There are No Jews, no Greeks, etc Part 27

Christ is such a cornerstone—of not only the Church He established but also the temple that Paul says is within me (1 Cor 6:19). And when I work for God and put jewels and wood and stone where I should be putting God’s Word, there is the possibility that all those things will be taken from me, destroyed by some form of disaster, but with the Word of God I am strong and it doesn’t matter whether I lose earthly things. (1 Cor 3:11-15) All that are called and that obey Him know this in their hearts, that all things come from God. The possessions that I now have, the salary, the home, everything is His. And unless we look at ourselves as having the temple of God and being reverent to God within that temple, then we forget that we serve a purpose in His Kingdom. We forget that we are all His. Our function next to each other is important. This has implications of several scales, first personally and second to our brethren. We must each treat ourselves the way Christ would treat us, because Christ loves us. Even when we sin, even when we stray, Christ died for us. What we forget is that Christ knows when we are going to give in, and the cross is there to make us strong to resist. It allows us to say “No” to temptation, as Paul says in Titus. But should we give in, Jesus is a mediator for us. That means He’ll fight for us. We should rejoice in such a savior. For He is real, He lived and He lives and thank God for Him.

There are no Jews, Greeks, etc Part 25

There are those who say that we need to disguise ourselves and offer those who do not know Christ something they can relate to. In a way this is true, there are cultural changes that go on, and each congregation carries on those changes, whether they want to or not. But the biggest thing has nothing to do with culture. When we offer someone that is visiting the Church sights and sounds that they can find at a fair, or an auction, or a rock concert, what makes us different? Who are we serving, our own need to be accepted or God’s desire that all come to Him? We must continue in the faith. We must not seek or follow those that would not follow God, those that cause us to be unsure in our steps, those that we follow because they make us feel good or because we like them and are their friends. Revelation 3:1-7 warns me that I cannot be a Christian but be in the world. How many times have I compromised? How many times has the church done that? There were Christians in World War II that helped Nazis get away from paying the price for their evil deeds. Are these truly Christians? How many times do my words hurt others and I am just as bad as a murderer? How many times has the Church collectively followed the unwritten law that we don’t want their kind in our Church? How will Christ see us if we do that? How about if we try to tell others that their worship is keeping others from worshipping the way they want to worship? Did we forget Romans 14? Did we forget that it is not up to us how we worship but God? What does God want? The Jews knew. That was written in the Old Testament. Christians often want to add to God’s Word and do what makes them feel “spiritual”. Jesus is only interested in what allows His Church to walk and live in faith in Him, not that we have a gift from God (that is a given) and especially not that we can demonstrate it. (That is prideful). In Matthew 16:15-18, Jesus said he would build His Church on the Rock of Faith, not on how it brings in people, or how it appeals to the outsider, but how much faith in God is there. And that sometimes makes people alone. If we are concerned about pulling people in, appeal is not the way. Faith in God is the way, the LORD’s house, The LORD’s people will not thrive in a situation where it tries to bring in people by giving them what they want. They will know we are Christians by what we do that appeals? No, they will know we are Christians by our love. How do I love my neighbor? Does Christ live in me, such that I am willing to share who Christ is, and that it is because of Him that I am? If we continue to seek those by appealing to what they want to see in a service that should be an event that is for entering the Holiest of Holies and praising God, that is nothing more than asking them to join a club. That is not what Christ is all about. In worship, we serve God, not embellish Him and make Him prettier because otherwise He is just not attractive. If we do that we do not know God and have made Him into something we think we understand better, rather than reaching to really know Him better through studying and learning His Word. What are we stressing in our services? Dancing, musical instruments and loud noise? Shouting hallelulia? That has a time and a place. Our services have become not the reverence peaceful time, but have sometimes become a party and we want everyone in. Do you like parties? I do. I like to mingle, to enjoy others company, but how have I grown? Do I learn anything new? Probably not.

On the other side of the scale are those that bring the level of worship down by their hypocrisy. (Matt 23:1-33) Am I afraid to let down my personal walls in front of everyone? Or do I care they know all there is to know about me. How loving am I? How friendly? Do I seek to get to know people and find out what their needs are? Or am I interested in hearing what the preacher says, then getting to the lunch line as fast as I can? I am extremely vulnerable as a Christian because everyone is looking at me, especially other Christians. How do I live my life? How can I tell these people not to do this, if I myself will do it in 5 minutes, or maybe something worse? What did Jesus say about plucking the log out of my own eye before I remove a splinter from someone else’s eye? I, we, all of us, must watch who it is that we follow and remember that during our worship services and our daily lives.

There are no Jew, Greeks, etc part 26

It all boils down to whether or not we are willing to say we are different from the world because we are Christian. Are we willing to humble ourselves and actually strip ourselves of what we think is ours and what we think will make us attractive to other people that we consider in need of salvation? Are we willing to allow each other to be free in their thinking, in their searching of the scripture? We want others to come in to our Church and accept that they need salvation, i.e. they need Jesus as Lord. We must then begin by accepting one another. The walls that separate us from one another must come down, whether one is conservative or liberal in thinking. The walls must come down. God has given His children chance after chance after chance. Jesus is the last chance we get. (Mk 12:1-13) Jesus set up His Church for us to realize this last chance. (Luke 13:6-9) We must abide in Christ, we must keep the truth He brought us from His Father. (John 15:1-8) And we must not lose our first love. (Revelation 2:1-25).