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Over the past few weeks this crisis has really been weighing in on my mind.
When I was 15 I visited France and saw some of the places that the Jews were shipped off to concentration camps and on the walls of the docks there were the words written in French and Hebrew, “Never Forget” This meant little to me at the time, I didn’t realize to the full extent what happened or how the Jewish people were treated.
I picked up a Cosmopotlian Mag. from the news stand the other day while waiting in line at the grocery store. It’s been a while since I picked up one of these publications. Let me tell you what I found….
I just got done reading Acts 9:16 “I will show him how much he must suffer for My name.” As I am reading this I think to myself, wow Saul probably didn’t know what he was getting himself into. Now I look at this as Jesus’ instruction to all of us. I see Jesus telling us that we must suffer for his name. I look at the missionary journey’s of Paul and I think to myself wow, this man was devoted. If there is any story in the Bible of redemption, I bargain to say that Paul is the poster Child. He watched Stephen get stoned, which I imagine was not a PG-13 type of killing. Then he asks the High Priest to impression the Followers of the Way, then while doing that Jesus calls him and he ends up getting Baptized.
I love Ananias, when talking to Jesus he kinda says, Lord this guy is killing Christians, do I have to go get him? Then Jesus says it, “And I will show him how much he MUST suffer for my name.”(emphasis added) We must suffer for Christ.
I have a good life, and I need to realize how much in my life I will have to suffer for Christ. I dare to say that if we are not suffering for Christ are we reallying living with him. If we are not suffering for Christ have we laid down our lives and live only in him. For Jesus says that we will be prosecuted and that the world will hate us. If the world ends up loving us I truly think that we need to look at our faith and see if we are following Jesus. So ask yourself does the world love you or hate you?
How much have you suffered for Christ?
Are there any absolutes left in the world today?
Is there any more black and white, or just shades or gray?
Is there anymore right and wrong?
I remember the first time I told a girl I loved her. And looking back I didn’t, I was like 13 and I thought that she was the one for me. Looking back she was probably the only girl that would give me the time of day. Anyways, we were talking one the phone and I remember I told her, “I love you.” She quickly responded
Well the core of the question was, what would a Biblical based community look like. Without commentaries, without prior Church involvement to infulence things.
This is what I believe that this Christianity would look like. I believe that you would walk into the town and you would see no trash, no homeless, no needy among them. Because Christ tells us to take care of the poor. I also think you would be greeted right away and offered a place to stay and the very best of food. You might wonder why these people are so nice to you, and they care so much about where you have been and what you think. You probably wouldn’t recongize whose kids are whose, because all of the people take care of the Children.
I believe in a perfect Church community all of the fruits of the Spirit would be evident and seen clear as day. This community is marked by the value of humility. There is an understanding among its members that none have arrived, that all still need work, that all still need to grow and mature. There seems to be no evidence of the opposite of humility—you know, arrogance and pride.
The community would be marked by gentelness as well as humility, There is no sense of harshness, of judgment or condescension with others. Along with gentleness and humility, the community are patient as well. = There is always time granted for others to grow; always room for mistakes to be made. Grace is always extended to others, simply as a matter of course. You notice this because you make some mistakes as far as culture is concerned, and they forgive right when it happenes.
When you see them deal with eachother there is not sense of harshness, judgement, or condescension
there is always time granted for others to grow; always room for mistakes to be made. Grace is always extended to others, simply as the way of life.
“Another trademark of the Spirit in the perfect church is love. As this church experiences the love of God on a continual basis, the members extend that divine love to others as well—to believers and nonbelievers alike. There is also a remarkable lack of strife in this church. I think it’s precisely because the members are so humble, gentle, patient and loving with each other that there is a profound sense of peace in this church.
The perfect church is also unified. There is a doctrinal maturity that focuses on the core theological areas on which all agree, rather than separating and dividing over the differences the members certainly will have. There is a steadfast refusal to view doctrine as a “black & white” set of propositions to be agreed with or divided over.
Probably because of the love and acceptance shown to each other, there is an exceptional sense of body life—of true, biblical community. The perfect church shows consistently how God works through every member in the church. None are excluded; everyone has value and significance, all are necessary, all aregifted and unique. I’ve never seen anything like it.” (Relevant Magazine)
On Sunday there would is a huge feast and you are invited to be the front of the table, the place of honor, because you are a guest.
There is much more but you get the idea…
So the other day while in Hume lake, in the wilderness I had a burning question on my mind. Actually it was more like a burning scenario. Close your eyes and imagine with me….wait don’t close your eyes, keep reading.
Lets say you found out a tribe in South America had never been touched by the outside world, they have never experienced anything outside their little community. But you knew their language. So you interpreted the Bible in their language. After that, you drop the Bible from a plane over their village.
Lets suppose generally the community takes it and accept Jesus as their savior, and tried to live out the Bible. When you come back in 10 years what would you find? What kind of community would you experience? A community of Christians that relied on just the Bible to tell about Christ. A community of believers that didn’t have a grip-load of commentaries, that tell them what they believed. A community of believers that didn’t have baggage from thousands of years of Church mis-conduct. A group of believers that only relied on the Bible to lead their life….What would that Church look like? Would there even be a Church?
Think about this for a time and respond I am curious to what you think this group would look like, and how it would be different at all from our Church community.
