Showing posts with label share. Show all posts
Showing posts with label share. Show all posts

Monday 15 February 2016

Priest, scribes and others with authority

John Bunyan
John Bunyan (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For the orderly functioning of life we need to have some order and functions. Our world is divided by different hierarchical posts.

In the world of the churches there are also several posts and in many denominations those in such positions often think they are higher than others and people have to listen to them and have to do what church dictates to them.

In Christianity we can see that at the beginning it was part of Judaism.
Jesus was a respected rabbi and considered by his followers as the sent one from God who had received the authority from the Most High in heaven.

When Jesus was gone the apostles were given special Holy Spirit powers to exercise authority as well. An outstanding example was the drama with Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11) who told lies to the Apostles, but Peter said, “You have not lied to men but to God” (verse 4).

In today’s reading of the 11th chapter of Mark we read
“as he (Jesus) was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and elders came to him and they said to him,
‘By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?’” (verses 27-28).
Priest and scribes were considered as the highly placed ones having authority to dictate to the people. According to them no one was supposed to teach unless they gave them authority. This is one reason why John the Baptist went into the wilderness to preach. It was this exercise of authority that saw the disciples thrown into prison when they taught in the temple (Acts 4:1-3) although later, such was the prestige of the Apostles, created by their miracles, that dramatic scenes unfolded. (Acts 5:12,13,17-20), but “none of the rest dared join them”.

History shows that as the early believers evolved into large established churches these churches too began to exercise an attitude of authority climaxing in the power of the Pope and the cardinal system. In the Middle Ages, if you were not appointment by church authorities to minister in a church, you had no authority to preach.

Some, such as John Bunyan, were put in prison for doing so.

When we look at the gospels we can find examples where it is made clear by Jesus that his followers will have to take up tasks. He also sent them out into the world, something which is too often forgotten today.

We read at the end of Mark’s Gospel, Jesus said,
 “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved …” (16:15,16).
That authority is given to everyone, so we all have the responsibility to share our faith.

Paul challenges us when he expresses this responsibility in the bluntest terms,
 “Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel” (1 Corinthians 9:16).
- based on the Today's thought “Who gave you this authority?” (February 15) by the Christadelphian

+++

Monday 27 January 2014

Many forgot how Christ should be our anchor and our focus

When we look at the trends in the spiritual life of people we notice a growing trend among elders, preachers, and members of the church of Christ which is to turn Christianity and worship into things that are casual in nature.

People are given the freedom to look at their faith like they want to have it. they also may come to worship God whenever they like “as they are” and “dressed as they are.” Some preachers do not find it necessary to prepare their sermon because it has to be casual and straight from the heart. In some churches people have become totally against prepared or printed prayers , saying they would not come from the heart. Everything in service should be improvised and or casual.

73% of born again Christians may say that it is important to share their faith with others, but when we walk around is our environment we do not hear many talking about the Word of God or about the hope we can have in the Gospel. The Good News is not heard much, though many may know it is something we should share with others.

Only half (52%) of born again Christians say they actually did share the Gospel at least once this past year to someone with different beliefs, in the hope that they might accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour.

This sharing of the Good News demands also knowing it and acting accordingly it. But we can notice not many youngsters today really can or want to find time to read the Bible. They think it is not so necessary and for the few times they can make it to church they will hear enough of the Scriptures (they think), but in many churches there is less and less being read from the Scriptures and often just being shouted a few verses, but that's it.

Some preachers do find it more important to get others to know those dogmatic teachings and want to get as many as possible their own church rules, often by breaking off other churches and trying to get the followers of the other church to their church, claiming they are the better church. the set of beliefs — a collection of ideas seems all to what it turns about, instead of preaching the love of Christ.

For most people it is easiest to blindly keep accepting what the preachers tells them on the pulpit. those who dare to question certain things are looked at, because they could be a danger for their own believes or making them to doubt about certain matters, which they now can accept, because the follow the preacher and count him responsible in case it would not be true.

They are not interested in to look at the meaning of one verse with looking at the context in which it was written or to compare it with other verses in other chapters of the Holy Scriptures. Why should they bother who wrote it in which circumstances, what led into it, what did it lead into, etc. 

Today it may look surprising to find it interesting that the age group that is least likely to be regular church goers are most likely to verbally evangelize. In ordinary life, at work, we can find some people (a few) who simply share what they have seen and heard and know to be true and place it in Biblical perspective. Luckily we can find people committed to a Christ-centered, faith-based relationship with God through Jesus Christ, who are not actively connected with and participating in a church. They define themselves as Christians, but they are not active in pursuing spiritual formation in the context of a congregational expression. Some might consider them as beings who could be called "Christian “nones”" in that they have no formal affiliation at this time.

Most Evangelicals, especially leaders feel it important to affirm their doctrine and call out many verses (even when it may be out of context) to affirm their doctrinal believes and to frighten their members so they  would be afraid to leave any idea of their community. 

Jesus is the true example of right understanding of the Word of his Father, the Only One True God. He is the mediator between God and man, who showed us the way to a holy living, and unconditional mercy and love for the lost. It's a message that many Christians dismiss today – just as it was 2000 years ago.

Some may think what the world needs is the revelation of the Grace of God through the complete work of the cross. They might say listening to the likes of Joseph Prince, Creflo Dollar & Rob Rufus , getting this fresh revelation and drinking of the new wine of Holy Spirit is what keeps us fresh in our faith. God never promised us a bed of roses and the road is long and tough at times, but if Christ is our anchor and our focus, how can we neglect so great a salvation?

Lots of people become more concerned how big a church is, how people are dressed, how pleasant the services are, which 'good music" is played, how entertaining the worship can be, etc..

Exterior elements seem to have become more important than the state of the heart, the inner feelings.

In 2001 Barna warned already  most self-professed Christians are only dabblers in the Faith lacking any desire for holiness; begging the question of how serious these people are about their faith, and how real their relationship with Christ is. {George Barna, Growing True Disciples (Colorado Springs: WaterBrook, 2001), 17.}

Those who call themselves Christian, should give much more attention to the person they are claiming to follow. They should listen more to the words of the one they would call their master. Christ Jesus should be their guide, more than any particular preacher or church. Jesus should be the one they should follow.

Christianity is not a set of doctrines in the sense that a mechanic operates with a set of tools. Instead, Christianity is a comprehensive worldview and way of life that grows out of Christian reflection on the Bible and the unfolding plan of God revealed in the unity of the Scriptures. 
As such we also should need to develop more concern for our attitude, attendance, and attire. In a time when many want to practice casual Christianity, we need to practice true Christianity. We need to practice serious Christianity, devoted Christianity, and respectful Christianity.

The Bible tells us about the foggy times when religions will get against religions. The time of its prophesies has come
Men and Women of God must rise up, the Watchmen must cry out; for if the Spirit of the Living God is not poured out on us then all will be lost.


Enhanced by Zemanta

Wednesday 24 November 2010

Church sent into the world

David Bosch writes, “The involvement in the world should lead to a deepening of our relationship with and dependence on God, and the deepening of this relationship should lead to an increasing involvement in the world.” Tod Hiestand writes: " the individual church must see itself as sent into the world, it must also see itself as sent into the world along with the church catholic."

The mission of the church is derived from Jesus' call to gather together. also the apostle Paul called us not to neglect our own congregational meetings which form the church, (Hebrews 10:25)
The church’s call to be a “sign, witness and foretaste” of the coming Kingdom may not be overlooked.

God has sent the church so that in His mission His “love and attention are directed primarily at the world". God has given His son as the foundation of the Church.

We are all part of the world but God and His son Jesus have given us the task to distantiate from the worldly matters. The church that “goes” is the church that finds its primary identity detached from the world and set apart as holy.  The separate and untainted church rightfully understands that it needs to be a witness for the gospel.
Missiologist David Bosch writes: “Spirituality or devotional life seems to mean withdrawal from the world, charging my batteries, and then going out into the world. The image is of an automobile that runs on batteries only.”
Jesus light of Israel, but also for all people, states the need for us to remain set apart in their sentness, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”(John 17:18) We can hope to reap which shall only be possible if we properly reflect the teachings of Christ Jesus. Christ means ‘Messiah’, the  anointed one. He was anointed in order " to preach the Gospel" (Luke 4:18); and we too have been anointed insofar as we are in Christ, the anointed one (2 Corinthians 1:21). Therefore as He was ordained a preacher of the Gospel to the world, we too share that honour (as we do all His honours, to some extent). He was anointed (‘oiled’) by God in order to give the oil of joy to His people; He shared His experience of anointing with us, and we must go out and do likewise (Isaiah 61:1,2) (cp. Luke 4:18).

Isaiah’s description of the beauty of Christ’s preaching in (Isaiah 52:7) is quoted by Paul concerning every preacher of the Gospel (Romans 10:15); the “he” of (Isaiah 52) is changed to “them” in Romans 10. And Paul is quoting this Old Testament prophecy about Jesus to prove that we are all “sent” to preach the Gospel. The validity of our commission to preach is quite simply that Jesus Himself preached; in this way we are all personally “sent” to preach, simply because He was sent to preach. As the Father sent Him, so He sends us.  We should be ambassadors for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20) and we should show the world that we are united in that one Body of Christ. Jesus prays that they would remain unified, “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” With Jesus’ prayer as a foundation for understanding the nature of the church we see that the Church finds itself in the world, yet set apart and unified.

We as brothers and sisters in Christ do have to be unified if we desire to have an effective witness in the world and to build a true church of Christ. We can not be monads or private disciples going our own way, out of love for our fellow believers we do have to share the love of Christ and our own love with the whole community.

We need to speak out against the suburban value of extreme individualism and call Christians back to community. We should prepare the ground, fertilise the field, and plant Bible based structures.

We need to deconstruct the value of consumerism in a way that leads instead to sacrificial living and we need to understand how our individualism and consumerism lead us to neglect the hurting and needy people in our neighborhoods and cities. We cannot stay together in a closed or isolated cocoon. It can help everybody if we can move from an individualized witness to a more robust and powerful communal witness.

Jesus was not about sending his disciples out by themselves into their individualized world to “share the gospel” so that people could “go to heaven when they die.” Rather, he was sending them out to be a communal, public witness to the Kingdom that he was announcing and inaugurating. We need a Church that rejects the lone ranger mentality and lives in sacrificial and compassionate community.

(Based on ideas from Todd Hiestand and Duncan Heaster)

Monday 25 January 2010

Work with joy and pray with love


"Work with joy
Pray with love
Dream from your heart
Share what you have
Live simply, Love deeply"
- Unknown

“We can do nothing, say we sometimes,
 we can only pray. That, thus we feel, is a moderate alternative.
As long as we can work and run around,
as long we raise a hand, we have hope;
 but if we must fall back on God -- ah, then must be the things really critical!”
 - A. J. Gossip

"Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later."
- Og Mandino

"Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."
Matthew 5:16

"And He was saying, "The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows - how, he himself does not know. The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head.
But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."
Mark 4:26-29

I ask you God that I always might accomplish my work for good capacity.
Let others be satisfied with it, and let it be to advancement for my later life.
Dutch version / Nederlandse versie > Werk met vreugde en bidt liefdevol
+++
2013 update
 
Enhanced by Zemanta

Friday 27 February 2009

How do you keep people from stealing your joy?

"Q: How do you keep people from stealing your joy?
A: Give it to them"
- Joshua deKoning


"May the God of hope fill you with all joy
and peace as you trust in him,
so that you may overflow with hope."
Romans 15:13


I know that the Kingdom of The God not eating and drinking is
but righteousness and peace and joy united in holy Pneuma.

Dear God give that I can have a positive attitude
and that I shall be full of joy
and thankful for all the blessings I can enjoy
and let me share them with others
in Christ his name,
amen.


Monday 23 February 2009

Love is like playing the piano

"Love is like playing the piano.
First you must learn to play by the rules,
then you must forget the rules and play from your heart."
- Unknown

"Those who love in the Lord never see
each other for the last time."
- German Proverb

"Love is an act of endless forgiveness,
a tender look which becomes a habit."
- Peter Ustinov

"Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness,
but rejoices with the truth."
1 Corinthians 13:6

"Love does not act unbecomingly;
it does not seek its own,
is not provoked,
does not take into account a wrong suffered."
1 Corinthians 13:5

"Love bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things."
1 Corinthians 13:7

Dear God let love grow in my heart
and let me be able to share my love with others
in tenderness and patience.


Dutch version / Nederlands > Liefde is zoals piano spelen
+++
2013 update:
 
Enhanced by Zemanta

Tuesday 3 February 2009

He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.


1 John 4:9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.





Thoughts
Phil Ware    Showing love is about sharing life with someone else. No one quite epitomizes this principle like Jesus! His sacrifice, however, is what saved us and brought us to our new life in him. Now God wants us to show his love to others by sharing it in ways that they can understand and appreciate.

Prayer
    Holy LORD, my heavenly Father, thank you for today. Help me share my life with someone else who needs to experience your grace -- not just today, but everyday. Please help me notice those who are wounded and please give me wisdom on the best way to lead them to you. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.




2013 update
Enhanced by Zemanta