Imagine if Paul was writing to modern Christian Churches in the 21st Century. It might sound something like this.
Based on the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians.
1:1-31.
To the Christian Churches of America,
Hello. I am Paul and I am an evangelist of our Lord Jesus Christ. I am writing this letter to all the Christian Churches of America, to all those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, and to all those fellow Christians who call on the name of our Savior.
Grace and peace to you all. May you be blessed by our Father and our Savior Christ Jesus.
I praise God that you have all found the Grace and forgiveness of Christ, and I know you have from listening to the sermons, watching your actions, and hearing the wonderful testimonies that have strengthened our faith and understanding of the Gospel. None of you are lacking for any spiritual gifts and God’s plan is constantly being revealed through you. Jesus will give us strength throughout our lives, and all our sins are forgiven through the sacrifice of our savior. Remember that God is faithful and has called us into Christian fellowship through Christ’s love.
I hope that we can all be in agreement and not have any divisions amongst us. We, as Christians, must seek unity of the Church so as to be of the same mind and have the same goal of spreading the Gospel to others.
It has come to my attention that many of you are arguing amongst yourselves. Our doctrines are dividing the body of Christ. I hear people saying that “I belong to the Southern Baptists, or I am a Methodist, or I go to the Church of God, or Church of Christ, or I go to a Bible Church, non-denominational, or Catholic.” Has Christ’s love been divided? Was John Wesley killed for you? Were you baptized in the name of a denomination, or the name of Christ Jesus? I didn’t baptize any of you, and those I did, were not baptized in the name of any Church, but in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Christ sent me, and many of you, not to Baptize, but to proclaim the gospel. It is not about eloquence and good speeches, but the power of God’s Love; Christ’s sacrifice for us. It is about Christ’s suffering and dying on a cross so that we might be saved that is important.
Those who do not know Christ are ignorant of the truth and are perishing, but those of us who know the Savior know the power of God’s love. It was written long ago that “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Who is wise amongst us? Where are the great Christian writers and the great evangelists of our time? Doesn’t God’s grace make foolish the wisdom of our modern, secular world? God tried to teach us with divine wisdom, but we didn’t learn the lesson. God decided that all we have to do is make our proclamation of belief in Christ Jesus as our savior to be saved. It may seem trivial or silly, but there is power in that proclamation. Some demand signs and others want to be taught and know all the facts, but we proclaim that Christ was crucified for us. This is faith. This idea confuses those who do not understand but they still need to know of God’s love. God’s wisdom and love is infinite, man’s is finite. God’s strength and faithfulness is greater than any of us.
Consider your own testimony of the Faith. Not all of us would be considered wise, most have failed in many areas of their lives, most of us are not rich, or come from powerful families. But God chose to use us to show the world His love and faithfulness. He chose the weak to shame the strong. He took those of us who have stumbled and failed in this world, and uses us for the glory of His kingdom. No one should ever boast that it is through their own doing that man is saved. God is the source of our lives in Christ Jesus, who is the truth of God’s love for us. Jesus gives us wisdom for living, righteousness to stay in a relationship with Him, and sanctifies and redeems us of our sins so that if we are to boast, we boast of the Lord’s love, forgiveness, and wisdom.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Perseverance
I recently was blessed to be the Lay Director on Walk 86 of the Brazos Valley Emmaus Community. Here is part of the talk I gave to the pilgrims.
Perseverance
In 1963, my mother, Betty Wetterman gave birth to my older sister, Stephanie Denise Wetterman. Stephanie was born with a major birth defect called Spinomeningoencephalocill. That big words means that her skull did not form properly in the womb and that there was a hole about the size of a .50 cent piece at the base of her skull. Her brain had partially formed outside the skull and there was a sack-like bag of flesh on the back of her head. Very few babies ever survived such a birth defect. The Doctor was blunt to my 19 year old mother, “Mrs. Wetterman,” she said, “forget this baby. It is going to die. You are young, you can have more babies.”
Stephanie was given two weeks to live, though the doctors believed it probably wouldn’t be that long.
The family prayed for help to come, but the neurosurgeon in charge waited for several weeks, expecting the child would die. She did not.
Eventually another neurosurgeon became involved. He offered to attempt a radical surgery to replace Stephanie’s brain into her skull, take off the excess skin sack, and to cover the hole in her skull with a wire mesh. The brain’s swelling could be controlled with a shunt that would funnel excess brain fluid into her stomach to be reabsorbed into her body. The prognoses for her surviving the surgery was very low, but there was hope, and the family: the parents, grandparents, and their brothers and sisters in blood and in Christ, prayed. She survived the surgery.
Tom had worked as a mechanic at the time, and Betty had been a legal secretary, but quit her job to stay with the baby at the hospital. Tom took a second job and worked long hours, but it was impossible for the young couple to pay the mounting bills. The family prayed.
A hospital administrator called Betty into her office one day and told her that if she didn’t have anymore insurance, or the money to pay the bills, she would be asked to leave the hospital. The young mother, distraught and overcome with the burdens she faced and the prospect of her baby being kicked out of the hospital and dying due to lack of medical care, was sobbing as the neurosurgeon entered the room to check on Stephanie. He asked her what was wrong. She told him what had happened. He told her not to worry about it anymore, that there was no way the hospital would kick them out, and that he would take care of it.
The administrator never again spoke to Betty, and they were never charged for the surgery or the hospital stay.
The baby suffered through 13 surgeries the first 9 years of her life, 10 of them before she was a year and a half old. The first saved her life, and she was the first such child to live with that birth defect. Unfortunately, the brain had to be separated from the skin it had become attached to, and the scraping of the brain left her profoundly retarded and subject to grand moll seizures, one of which left her paralyzed on half of her body.
Many will hear her story and say for what purpose did this child live? What possible effect could a profoundly retarded child have on our world?
My sister Stephanie had many problems. To control the frequency and severity of seizures she has to take some very hard drugs including Phenobarbitol. She can do little for herself now, but I remember when we were both young, and how she would try to walk in her physical therapy class, how she would laugh at her little brother’s antics, how she would radiate God’s glory as she belted out songs such as “Jesus Loves me this I know” and other children’s songs. She loved her papaw, and he loved her. He had lived a very hard life, but three heart attacks and his love for his grandchildren, especially Stephanie, greatly affected him, and he died a good, Christian man.
I remember our parents in the choir of our church, while Stephanie and I would sit in the pews listening and watching. She would move her hand to the time of the music and smile the greatest smile. She touched many lives including the pastor of our church, many ladies who have had to care and look after her as she got older, extended family members, and many others.
However, the greatest impact she had was on me. From her I learned empathy for others. I learned to see the pure love of the Lord reflected in her. I remember being called a “retard” because she was my sister, but I always loved her and as a child dealt with such teasing the best way a young boy could.
Eventually, as an adult, I became a special education teacher, knowing that I could make a difference in the lives of not only my students, but their families as well. It means so much to have a teacher that has seen such handicaps in their own lives.
In August of 2001, my youngest son, Kevin was born. I knew from the beginning that something was wrong. He could not ever get comfortable or be comforted. He could not look me in the eye. He did not speak more than a few words by the time he was 3, and he was lost in his own world for most of the time. I suspected Autism, but the Dr. continued to say he as only behind developmentally delayed. I remember losing it one day. Yelling at him, begging him to speak to me, to let me know he understood that I was his father. That I loved him. Finally, he was diagnosed as a high functioning autistic. My wife read many books and developed a plan of action. We placed him on the gluten free/casein free diet and used some behavior modification techniques with him. Miraculously, and I do believe it was a miracle, Kevin began talking in days, and stopped many autistic behaviors like hand flapping and screaming underneath tables at school. Everyone saw and were amazed at the difference.
What do these two stories have in common? Faith in God, familial love, and perseverance.
My name is Ed Wetterman and the title of this talk is Perseverance.
What is perseverance?
To persevere may be defined as “continuing with an undertaking in spite of difficulty, opposition, or discouragement. To remain steadfast in purpose.
How can we persevere in the Christian life? We must feed on spiritual food to grow, develop, and function as Christians. We must persevere in the life of grace. Because we have shared in the Christian banquet, we see the need for a continued diet of God’s grace. We must learn how to live in God’s grace and keep it in our daily lives.
A better life is possible. The treasure of a life lived in grace is ours to have. Matthew 13:45-46 compares the “life of grace to the pearl of great price.” It takes effort on our part to receive and maintain that life in grace. Christians cannot live in a vacuum, but must maintain a relationship with God and others. To persevere involves maintaining contact with Christ and contact with other Christians.
How can we maintain contact with Christ? We do this through prayer, meditation, the sacraments, and the living Word. Total security comes from encountering Christ, surrendering to His will, and accepting the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. This is a life-long process, achieved through perseverance and the hard work of remaining open to God’s persistent love. However, there is a difference between the feeling of security and the state of being secure. Only that which is absolute can give absolute security. We, as Christians, have that through Jesus Christ. He is the source of our eternal life (John 15: 1-11). In a personal relationship with Jesus Christ we strengthen the life of God in us. It is by His power, His love, His Holy Spirit that we may persevere and follow His will for our lives.
How can we maintain contact with other Christians? First, we do this by being active in our Church, being Hands reaching out, being His feet willing to go where is needed and to spread the Good News that Jesus lived and died so we may have eternal life in grace. Secondly, in the Emmaus movement, we do this by attending group reunions. Group reunions are a way we help each other live in grace. The groups provide mutual support, encouragement, and accountability. We need mutual Christian-centered sharing. As Christian men we are faced with so much in our daily lives, be it alcohol, sex, or some other addiction or idol, as well as those dark days when those we love are suffering, lost, or in pain. We need to fellowship with others to grow in our understanding and to gain strength to face the difficulties in our lives.
No battle is ever won without cost. The more valuable the prize, the more costly the effort to achieve it. The weekly reunion group meeting is the premium we pay to persevere as disciples.
My accountability group has supported me many times when I have faltered and failed, and there is a lot of wisdom and unconditional love in their words. Perseverance should be our aim, to help one another continue the journey in the life of grace.
Finally and most importantly, stay connected in your local church. Your church is the primary Christian Community in your life. The Emmaus activities are meant to supplement and enliven, never to replace, your local Church.
A few years ago, I attended Walk 60 as a Pilgrim. That Thursday night, I feared that I had been dropped off in some kind of cult and thought of how I might escape. By Saturday night my Christian life had forever been changed. I have the treasure of God’s grace. I have a personal relationship with Him! I have worked several teams as Assistant Table Leader, Table Leader, Assistant Lay Director, Outside team Coordinator, in the kitchens, and on the Brazos Valley Board of Directors. It has been a most worthwhile journey. My understanding of God’s love, that great gift of Grace, came from my Walk and service. However, it was never me. I never felt so inadequate as when I was chosen to be Lay Director for this Walk. But one of my reunion group said to me, “God doesn’t chose the equipped, he equips the chosen.” That’s a fact, my friends.
Keep the love flowing through friendship and association with fellow seekers; participate in a group reunion and in your local church.
As for my sister, Stephanie, she is now 47 years old, and the pure love she and others like her radiate, are lessons for us all. I have had her caretakers tell me about how she continues to astonish them and how her simple smile can help them through a difficult day.
Stephanie has been one of the greatest influences on my life. Would I be the person I am today without her? Because of her I became a teacher. Because of her I know empathy and understanding for those who live daily with various ailments and disabilities.
As for Kevin, my son, he is a smart, talkative, fun-loving boy who has recently started the 5th grade in regular classes. He loves everyone, and my favorite memory was when he asked me to go to the altar to pray with him one day at my church.
I am blessed.
De Colores.
Perseverance
In 1963, my mother, Betty Wetterman gave birth to my older sister, Stephanie Denise Wetterman. Stephanie was born with a major birth defect called Spinomeningoencephalocill. That big words means that her skull did not form properly in the womb and that there was a hole about the size of a .50 cent piece at the base of her skull. Her brain had partially formed outside the skull and there was a sack-like bag of flesh on the back of her head. Very few babies ever survived such a birth defect. The Doctor was blunt to my 19 year old mother, “Mrs. Wetterman,” she said, “forget this baby. It is going to die. You are young, you can have more babies.”
Stephanie was given two weeks to live, though the doctors believed it probably wouldn’t be that long.
The family prayed for help to come, but the neurosurgeon in charge waited for several weeks, expecting the child would die. She did not.
Eventually another neurosurgeon became involved. He offered to attempt a radical surgery to replace Stephanie’s brain into her skull, take off the excess skin sack, and to cover the hole in her skull with a wire mesh. The brain’s swelling could be controlled with a shunt that would funnel excess brain fluid into her stomach to be reabsorbed into her body. The prognoses for her surviving the surgery was very low, but there was hope, and the family: the parents, grandparents, and their brothers and sisters in blood and in Christ, prayed. She survived the surgery.
Tom had worked as a mechanic at the time, and Betty had been a legal secretary, but quit her job to stay with the baby at the hospital. Tom took a second job and worked long hours, but it was impossible for the young couple to pay the mounting bills. The family prayed.
A hospital administrator called Betty into her office one day and told her that if she didn’t have anymore insurance, or the money to pay the bills, she would be asked to leave the hospital. The young mother, distraught and overcome with the burdens she faced and the prospect of her baby being kicked out of the hospital and dying due to lack of medical care, was sobbing as the neurosurgeon entered the room to check on Stephanie. He asked her what was wrong. She told him what had happened. He told her not to worry about it anymore, that there was no way the hospital would kick them out, and that he would take care of it.
The administrator never again spoke to Betty, and they were never charged for the surgery or the hospital stay.
The baby suffered through 13 surgeries the first 9 years of her life, 10 of them before she was a year and a half old. The first saved her life, and she was the first such child to live with that birth defect. Unfortunately, the brain had to be separated from the skin it had become attached to, and the scraping of the brain left her profoundly retarded and subject to grand moll seizures, one of which left her paralyzed on half of her body.
Many will hear her story and say for what purpose did this child live? What possible effect could a profoundly retarded child have on our world?
My sister Stephanie had many problems. To control the frequency and severity of seizures she has to take some very hard drugs including Phenobarbitol. She can do little for herself now, but I remember when we were both young, and how she would try to walk in her physical therapy class, how she would laugh at her little brother’s antics, how she would radiate God’s glory as she belted out songs such as “Jesus Loves me this I know” and other children’s songs. She loved her papaw, and he loved her. He had lived a very hard life, but three heart attacks and his love for his grandchildren, especially Stephanie, greatly affected him, and he died a good, Christian man.
I remember our parents in the choir of our church, while Stephanie and I would sit in the pews listening and watching. She would move her hand to the time of the music and smile the greatest smile. She touched many lives including the pastor of our church, many ladies who have had to care and look after her as she got older, extended family members, and many others.
However, the greatest impact she had was on me. From her I learned empathy for others. I learned to see the pure love of the Lord reflected in her. I remember being called a “retard” because she was my sister, but I always loved her and as a child dealt with such teasing the best way a young boy could.
Eventually, as an adult, I became a special education teacher, knowing that I could make a difference in the lives of not only my students, but their families as well. It means so much to have a teacher that has seen such handicaps in their own lives.
In August of 2001, my youngest son, Kevin was born. I knew from the beginning that something was wrong. He could not ever get comfortable or be comforted. He could not look me in the eye. He did not speak more than a few words by the time he was 3, and he was lost in his own world for most of the time. I suspected Autism, but the Dr. continued to say he as only behind developmentally delayed. I remember losing it one day. Yelling at him, begging him to speak to me, to let me know he understood that I was his father. That I loved him. Finally, he was diagnosed as a high functioning autistic. My wife read many books and developed a plan of action. We placed him on the gluten free/casein free diet and used some behavior modification techniques with him. Miraculously, and I do believe it was a miracle, Kevin began talking in days, and stopped many autistic behaviors like hand flapping and screaming underneath tables at school. Everyone saw and were amazed at the difference.
What do these two stories have in common? Faith in God, familial love, and perseverance.
My name is Ed Wetterman and the title of this talk is Perseverance.
What is perseverance?
To persevere may be defined as “continuing with an undertaking in spite of difficulty, opposition, or discouragement. To remain steadfast in purpose.
How can we persevere in the Christian life? We must feed on spiritual food to grow, develop, and function as Christians. We must persevere in the life of grace. Because we have shared in the Christian banquet, we see the need for a continued diet of God’s grace. We must learn how to live in God’s grace and keep it in our daily lives.
A better life is possible. The treasure of a life lived in grace is ours to have. Matthew 13:45-46 compares the “life of grace to the pearl of great price.” It takes effort on our part to receive and maintain that life in grace. Christians cannot live in a vacuum, but must maintain a relationship with God and others. To persevere involves maintaining contact with Christ and contact with other Christians.
How can we maintain contact with Christ? We do this through prayer, meditation, the sacraments, and the living Word. Total security comes from encountering Christ, surrendering to His will, and accepting the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. This is a life-long process, achieved through perseverance and the hard work of remaining open to God’s persistent love. However, there is a difference between the feeling of security and the state of being secure. Only that which is absolute can give absolute security. We, as Christians, have that through Jesus Christ. He is the source of our eternal life (John 15: 1-11). In a personal relationship with Jesus Christ we strengthen the life of God in us. It is by His power, His love, His Holy Spirit that we may persevere and follow His will for our lives.
How can we maintain contact with other Christians? First, we do this by being active in our Church, being Hands reaching out, being His feet willing to go where is needed and to spread the Good News that Jesus lived and died so we may have eternal life in grace. Secondly, in the Emmaus movement, we do this by attending group reunions. Group reunions are a way we help each other live in grace. The groups provide mutual support, encouragement, and accountability. We need mutual Christian-centered sharing. As Christian men we are faced with so much in our daily lives, be it alcohol, sex, or some other addiction or idol, as well as those dark days when those we love are suffering, lost, or in pain. We need to fellowship with others to grow in our understanding and to gain strength to face the difficulties in our lives.
No battle is ever won without cost. The more valuable the prize, the more costly the effort to achieve it. The weekly reunion group meeting is the premium we pay to persevere as disciples.
My accountability group has supported me many times when I have faltered and failed, and there is a lot of wisdom and unconditional love in their words. Perseverance should be our aim, to help one another continue the journey in the life of grace.
Finally and most importantly, stay connected in your local church. Your church is the primary Christian Community in your life. The Emmaus activities are meant to supplement and enliven, never to replace, your local Church.
A few years ago, I attended Walk 60 as a Pilgrim. That Thursday night, I feared that I had been dropped off in some kind of cult and thought of how I might escape. By Saturday night my Christian life had forever been changed. I have the treasure of God’s grace. I have a personal relationship with Him! I have worked several teams as Assistant Table Leader, Table Leader, Assistant Lay Director, Outside team Coordinator, in the kitchens, and on the Brazos Valley Board of Directors. It has been a most worthwhile journey. My understanding of God’s love, that great gift of Grace, came from my Walk and service. However, it was never me. I never felt so inadequate as when I was chosen to be Lay Director for this Walk. But one of my reunion group said to me, “God doesn’t chose the equipped, he equips the chosen.” That’s a fact, my friends.
Keep the love flowing through friendship and association with fellow seekers; participate in a group reunion and in your local church.
As for my sister, Stephanie, she is now 47 years old, and the pure love she and others like her radiate, are lessons for us all. I have had her caretakers tell me about how she continues to astonish them and how her simple smile can help them through a difficult day.
Stephanie has been one of the greatest influences on my life. Would I be the person I am today without her? Because of her I became a teacher. Because of her I know empathy and understanding for those who live daily with various ailments and disabilities.
As for Kevin, my son, he is a smart, talkative, fun-loving boy who has recently started the 5th grade in regular classes. He loves everyone, and my favorite memory was when he asked me to go to the altar to pray with him one day at my church.
I am blessed.
De Colores.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
God's Love
What is God’s love and what are we to do with it?
The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary states that it is a “strong affection for another arising out of personal ties…affection and tenderness felt by lovers…affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests…a warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion…unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another…the fatherly concern of God for mankind…a brotherly concern of others.” Synonyms for Love are affection, attachment, devotedness, devotion, fondness, and passion.
The Wesley Study Bible says on page 830:
“God always acts to redeem and rescue us. We can’t outrun, out-give, outlast, or out grow God’s love….would send the Son to rescue the world. The whole of Scripture captures Gods’ great love affair with humanity. We may try to run and hide, but the arm of God’s love for us is always long enough to reach and rescue us.”
John Wesley’s Teachings on the Loving God:
“Love is such an easy word to say and such a hard thing to do. Ultimately love shows itself not by declarations of affection but by the service we render to the one we profess to love, especially service that inconveniences us or that calls for sacrifice. What is true in expressions of human love is equally true of our love for God. Jesus put the matter quite simply: If we love him, we will keep his commandments. “(John 14:15)
How great is God’s love?
Jeremiah 31:3 “I have loved you with an everlasting love.”
Everlasting means there is no beginning and no ending. Since God is eternal and God is love, the more we discover about Love, the more we know God; and the more we know about God, the more we know about love.
God’s love is infinite. In Eph 3:18-19, Paul writes “I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you many be filled with all the fullness of God. “ The Message reads “And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.”
Dr. Barnhouse described God’s love like this. He said we are touched by the edge of this love, bathed in it, but we can’t fathom just how great the love is, even as the sea is beyond the human swimmer to conquer.
Why does he love us? There is no cause why God should ever love us. But as His heart is love, He found his own purpose for his divine love of us.
God’s heart is love. As God is perfect love, he cannot even look upon sin. Sin is anything that keeps us out of our personal relationship with God. Anything that keeps us from knowing God’s grace and forgiveness is Sin. We could not overcome our own sinful nature to love God and reach Him. He had to reach for us, by becoming human, and being a living sacrifice to overcome our sins.
As Jesus was perfection sacrificed, and His spirit dwells in all of his believers, when God looks upon us he no longer sees our sins, but he sees Jesus reflected in us. This is the great and eternal gift of God.
Love was manifested in Jesus Christ. To manifest is the revelation of something that had before been hidden. When Christ was made visible, the eternal, infinite sovereign love was with us. He was to become a sacrificial lamb and to die for all of mankind’s sins, past, present and future. Imagine that. He took every sin upon himself for every one of us, throughout history from the beginning to the end, and died so that we could live in His eternal grace. Think of that. He died for You! Your personally, as well as humanity universally, so we could have a relationship with him. So that we could experience and share in His divine love.
He was the gift of God’s love, he loved us enough to give his life for you. For you personally, and humanity universally.
In John 15:12-13 Jesus tells us “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
So Christians are called to witness through loving acts of Agape, to love one another as Jesus had done. Do we? We should be reaching out to those that are hurting, those in mourning, those that are hungry, suffering, in prisons, addicted, stricken, and ostracized from society. When I hear Christians attacking others such as homosexuals, drug addicts, abortionists with venom and verve, I cry inside, for this is not what we are called to do. That is not the great commission.
The song by Casting Crowns gets this absolutely right:
If we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?
And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them there is a way?
There is a way
Jesus payed much too high a price
For us to pick and choose who should come
And we are the body of Christ
God’s love is for everyone and is so powerful that nothing can come between Him and us, if we simply accept Him into our hearts as our savior.
Romans 8:38 states ”For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor other things, present, nor things to come, not powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
In the Message Romans 8:38 reads “None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing, nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable- absolutely NOTHING can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.”
God’s love is universal and personal.
No one needs to ever feel left out, as God’s love is open to all. That’s right, all of us. We are all sinners, none stands before God in perfection except through Christ Jesus. God’s love is open to EVERYONE, not just the Frozen Chosen, but the prostitute, the abortionist, the homosexual, the pornographer, the wife-beater, murderer, liar, cheat, adulterer, alcoholic, road-rager, abuser, and yes, even the lawyer-politicians. Every one of us. None of us are reconciled to God through anything we do, but through the Grace of Jesus’ sacrifice for us.
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” Many folks stop there, but if you continue into John 3:17-18 you discover “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because the have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
So what do you have to do to know him? Simply accept Him into your heart. Confess that you are a sinner. Ask Him to save you and accept His grace, his sacrifice for you. If you do this, you shall be saved and know the personal love of the God of the Universe.
We are made partakers of divine salvation, and divine love.
God’s love is everlasting, infinite, manifest, redeeming, sacrificial, personal, rebuking, providing, protecting, universal, sustaining, and pure.
Accept it. Accept Him. Then show His love to others by your actions. Good works do not save you, Christ already did that and what can you possibly do to equal that Holy Sacrifice? We do good works because we are Christians. Show it.
(This was inspired by a Bible lesson on God’s Love by Dr. Barnhouse that can be listened to at alliancenet.org.)
The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary states that it is a “strong affection for another arising out of personal ties…affection and tenderness felt by lovers…affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests…a warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion…unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another…the fatherly concern of God for mankind…a brotherly concern of others.” Synonyms for Love are affection, attachment, devotedness, devotion, fondness, and passion.
The Wesley Study Bible says on page 830:
“God always acts to redeem and rescue us. We can’t outrun, out-give, outlast, or out grow God’s love….would send the Son to rescue the world. The whole of Scripture captures Gods’ great love affair with humanity. We may try to run and hide, but the arm of God’s love for us is always long enough to reach and rescue us.”
John Wesley’s Teachings on the Loving God:
“Love is such an easy word to say and such a hard thing to do. Ultimately love shows itself not by declarations of affection but by the service we render to the one we profess to love, especially service that inconveniences us or that calls for sacrifice. What is true in expressions of human love is equally true of our love for God. Jesus put the matter quite simply: If we love him, we will keep his commandments. “(John 14:15)
How great is God’s love?
Jeremiah 31:3 “I have loved you with an everlasting love.”
Everlasting means there is no beginning and no ending. Since God is eternal and God is love, the more we discover about Love, the more we know God; and the more we know about God, the more we know about love.
God’s love is infinite. In Eph 3:18-19, Paul writes “I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you many be filled with all the fullness of God. “ The Message reads “And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.”
Dr. Barnhouse described God’s love like this. He said we are touched by the edge of this love, bathed in it, but we can’t fathom just how great the love is, even as the sea is beyond the human swimmer to conquer.
Why does he love us? There is no cause why God should ever love us. But as His heart is love, He found his own purpose for his divine love of us.
God’s heart is love. As God is perfect love, he cannot even look upon sin. Sin is anything that keeps us out of our personal relationship with God. Anything that keeps us from knowing God’s grace and forgiveness is Sin. We could not overcome our own sinful nature to love God and reach Him. He had to reach for us, by becoming human, and being a living sacrifice to overcome our sins.
As Jesus was perfection sacrificed, and His spirit dwells in all of his believers, when God looks upon us he no longer sees our sins, but he sees Jesus reflected in us. This is the great and eternal gift of God.
Love was manifested in Jesus Christ. To manifest is the revelation of something that had before been hidden. When Christ was made visible, the eternal, infinite sovereign love was with us. He was to become a sacrificial lamb and to die for all of mankind’s sins, past, present and future. Imagine that. He took every sin upon himself for every one of us, throughout history from the beginning to the end, and died so that we could live in His eternal grace. Think of that. He died for You! Your personally, as well as humanity universally, so we could have a relationship with him. So that we could experience and share in His divine love.
He was the gift of God’s love, he loved us enough to give his life for you. For you personally, and humanity universally.
In John 15:12-13 Jesus tells us “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
So Christians are called to witness through loving acts of Agape, to love one another as Jesus had done. Do we? We should be reaching out to those that are hurting, those in mourning, those that are hungry, suffering, in prisons, addicted, stricken, and ostracized from society. When I hear Christians attacking others such as homosexuals, drug addicts, abortionists with venom and verve, I cry inside, for this is not what we are called to do. That is not the great commission.
The song by Casting Crowns gets this absolutely right:
If we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?
And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them there is a way?
There is a way
Jesus payed much too high a price
For us to pick and choose who should come
And we are the body of Christ
God’s love is for everyone and is so powerful that nothing can come between Him and us, if we simply accept Him into our hearts as our savior.
Romans 8:38 states ”For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor other things, present, nor things to come, not powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
In the Message Romans 8:38 reads “None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing, nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable- absolutely NOTHING can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.”
God’s love is universal and personal.
No one needs to ever feel left out, as God’s love is open to all. That’s right, all of us. We are all sinners, none stands before God in perfection except through Christ Jesus. God’s love is open to EVERYONE, not just the Frozen Chosen, but the prostitute, the abortionist, the homosexual, the pornographer, the wife-beater, murderer, liar, cheat, adulterer, alcoholic, road-rager, abuser, and yes, even the lawyer-politicians. Every one of us. None of us are reconciled to God through anything we do, but through the Grace of Jesus’ sacrifice for us.
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” Many folks stop there, but if you continue into John 3:17-18 you discover “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because the have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
So what do you have to do to know him? Simply accept Him into your heart. Confess that you are a sinner. Ask Him to save you and accept His grace, his sacrifice for you. If you do this, you shall be saved and know the personal love of the God of the Universe.
We are made partakers of divine salvation, and divine love.
God’s love is everlasting, infinite, manifest, redeeming, sacrificial, personal, rebuking, providing, protecting, universal, sustaining, and pure.
Accept it. Accept Him. Then show His love to others by your actions. Good works do not save you, Christ already did that and what can you possibly do to equal that Holy Sacrifice? We do good works because we are Christians. Show it.
(This was inspired by a Bible lesson on God’s Love by Dr. Barnhouse that can be listened to at alliancenet.org.)
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Seeing God
I have a testimony to share. Last month, I received a phone call from one of my very best friends, Mark Ramsey. It was bad news. Mark's mother, Yvonne, had been diagnosed with spinal cancer and had been given no more than three months to live. She had fought cancer seven years or so earlier and it had gone into remission. Two years ago she nearly died when she suffered a stroke. The past year she had been living in an assisted living home, and was as happy as I think I'd ever seen her. I had visited her only two weeks earlier and she was complaining of constant back pain. Mark had taken her to the Doctor and after many tests they had delivered the news. Mark asked if I would help move his mother's furniture to a new home where she could receive constant care and attention. This call was on a Sunday, I told him I couldn't be there until Wednesday, he said no problem.
When I arrived Wednesday morning I learned that Yvonne had never left the hospital and had gone down very quickly. Mark's sister Kim and his oldest daughter, Erica, had stayed at the hospital with her. Mark and I left his home to get Yvonne's stuff moved. It was very hot, over 100 degrees, and after some sweating, we had just begun to move the furniture to my truck when Mark's cell phone rang. It was Kim. She reported that their mother was going down fast and that he should return to the hospital as soon as possible.
We left the home and began the drive to the hospital. Mark and I had been having very deep theological discussions about God, His plan for us, and our lives as Christians. Mark was hurting, knowing that his mother's death was near. I told him, "Even in the darkest times, God is with us. If you look for Him today, you will see him."
We stopped at a convenience store to get some drinks. I had just driven in from Caldwell and was very thirsty. Mark got an energy drink, and I got a diet coke with a bottle of water. We stood behind five or six people in line to the counter and good-naturedly argued about which of us were going to pay for the beverages, as men are want to do. I said, "I got this." Mark said, "No your my guest I got it." Etc.
A Hispanic day-laborer was in the line in front of us. He turned to us and smiled, "I got it!" Mark and I laughed. It was a good release to the tension we were both feeling about what the rest of the day would hold for his family. When we got to the counter, the lady said, "He already paid for it," and pointed out the door. We were moved to say the least. Here a complete stranger, a Hispanic, day-laborer had paid for our drinks on the day Mark needed to see human agape love the most. Mark couldn't speak. I went outside and found the man sitting on the curb eating a sandwich and drinking a coke. I didn't know what to say, but managed to thank him, "Man, you don't know what you just did for us. My friend's mother is dying. We are on the way to the hospital now. God used you. God bless you." He just smiled and waved me off.
On the way to the hospital, we were quiet for a while. I know we were both thinking of my words, that you will see God had come true. This small random act of kindness from one human being to another was a small miracle. As we approached the hospital, we noticed a poor man living on the streets, walking by with a limp. I stopped the truck and handed Mark the unopened water bottle. Mark offered the man the water. He smiled and said, "God bless you. I was just praying for water. This is exactly what I need in this heat."
In the hospital, Kim told us what had occurred earlier in the day. Yvonne woke up and asked who all the people were in the room. There had not been anyone there but Kim and Erica. Yvonne drifted back to sleep only to wake up later saying, "Kim, my momma's here. What do I do?" Yvonne's mother had died some years before. Kim told her, "Momma, she's here to take you home. You can go. Don't worry about us, we are fine." Yvonne woke a few more times, including while Mark and I were there. She was in a lot of pain and her breathing had turned into that death rattle that I found all too familiar having been with my grandmother and with my mother-in-law as they passed.
Kim and I began discussing Yvonne's condition and I told her that I thought she had six or seven more hours at the most. Yvonne died about six and half hours later. The miracle here is that Yvonne had not suffered very long. Two weeks earlier I had walked and visited with her. Mark, Kim, and Erica witnessed God taking their mother home, and Christ's love shone in a little Hispanic day-laborer's small act of kindness. A week later we gathered and spread her ashes. We prayed and cried, but it was a good day.
God is with you. Through good and bad. Through triumph and sorrow. He loves you. Look for Him and you will see him.
When I arrived Wednesday morning I learned that Yvonne had never left the hospital and had gone down very quickly. Mark's sister Kim and his oldest daughter, Erica, had stayed at the hospital with her. Mark and I left his home to get Yvonne's stuff moved. It was very hot, over 100 degrees, and after some sweating, we had just begun to move the furniture to my truck when Mark's cell phone rang. It was Kim. She reported that their mother was going down fast and that he should return to the hospital as soon as possible.
We left the home and began the drive to the hospital. Mark and I had been having very deep theological discussions about God, His plan for us, and our lives as Christians. Mark was hurting, knowing that his mother's death was near. I told him, "Even in the darkest times, God is with us. If you look for Him today, you will see him."
We stopped at a convenience store to get some drinks. I had just driven in from Caldwell and was very thirsty. Mark got an energy drink, and I got a diet coke with a bottle of water. We stood behind five or six people in line to the counter and good-naturedly argued about which of us were going to pay for the beverages, as men are want to do. I said, "I got this." Mark said, "No your my guest I got it." Etc.
A Hispanic day-laborer was in the line in front of us. He turned to us and smiled, "I got it!" Mark and I laughed. It was a good release to the tension we were both feeling about what the rest of the day would hold for his family. When we got to the counter, the lady said, "He already paid for it," and pointed out the door. We were moved to say the least. Here a complete stranger, a Hispanic, day-laborer had paid for our drinks on the day Mark needed to see human agape love the most. Mark couldn't speak. I went outside and found the man sitting on the curb eating a sandwich and drinking a coke. I didn't know what to say, but managed to thank him, "Man, you don't know what you just did for us. My friend's mother is dying. We are on the way to the hospital now. God used you. God bless you." He just smiled and waved me off.
On the way to the hospital, we were quiet for a while. I know we were both thinking of my words, that you will see God had come true. This small random act of kindness from one human being to another was a small miracle. As we approached the hospital, we noticed a poor man living on the streets, walking by with a limp. I stopped the truck and handed Mark the unopened water bottle. Mark offered the man the water. He smiled and said, "God bless you. I was just praying for water. This is exactly what I need in this heat."
In the hospital, Kim told us what had occurred earlier in the day. Yvonne woke up and asked who all the people were in the room. There had not been anyone there but Kim and Erica. Yvonne drifted back to sleep only to wake up later saying, "Kim, my momma's here. What do I do?" Yvonne's mother had died some years before. Kim told her, "Momma, she's here to take you home. You can go. Don't worry about us, we are fine." Yvonne woke a few more times, including while Mark and I were there. She was in a lot of pain and her breathing had turned into that death rattle that I found all too familiar having been with my grandmother and with my mother-in-law as they passed.
Kim and I began discussing Yvonne's condition and I told her that I thought she had six or seven more hours at the most. Yvonne died about six and half hours later. The miracle here is that Yvonne had not suffered very long. Two weeks earlier I had walked and visited with her. Mark, Kim, and Erica witnessed God taking their mother home, and Christ's love shone in a little Hispanic day-laborer's small act of kindness. A week later we gathered and spread her ashes. We prayed and cried, but it was a good day.
God is with you. Through good and bad. Through triumph and sorrow. He loves you. Look for Him and you will see him.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
When Christians hurt Christianity
The older I get and the more I come to understand about God's Word, the body of Christ, the Priesthood of all believers, and God's Grace, the more upset I get at those Christians who attack, belittle, and show NO agape love of others. Now I've always considered those like the Westboro Baptist cult as extremists and fringe groups that are heretical likened to the early heresies suffered in the Church of the first three centuries. Then I started listening to Christian Radio. Some of it is wonderful and uplifting-sharing the Good News as the Great Commission requires of all Christians. But other things I heard on the radio greatly upset me. I don't believe you can lead anyone to God's Saving Grace by telling them that they are evil and going to burn in Hell for eternity. Or that if someone believes in evolution, they are damned for eternity.
Here is a message for all Christians: Only God Saves! You can point the way, but only the Holy Spirit can change hearts, and only by the precious blood of Christ is anyone saved.
Jesus sought out the sinners, ate with them, taught them, loved them. He didn't stay in the clean walls of the synagogues with the Pharisees who sought pure cleanliness and holier-than-thou attitudes. There is a HUGE lesson there for us. He also spoke more about judgementalism than love! Uh-oh. What lesson do we take from that?
Do I believe Hell exists? Yes. But I think Hell is truly the total absence of God's love and spirit. And if you are a Christian, then you know this is a fate worse than eternal burning. Jesus referred to Hell as Gehenna. Gehenna was the trash pit outside of Jerusalem where all the trash was burned on a daily basis. The trash existed, was destroyed, and was no more.
No one is saved by being told they are going to burn in Hell. They are led to Christ by Christians living the Christian life, and offering the love of God and acceptance to those who have not known it. Walk the Walk, don't just talk the talk. Be what he has called us to be.
We can disagree on many, many issues, but if you teach anything more than Grace, you are missing the point. Read the words of Christ. What does He say? Love you neighbor as yourself. Give to the poor, feed the hungry, cloth those that need it, visit those in prison, help the widows and the orphans. Love your enemies. Pray for them.
He did not cut them off from His fellowship. If you cast out sinners, then none will ever be in the Church. I have news for all of you. You and I are sinners. None of us will ever stand before God in a sinless state.
Now as to sin. Only man places degrees of horribleness on sin. God is pure and all sin is an anathema to Him. That means the little ones (using God's name in vain) and the big ones (murder, rape) are all the same to Him!
Do NOT be a Pharisee. Seek understanding, wisdom, and friendship with those who are not Christians. Let them learn by your example. Pray, love, and seek peace in all situations.
We can disagree and still be Christians, but you will never lead others into a relationship with God by bashing, attacking, or other radical actions or words. Be an instrument of God's love, or get out of His way. If you are the cause of others turning away from God and you call yourself a Christian, than I think you will have a difficult time on that day when you stand before him and he reviews what you did and said in this life!
What have you done lately to show the love of Christ to others? What have you said? Where is your heart? Who has come to see God in you?
That is the Great Commission. If you call yourself a Christian, put up or shut up!
Praying for you,
Ed
Here is a message for all Christians: Only God Saves! You can point the way, but only the Holy Spirit can change hearts, and only by the precious blood of Christ is anyone saved.
Jesus sought out the sinners, ate with them, taught them, loved them. He didn't stay in the clean walls of the synagogues with the Pharisees who sought pure cleanliness and holier-than-thou attitudes. There is a HUGE lesson there for us. He also spoke more about judgementalism than love! Uh-oh. What lesson do we take from that?
Do I believe Hell exists? Yes. But I think Hell is truly the total absence of God's love and spirit. And if you are a Christian, then you know this is a fate worse than eternal burning. Jesus referred to Hell as Gehenna. Gehenna was the trash pit outside of Jerusalem where all the trash was burned on a daily basis. The trash existed, was destroyed, and was no more.
No one is saved by being told they are going to burn in Hell. They are led to Christ by Christians living the Christian life, and offering the love of God and acceptance to those who have not known it. Walk the Walk, don't just talk the talk. Be what he has called us to be.
We can disagree on many, many issues, but if you teach anything more than Grace, you are missing the point. Read the words of Christ. What does He say? Love you neighbor as yourself. Give to the poor, feed the hungry, cloth those that need it, visit those in prison, help the widows and the orphans. Love your enemies. Pray for them.
He did not cut them off from His fellowship. If you cast out sinners, then none will ever be in the Church. I have news for all of you. You and I are sinners. None of us will ever stand before God in a sinless state.
Now as to sin. Only man places degrees of horribleness on sin. God is pure and all sin is an anathema to Him. That means the little ones (using God's name in vain) and the big ones (murder, rape) are all the same to Him!
Do NOT be a Pharisee. Seek understanding, wisdom, and friendship with those who are not Christians. Let them learn by your example. Pray, love, and seek peace in all situations.
We can disagree and still be Christians, but you will never lead others into a relationship with God by bashing, attacking, or other radical actions or words. Be an instrument of God's love, or get out of His way. If you are the cause of others turning away from God and you call yourself a Christian, than I think you will have a difficult time on that day when you stand before him and he reviews what you did and said in this life!
What have you done lately to show the love of Christ to others? What have you said? Where is your heart? Who has come to see God in you?
That is the Great Commission. If you call yourself a Christian, put up or shut up!
Praying for you,
Ed
Monday, October 11, 2010
Early Christian Teachers: Philo of Alexandria c15 B.C. to c. 50 A.D.
Okay. Philo was not a Christian, but a Jewish philosopher and interpreter of the Torah. However his ideas of studying would greatly influence the early Christians.
Philo was a Hellenistic (Greek) Jew. He was one of the first to combine the logical processes of the Greeks with the truths of Judaism. He was a Stoic. Stoicism was a type of Greek philosophy founded in Athens in the early 3rd century B.C. They believed that strong emotions resulted in errors in judgment and strove to separate themselves from such emotion. They were very interested in the free will of humanity compared to the gods, or God. They sought to use logical processes to understand the cosmic universe.
Philo regarded the Torah as the "source not only of religious revelation, but also of philosophic truth." (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=281&letter=P) He wrote commentaries on Jewish law and he also wrote in allegory searching for the inner truths and meanings of the Torah, not just the literal ones. In fact, he often rejected any literal sense of scriptural passages if it raised any type of factual contradiction. He also pointed out that what the scriptures didn't literally state was also important, and that a single word is often the key to true interpretation. He believed that each word should be studied for the inner meaning or truth of the passage.
"According to Philo, God transcends all first principles,...is incorporeal and cannot even be said to occupy a space or place; He is eternal, changeless, self-sufficient and free from all constraint or necessity (cf. Tripolitis 1978, pp. 5-6 ff.). God freely willed the creation of the cosmos, first in a purely intellectual manner, and then, through the agency of His Logos (Philo's philosophical term for the Wisdom figure of Proverbs 8:22)....Philo calls the thoughts of the Logos "rational seeds" (logoi spermatikoi), and describes them as having a role in the production of the cosmos which, he insists, was brought into being out of non-being by the agency of God." [http://www.sullivan-county.com/id2/neoplatonism.htm]
Christians took to the idea of the Logos. In fact the introduction of the Book of John in the New Testament has seeds of Philo's writings such as using the term "Word" translated as "Logos." He also taught that God helps His followers based on their love and devotion to him and their fellow man.
Many early Christian teachers would follow his Hellenistic example of understanding the verses through Allegory, word meanings, and the silence of the scriptures. These included Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Augustine.
It should be noted that many of the Jews of Judea did not accept his teachings as they were opposed to the teachings of the Pharasees at that time.
What does all this mean? Human beings have struggled to understand the Bible for thousands of years. Some view a literal interpretation of everything in it. Some look for the allegorical truths, while others debate the meanings of the words. I think all of this together in the Weslayan tradition should be studied, prayed over, and the truths sought out.
Philo was a Hellenistic (Greek) Jew. He was one of the first to combine the logical processes of the Greeks with the truths of Judaism. He was a Stoic. Stoicism was a type of Greek philosophy founded in Athens in the early 3rd century B.C. They believed that strong emotions resulted in errors in judgment and strove to separate themselves from such emotion. They were very interested in the free will of humanity compared to the gods, or God. They sought to use logical processes to understand the cosmic universe.
Philo regarded the Torah as the "source not only of religious revelation, but also of philosophic truth." (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=281&letter=P) He wrote commentaries on Jewish law and he also wrote in allegory searching for the inner truths and meanings of the Torah, not just the literal ones. In fact, he often rejected any literal sense of scriptural passages if it raised any type of factual contradiction. He also pointed out that what the scriptures didn't literally state was also important, and that a single word is often the key to true interpretation. He believed that each word should be studied for the inner meaning or truth of the passage.
"According to Philo, God transcends all first principles,...is incorporeal and cannot even be said to occupy a space or place; He is eternal, changeless, self-sufficient and free from all constraint or necessity (cf. Tripolitis 1978, pp. 5-6 ff.). God freely willed the creation of the cosmos, first in a purely intellectual manner, and then, through the agency of His Logos (Philo's philosophical term for the Wisdom figure of Proverbs 8:22)....Philo calls the thoughts of the Logos "rational seeds" (logoi spermatikoi), and describes them as having a role in the production of the cosmos which, he insists, was brought into being out of non-being by the agency of God." [http://www.sullivan-county.com/id2/neoplatonism.htm]
Christians took to the idea of the Logos. In fact the introduction of the Book of John in the New Testament has seeds of Philo's writings such as using the term "Word" translated as "Logos." He also taught that God helps His followers based on their love and devotion to him and their fellow man.
Many early Christian teachers would follow his Hellenistic example of understanding the verses through Allegory, word meanings, and the silence of the scriptures. These included Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Augustine.
It should be noted that many of the Jews of Judea did not accept his teachings as they were opposed to the teachings of the Pharasees at that time.
What does all this mean? Human beings have struggled to understand the Bible for thousands of years. Some view a literal interpretation of everything in it. Some look for the allegorical truths, while others debate the meanings of the words. I think all of this together in the Weslayan tradition should be studied, prayed over, and the truths sought out.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Why Were the Early Christians Hated and Persecuted?
The early Christians of Jerusalem, as I've already discussed, were seen as a Jewish sect. Paul came to the Jerusalem Council and argued to allow Gentiles (non-Jews) to become Christians. As more gentiles joined the fold, many true Jews were upset, and they were angry with some of the teachings of the Christians. Remember the martyrdom of Stephen. Following the Stephen's murder, the Christians fled Jerusalem and spread the Gospel throughout Judea and into Asia-Minor (Turkey) and North Africa, as well as throughout the Roman Empire.
The Romans worshipped and sacrificed to many gods, while the Christians denied the existance of any god, but the one true God. The Christians practiced Communion in secret, and rumors developed about Christians being cannibals (eating the body and drinking blood). Christians also stood against the status quo and were revolutionary with their teachings such as Love your enemies, and that slaves could be rewarded equally with the rich and the nobles in Christ's service. In fact in Galatians 3:28, Paul stated that there was neither Jew nor Greek, neither "slave nor free, there is neither male nor female." This type of talk was very offensive to the castes of the Romans.
The Romans were also fed up with the Jewish zealots and revolts throughout Judea that had been occurring for almost a hundred years. Around 50 A.D. during a Passover ceremony, a Roman guard "mooned" the Jewish elect and chaos and rioting resulted. When all was over, nearly 30,000 Jews were killed. Eventually Jewish zealots attacked Roman outposts and Nero sent General Vespasian to end the problem. Soon after, Vespasian was crowned the Roman emperor. On August 5, 70 A.D. the Romans conquered Jerusalem and burned the temple mount to the ground. Following this tragedy the Jewish leaders of the Diaspora (the time of scattering througout all the lands of the world), began to exclude other groups, such as the Christians. Timothy Paul Jones, a modern scholar and minister, writes that by "90 A.D. the weekly synagogue prayers included a curse against" the Christians.
Emperor Domitian (son of Vespasian) continued persecuting all Jewish groups, including the Christians. Then Emperor Trajan also persecuted the Christians. Christians were considered outlaws and criminals and were hunted down, killed in the arenas, burned, and crucified. Many of the early Christians began to believe that they could earn their way to Heaven by dying as martyrs, though most of the leaders of the Church taught against this early "heresy." By the mid-100s, many Christian leaders became known as apologists, as they argued to prove that Christians were not criminals or outlaws.
The Christian God was different from the Roman ones. He was a personal savior. He had suffered and died. He understood human suffering and loss. Despite all the persecution and violence, Christianity continued to grow throughout the Roman Empire, as people sought this personal relationship with a loving God. It has been said the Church grows more when it is persecuted. This may be true, it certainly was in the Roman days.
God did not promise anything in this life, but peace and joy of the soul in relationship with Him. To the early Christians, that was enough.
The Romans worshipped and sacrificed to many gods, while the Christians denied the existance of any god, but the one true God. The Christians practiced Communion in secret, and rumors developed about Christians being cannibals (eating the body and drinking blood). Christians also stood against the status quo and were revolutionary with their teachings such as Love your enemies, and that slaves could be rewarded equally with the rich and the nobles in Christ's service. In fact in Galatians 3:28, Paul stated that there was neither Jew nor Greek, neither "slave nor free, there is neither male nor female." This type of talk was very offensive to the castes of the Romans.
The Romans were also fed up with the Jewish zealots and revolts throughout Judea that had been occurring for almost a hundred years. Around 50 A.D. during a Passover ceremony, a Roman guard "mooned" the Jewish elect and chaos and rioting resulted. When all was over, nearly 30,000 Jews were killed. Eventually Jewish zealots attacked Roman outposts and Nero sent General Vespasian to end the problem. Soon after, Vespasian was crowned the Roman emperor. On August 5, 70 A.D. the Romans conquered Jerusalem and burned the temple mount to the ground. Following this tragedy the Jewish leaders of the Diaspora (the time of scattering througout all the lands of the world), began to exclude other groups, such as the Christians. Timothy Paul Jones, a modern scholar and minister, writes that by "90 A.D. the weekly synagogue prayers included a curse against" the Christians.
Emperor Domitian (son of Vespasian) continued persecuting all Jewish groups, including the Christians. Then Emperor Trajan also persecuted the Christians. Christians were considered outlaws and criminals and were hunted down, killed in the arenas, burned, and crucified. Many of the early Christians began to believe that they could earn their way to Heaven by dying as martyrs, though most of the leaders of the Church taught against this early "heresy." By the mid-100s, many Christian leaders became known as apologists, as they argued to prove that Christians were not criminals or outlaws.
The Christian God was different from the Roman ones. He was a personal savior. He had suffered and died. He understood human suffering and loss. Despite all the persecution and violence, Christianity continued to grow throughout the Roman Empire, as people sought this personal relationship with a loving God. It has been said the Church grows more when it is persecuted. This may be true, it certainly was in the Roman days.
God did not promise anything in this life, but peace and joy of the soul in relationship with Him. To the early Christians, that was enough.
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