Teach me to teach, part 7

I am one of His people. His church is in fact looked upon as His people. He looks upon us and watches as we pray. Should we pray for His people (Ps 122:6,9), the good will be sought out. And He will bless me, because I have chosen to be one of His people and to be His child. (Ps 125:5,6) And God is a healer, the repairer of broken relationships, the provider of light along whatever path I travel (Is 58:12) And it is He who builds the spiritual building within me, and those who call themselves His.

Biblically, according to Acts 1:15-26, disciples and apostles were teachers of the early church. This later was also distributed to deacons. Disciples were different than apostles. Apostles were in direct contact with Jesus, and disciples knew Jesus and were taught by Him, but the contact was not as close. Paul calls himself the last apostle (1 Cor 4:9) and the least of them in I Corinthian 15. Actually, a disciple just meant a follower, a believer to the point of accepting His teaching and living them out, and Jesus had many of those, many who may have seen Him at a glance but not spoken with Him, many who never saw Him. Apostles on the other hand were special, enjoying a special relationship with Christ. In Acts 6:2-6, there shows the difference, as from the disciples is appointed apostles with the action of the apostles directed by God. Acts 11:22-30 demonstrates the Church’s growth in terms of teaching, giving, and being of good fruit and one accord. This is again shown in Acts 15:1-31. Paul and Barnabas try to show that the church is not about binding things on people, nor forcing others to be just like them. But the church was about allowing for differences in people. Did they lay down guidelines? Surely, they did, and there are four that the church was to follow: not to consume blood, meat from strangled animals, meat in front of idols, or becoming involved in fornication. I think it is interesting that in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he speaks that the only reason not to eat meat sacrificed to an idol is when it causes a brother to stumble. If that brother has a problem with the fact that that idol represents something that replaces God and therefore meat sacrificed to that idol is pledging allegiance to the other god, then don’t eat that meat. On the other hand, if it causes no one any problems, eat the meat, because idols were merely objects in truth.