At one point in my past, I had the privilege of baptizing three family members into Christ. But, although I consider this a success for the Lord, I was slightly ostracized for not waiting until Sunday morning to allow God to use me in His work.
This disturbs me greatly. Not because it's slightly critical of me, but because of the lack of importance it shows in the minds of those who think this way of what baptism really means.
In the Scripture, I see no example of waiting until the first day of the week for those accepting the Lordship of Jesus to be baptized. In fact, there are ample examples in the book of Acts that the opposite is true.
We see phrases and words such as "at that very hour" and "immediately" when it comes to the timing of baptism. Why? Because, according to the Scripture, baptism is for the remission of sins and to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit; to be buried with Christ having died to sin and raised to a newness of life; to be clothed in Christ; to be saved for a good conscience toward God. And I could go on.
But, the one thing that I don't see about baptism is that it is an act that shows that you've already been saved. Not one place in God's Word tells that we are saved before baptism. Jesus said, "Those who believe and are baptized shall be saved." I don't, for the life of me, understand why there are so many who want it to say, "Those who believe and are saved shall be baptized." It seems like a dyslexic belief.
I pray that, someday, some how, we return to the true God of the Bible, turning away from the god of our minds.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Friday, November 11, 2011
I Must Be Archaic
Recently, I've been forced to come to the realization that the beliefs I hold as a Christian are archaic. I'm not saying that my beliefs are wrong, just that they seem out of date. I find more and more that, in today's Church, the idea of "Faith Only Salvation" is what's desired by most. This being the case, I see that my belief of a covenant relationship with God is on its way out.
Why would I say this? Well, to have a covenant, you have to hold up your end of the deal. You've made a contract, and you're required to fulfill your part of the agreement. I believe that the Bible describes this agreement that the human race has with God. We know for certain that God will hold up His end of this agreement. But it seems that we, even those of us who claim Christianity of our own, are guilty of a breech of contract.
"But", someone might say, "the Bible says that we're saved by grace through faith, and that is a gift from God." Well, I absolutely agree with that. I cannot be good enough to merit salvation. However, is God the only responsible party in the contract? Do not we have obligations which we must respond with? Do we even have a contract with God? I've always thought so. If not, we aren't held responsible for anything! What a wonderful thing that would be! Live my way now and go to Heaven later.
But, what if we do have a covenant with God? How does the contract read?
Let me begin by finishing; finishing what the Bible says about being saved by grace through faith. Scripture continues to say that we are not saved by our own works. That would put us back under the Law. But it does say that we're saved FOR good works given to us by God. So what happens when I refuse to engage myself in these God-given works? Am I not breaking my part of the bargain?
Now, I'm going to switch gears. Before I need to concern myself with breaking the contract, I have to know how to enter it, to begin with. And to do that, I have to study it and determine what the contract is for and what my primary responsibilities are in it.
When I read this contract with God, I find that I can benefit greatly by it. I find that God's offer to me is that He'll give me a life of happiness that will have no end. The contract refers to this as "Salvation". And after studying it, that, to me, is of tremendous value. But again, what is my part in this contract. What must I do to be "saved"? What are the requirements for me that God has placed there? More study...I need to find what the contract says about what saves me or keeps me from being unsaved.
This is what I found, and I quote:
Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith.
Mr 16:16 "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved."
2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
Ro 10:10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
1Pe 3:21 ¶ Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you.
Ac 22:16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.
Ac 2:38 Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Eph 1:13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.
So, through my belief, I attain faith. I respond to that faith by repenting of my sins, confessing Christ with my mouth, being baptized to wash away my sins and to receive the Holy Spirit which is the seal of God's promise of heaven.
Once again, this has been my belief. But it seems as though this belief is not only archaic, but becoming quickly obsolete.
I could say, "God, forgive us for our breech.", but by studying the maturity of the contract, I'm convinced He won't. I can only say, "God, help us to see that we've broken our end of the deal, and shame us into adherence before the end."
Agape
Why would I say this? Well, to have a covenant, you have to hold up your end of the deal. You've made a contract, and you're required to fulfill your part of the agreement. I believe that the Bible describes this agreement that the human race has with God. We know for certain that God will hold up His end of this agreement. But it seems that we, even those of us who claim Christianity of our own, are guilty of a breech of contract.
"But", someone might say, "the Bible says that we're saved by grace through faith, and that is a gift from God." Well, I absolutely agree with that. I cannot be good enough to merit salvation. However, is God the only responsible party in the contract? Do not we have obligations which we must respond with? Do we even have a contract with God? I've always thought so. If not, we aren't held responsible for anything! What a wonderful thing that would be! Live my way now and go to Heaven later.
But, what if we do have a covenant with God? How does the contract read?
Let me begin by finishing; finishing what the Bible says about being saved by grace through faith. Scripture continues to say that we are not saved by our own works. That would put us back under the Law. But it does say that we're saved FOR good works given to us by God. So what happens when I refuse to engage myself in these God-given works? Am I not breaking my part of the bargain?
Now, I'm going to switch gears. Before I need to concern myself with breaking the contract, I have to know how to enter it, to begin with. And to do that, I have to study it and determine what the contract is for and what my primary responsibilities are in it.
When I read this contract with God, I find that I can benefit greatly by it. I find that God's offer to me is that He'll give me a life of happiness that will have no end. The contract refers to this as "Salvation". And after studying it, that, to me, is of tremendous value. But again, what is my part in this contract. What must I do to be "saved"? What are the requirements for me that God has placed there? More study...I need to find what the contract says about what saves me or keeps me from being unsaved.
This is what I found, and I quote:
Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith.
Mr 16:16 "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved."
2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
Ro 10:10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
1Pe 3:21 ¶ Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you.
Ac 22:16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.
Ac 2:38 Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Eph 1:13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.
So, through my belief, I attain faith. I respond to that faith by repenting of my sins, confessing Christ with my mouth, being baptized to wash away my sins and to receive the Holy Spirit which is the seal of God's promise of heaven.
Once again, this has been my belief. But it seems as though this belief is not only archaic, but becoming quickly obsolete.
I could say, "God, forgive us for our breech.", but by studying the maturity of the contract, I'm convinced He won't. I can only say, "God, help us to see that we've broken our end of the deal, and shame us into adherence before the end."
Agape
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
By Laws or "Bye, Laws"
Within each and every congregation there are a set of what are known as "by-laws". Originally, the purpose for this document was to set into place a means which the "church" could not only abide by the laws of the state, but also legally protect itself from outside "invasion". And for these reasons, they are absolutely necessary.
As I mentioned, every congregation has them. But not every congregation has them identically. Some are as simple as one page. Others are practically like an operator's manual for an F-47. So, we can go from one extreme to the other. And is it wrong to have a set of by-laws that consist only of one page? Is it wrong to have the F-47 manual? In my opinion, I can see different problems with both. But, length is not the true issue. The issue is CONTENT, and both the short and long versions are susceptible to this problem.
The one pager usually goes something like this:
Article 1. This institution shall be know as the Whatever It's Called Church
Article 2. We will follow what the Bible says.
Article 3. Article 1 cannot be changed without a majority vote by the congregation.
There's usually a little more to it to make is sound "official", but I'm sure you get the idea.
The problem here is that simply saying "We follow what the Bible says" leaves so much room for opinion. Granted, on some things we can have opinion, but some we can't.
Now, I'm not going to get into what could be contained in the lengthier one because it could include a rule for who unlocks the doors on Sunday morning. And that's the problem. There's a rule or regulation that covers every single piddly little thing so that you have to call in somebody with a law degree before you can plant a begonia in the flowerbed by the parking lot.
So you see, the short and long version can have their problems with content. But, it's not the content or lack of that I've already mentioned that creates the biggest problems. No. If it were only that simple. The worst and most wide-spread problem is that our by-laws, even though we do well at pretending they don't, typically supersede Scripture and/or are unscriptural.
But I guess the question is: why do well-meaning Christians construct and adopt by-laws which do not coincide with Scripture?
One reason that I can see is a lack of knowledge of the Scripture's meaning or intent. So, having no understanding, these by-laws are based purely upon human judgment, or at least mostly human judgment with enough understanding of Scripture to mess it up.
Another thing that I've seen has been setting up the by-laws according to human experience. An example may be that a preacher from the past was dictatorial or politically motivated in appointing elders that he could control that the by-laws were revised to prevent that situation from re-occurring. By human logic, this may make sense. But this is absolutely unbiblical! The Scripture tells us how God's Church is to operate, and if this is ignored because of "human" matters, repentance for overruling God's plan for His Church must take place.
To conclude: If we handle things in the Church which are contradictory to the way the One and Only God has given us to, we are wrong and willfully sinning! I do not say this lightly. We must repent of our arrogance and humble ourselves before our Lord.
Agape
As I mentioned, every congregation has them. But not every congregation has them identically. Some are as simple as one page. Others are practically like an operator's manual for an F-47. So, we can go from one extreme to the other. And is it wrong to have a set of by-laws that consist only of one page? Is it wrong to have the F-47 manual? In my opinion, I can see different problems with both. But, length is not the true issue. The issue is CONTENT, and both the short and long versions are susceptible to this problem.
The one pager usually goes something like this:
Article 1. This institution shall be know as the Whatever It's Called Church
Article 2. We will follow what the Bible says.
Article 3. Article 1 cannot be changed without a majority vote by the congregation.
There's usually a little more to it to make is sound "official", but I'm sure you get the idea.
The problem here is that simply saying "We follow what the Bible says" leaves so much room for opinion. Granted, on some things we can have opinion, but some we can't.
Now, I'm not going to get into what could be contained in the lengthier one because it could include a rule for who unlocks the doors on Sunday morning. And that's the problem. There's a rule or regulation that covers every single piddly little thing so that you have to call in somebody with a law degree before you can plant a begonia in the flowerbed by the parking lot.
So you see, the short and long version can have their problems with content. But, it's not the content or lack of that I've already mentioned that creates the biggest problems. No. If it were only that simple. The worst and most wide-spread problem is that our by-laws, even though we do well at pretending they don't, typically supersede Scripture and/or are unscriptural.
But I guess the question is: why do well-meaning Christians construct and adopt by-laws which do not coincide with Scripture?
One reason that I can see is a lack of knowledge of the Scripture's meaning or intent. So, having no understanding, these by-laws are based purely upon human judgment, or at least mostly human judgment with enough understanding of Scripture to mess it up.
Another thing that I've seen has been setting up the by-laws according to human experience. An example may be that a preacher from the past was dictatorial or politically motivated in appointing elders that he could control that the by-laws were revised to prevent that situation from re-occurring. By human logic, this may make sense. But this is absolutely unbiblical! The Scripture tells us how God's Church is to operate, and if this is ignored because of "human" matters, repentance for overruling God's plan for His Church must take place.
To conclude: If we handle things in the Church which are contradictory to the way the One and Only God has given us to, we are wrong and willfully sinning! I do not say this lightly. We must repent of our arrogance and humble ourselves before our Lord.
Agape
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