggle with our hearts. Our struggle is with the flesh and the devil. God has made us slaves to righteousness so we no longer need to fear our hearts, though the non-believer best fear it greatly. I want to tackle the wretched men but I really need about a 5-10 page essay on it to answer all of the faulty questions about the “wretched men” theology that plagues our churches. God bless and love to interact with you thin.
I was listening to a specific album and also reading a really good blog yesterday. Both of them referenced Jer 17:9 which says:
9 The heart is deceitful above all things,and desperately sick;who can understand it?
I have no problem with this being referenced at all. Actually I even use at times when I am sharing the gospel, especially when someone says “oh God knows my heart”. There is also a parallel in the Gospel according to Matthew in which Jesus says “it is not what goes into a man’s mouth what defiles him…….For out of the heart comes evil thoughts”. So again I think this is a very weighty truth and shows the depravity of mankind and the verse can be used in such an instance but……….
The current usage of the verse
In both instances the person applied these verses to themselves or others as Christians and this is where I have the problem. Christian’s don’t have wicked hearts we have new hearts. I understand where people are trying to go when quoting this verse and applying it to Christians but I think they are wrong and gravely wrong at that. You may think I am splitting hairs and that this conversation isn’t relevant but give me a few minutes and I will explain why this isn’t so. The current usage is in the battle between our fallen flesh and our new nature. Both are at war with one another so this verse is used in the sense of saying “I really can’t trust myself, I must trust the word of God and the Spirit”. I agree that we struggle with the flesh because we have dual citizenship. Our primary citizenship is in heaven while simultaneously we are strangers or aliens in this sinful world and we have the ability to sin because we still have this corrupting flesh that we occupy. This however doesn’t make this verse applicable, although I get the point that is trying to be made.
The audiences view of this scripture
First lets see exactly what is being said just a few verses previous to verse 9 to understand what the prophet Jeremiah was conveying:
17:1 “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of their altars, 2 while their children remember their altars and their Asherim, beside every green tree and on the high hills, 3 on the mountains in the open country. Your wealth and all your treasures I will give for spoil as the price of your high places for sin throughout all your territory. 4 You shall loosen your hand from your heritage that I gave to you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.”
God is speaking to Judah through Jeremiah and proclaiming His judgment upon them. He tells them “I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know”. Why is this? Because they have turned to other gods to serve them. Just as Israel will be conquered so will Judah. Judah held on a little while longer but eventually they gave themselves over to idolatry and the violating of the Covenant God made with them (thus the Old Covenant had land promises that were conditional upon covenantal faithfulness).
So first we must see how does this apply to us. The observation is quite simple. It does not apply to gentiles in its immediate context; however in its broader context we understand that all who reject the Messiah have wicked hearts and we see that in Matthew when Christ addresses what comes out of the heart is which defiles but what goes in the mouth is digested and discarded (the focus not on clean hands but clean hearts).
A Future Promise of a New Heart
Even if this did apply to all people there is a huge prophecy given 14 chapters later in which I hold in high regard because of its fulfillment in Christ. It is found in Jeremiah 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, 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. 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. 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.”
At last we see an answer for Israel’s problems. We have to understand what is going on here. Israel CANT KEEP THE TERMS OF THE OLD COVENANT! We must see that. We have to see that. We see in the New Testament Paul calling this covenant good and spiritual but also powerless. The covenant leaves mankind to himself and if left to ourselves we are in trouble. Israel can’t keep the terms folks. We see that quite easily.
1. Moses is gone for 40 days and they already make a god in the form of a calf
2. God keeps them and conquers their enemies and when they are on the brink of entering the promise land they punk out (we would have also) send some spies and shake their fist at God.
3. God conquers their enemies in Joshua and not a hundred years pass before they are already unfaithful to the covenant and we see the cycle of judges for 500 years.
4. They reject God’s rule over them and beg for a king.
5. The 3 king violates all the terms of the covenant by intermarriage and we see the rapid decline of Israel, the subsequent division of the kingdoms and idol worship becomes the norm.
All of this proves that God is faithful but the covenant made with the people is conditional. God always keeps His side of the deal but the mutual party can’t. It is impossible there is no life giving power in that covenant it is a covenant or ministry of death (2 Cor 3).
The prophecy fulfilled
In Hebrews 8 we see:
6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second…………
…….13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
The writer takes Jeremiah 31 and applies it to those who have placed saving faith in Jesus Christ. What is the centrality of this New Covenant? Lets see:
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord:I will put my laws into their minds,and write them on their hearts,and I will be their God,and they shall be my people.
The New Covenant writes God’s law on our hearts and our minds and we are given the power to obey and respond. Ezekiel also makes a prophecy in chapter 36 but that is up for debate. Even if you believe that some of those promises will be fully realized in the Millennium you still must believe that the “new heart” and the “new spirit” are realized today in those who have been born again.
In Closing
Once again this may seem like I am splitting hairs but I am not. My home church is going through Ephesians and it is important that we understand our position in Christ and exactly what God has done for us in Christ. We have a high status before God and I don’t want us infringing upon this status by calling our new hearts purchased by the blood of Christ, chosen by God the Father and sealed by Spirit of God , wicked! We don’t have wicked hearts. We have new hearts which are beautiful, we have been born-again, we are new creatures, and we no longer have to struggle with our hearts. Our struggle is with the flesh and the devil. God has made us slaves to righteousness so we no longer need to fear our hearts, though the non-believer best fear it greatly. I want to tackle the wretched men but I really need about a 5-10 page essay on it to answer all of the faulty questions about the “wretched men” theology that plagues our churches. God bless and love to interact with you thin.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Free Books from Jim Elliff
My Pastor and great brother in the Lord is offering Free Books. I have a few to spare so please contact me with your address if you would like a copy for free. Send your address to tlhorton80@hotmail.com or just leave the message in the post. This was written by Pastor Jim Ehrhard who was Jim Elliff's pastor a long time ago and it is an excellent biblical view of what we know as the "invitation system." Only a few copies so let me know as soon as possible. God Bless in Christ. Thanks Pastor Jim.
Update-No more books available. I posted this on our(Lionel and I) other site and plenty responded. Unfortunately we have no more copies to give at this time. Hopefully we will have more to give at a later date. Thanks in Christ.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Multi-cultural Glory in the Church: Should We Have Black Churches and White Churches? Or Cowboy Churches?
Author: Jim Elliff
I have just returned from Milan, Italy, where a portion of my time was spent with leaders of The International Church of Milan (ICM). We talked together about the diversity of their congregation, which consists of 14 nations so far. Among the leaders were two families who are not only working with this congregation, but are praying and feeling their way toward an Italian-speaking congregation that will work in tandem with the ICM. I felt compelled to express my concern that the Italian wing of the church, though eventually necessary due to the language barrier, should nonetheless be as diverse as possible in itself for the glory of God. They should seek to include Asians who speak Italian, Africans who speak Italian, Moldovans who speak Italian, etc., because God is most honored in this intent to bring diverse backgrounds together into one loving body.
Why would I press for this? And why will I encourage you to pursue the same?
Without question, the early church’s most nagging problem was the blending of the Jewish and the Greek cultures. Consider how often Paul is concerned about this issue in his letters to the churches. When he wrote to Rome and Ephesus, his concern over this was thematic. One could easily place the burden of his Roman letter into these simple words: The absolute impartiality of God. Jews and Gentiles face the same wrath of God because they are all alike under sin, but they are also offered the same access to God because God is absolutely impartial toward ethnicity. Therefore Paul emphasized that the nascent church in Rome must embrace the diversity that God makes harmonious through Christ. The Jewish man now turned believer in Christ has to look the Gentile in the face and say, “I love you,” and vice versa, because God has now made them one. And, they must do everything possible to live out that unity.
Paul’s burden for Ephesus
In Ephesians, Paul states that by revelation he (and all Christ’s apostles and prophets) had come to understand that the exclusive privileges thought to be the birthright of the ethnic Jews are not in effect as expected, and that Gentiles are “brought near” through the cross. Contemplate his words as he explains something of the “mystery” now revealed:
By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel . . . (Eph. 3:1-6)
This was no peripheral issue for Paul. It was his mission as the “apostle to the Gentiles,” and it is the universal church’s mission as well, to promote that harmony of cultures in Christ that the cross brings them (or, we might say, forces upon them for their good). Imagine what it took for this former Jewish leader to accept that the Jews' lofty position as God’s chosen people is not ultimately about ethnic Jews, but only Jewish Christians who share the position with “Gentile dogs” who have also become Christians. The promises made to the Jews are for all who are in Christ; the inheritance is both for Jews and Gentiles. We are all members of one body. The immensity of this new knowledge is not only enough to cause every God-fearing Jew to scream curses at Paul, but is the very reason Gentiles like me have any hope whatsoever. Paul carried this message everywhere.
This homogeneity of Christian Jews and Gentiles was fully intended by God from the beginning and was not a back-up plan. Paul declares that all of this was “in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord . . .” (Eph. 3:11). The phrase “carried out” signifies completed action; it has to do with the finished work of the cross through which Christ destroyed the barrier between Gentiles and Jews who are in Christ, that barrier was the Law, as is seen below:
But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two [Christian Jew and Gentile] into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. (Eph.3:13-16)
There is so much talk of oneness in the New Testament that I can speak of it only in an introductory way. I am only calling attention to this plan of God by patting on this massive stone that is laid in the bedrock of our Christianity. It is so big and so encompassing and so vital that it is amazing that we in our current churches are avoiding its implications as if it never existed. God took the most diverse cultures in existence and brought them together into an entirely new culture. From now on there is no “distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all” (Col. 3:11).
All cultures and backgrounds
This last passage quoted above reminds us that the oneness that God seeks is not merely a Jewish/Gentile oneness, but includes all cultures and backgrounds. It is as if God dealt first with the most divergent of cultures, Jews and Gentiles, so that we are compelled now to bring together any and every kind of person in Christ with any other true believer. This is the new view that exploded on the scene following the passion week. It was launched into a missionary program on the day of Pentecost. In fact, the Spirit was poured out in part to accomplish this very leveling out and blending together of all cultures in Christ, as the Joel prophecy states in Acts 2.
I say “exploded” for that is exactly how it must have looked to everyone. The book of Acts is a chain reaction explosion taking place all across the known world until, as Paul affirms, the entire world had heard the good news (Col. 1:6). This intention of God to unite people of all cultures into a living unity in Christ was the ideological energy source of the new evangelism that prior to Pentecost was only pointed to by the prophets. The Jews were to be an object lesson to the world prior to this, but did not evangelize the world. The multi-cultural New Man, in contradistinction, is to be made up of anyone and everyone. “And it shall be that everyone [meaning anyone, not just Jews] who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:21). It is a stunning picture laid out for us, and the biggest socio-religious shift of all time. The reverberations are all about us still.
The Church of the future
An additional impetus to our unity among diversity is that of the projected makeup of the future kingdom. It is glorious in its admixture of those from “every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Rev. 5:11). We cannot, must not, live contrary to our final convergence in Christ. In the ugly old slavery of early America, the schizophrenia about this was incredible. There were blacks and whites who would not dream of worshipping as equals (though they were sometimes in the same building), yet at the same time would hold the doctrinal verity that all colors would be in heaven together some day. This was entirely incongruous. We are called to experience in this life as much of the spirit that will characterize us in the new earth as is possible. The ideal of heaven is always to be the pursuit of earthbound believers. “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). We cannot pray for the Kingdom to come and not relish what that coming Kingdom means. Our community of believers is to be a living demonstration of the power of the cross and also of the purified Bride who awaits the wedding. We are denying our future calling to fail in this area. We are smearing our reputation and throwing dirt on our bridal gown.
I am only cursorily reminding us of the race-shattering significance of the cross and the future world in order to whet our appetite. With this in mind, we might well read Scripture with a better perspective. It is not just a point of historical interest to converse about the early church Jew/Gentile divergence, but a matter of current necessity. It speaks to us now. And as we look ahead to heaven and the new earth we are not just to long for something, but to do something about our state right now.
God is glorified when we bring our diverse backgrounds together in these outposts of heaven called local churches. As one friend says, “It is God showing off.” God even affirms that it is His compelling interest for the authorities in the heavenly places to see our oneness.
“ . . . and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places” (Eph. 3:9-10, emphasis mine).
What not to be
In our own local church we are making some steady progress in demonstrating harmony of divergent cultures, thanks to God’s grace. It is only a start, but it is driven by a real, workable and biblical concept that we believe can be carried out over time. What we have already seen is glorious. Perhaps it is easier for us in our church to mix ethnicity and socio-economic levels since we meet in several homes as our meeting pattern. The flexibility of the house church network model allows us to locate in any part of town, and to avoid that stigma that a single location may bring. A church building often has limitations because it is perceived as identical to its neighborhood. Whether intended or not, it represents to many that a certain class or kind of people are welcome. Therefore, extra efforts for those who use buildings will need to be made to overcome this dilemma. Building or no building, however, we are to pursue this beautiful diversity to the greatest possible extent.
So, I will say as strongly as I can, you should not start (or have) “a black church” or “a white church” or a “homeschooling church” or a church for professional people and another church for poor people. Nor should you start a church aimed at younger people or older people. In this the modern church has erred. I do not mean that we should not be evangelistic toward all categories and types of people (actually, that is my point), but in building the local church our aim is too low, and frankly, sometimes selfish. We are forfeiting something of the glory of the church by not seeking to blend all kinds of people together, even if we cannot fully accomplish it. A cowboy church or a country music church may reach cowboys or country music lovers, but is this anything like what God intends to promote as the primary social implication of the cross? Does it depict real earth-side yearning for a future glorious church? We have diminished the meaning of the church by doing this. Paul simply refused to have a Jewish church on this end of town and a Gentile church on the other.
Again, if language barriers mean that some churches must be started for specific language groups, you must be as diverse as possible within those language groups to fulfill the intention of God. We have also not fully worked out the possibilities of multi-language churches through simultaneous translating yet, but it surely would also magnify the glory of the cross and of the church if we could find some way to do so successfully.
We all know that more homeschooling people or Hispanic people, or White people, or Black people or urban poor people may be in attendance in a given church, but that is no excuse to be a “homeschooling church” or an “Hispanic church” or an “urban poor church.” The actual demographics are God’s business; ours is to seek all people in Christ, “the desire of all nations.” We know that there may be more Asians in this particular part of town and that most in attendance will be from that background, but do not make the mistake of making your church an “Asian church.” It may be Korean-speaking, if necessary, but it should not exclusively be a KoreanChurch. If it is Christ’s church, then be aware that He does not intend it to be exclusive. Do not work against the glorious cultural ramifications of the cross with your good intentions.
Even though moving from a single-culture church to a multi-cultural church (or better to a Christ-cultural church) is sometimes a daunting task and causes many to say, “Where do we begin?” it still must be the intent of the local church, and the message of the local church, when addressing its constituency. I read an advertisement about a church in our city that said, “We sing the Old Hymns.” That was all they said. What does this say to our objective? Granted, I have likes and dislikes in music and so do you, but, in the final analysis, we really should not separate over whether old or new is sung. I’m not offering full solutions about a difficult issue here at all. I am saying that the gospel demands better solutions than dividing ourselves. We don’t work hard enough at understanding what our separations are projecting to the world and to the heavenly authorities. As difficult as it might be, the early church had far more to work through than what music would be sung. Their struggles and successes are instructive to us who may have less to work through than they did. It will be sad to face Christ in the future and say, “We could not be the glorious church you called us to be because we could not get together on the music.”
One of the by-products of thinking in the way I’m suggesting is that some of the silliness in church life goes away. Emphasizing oneness in Christ among diverse people has a way of purifying the church. No church that is multi-cultural can make it without prayer, sound doctrine, close pastoral oversight, Christ-centered worship, and biblical evangelism, all of which are unifying aspects of church life. Such churches work harder at what the people have in common, the ground that is shared in Christ. They have to let the rest go. Paul worked to de-emphasize cultural likes and dislikes that are inconsequential (if not downright divisive) in favor of New Covenant principles and behavior. It takes biblical thinking to get there. This was exactly what Paul was laboring at in so many of his letters. Sadly, we, on the other hand, just specialize in one type of people and what they enjoy (sometimes even if it has no organic relationship to the gospel at all), and avoid the need for the labor. But we must do the hard work, the kind that brings joy and glory to God.
A bolder proclamation
Paul asked the Ephesians to pray “that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak” (Eph. 6:19-20). What was he saying? He was speaking of the mystery of the shared promise, the shared inheritance for the most diverse of cultures. He did not intend to be quiet about what the cross has done. He was on a lifelong mission to bring in Gentiles, but he almost always began by teaching in Synagogues, preaching the message that both Jews and Gentiles are one and must live out their oneness before the world and before the authorities in the heavenly places. We must not minimalize what God has made so much of.
I am short-changing you in the brevity of this article, and its theoretical nature. In fact, I’m not offering much that is practical at all. I will leave that to you. I suspect that for most it will mean that more serious teaching and prayer will need to take place to arrive together at a consensus of direction. We must “see” this truth for it to grab us. But if we fail to try, what can we say about ourselves? Though the process may be difficult for a missionary, for instance, to join followers of Christ from one tribe with another tribe’s believers, who once were adverse to each other, no one can say that it would not redound to the glory of God if it were done. And, considering the Jewish/Gentile oneness Paul presses us toward, surely we cannot deny our obligation to do all within our power to display such glory. And surely, concerning our western churches, no one would deny the outrageous glory and beauty of the urban rock music orientated believer on his face in prayer next to the traditional, white-haired, hymn-loving grandmother who has walked with God for sixty years. Heaven is glorious, and this is heaven on earth.
Copyright © 2008 Jim Elliff Christian Communicators Worldwide, Inc.Permission granted for not-for-sale reproduction in unedited formincluding author's name, title, complete content, copyright and weblink.Other uses require written permission.
I have just returned from Milan, Italy, where a portion of my time was spent with leaders of The International Church of Milan (ICM). We talked together about the diversity of their congregation, which consists of 14 nations so far. Among the leaders were two families who are not only working with this congregation, but are praying and feeling their way toward an Italian-speaking congregation that will work in tandem with the ICM. I felt compelled to express my concern that the Italian wing of the church, though eventually necessary due to the language barrier, should nonetheless be as diverse as possible in itself for the glory of God. They should seek to include Asians who speak Italian, Africans who speak Italian, Moldovans who speak Italian, etc., because God is most honored in this intent to bring diverse backgrounds together into one loving body.
Why would I press for this? And why will I encourage you to pursue the same?
Without question, the early church’s most nagging problem was the blending of the Jewish and the Greek cultures. Consider how often Paul is concerned about this issue in his letters to the churches. When he wrote to Rome and Ephesus, his concern over this was thematic. One could easily place the burden of his Roman letter into these simple words: The absolute impartiality of God. Jews and Gentiles face the same wrath of God because they are all alike under sin, but they are also offered the same access to God because God is absolutely impartial toward ethnicity. Therefore Paul emphasized that the nascent church in Rome must embrace the diversity that God makes harmonious through Christ. The Jewish man now turned believer in Christ has to look the Gentile in the face and say, “I love you,” and vice versa, because God has now made them one. And, they must do everything possible to live out that unity.
Paul’s burden for Ephesus
In Ephesians, Paul states that by revelation he (and all Christ’s apostles and prophets) had come to understand that the exclusive privileges thought to be the birthright of the ethnic Jews are not in effect as expected, and that Gentiles are “brought near” through the cross. Contemplate his words as he explains something of the “mystery” now revealed:
By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel . . . (Eph. 3:1-6)
This was no peripheral issue for Paul. It was his mission as the “apostle to the Gentiles,” and it is the universal church’s mission as well, to promote that harmony of cultures in Christ that the cross brings them (or, we might say, forces upon them for their good). Imagine what it took for this former Jewish leader to accept that the Jews' lofty position as God’s chosen people is not ultimately about ethnic Jews, but only Jewish Christians who share the position with “Gentile dogs” who have also become Christians. The promises made to the Jews are for all who are in Christ; the inheritance is both for Jews and Gentiles. We are all members of one body. The immensity of this new knowledge is not only enough to cause every God-fearing Jew to scream curses at Paul, but is the very reason Gentiles like me have any hope whatsoever. Paul carried this message everywhere.
This homogeneity of Christian Jews and Gentiles was fully intended by God from the beginning and was not a back-up plan. Paul declares that all of this was “in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord . . .” (Eph. 3:11). The phrase “carried out” signifies completed action; it has to do with the finished work of the cross through which Christ destroyed the barrier between Gentiles and Jews who are in Christ, that barrier was the Law, as is seen below:
But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two [Christian Jew and Gentile] into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. (Eph.3:13-16)
There is so much talk of oneness in the New Testament that I can speak of it only in an introductory way. I am only calling attention to this plan of God by patting on this massive stone that is laid in the bedrock of our Christianity. It is so big and so encompassing and so vital that it is amazing that we in our current churches are avoiding its implications as if it never existed. God took the most diverse cultures in existence and brought them together into an entirely new culture. From now on there is no “distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all” (Col. 3:11).
All cultures and backgrounds
This last passage quoted above reminds us that the oneness that God seeks is not merely a Jewish/Gentile oneness, but includes all cultures and backgrounds. It is as if God dealt first with the most divergent of cultures, Jews and Gentiles, so that we are compelled now to bring together any and every kind of person in Christ with any other true believer. This is the new view that exploded on the scene following the passion week. It was launched into a missionary program on the day of Pentecost. In fact, the Spirit was poured out in part to accomplish this very leveling out and blending together of all cultures in Christ, as the Joel prophecy states in Acts 2.
I say “exploded” for that is exactly how it must have looked to everyone. The book of Acts is a chain reaction explosion taking place all across the known world until, as Paul affirms, the entire world had heard the good news (Col. 1:6). This intention of God to unite people of all cultures into a living unity in Christ was the ideological energy source of the new evangelism that prior to Pentecost was only pointed to by the prophets. The Jews were to be an object lesson to the world prior to this, but did not evangelize the world. The multi-cultural New Man, in contradistinction, is to be made up of anyone and everyone. “And it shall be that everyone [meaning anyone, not just Jews] who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:21). It is a stunning picture laid out for us, and the biggest socio-religious shift of all time. The reverberations are all about us still.
The Church of the future
An additional impetus to our unity among diversity is that of the projected makeup of the future kingdom. It is glorious in its admixture of those from “every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Rev. 5:11). We cannot, must not, live contrary to our final convergence in Christ. In the ugly old slavery of early America, the schizophrenia about this was incredible. There were blacks and whites who would not dream of worshipping as equals (though they were sometimes in the same building), yet at the same time would hold the doctrinal verity that all colors would be in heaven together some day. This was entirely incongruous. We are called to experience in this life as much of the spirit that will characterize us in the new earth as is possible. The ideal of heaven is always to be the pursuit of earthbound believers. “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). We cannot pray for the Kingdom to come and not relish what that coming Kingdom means. Our community of believers is to be a living demonstration of the power of the cross and also of the purified Bride who awaits the wedding. We are denying our future calling to fail in this area. We are smearing our reputation and throwing dirt on our bridal gown.
I am only cursorily reminding us of the race-shattering significance of the cross and the future world in order to whet our appetite. With this in mind, we might well read Scripture with a better perspective. It is not just a point of historical interest to converse about the early church Jew/Gentile divergence, but a matter of current necessity. It speaks to us now. And as we look ahead to heaven and the new earth we are not just to long for something, but to do something about our state right now.
God is glorified when we bring our diverse backgrounds together in these outposts of heaven called local churches. As one friend says, “It is God showing off.” God even affirms that it is His compelling interest for the authorities in the heavenly places to see our oneness.
“ . . . and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places” (Eph. 3:9-10, emphasis mine).
What not to be
In our own local church we are making some steady progress in demonstrating harmony of divergent cultures, thanks to God’s grace. It is only a start, but it is driven by a real, workable and biblical concept that we believe can be carried out over time. What we have already seen is glorious. Perhaps it is easier for us in our church to mix ethnicity and socio-economic levels since we meet in several homes as our meeting pattern. The flexibility of the house church network model allows us to locate in any part of town, and to avoid that stigma that a single location may bring. A church building often has limitations because it is perceived as identical to its neighborhood. Whether intended or not, it represents to many that a certain class or kind of people are welcome. Therefore, extra efforts for those who use buildings will need to be made to overcome this dilemma. Building or no building, however, we are to pursue this beautiful diversity to the greatest possible extent.
So, I will say as strongly as I can, you should not start (or have) “a black church” or “a white church” or a “homeschooling church” or a church for professional people and another church for poor people. Nor should you start a church aimed at younger people or older people. In this the modern church has erred. I do not mean that we should not be evangelistic toward all categories and types of people (actually, that is my point), but in building the local church our aim is too low, and frankly, sometimes selfish. We are forfeiting something of the glory of the church by not seeking to blend all kinds of people together, even if we cannot fully accomplish it. A cowboy church or a country music church may reach cowboys or country music lovers, but is this anything like what God intends to promote as the primary social implication of the cross? Does it depict real earth-side yearning for a future glorious church? We have diminished the meaning of the church by doing this. Paul simply refused to have a Jewish church on this end of town and a Gentile church on the other.
Again, if language barriers mean that some churches must be started for specific language groups, you must be as diverse as possible within those language groups to fulfill the intention of God. We have also not fully worked out the possibilities of multi-language churches through simultaneous translating yet, but it surely would also magnify the glory of the cross and of the church if we could find some way to do so successfully.
We all know that more homeschooling people or Hispanic people, or White people, or Black people or urban poor people may be in attendance in a given church, but that is no excuse to be a “homeschooling church” or an “Hispanic church” or an “urban poor church.” The actual demographics are God’s business; ours is to seek all people in Christ, “the desire of all nations.” We know that there may be more Asians in this particular part of town and that most in attendance will be from that background, but do not make the mistake of making your church an “Asian church.” It may be Korean-speaking, if necessary, but it should not exclusively be a KoreanChurch. If it is Christ’s church, then be aware that He does not intend it to be exclusive. Do not work against the glorious cultural ramifications of the cross with your good intentions.
Even though moving from a single-culture church to a multi-cultural church (or better to a Christ-cultural church) is sometimes a daunting task and causes many to say, “Where do we begin?” it still must be the intent of the local church, and the message of the local church, when addressing its constituency. I read an advertisement about a church in our city that said, “We sing the Old Hymns.” That was all they said. What does this say to our objective? Granted, I have likes and dislikes in music and so do you, but, in the final analysis, we really should not separate over whether old or new is sung. I’m not offering full solutions about a difficult issue here at all. I am saying that the gospel demands better solutions than dividing ourselves. We don’t work hard enough at understanding what our separations are projecting to the world and to the heavenly authorities. As difficult as it might be, the early church had far more to work through than what music would be sung. Their struggles and successes are instructive to us who may have less to work through than they did. It will be sad to face Christ in the future and say, “We could not be the glorious church you called us to be because we could not get together on the music.”
One of the by-products of thinking in the way I’m suggesting is that some of the silliness in church life goes away. Emphasizing oneness in Christ among diverse people has a way of purifying the church. No church that is multi-cultural can make it without prayer, sound doctrine, close pastoral oversight, Christ-centered worship, and biblical evangelism, all of which are unifying aspects of church life. Such churches work harder at what the people have in common, the ground that is shared in Christ. They have to let the rest go. Paul worked to de-emphasize cultural likes and dislikes that are inconsequential (if not downright divisive) in favor of New Covenant principles and behavior. It takes biblical thinking to get there. This was exactly what Paul was laboring at in so many of his letters. Sadly, we, on the other hand, just specialize in one type of people and what they enjoy (sometimes even if it has no organic relationship to the gospel at all), and avoid the need for the labor. But we must do the hard work, the kind that brings joy and glory to God.
A bolder proclamation
Paul asked the Ephesians to pray “that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak” (Eph. 6:19-20). What was he saying? He was speaking of the mystery of the shared promise, the shared inheritance for the most diverse of cultures. He did not intend to be quiet about what the cross has done. He was on a lifelong mission to bring in Gentiles, but he almost always began by teaching in Synagogues, preaching the message that both Jews and Gentiles are one and must live out their oneness before the world and before the authorities in the heavenly places. We must not minimalize what God has made so much of.
I am short-changing you in the brevity of this article, and its theoretical nature. In fact, I’m not offering much that is practical at all. I will leave that to you. I suspect that for most it will mean that more serious teaching and prayer will need to take place to arrive together at a consensus of direction. We must “see” this truth for it to grab us. But if we fail to try, what can we say about ourselves? Though the process may be difficult for a missionary, for instance, to join followers of Christ from one tribe with another tribe’s believers, who once were adverse to each other, no one can say that it would not redound to the glory of God if it were done. And, considering the Jewish/Gentile oneness Paul presses us toward, surely we cannot deny our obligation to do all within our power to display such glory. And surely, concerning our western churches, no one would deny the outrageous glory and beauty of the urban rock music orientated believer on his face in prayer next to the traditional, white-haired, hymn-loving grandmother who has walked with God for sixty years. Heaven is glorious, and this is heaven on earth.
Copyright © 2008 Jim Elliff Christian Communicators Worldwide, Inc.Permission granted for not-for-sale reproduction in unedited formincluding author's name, title, complete content, copyright and weblink.Other uses require written permission.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
When Does 1=2? Only When You’re Using Dispensational Mathematics
I thought this article was thought provoking and funny too. Check it out-God Bless
Written by
By Lionel Woods
Let me first start off by saying, I don’t believe the Church replaces Israel. I don’t know how anyone comes to that conclusion. The first question that should come to mind is replaces Israel how? Or replaces Israel with whom? So I don’t believe that at all. However I do believe something radically different than my Dispensational brethren and thus the premise of this post. What is that belief? I believe that two people became one people at Pentecost! I will explain why I think that in a brief second. What I mean is that at Pentecost Christ took believing Jews and believing Gentiles (which I believe are the elect of God predestined and foreknew by the Father before the foundation of the world expressed clearly back in Ephesians 1) and them one people and named them the Church. This church is the mystery Paul talks about in Ephesians 2 which was hidden in the past but now revealed. Peter also uses the same language in 1 Peter 2.
What does that say of ethnic Israel today? Well for one, they are in the same category as other nonbelievers. The covenant that they possessed (the one that made them a nation in Exodus 20) has been eradicated and a new and gracious covenant has been put in its place and it is not based on ethnicity but on faith (Hebrews 7-10 clearly states this, not to mention Galatians 3). So what Israel received by ethnicity God now offers by faith. The Sinaic covenant has been replaced and the covenant ratified by Jesus Christ is now the only way to God. Let me explain why I think there are only one people of God.
Ephesians 2:11-22 (emphasis mine)
11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
and……
Ephesians 3:1-6
3:1 For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— 2 assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. 4 When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. 6 This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
My Thoughts….
So here are my thoughts on this subject. Once again this is not a harmful jab at my brethren but it is a jab none the less. One thing that my Dispensational brethren are very fond of saying is that “we interpret the Bible literally”. So I want to apply that “literal” hermeneutic to this epistle. Once again, the Ephesians upon reading this letter has no clue what dispensationalism is, but neither did anyone else to a about hundred and something years ago. So lets take a time capsule back into the 1st century after attending seminary and hold a conversation with some of the elders in Ephesus.
Dispensational:Hey I am from the 21st century and have found this time capsule that allows me to go back in time. I can only stay 1 hour due to limitations. How are you?
Ephesian Elder: I am doing great, wow Christianity has made all over the world? That is amazing, we never knew it would get so big! Praise God what Paul said we now know to be true. We are even more encouraged.
Dispensational: Yeah Israel has become a Nation again we can see God ushering in His Kingdom. God promises to His special people are unfolding before our eyes!!!!!
Ephesian Elder: ????? I am puzzled what do you mean special people?
Dispensational: You know, we are just a parenthesis in God’s plan but His promise to bring Israel, back in the land and give them all the past promises and “save them all” is unfolding.
Ephesian Elder: Where did you hear that from? Paul just wrote us a letter and he says we now partake int the commonwealth and the ALLLLL of the promises because of what Christ did on the cross. There is no more dividing wall, no more hostility, and we are no longer two people but one and Christ is the head. We are being built up into one holy temple of God.
Dispensational: No, no, no! God is going to rapture the Church and then do something special with His chosen people. You must be greatly mistaken or you are taking Paul’s letter out of context. Haven’t you read the Old Testament.
Ephesian Elder: Oh yes I have read it and all of the promises are found in Christ. He is the “true Israel” of God, He succeeds where they fail. He is the true seed of Abraham and faith in Him makes us all one people my dear friend.
Dispensational:Well…, I have to go, but I think you are greatly mistaken. My system says that we are in the Dispensation of the Church age and the Kingdom Age is soon to come.
Ephesian Elder: ???? What does that mean?
Above is a short hypothetical conversation that I think would occur if my brethren were to take a time capsule back into the first century. I don’t see how from the plain reading of Ephesians we get two distinct people when Paul constantly uses the word “one”. Let me show you.
v. 14 - For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one
v. 15 - that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two
v. 16 - and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility
v. 18 - For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father
Now unless one means two in this epistle I have a really hard time agreeing that there are still two distinct people in God’s plan. God in Christ has made one people and they are His elect and gave them one name and that is The Church! This organism now is how Christ will make Himself known to the world (John 17). There is no more us vs them and Gentiles are no longer aliens but sons and heirs of God through faith as He promised Abraham back in Genesis. This great mystery has been made evident to all of the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. Peter puts it this way:
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
You see we are longer dogs as Jesus called the Samaritan woman. No, my friend we are children (John 1:13) of God and heirs to the promises of God. We are now as Peter says “a holy nation” (ethnic Israel was under the Old Covenant), “a royal priesthood” (the Levites were under the Old Covenant) “a chosen race” (ethic Israel was the race through the physical seed of Abraham under the Old Covenant). Why? “That we may proclaim His excellencies” (which if you read the Torah was the very reason God chose Israel). The church isn’t a mishap in God’s plan but as Paul writes in Chapter 1 of Ephesus this was “before the foundation of the world”!
In closing. This is my take as I use the plain literal meaning to interpret the scriptures. God’s plan was to redeem the world through Christ. Israel was given the privilege under the Old Covenant, but we are given the obligation under the New, to proclaim God’s excellencies. No longer are there two people but one people, and Christ is the head. No more hostility, no more gentile vs Jew but one people under one Covenant ratified in Acts 2. I am thankful that I am no longer a “dog” (LOL) but a child and heir to all of the promises of God found in Christ Jesus. Amen that God has allowed us to be witnesses of His long veiled mystery!
Written by
By Lionel Woods
Let me first start off by saying, I don’t believe the Church replaces Israel. I don’t know how anyone comes to that conclusion. The first question that should come to mind is replaces Israel how? Or replaces Israel with whom? So I don’t believe that at all. However I do believe something radically different than my Dispensational brethren and thus the premise of this post. What is that belief? I believe that two people became one people at Pentecost! I will explain why I think that in a brief second. What I mean is that at Pentecost Christ took believing Jews and believing Gentiles (which I believe are the elect of God predestined and foreknew by the Father before the foundation of the world expressed clearly back in Ephesians 1) and them one people and named them the Church. This church is the mystery Paul talks about in Ephesians 2 which was hidden in the past but now revealed. Peter also uses the same language in 1 Peter 2.
What does that say of ethnic Israel today? Well for one, they are in the same category as other nonbelievers. The covenant that they possessed (the one that made them a nation in Exodus 20) has been eradicated and a new and gracious covenant has been put in its place and it is not based on ethnicity but on faith (Hebrews 7-10 clearly states this, not to mention Galatians 3). So what Israel received by ethnicity God now offers by faith. The Sinaic covenant has been replaced and the covenant ratified by Jesus Christ is now the only way to God. Let me explain why I think there are only one people of God.
Ephesians 2:11-22 (emphasis mine)
11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
and……
Ephesians 3:1-6
3:1 For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— 2 assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. 4 When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. 6 This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
My Thoughts….
So here are my thoughts on this subject. Once again this is not a harmful jab at my brethren but it is a jab none the less. One thing that my Dispensational brethren are very fond of saying is that “we interpret the Bible literally”. So I want to apply that “literal” hermeneutic to this epistle. Once again, the Ephesians upon reading this letter has no clue what dispensationalism is, but neither did anyone else to a about hundred and something years ago. So lets take a time capsule back into the 1st century after attending seminary and hold a conversation with some of the elders in Ephesus.
Dispensational:Hey I am from the 21st century and have found this time capsule that allows me to go back in time. I can only stay 1 hour due to limitations. How are you?
Ephesian Elder: I am doing great, wow Christianity has made all over the world? That is amazing, we never knew it would get so big! Praise God what Paul said we now know to be true. We are even more encouraged.
Dispensational: Yeah Israel has become a Nation again we can see God ushering in His Kingdom. God promises to His special people are unfolding before our eyes!!!!!
Ephesian Elder: ????? I am puzzled what do you mean special people?
Dispensational: You know, we are just a parenthesis in God’s plan but His promise to bring Israel, back in the land and give them all the past promises and “save them all” is unfolding.
Ephesian Elder: Where did you hear that from? Paul just wrote us a letter and he says we now partake int the commonwealth and the ALLLLL of the promises because of what Christ did on the cross. There is no more dividing wall, no more hostility, and we are no longer two people but one and Christ is the head. We are being built up into one holy temple of God.
Dispensational: No, no, no! God is going to rapture the Church and then do something special with His chosen people. You must be greatly mistaken or you are taking Paul’s letter out of context. Haven’t you read the Old Testament.
Ephesian Elder: Oh yes I have read it and all of the promises are found in Christ. He is the “true Israel” of God, He succeeds where they fail. He is the true seed of Abraham and faith in Him makes us all one people my dear friend.
Dispensational:Well…, I have to go, but I think you are greatly mistaken. My system says that we are in the Dispensation of the Church age and the Kingdom Age is soon to come.
Ephesian Elder: ???? What does that mean?
Above is a short hypothetical conversation that I think would occur if my brethren were to take a time capsule back into the first century. I don’t see how from the plain reading of Ephesians we get two distinct people when Paul constantly uses the word “one”. Let me show you.
v. 14 - For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one
v. 15 - that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two
v. 16 - and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility
v. 18 - For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father
Now unless one means two in this epistle I have a really hard time agreeing that there are still two distinct people in God’s plan. God in Christ has made one people and they are His elect and gave them one name and that is The Church! This organism now is how Christ will make Himself known to the world (John 17). There is no more us vs them and Gentiles are no longer aliens but sons and heirs of God through faith as He promised Abraham back in Genesis. This great mystery has been made evident to all of the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. Peter puts it this way:
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
You see we are longer dogs as Jesus called the Samaritan woman. No, my friend we are children (John 1:13) of God and heirs to the promises of God. We are now as Peter says “a holy nation” (ethnic Israel was under the Old Covenant), “a royal priesthood” (the Levites were under the Old Covenant) “a chosen race” (ethic Israel was the race through the physical seed of Abraham under the Old Covenant). Why? “That we may proclaim His excellencies” (which if you read the Torah was the very reason God chose Israel). The church isn’t a mishap in God’s plan but as Paul writes in Chapter 1 of Ephesus this was “before the foundation of the world”!
In closing. This is my take as I use the plain literal meaning to interpret the scriptures. God’s plan was to redeem the world through Christ. Israel was given the privilege under the Old Covenant, but we are given the obligation under the New, to proclaim God’s excellencies. No longer are there two people but one people, and Christ is the head. No more hostility, no more gentile vs Jew but one people under one Covenant ratified in Acts 2. I am thankful that I am no longer a “dog” (LOL) but a child and heir to all of the promises of God found in Christ Jesus. Amen that God has allowed us to be witnesses of His long veiled mystery!
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