Members of the Body

August 2010 Newsletter

I’d like to take a few minutes to remind each of you how extremely important you are to this church. As you contemplate your membership in Christ’s church (which I would like you to do with me for a moment), please do so from God’s point of view. When God adds members to his church, he does so one person at a time. Each piece of the body is an individual, different, very particular piece.

In other words, there is simply no replacing you in this church. If you’re gone or simply not an active, functioning part of our community, the rest of us miss out. We don’t get the unique “you” God created and gave to his church. As Christians, we belong together. Read what the apostle Paul tells us about the bond we share:

¹⁹ …. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. (Eph 2.19b, NLT)

In his book The Weight of Glory, CS Lewis writes on exactly what Paul meant by membership for the Christian. His words are worth reading here:

The very word membership is of Christian origin, but it has been taken over by the world and emptied of all meaning…almost the reverse of what St. Paul meant by members. By members he meant what we should call organs, things essentially different from, and complementary to, one another… A row of identically dressed soldiers set side by side, or a number of citizens listed as voters in a constituency are not members of anything in the Pauline sense. I am afraid that when we describe a man as “a member of the church” we usually mean nothing Pauline; we mean only that he is a unit — that he is one more specimen of some kind of things as X and Y and Z. How true membership in a body differs from inclusion in a collective may be seen in the structure of a family. The grandfather, the parents, the grown-up son, the child, the dog, and the cat are true members (in the organic sense), precisely because they are not members or units of a homogeneous class. They are not interchangeable. Each person is almost a species in himself… . If you subtract any one member, you have not simply reduced the family in number; you have inflicted an injury on its structure.

My prayer for you is that you take up residence here. Plant your roots deeply in the ground at DCC and love this place like your home—because it is! Whether you’ve been here 10 years or 10 days, look anew at this local brotherhood as your dear family. Get to know someone better. Repair a lost friendship. Serve the body in the unique way only you are able. Because in Paul’s words:

²⁵ This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other.²⁶ If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. ²⁷ All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it. (1 Cor 12.25-27, NLT)

Your Brother in Christ,

-bill

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Pain

Try to exclude the possibility of suffering which the order of nature and the existence of free-wills involve, and you find that you have excluded life itself. - CS Lewis, The Problem of Pain

Made for This: Fellowship

Your relationship to Christ is personal, but God never intended for it to be private.  We were made to live in unity with each other.  The church—our Christian brotherhood—is especially called to show love within its ranks.  Christian love focused outside the church is evangelism; when it is focused inside, fellowship occurs.

 

 

Scripture Used

1 Peter 2.17
Phil 1.3-11 (NLT)
1 Cor 13.13
Phil 1.2 (the Message)
Rom 12.5 (NLT)
James 3.18 (the Message)
Eph 4.15 (NLT)
Gal 6.2 (NLT)
1 John 3.18 (NLT)
Gal 6.10 (NLT)
Eph 4.3 (NLT)
2 Tim 2.33 (NLT)
1 Cor 1.10 (NLT)
Rom 14.19 (Ph)
Eph 4.2 (NLT)
Rom 14.13 (NLT)
Prov 17.4 (NLT)
Matt 18.15-17 (NLT) [referenced but not quoted)
Phil 4.2-3 (NLT)
Heb 13.17 (NLT)

Quotes & Statements

You were called to belong, not just believe.

Your relationship to Christ is personal, but God never intends for it to be private.

Referenced CS Lewis: The Weight of Glory

1. Less is more
a. Move beyond potato salad
b. You can worship in a crowd, but you can’t fellowship in one.

2. Be honest
a. Accept the tunnel of chaos.

3. Love with your hands
a. Stop saying “I’ll pray for you.”
b. Let Nike take over your spiritual life; just do it.

4. Prioritize the brotherhood
a. Be available.

5. Take the initiative
a. Be a friend to have a friend.

 

· Longing for the ideal while criticizing the real is immaturity.

 

1. Focus on what we have in common, not our differences
a. Look: we all believe we worship the same God, share the same salvation, love the same Jesus, read the same Bible, and have the same destiny.
b. So, forget about everything else.

2. Be realistic
a. God wants you to love real people, not ideal people.

3. Encourage rather than criticize
a. Criticism is satanic. (Rev 12.10)

4. Refuse to gossip
a. People who will gossip with you will also gossip about you.

5. Resolve conflict God’s way

6. Support your pastor and leaders
a. They’re not perfect, but they’re God-chosen.

 

God made the church to meet your five deepest needs:

§ Purpose to live for
§ People to live with
§ Principles to live by
§ Profession to live out
§ Power to live on

(Taken from: Warren, Rick: The Purpose-driven Life)

C. S. Lewis on “Membership”

 

The very word membership is of Christian origin, but it has been taken over by the world and emptied of all meaning. In any book on logic you may see the expression “members of a class.” It must be most emphatically stated that the items or particulars included in a homogeneous class are almost the reverse of what St. Paul meant by members. By members he meant what we should call organs, things essentially different from, and complementary to, one another, things differing not only in structure and function but also in dignity… . A row of identically dressed soldiers set side by side, or a number of citizens listed as voters in a constituency are not members of anything in the Pauline sense. I am afraid that when we describe a man as “a member of the church” we usually mean nothing Pauline; we mean only that he is a unit — that he is one more specimen of some kind of things as X and Y and Z. How true membership in a body differs from inclusion in a collective may be seen in the structure of a family. The grandfather, the parents, the grown-up son, the child, the dog, and the cat are true members (in the organic sense), precisely because they are not members or units of a homogeneous class. They are not interchangeable. Each person is almost a species in himself… . If you subtract any one member, you have not simply reduced the family in number; you have inflicted an injury on its structure.

- Taken from CS Lewis: The Weight of Glory

Made for This: Evangelism

Like a city on a hill, God saved you and adopted you into his family to shine brightly in this dark world.  When we love God, we worship.  When we love fellow believers, we minister.  When we love nonbelievers, we evangelize.

 

 

 

Scripture Used

Matthew 28.19-20 (NLT)

Luke 8.16-21 (NLT)

Mark 3.21 (referenced, but not quoted)

Quotes

In the world, you have to do something to be somebody.

In Christianity, God makes us someone so we can do some things.

“My identity is light, so my activity is shining.”

“My identity is family, so my activity is serving.”

 

References

I referenced George Whitefield’s “How to Listen to a Sermon.”

http://www.contagiouschristian.com/

Warren, Rick: The Purpose-driven Life

Strobel, Lee: Inside the Mind of Unchurched Harry and Mary

How to Listen to a Sermon

by George Whitefield

Keys for getting the most out of what the preacher says
Jesus said, 'Therefore consider carefully how you listen' (Luke 8:18). Here are some cautions and directions, in order to help you hear sermons with profit and advantage.

1. Come to hear them, not out of curiosity, but from a sincere desire to know and do your duty. To enter His house merely to have our ears entertained, and not our hearts reformed, must certainly be highly displeasing to the Most High God, as well as unprofitable to ourselves.

2. Give diligent heed to the things that are spoken from the Word of God. If an earthly king were to issue a royal proclamation, and the life or death of his subjects entirely depended on performing or not performing its conditions, how eager would they be to hear what those conditions were! And shall we not pay the same respect to the King of kings, and Lord of lords, and lend an attentive ear to His ministers, when they are declaring, in His name, how our pardon, peace, and happiness may be secured?

3. Do not entertain even the least prejudice against the minister. That was the reason Jesus Christ Himself could not do many mighty works, nor preach to any great effect among those of His own country; for they were offended at Him. Take heed therefore, and beware of entertaining any dislike against those whom the Holy Ghost has made overseers over you.
Consider that the clergy are men of like passions with yourselves. And though we should even hear a person teaching others to do what he has not learned himself, yet that is no reason for rejecting his doctrine. For ministers speak not in their own, but in Christ’s name. And we know who commanded the people to do whatever the scribes and Pharisees should say unto them, even though they did not do themselves what they said (see Matt. 23:1-3).

4. Be careful not to depend too much on a preacher, or think more highly of him than you ought to think. Preferring one teacher over another has often been of ill consequence to the church of God. It was a fault which the great Apostle of the Gentiles condemned in the Corinthians: 'For whereas one said, I am of Paul; another, I am of Apollos: are you not carnal, says he? For who is Paul, and who is Apollos, but instruments in God’s hands by whom you believed?' (1 Cor. 1:12; 2:3-5).
Are not all ministers sent forth to be ministering ambassadors to those who shall be heirs of salvation? And are they not all therefore greatly to be esteemed for their work’s sake?

5. Make particular application to your own hearts of everything that is delivered. When our Savior was discoursing at the last supper with His beloved disciples and foretold that one of them should betray Him, each of them immediately applied it to his own heart and said, 'Lord, is it I?' (Matt. 26:22).
Oh, that persons, in like manner, when preachers are dissuading from any sin or persuading to any duty, instead of crying, 'This was intended for such and such a one!' instead would turn their thoughts inwardly, and say, 'Lord, is it I?' How far more beneficial should we find discourses to be than now they generally are!

6. Pray to the Lord, before, during, and after every sermon, to endue the minister with power to speak, and to grant you a will and ability to put into practice what he shall show from the Book of God to be your duty.
No doubt it was this consideration that made St. Paul so earnestly entreat his beloved Ephesians to intercede with God for him: 'Praying always, with all manner of prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and for me also, that I may open my mouth with boldness, to make known the mysteries of the gospel' (Eph. 6:19-20). And if so great an apostle as St. Paul needed the prayers of his people, much more do those ministers who have only the ordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit.
If only all who hear me this day would seriously apply their hearts to practice what has now been told them! How ministers would see Satan, like lightning, fall from heaven, and people find the Word preached sharper than a two-edged sword and mighty, through God, to the pulling down of the devil’s strongholds!

This excerpt is adapted from Sermon 28 from The Works of the Reverend George Whitefield. Published by E. and C. Dilly, 1771-1772, London. George Whitefield (1714-1770) was a British Methodist evangelist whose powerful sermons fanned the flames of the First Great Awakening in the American colonies.

Baptism: What and Why?

I often receive questions about salvation, faith, baptism, ministry, and how they’re all connected.  Below is a short summary of my answers to a recent email.

 

I remember you guys saying you had to be baptized because it calls us to in the Bible, well what about the thief on the cross. I don’t recall him being baptized yet he then became a follower of Christ.

Christian Baptism was established as the entrance into God’s New Testament Christian church (keep reading below for explanations on that). That New Testament church was built on the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Until those events occurred in their entirety, the world was living under the Old Covenant (aka: the Old Testament/Old agreement/Old “will”).

Hebrews 9:16–17 (ESV)
¹⁶ For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. ¹⁷ For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive.

In other words, baptism is completely Christian in nature. The man on the cross died before Christianity started.

1. The Christian Church wasn’t inaugurated yet, so neither was Christian Baptism.

2. Jesus said the guy could go to Heaven, so he gets to go to Heaven.

And even Paul (Saul) it says the scales fell from his eyes, he got up, and was baptized. It doesn’t reference submersion in water.

Actually, it does. The word “baptize” means “immerse/put under water.” It was simply a Greek word with a very narrow meaning. The Bible writers didn’t pick an already spiritual word and use it for their purposes. They used a common, regular word and gave it a spiritual meaning. In other words, a 1^st Century Greek-speaking person would have used “baptize” in their everyday conversations anytime they wanted to communicate “dunking” something. It never meant sprinkle or pour; there are entirely different words for that.

So, the question is: if the Bible tells us to be “dunked,” why would we do anything else? Answer: we shouldn’t. God could have picked another process if he wanted (like sprinkling, pouring, shaving your hair off, doing jumping jacks, whatever), but he picked immersion in the name of Jesus Christ.

Over time, some portions of the church began to allow/substitute sprinkling or pouring instead of baptizing/immersing. In some areas it was a matter of convenience (not enough water), and over time it was changed/allowed in the event of infant baptism. You wouldn’t dunk (i.e. baptize) a baby, so they would sprinkle it instead.

A few problems here:

1. You have to believe in Christ to be baptized (see below).

a. Babies can’t believe, so baptism has no effect on them.

b. It’s also worth mentioning that we never see a baby baptized anywhere in the Bible.

2. Given that the word only meant “dunk,” substituting our preferences doesn’t change God’s original command.

a. It’d be the same today as substituting “boil or bake” for “fry.” If the directions say “fry,” and you boil instead b/c it’s more convenient, you’re not doing what the chef commanded and, consequently, you’re not getting what the chef intended.

So could you tell me a little more about what you believe please?

Our church’s doctrinal statement on salvation:

“We believe salvation from sin comes from a right relationship with Jesus Christ.  That relationship comes by grace through faith, produces repentance, and begins with the immersion of Christian baptism.” [see also: http://www.billmesaeh.com/beliefs.html]

The Bible doesn’t teach baptism as a saving work. Some churches (though not ours) believe it to be so, mainly b/c of this verse.

1 Peter 3:21 (NLT)
²¹ And that water is a picture of baptism, which now saves you, not by removing dirt from your body, but as a response to God from a clean conscience. It is effective because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This verse does teach the extreme importance of baptism, but it tells us baptism only “works” b/c of the resurrection of Christ. If we don’t believe in that, there is nothing magic (or even spiritual) about baptism that will save you. Faith only; only faith.

It also teaches us that baptism is our response to God b/c we know He cleanses us from our sin. Infants and the spiritually immature can’t respond to anything b/c they don’t have the mental abilities to (1) believe, and (2) comprehend what God has done. You can only respond “from a clean conscience” if you understand what it is you’re responding to, what sin is, what God did, etc.

The Bible does teach baptism as something commanded to us throughout the New Testament though. Notice Peter’s commanding, Holy Spirit-inspired response to the question about how one responds to the truth of the gospel:

Acts 2:37–38 (NLT)
³⁷ Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” ³⁸ Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Paul equates baptism as the time one identifies with Christ. Reading through Paul’s theology (the writer of 13 of our 27 NT books), we see our necessary identity with Christ starting at baptism.

Galatians 3:27 (NLT)
²⁷ And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes.

Romans 6:3–8 (NLT)
³ Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death?⁴ For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. ⁵ Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was.⁶ We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.⁷ For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.⁸ And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him.

Colossians 2:12 (NLT)
¹² For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.

See also: Mark 16.16 and Matt 28.19

I feel compelled to be baptized but i want to make sure i know biblically its meaning and importance.

Good for you! Some people want to rush into this decision without properly reflecting on what they’re doing. It is a huge decision (the biggest one you’ll make), so you do have to know what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.

Jesus & Allah

Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God?  The question has been asked many times, including in a recent discussion between a good chaplain friend of mine (Jim) and a colleague of his.

Jim and I seem to think with the same brain when it comes to issues such as these.  In fact, I have never heard Jim teach or preach anything with which I disagree.  If he did, I would simply advise him of his errors, knowing that a full repentance was forthcoming :).

Plagiarized in its entirety, here is his excellently argued answer to this most contemporary question:

(Written by Jim B., PhD; Jim is currently serving as a US Army Chaplain in Afghanistan)

[Colleague’s name], here is the answer to your question, as to how I answer the question of whether Christians and Muslims worship the same God.
First, I admit that both Christianity and Islam believe that God has some of the same attributes, including:
- omnipotence
- omniscience
- omnipresence (in the sense that God's influence is present everywhere)
- spoken through prophets
- words recorded in a book (however, Muslims believe that the Koran is eternal, which brings up the logical problem of two eternal realities, God and the Koran)
I then ask, "In order for two entities to be the same, in how many ways to they have to be alike?"  The obvious answer is "In every way."  This is usually the answer that I get, though some try to wiggle out of it.
I then ask, "In order for two entities to be not the same, in how many ways to they have to differ?"  The obvious answer is "One."  If two entities differ in even one way, then they are not the same. 
I then ask, "Are there any ways in which the god of Islam is different from the God of Christianity?" and of course there are:
(1)  The New Testament makes clear that Jesus Christ is the God of the Old Testament.  This is clear from many verses, just a few of which I will mention here:
- Colossians 2:9:  "In Him [i.e., Christ] dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead bodily."  That is, if you have Jesus, you have the Father and the Spirit also.  If you do not have Jesus, you have neither the Father nor the Spirit.
- John 8:58, "Before Abraham was, I am."  This is an obvious reference to God's words out of the burning bush to Moses in Exodus 3:14, "Tell them that I AM has sent you."  Jesus' enemies clearly understood His meaning, they immediately tried to stone him for blasphemy.  By the way, in the same conversation, Jesus makes the shocking statement in John 8:24, "If ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins."  Notice that most if not all major translations mistranslate this verse.  The KJV is closest, adding an italicized "he" to the end of it, obscuring the meaning.  The NIV is far worse, adding the words "the one I claim to be" in little L-brackets.  In fact, in both 8:24 and 8:58, the "am" is not a grammatical copulative.  Jesus was clearly stating in 8:24, in light of 8:58, that he who knowingly denies that Jesus is the God of the Old Testament is eternally lost.  This applies not only to non-Christians, but also to so-called "Christians" who deny this connection.
- In summary, Muslims deny that Jesus is God, therefore their god and our God are of a different IDENTITY.
(2)  The God of Christianity is triune, a complex Unity.  Islam explicitly denies the Trinity.  The god of Islam is a simple monolithic unity.  Therefore their god and our God are of a different NATURE.
(3)  The God of Christianity sent His Son to earth to die for sinful men and women.  The god of Islam does not have a son, and he certainly did not die for us.  Therefore, their god and our God are different in their ACTIONS.
Remember, in order for them to be the same, they have to be alike in every way.  In order for them to be not the same, they have to differ in only one way.  In fact, they differ in at least three fundamental ways, and more differences could be found.  Therefore, they are NOT the same.  Because God is sovereign, there can be only one God.  They cannot both be true and at least one must be false.
Two common objections need to be addressed:
(1)  The first is the argument from cognation.  That is, because "Elohim" (the Hebrew Word for God) and "Allah" (the Arabic word) are supposedly cognate (i.e., related) words, it is claimed that they must be referring to the same God.  However, cognation is an unreliable guide to meaning.  Some examples:
- German "Tisch" is cognate with English "dish," but "Tisch" means not "dish," but "table."
- French "regarder" is cognate with English "to regard," but "regarder" means not "to regard" [i.e., to think about], but "to see."
- A particularly striking example:  Spanish "blanco" is cognate with English "black," but "blanco" means not "black," but "white."  Here we have an example where cognates have exact opposite meanings!
In summary, cognation is an unreliable guide to meaning, much less to identity.  Cognation in no way proves that the god of Islam is the same as the God of Christianity. 
(2)  It is also objected that these arguments would also mean that Jews worship a different god.  In fact, other than non-Messianic Jews (who heartily endorse that Jesus is the God of the Old Testament), this objection is valid.  The New Testament makes clear on many occasions that the the Old Testament is about Jesus.  This includes Jesus' own words, "they [i.e., the Old Testament scriptures] are they which testify of Me."  If Jewish people have missed the fact that the Old Testament is about Jesus, then they have completely missed the point of their own Scriptures.  Now one can obviously refuse to believe the New Testament, but the fact remains that either contemporary Judaism and Islam are completely wrong about the identify of the God of the Old Testament, or else the New Testament is completely wrong, but both sides cannot be right.
One more thing.  The Koran clearly states that "people of the book" (i.e., Christians and Jews) worship the same god as that of the Muslims.  Koran 29:46 instructs: ". . .say [to the people of the book], 'our god and yours is one.'"  Here is the final issue:  If the Koran clearly states that the Muslim god and the Christian God are the same, but the facts clearly show that they are not, then what does that say about the truth of the Koran in particular, and the truth of Islam in general?

Ready for the weekend with my Family; God is Good!

Made for This: Ministry

 Christ commands all of his followers to be servants.  Service, Love, and Faith are so closely related that we should see view “non-serving Christianity” as a contradiction in terms.

 

 

Scripture Used

Luke 10.25-37 (NLT)
Galatians 5.6 (ESV)
Ephesians 2.10 (NLT)
1 John 4.21 (NLT)

Quotes

Vertical Love is Worship
Horizontal Love is Ministry

"If my life is fruitless, it doesn't matter who praises me,
and if my life is fruitful, it doesn't matter who criticizes me."
-John Bunyan

The Love that Pleases God is Active.

Made for This: Worship

Scripture Used:

Matthew 22.34-40 (NLT)

James 2.10 (NLT)

Deuteronomy 6.5 (NLT)

Colossians 3.23 (NLT)

John 15.9-11 (NLT)

Romans 12.1 (NLT)

 

Quotations:

Focusing on what you do instead of why you do it is religious legalism.

 

The heart of the matter is a matter of the heart.

 

Your biggest distraction in worship is you.

 

References:

Warren, Rick: The Purpose-driven Life

Made for This: Salvation

 

Scripture Used

Eph 1.9-11 (NLT)

Jer 29.11 (NLT)

Psalm 139.15 (The Message)

Ephesians 1.11 (The Message)

Colossians 1.16 (The Message)

John 20.31 (NLT)

Mark 16.16 (NLT)

 

Quotes

“The greatest tragedy is not death. It is life without purpose.”

 

When we die, we don’t leave home.  We go home.

 

“Everything that is not eternal is eternally useless.” –-CS Lewis

 

When you live close to God, everything else just seems small and trivial. -–Rick Warren

 

“For us this is the end of all the stories…But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world…had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter

 

One of the Great story, which no one on earth has read, which goes on forever and in which every chapter is better than the one before.” --CS Lewis, The Last Battle (p. 184)

 

“For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal…Our problems are manmade - therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be a big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.” --Kennedy’s speech (1963 Commencement Address at American University: speaking on the Cold War)

 

References

Warren, Rick: The Purpose-driven Life