Various Posts from the 2013 GCC Bible Reading

This last year, some of us read through the whole Bible in an online community setting. Unfortunately, not too many people participated on Faithlife as I had hoped. But we did have some good discussion, and I'm putting most of it on here so it won't get lost. Here's several questions and observations that I initiated:

Luke: "What do you think the phrase referring to Enoch "and he was not" means?"

>Ryan: "As near as I can tell, looks like that phrase is implied from the Hebrew word "Laqach," which means, basically, "to take." That word is translated "taken" in 2 Kings 2:10, right before Elijah is miraculously taken up in the flaming chariot. In Heb. 11:5, Paul makes clear that Enoch also had a similar experience. So, I think "he was not" likely means what Hebrews 11 shows – that Enoch "was not found" among the living."

>Mike: "I think Brother Ryan answered well. Dispensationalists use this as an example of what they believe will happen on a mass scale at the rapture--millions of Christians will simply go missing. Others will be left behind."

AAEVS - The Importance of Worship (Part 1)

"Our vision is to be a congregation of saints who offer their bodies as living sacrifices unto God, ordering our services in accordance to His revealed word. We will practice family-integrated worship as we offer these spiritual sacrifices. This is our reasonable worship and means that we submit to His will (as found in His word). We desire to display this by setting apart the first day of the week to worship the Lord with fellow saints. We do not view the Lord’s Day worship as drudgery, but as an occasion to celebrate His victorious work on our behalf and rejoice in the rest He has provided for us. Because the Lord’s service is a reverential occasion, we will seek to prepare ourselves on Saturday evening for public worship on the Lord’s Day." ~ Worship Paragraph 2

"Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord. Ye looked for much, and, lo it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the Lord of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house." Haggai 1:8-9

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." ~ Romans 12:1

We've looked at why the Kingdom is important; we've looked at what the Kingdom looks like here and now.  Now we'll look at how the Kingdom of God is established which is the worship of God in this world. What do we mean by "worship?" What is it? Some people say that worship is performing special rituals; others say worship is a good feeling when certain religious activities are practiced. But what is worship, particularly how does a Christian worship the true and living God? And why does it matter? First, let's look at a couple of ministers' definitions to get a sense of what worship is.

AAEVS - Having a Long-Term Commitment to be Faithful

"Our vision is multi-generational. We realize that the advancement of God’s kingdom is a long-term process, therefore we desire to be examples of faithfulness that future generations would desire to follow." ~ Community Paragraph 3g-h

"His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord." ~ Matthew 25:23

"Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;" ~ Deuteronomy 7:9

Here we come to the last portion of the Elders' Vision on Community, which is focused on the long-term perspective of the Kingdom and how we contribute to it. Looking at where we are right now, it does not look like we as Christendom are close to consummating the Kingdom in our lifetime. It even looks like that we as a church are not going to be able to engage our community until the next generation arises up who are not comfort-centered and/or culturally-compromised. This can be discouraging and demoralizing to our enthusiasm. But God did not mean for us to complete the His work in the earth in ten to fifty years; He means for us to do what we can in advancing the Kingdom and leaving a godly legacy. Then when He calls us home into His heavenly presence, we will watch as Christ uses our legacy in history to transform the world. (Hebrews 12:1-2)

So what does a long-term advancement of God's Kingdom look like? It looks like believers being examples of faithfulness to the word of God. But what does it mean to be faithful?

AAEVS - Practicing Discipleship (Part 5)

Unity 

It has been an objection to the Truth of Christianity that many denominations and doctrinal opinions exist in professing Christian world. Christians, in the minds of many people, cannot seem to unite under a common message and tradition. Now this is exaggerated because Christians do have quite a lot in common, such as belief in the historical accounts of Jesus and the important doctrines and practices that come from those stories.

But this does bring up a sad fact: the Church for the past five hundred years has swallowed the "Protestant" doctrine of interpreting Scripture the way the individual feels should be interpreted and the notion that the "true/loving church" must consist of people of common attributes or denominational orthodoxy. The result has been schisms, departures, and even heresies. There are many other reasons of course but this is what flies through mostly unchallenged in many Christian circles. But we need not despair over the prominence of this phenomenon because God gave us in His word the means to reunite the Church throughout the world and within our area.

AAEVS - Practicing Discipleship (Part 4)

Spiritual Gifts

Now we turn to a more outreach perspective of Discipleship and look at how we interact with each other and the community at large. First, we will look at how each member of the church works out his or her gifts to God's glory.

As the Spirit develops us into a body and sanctify us, He works in us a certain skill or talent. Then He empowers us to perform it to His glory and our joy.

AAEVS - Practicing Discipleship (Part 3)

Education

As parents are being saved by God's grace, the Lord brings children under their provision and instruction. The purpose is so that the children may challenge the cultural and political status quo and advance the Kingdom where the previous generation would not. (Psalm 127)

We see in Ephesians 6:4 that fathers are to "bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." The Greek word for "nurture" is 'paideia' which basically means the cultural formation of children. The Kingdom has a culture with Christ and His word at its center. It has a set of ethics found in the Sermon on the Mount and other places in Scripture. It has accounts about how God works throughout history to redeem His people for His glory. It has a vision for the emancipation and restoration of creation from hopelessness and perversity of sin to joyful and beautiful holiness.

AAEVS - Practicing Discipleship (Part 2)

Mentorship

Mentorship is a neglected ministry; probably because our culture glorifies the self-sufficient person, the one who follows his own path alone and learns from his own effort with little assistance from others. Sadly this notion has gotten into the church to the point that Titus 2 mentorship is just unheard of today. This is sad because people usually do not discover by themselves how to think and act godly. Reviving mentorship is going to take study and mortification.

Titus 2 is a familiar passage, especially with those who are interested in gender roles. It gives instruction on exhorting four natural groups of people in the church: not-so-young men, not-so-young women, young women, and young men. From the structure of the passage, the older folks should mentor the younger.

By God's wisdom, He made male and female to bear His likeness on creation. They had distinct, defined roles and at the same time were both equally "Adam" in the persons of man and woman, reflecting the Trinity. But they sinned, bringing chaos into the created order and distorted in many ways the roles they were made to perform to His glory.

AAEVS - Putting Together a Christ-centered Community (Part 7)

(Brace yourselves for a long read!)

Accountability of Sinful Nature/Spiritual Warfare/Nouthetic Counseling

This is very important as it is the main focus of the paragraph. The paragraph states that our elders wish us to "display God’s love to one another through encouragement, accountability, exhortation and discipline." (EVS Paragraph 2b) Thus, it is necessary that I use this whole post to give a big picture analysis of what this would look like.

What does it look like for church members to accountable to one another? Alan Medinger, a biblical counselor gives a lengthy, tough description of an accountability relationship:

An accountability relationship is one in which a Christian gives permission to another believer to look into his life for purposes of questioning, challenging, admonishing, advising, encouraging, and otherwise providing input in ways that will help the individual live according to the Christian principles that they both hold. (As quoted in Not Even A Hint, Page 136) 

Why should we be accountable to each other? God commands it for our good. (1 Corinthians 10:12; Hebrews 3:12-14; Hebrews 10:24-25) Because we have a natural descent into sin, we can listen to our pessimistic, self-centered selves for so long that we become hardened to the comforting and admonishing word of God. Spiritual autonomy is not God's plan for His children. He has placed us in a network of accountability partners ranging from fellow members to parents to elders and other leaders to sister churches.

Worry and the Word

     For all you high school kids out there who are worrying about what to do after graduation, please allow me to relieve all of your worries. 

     And no, I am not an adult who is thirty reflecting on something that happened to me twelve years ago trying to give you advice. Chances are I probably would have lost a lot of my memories if I was thirty. No, I'm a high school senior about to graduate, and trust me, I have had my worries. But one thing that the Word of God has taught me is something that will seem really trite, but it is the best medicine to relieve worry. Don't worry. 

      I know, pretty trite, huh? You probably were thinking I was going to give you something profound. But the advice I give you is from God, and that's as profound as you can get. The Apostle Paul tells us in  Philippians 4:6 to "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made know unto God." (King James Version)

       So the first thing to do is not worry. But what is the next thing to do? Pray. Ask God to calm your anxious heart and mind, ask him for direction in your life, act on your own interests, and focus on serving and praying for other people that you know, and, even the ones you do not know. It is okay to ask God for the things you want... no matter how big or small, so long as they are righteous desires. However, doing this without praying for other men and woman is not love. In First Corinthians chapter thirteen, God's says that love "seeketh not her own..." (KJV). So obviously, love is important. However, it does not mean that we are denied any reward. In the Old Testament, the Lord says that he would honor whoever honors him.
        Therefore, in addition to praying, we should love others by praying for them, but we should also love by being kind. Kindness is mentioned in First Corinthians thirteen verse 4. How do we display this kind of love? Later on in the chapter, Paul says that love "beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." In other words, think the best of people, go out of your way to make sacrifices for people. However, it also means that we are expect to the best of people, which is the definition of hope. If they sin, rebuke them, but do not be suspicious of them or gossip about them.
         Finally, we are to "Seek first the Kingdom of God" (Matthew 6:33). God promises us that he will give us the blessings that we need. This is the greatest reason to not worry. Yes work, and be concerned about yourself, but do not get caught up trying to predict what will happen.
         Maybe this all seems counterproductive. After all, how do we relieve our worry by focusing on other people? The answer is Jesus. Jesus showed love to those who hated him, tortured him, killed him. He, more than any other immortal in human form, had the greatest temptation to worry. Yet, he concentrated on loving sinners and praying for them.
          Worried about college, a secure job, a marriage partner, your whole life ahead? Love your neighbors, pray for them, seek God's kingdom first, and ask God for his essential blessings. Do this, and you will be freed from the shackles of worry and brought in the open air of fellowship with God.
        

          

AAEVS - Putting Together a Christ-centered Community (Part 6)

(I am in no way skipping over Spiritual Warfare or the Spiritual Disciplines. I'm just saving them for last.)

 

Physical Welfare

The Apostle John told Gaius in 3 John 2, "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." No, John is no prosperity gospel preacher. He did not ignore the trials and persecutions that godly men and women will face. (Matthew 5:10-12; 2 Timothy 3:12; James 1:2-4) But there is a sense in which godly believers who are faithful to their calling ought to be abounding in their health and wealth; so that being blessed in those areas, they may be able to offer themselves and their wealth in service to Christ and to others more effectively.