Witnessing Key Text #2

John 15:26, 27

This is a humbling passage. Jesus again says that the disciples will testify because they have been with Him from the beginning. Once again, they seem to have a major advantage over us, because we indubitably did not walk with Jesus of Nazareth for the three and a half years of His earthly ministry. But notice the company they’re in!

“When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.”

That’s almost scary. The Spirit’s testimony and the disciples’ are set side by side, as if they are similar. Are we included in that? “As one born too late,” like Paul? We believe we are. And if, in fact, we wait for the Spirit to go first, we will not only be unafraid, but we will be given words to say. Matthew 10 doesn’t use the term “witness,” but Jesus does tell the disciples that they will teach about Him, and in verses 19 and 20 He reassures them that they are not to worry what to say, as the Spirit will speak for them. So it’s teamwork, and the burden is not on us, but on God, who has broad shoulders indeed.

Witnessing - Key Texts #1

There seem to be seven key texts concerning Christian witness or testimony. Let’s take a closer look at each.

                1.    Luke 24:48

In this passage, the risen Jesus tells His disciples, “You are witnesses of these things.” We believe this passage includes us today. Witnesses of what? The context is of Jesus coming upon His frightened friends and having to prove to them (again) that He is not a ghost. Then he “opens their minds concerning Scripture,” (verse 45), and tells them:

“Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Verses 47-49

What were they witnesses of? His suffering, death, and resurrection. Repentance and forgiveness in Jesus’ name. The “promise of My Father” is clearly the Holy Spirit, which Jesus had promised several times before His death, but first there is a necessary retreat. They are to stay in the city until they “are clothed with power from on high.”

Are we witnesses to His sufferings and death? Only second-hand ones. Our testimony would not stand in a court of law. “Hearsay,” the judge would say. But what about repentance and forgiveness? What about His resurrection? Are we witnesses to these?

It is entirely possible—indeed, essential—for a Christian today to be a personal witness of the resurrection power of Jesus. Yet far too many of us are not. We are still only hearsay witnesses. Our friend said it. Our mother and father told us. Our pastor preaches about it. We trust all these people; they are faithful witnesses. Surely they speak the truth. And so we go and tell others what we believe to be true, and are discouraged by the results. We’ve missed a step, perhaps two. Have we truly taken a good look at our lives, repented, and become personally acquainted with God’s unlimited forgiveness? If so, we most assuredly have something to share, something that tends to overflow in direct proportion to the amount of forgiveness we’ve received. (“She was forgiven much, so she loves much,” Jesus said about the repentant woman at His feet. See Luke 7:47.)

Once this miracle has happened in our lives, there is still another step before we are as powerful witnesses as God wants us to be. We must wait to be “clothed with power from on high.”

We know the disciples had only ten more days to wait. But there is no indication they knew that. “Wait,” said Jesus. So they did. Did they ask each other what it might mean to be clothed with heavenly power, and how they would know when they were?

When it happened, they knew.

And they immediately began a) telling the story of the suffering, death, and resurrection they had seen, and b) proclaiming forgiveness. Peter’s first sermon, on Pentecost Sunday, was about God’s grace and mercy. (Acts 2:22, 38, 39)

Do we wait until we are clothed with power from on high? Or do we rush out to perform the next New Method?

Witnessing

John is the Bible writer who most uses the term “witness,” though Paul uses it many times as well. Most of the mentions of witness in the three synoptic gospels are about false witness. However, in John 1, John the Baptist is four times called a witness of the Light coming into the world in Jesus. In later chapters, Jesus calls Himself a witness to the truth, and accuses His hearers of refusing His witness. He also says, in John 5:31-36 and in 8:18, that God bears witness to Him, not He to Himself, and that if one does not want to believe God, one should at least believe the witness of Jesus’ life and works. In the epistles 1 John and 3 John, again it is usually Jesus whom John calls the witness. In Revelation, Jesus is the Faithful and True Witness.

John also says he and the other disciples “bear witness” to what they have seen and heard and touched, especially in I John 1:1. It sounds as if people have been scoffing at this old apostle’s stories. “I was there!” he insists. “You can believe or not, as you choose, but I know what I saw and heard. I touched Glory with my own hands.” Peter, too, says he is a witness “of the sufferings of Christ,” in 1 Peter 5:1.

And so we come to Acts and the early church, source of the word Christians have made a verb today. Witnesses to Jesus and His truth, witnesses to the gospel. We all want to be one, but what does it mean? Would you believe that with very few exceptions, every time Paul uses the term, he is speaking of God or the Holy Spirit bearing witness to us? None of the exceptions are about what we would term “Christian witnessing” today. Yet Paul is one of the greatest and most effective witnesses in history!

What You Bind on Earth

The Sabbath gives us a little taste of Heaven on earth. It is our chance to celebrate with the God of the Universe over His creation. The Kingdom of Heaven is the entire universe that God created … the whole beautiful, perfect expanse of space, planets, stars and marvels. The Sabbath gives us a chance to touch the Kingdom of Heaven.

When Jesus was on earth, He gave us a very important lesson. He said, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:19) There is no punctuation in the original Greek, so the semi-colon may have been a mistake. I suggest that the “key” to the Kingdom is this lesson: what we bind on earth will be bound in heaven.

The Sabbath brings us a blessing. It brings us closer to God’s perfect Kingdom. It allows us to celebrate and join in on God’s joy in His creation. The Sabbath also does something for our lives in earth. It binds us together in families and in communities. When a family comes together in prayer and in celebration of the Sabbath, each member of that family is reminded how important they are. They feel loved and cherished. They feel like they are a part of something important—a family that appreciates them. Time spent together as a family gives the children security and a place to belong. It builds relationships. It teaches values. It binds the family closer together as they worship and celebrate, enjoying the best of the family’s preparations.

When a community comes together to celebrate the Sabbath, a similar thing happens. The community is united in a common goal, a common enjoyment. Worshipping together and appreciating family together gives strength to everyone involved. Not only is their strength in united worship, but there is strength in reaffirming values and beliefs. “A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” (Eccl. 4:12)

What we choose to bind on earth is very important. Where do our priorities lie? Are we more interested in our career advancement, accumulation of wealth and status symbols and keeping up appearances? What is most important to us? What gets our time and energy? What we choose to bind on earth is what will be bound in Heaven. But there is a catch. Our careers won’t go with us to Heaven. Our money will not make that trip, either. So if we are binding things that will only be burned, what use is that? It is a waste of time! However, if we bind the things that will last into eternity—our families and our relationships—then we have discovered the keys to the Kingdom. Jesus told a parable about the man going on a journey in Matthew 25:14-30. He gave his servants certain amounts of money, or talents, and asked them to care for them. While we know that money will not follow us to Heaven, relationships and people will! So what if we replace the talents with relationships in that parable?

The Master gave His servants people. To some He gave many relationships, to others He gave few. And when He returned, as He promised He would, what did they do with the relationships He had given them? Those who nurtured their relationships and made them grow were praised. “Come and share your Master’s happiness!” (Matt. 25:23) Isn’t that what the Sabbath is all about? Sharing in our Master’s happiness? The people in our lives are the most important responsibility God has given us. Relationships are the most complicated treasures that we have been given to care for. Our families, the people we love and protect, are our first responsibility. Sabbath gives us the opportunity to bind our relationships close so that our homes are a little taste of Heaven on earth.

When Jesus comes and we go to Heaven to live for eternity, our families, we pray, will come with us. And what we bound on earth will be finally bound in Heaven. We will be together with the people we love, for eternity. It all began when God paused and breathed a sigh of happiness over all He had made.

A Sabbath Blessing

We have talked about a Sabbath blessing, but what exactly is it? Is it just a warm feeling, or is it something more than that? When God made those twenty-four hours sacred, what exactly did that do?

First of all, God tells us exactly why He gave us the Sabbath: “Also I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I the Lord made them holy.” (Ezekiel 20:12) These words are echoes of God’s instructions to the Israelites from the mountain: “Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy.” (Exodus 31:13) The word “holy” means to be set apart. God gave us the Sabbath so that we would know that God sets us apart. God believes we are special, and He sets us apart from the rest of creation for a purpose. He loves us. The Sabbath is a weekly reminder that it is God who protects and cares for us. It is God who created us. It is God who looked down on us and said, “It is good.”

When we join with God in His celebration of creation, God promises us a special blessing: “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob. The mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 58:13-14) God wants to bless us, but there is a special blessing waiting for us when we join in God’s Sabbath celebration.

God takes the Sabbath seriously. It isn’t an option, or a suggestion, it’s part of our make-up. It’s part of our systems. He built it into our biological cycles. The Sabbath is part of God’s infinite, perfect kingdom, and when we celebrate Sabbath, we are taking a step closer to God. The closer we come to God, we can’t help but be blessed! But in order to celebrate the Sabbath in a way that will bring us closer to God, we have to do it God’s way. We have to take the Sabbath seriously, too.

Let us use the analogy of North America’s Christmas. When everyone is celebrating Christmas, Christmas doesn’t just descend on us. We must prepare for it! There is shopping to be done, decorating of the house, baking goodies and setting up the Christmas tree. We have to write our Christmas cards, plan the dinner and arrange what meal will be with whom. Even after the preparations are complete, if we sit in somber silence during the festivities, we will completely miss out on the Christmas blessing! We won’t enjoy ourselves. We won’t feel the warmth of family and friends coming together. If we refuse to join in with the Christmas carols, opt out of the gift exchange and sit by ourselves, we won’t enjoy the holidays in the least. It is the same with the Sabbath. We cannot enjoy the Sabbath blessing unless we join in on the celebration with God. We have to take the Sabbath as seriously as we take Christmas. That doesn’t mean that we must spend large amounts of money. We need to choose to enjoy the Sabbath. We need to choose to make it a delight. We can’t allow ourselves to miss out! When we do that, when we make it as pleasant and beautiful as possible, God’s blessings will be ours.

A Scientific Approach

While the Sabbath is not about making us better laborers, it does benefit us in some very measurable, scientific ways. Our bodies were designed to function with a seven day week. When that week is interrupted, we don’t function as well as when we are left on a seven day cycle.

There have been attempts to change the length of week, but none have worked. Between 1793 and 1805, France attempted to create a logical ten day week, with ten hour days, one hundred minute hours and one hundred second minutes. It made logical sense. Churches were allowed to open on the tenth day only. However, it did not work. Russia tried to change the length of the week as well, in an attempt to increase productivity between 1929 and 1940. The new week was five days long, with one day off . People’s day off was rotated so that only twenty percent of the workforce was on weekend at once. Production dropped considerably and irresponsibility in the workplace rose. Finally the attempt was abandoned. It seemed that the seven day week was the natural rhythm of human beings. (Westby)

There are different types of rhythms in the human body. Some are daily, or circadian, like body temperature, waking and sleeping cycles, blood pressure and cell division. Some are monthly, or circatrigintan, like the menstrual cycle. Some are yearly, or circannual, like seasonal depression and susceptibility to some diseases. But the most interesting to us is the circaseptan cycle, or the weekly cycle. In the weekly cycle, we have the rejection of organ transplants, an immune response to infection, blood and urine chemicals, the common cold, and coping hormones. The bodily response to malaria and pneumonia peaks at seven days. The ratio between the neurotransmitters, norepinephrine and epinephrine as well as the rise and fall of the stress coping hormone cortisol all are on a seven day cycle. Even in the animal world, a microscopic algae cell could not be tricked in its weekly cycles by artificially changing light and dark periods over many days. A weekly cycle, it seems, is not a response to a seven-day week, but is instead an autonomous biorhythm. (ibid.)

When you look at many training regiments for athletes, one day of complete rest per week is not only advised, but absolutely necessary. (McDonald) When you don’t rest, you burn out. It’s simple! Over-trained athletes, or athletes who work out six or more days per week, tend to have lowered immune systems and often suffer from chronic colds and other illnesses.

Rest is good for your mind as well. “Idleness is often frowned upon in modern society, yet it is an important part of human mental health. It allows people to gather thoughts, to gain perspective, and to relieve stress. A certain amount of being idle is essential to a happy, fulfilled life.” (Hayes) We need down time. We need time to just think. Oftentimes, when we are incredibly stressed, when we take time to unwind and relax, we notice that the problems that we thought were so large are actually quite manageable. Your mind and your emotions need time to make sense of your situation first.

Rest is an important part of human health, as is the seven day cycle. God created us with an internal clock, ticking away in a seven-day cycle. We are not accidents. We were designed to function this way, as was the rest of creation. We have been set to God’s time, and God’s time includes a Sabbath. God created us to need the Sabbath. And God created the Sabbath not only for our benefit, but also for our delight.

Tradition

For the past six thousand years, the Jews have been celebrating the Sabbath, while Seventh-day Adventist Christians have only been celebrating the Sabbath for the last one hundred and fifty years. The Jews have six millennia on us. While we picked up the seventh day, the day God has blessed, and while we discovered the requirement for not doing work, we have much to learn about creating a Sabbath celebration!

Tradition: Is it a bad thing? The Pharisees in the New Testament were hampered by their tradition because they treated it like the law of God, when it really was only something they built themselves. They lost sight of why they had built the palace and paid more attention to making everyone conform to their etiquette. They forgot that it was not their effort that made the day holy, but God’s blessing on it. God’s blessing was God’s choice, not a response to their “proper” manners. Their intentions had been pure, but they got lost along the way, and forgot that the Sabbath was a celebration, not a burden.

However, regardless of some pitfalls along the way, the Jewish people have kept the celebration of the Sabbath… they have loved the Sabbath… ever since the beginning of time. In the same way we build up traditions around important days to us. There are Christmas traditions that families celebrate. Easter traditions. Birthday traditions. Holiday traditions. Traditions for the first day of school and Thanksgiving. Tradition is not a bad thing. It is a human thing. Tradition marks off that day to make it special, enjoyable, recognizable. Traditions are a part of celebrations! Perhaps there is something we can learn from some of the traditions that they have created over the centuries to celebrate the Sabbath.

In a traditional Jewish family, the Sabbath is welcomed before sunset. At least twenty minutes, and for some families, a few hours before the sun sets, the family stops all their preparations and comes together to welcome in the Sabbath. A special meal is part of the celebration. For a Jewish family, that meal includes two challah bread loaves, an egg bread made in a braid, and grape juice. The rest of the meal is whatever appeals to the family. You might have popcorn and fruit salad every Friday night. The tradition depends on your family, but the point is to have a tradition.

Another tradition that the Jewish faith treasures is that of blessings. The father of a home blesses his children individually. He prays for them, specifically asking God to protect them and care for them. In the authorized Jewish prayer book, the traditional blessing for children includes the passage from Numbers 6:24-26: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

Not only the children receive blessings, however. The husband and wife also bless each other. The husband might read from Song of Solomon or Proverbs 31, and the wife might read something like Psalm 112. They then pray specifically for each other, asking God to bless their spouse and keep them. They might also add something personal, like telling their spouse how much they love them and how thankful they are God gave them someone so special. For children to see their parents appreciating each other is important. It is a special memory to build a young life on, that of parents blessing each other. It is also a reminder to the family as a whole how important that unit is. Every week, as the Sabbath comes near, the family comes together and remembers how important each of them are to each other and to God.

A very pretty tradition held in Jewish families is that of lighting the Sabbath candles. Twenty minutes before sunset, the wife of the home lights the candles for Sabbath. Traditionally, this was a special time for the woman to pray for her family, and she would do so either aloud or in her heart. There is something beautiful about candlelight. It is restful and creates a special ambiance. Many women cover their heads, often with a special, perhaps heirloom, lace shawl for this prayer, in honor of 1 Corinthians 11:2-5, which talks of the “traditions” (vs. 2) and women covering their head for prayer (vs. 5).

The type of traditions that a family holds for the Sabbath hours is not as important as having special traditions. The Jewish traditions are beautiful and steeped in history. They remind us Christians of where we came from … it does not matter what cultural background we might have, our lineage goes back all the way to Adam! However, there is no magic in this particular way of welcoming the Sabbath. God wants us to join with Him honestly and sincerely. Whatever makes the Sabbath a delight to your family and reminds you that you are entering into holy time is what is important to God. Your traditions, whether they be a special meal, a worship with singing, a family walk, or just sitting together and enjoying each other’s company without the TV, homework, phone calls and the rest of life getting in the way … your traditions will make the Sabbath something special to look forward to every week!

A Palace in Time

Time is the language of the Bible. The Bible was not concerned with geography or things so much as time and events. The first thing to be called “holy” was a Day. “The mythical mind would expect that after heaven and earth have been established, God would create a holy place—a holy mountain or a holy spring—where-upon a sanctuary is to be established. Yet it seems as if to the Bible it is a holiness in time, the Sabbath, which comes first.” (Heschel, p 9) The Sabbath is a holy time, not a holy place. The hours come every week, enveloping us in God’s blessing. Instead of a magnificent physical building, the Sabbath is a “palace in time.” (ibid., p 15)

In our modern world, things have the utmost priority. We accumulate things endlessly. It is our skill at accumulation that tells others about our value and worth. The Bible, however, focuses on time. Moments matter. Events matter. From the first event, the creation of our world, to the last event, the coming of Jesus. Even Jesus’ first coming was foretold using a time prophecy—the seventy-week prophecy of Daniel. With things, we clumsily try to show our value to each other. It is with Time that God shows us our value to Him. Jesus put it this way: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27) Sabbath was a gift from God to mankind, to show us our immense value to Him.

Oftentimes we associate the Sabbath with all the things we cannot do. We cannot work. We cannot toil. We cannot call the office. We cannot watch TV. Sometimes we say, “It’s a rest. We don’t work on Sabbath so that we can rest and then work harder and do better later.” However, Heschel reminds us that “[m]an is not a beast of burden, and the Sabbath is not for the purpose of enhancing the efficiency of his work.” (ibid., p. 14) The Sabbath does provide rest, but it is not about making people that much better at accumulating wealth. That goes against the spirit of the day. No, the Sabbath is about something much deeper and richer than simply resting up for

another week of paper-pushing and emailing at the office. “The Sabbath is not for the sake of the weekdays, the weekdays are for the sake of the Sabbath. It is not an interlude, but the climax of living.” (ibid., p. 14)

The Sabbath was the climax of the creation week. After God had created the world and even humankind, He rested. He stopped. He took a pause. And in that pause, He made the time holy. The Sabbath is the celebration of the week of creation! It is the deep sigh of satisfaction coming from the lips of God Himself. We don’t just “keep” the Sabbath. We celebrate it! We join God as He looks over creation and says, “It is good.” In that celebration, God comes close to us. While churches can be demolished and sacred sites desecrated, time marches on. No one can take away the Sabbath. It comes again and again, “independent of the month and unrelated to the moon.” (ibid., p. 10) It comes because God breathed it. It comes, holy hours, different hours, sacred hours, to bless us regardless of where we are, what we have, or what our circumstances are.

But what makes the Sabbath a blessing? Besides the holiness that God breathes into the Sabbath, what about it makes it special to us? Like a palace, it must be built. We do not just stand there and let it descend on us, expecting some sort of magical tingling. When the Sabbath comes in, we are ready for it. We’ve prepared. We’ve made everything special for the celebration! We build the Sabbath experience from the ground up, like a palace in time. We have the food prepared, the house cleaned, the traditions ready to begin. We enjoy the hours of the Sabbath. We don’t just call it a delight, we make it a delight! We eat the best food of the week, wear the best clothes for the occasion and enjoy the happy hum of a home in celebration. We allow God to bless us, and we honor God by striving to celebrate with Him. It is not our rituals or observances that make that palace special. It is God’s blessing on us for taking part in

His pleasure on that holy day.

The emphasis for many people seems to be on what they cannot do. The fourth commandment says, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exodus 20:8-11) We cannot do any work. No one in our home may do any work, or even anyone on our property. But the negative does not define the Sabbath. If there is one thing we cannot do, how many things may we do? In the Garden of Eden, there was one tree they could not eat from, but every other tree was available for their pleasure. It is the same with the Sabbath. We may not work, but the holy hours are open for a much deeper kind of pleasure. We may talk, laugh, socialize, visit, help, listen, love, share, eat, drink, enjoy, celebrate, think, rest, walk, discuss, play… The Sabbath, like a palace, is what we make it to be. We can choose to be somber and taxing, or we can choose to make it lively and joyful. What brings more glory to God? What the Sabbath becomes depends on what we put into it.

Evaluating the Quality of Christian Fellowship

How can we know we are succeeding at being the kind of fellowship for which Jesus prayed and gave His life? Does there have to be an influx of 3,000 souls in one day? Well, that might be a good indicator. On the other hand, people in today’s instant-gratification culture sometimes jump on bandwagons because it’s fun, or everybody’s doing it, or the ads were compelling. They have an unnerving tendency to jump off again just as quickly. Here are some questions (based on the Bible principles) we might ask ourselves about the Christian fellowship or congregation we belong to:

1. Do I feel loved here? This isn't as easy a question as it looks at first. Do I really feel loved here? No matter how I act or look? Or do I just fit in because it’s what I’m used to, and I seem like the others and we’re all used to each other?

2. Am I listened to? Do I listen to others?

3. What can I or can’t I share here? Would I feel safe telling someone here the secret that has crushed my heart for years?

4. What happens when I sin against someone here?

5. What happens when someone here sins against me?

6. When was the last time we did something completely different? What happens when we get outside our comfort zone?

The answers to these questions, faced with scrupulous honesty by those who are already members of our church, Sabbath School class, Bible study group, prayer group, or other small group, will give us a reasonably good idea of how an outsider might feel coming in. If we aren't satisfied with the answers, there are a lot more “One Another” texts to study. And they all start and end with prayer and love, love and prayer, forgiveness, prayer, and love! “God is love.” (John 4:8)

Living with Real People (Part III)

“One Another” Passage Number Three: Our final example of these texts is found in 1 Corinthians 12. Verses four through 14 once again list gifts and emphasize the point that these many gifts come from one Spirit and result in one complete body. Verses 14 through 26 make it clear that the Corinthian church was having difficulty with living in loving fellowship. Apparently, people were honoring some gifts above others, leading to controversy, jealousy, and pride. Paul spends a good bit of time talking about how important all parts of our bodies are, and how our whole bodies break down if one part is not functioning. At the end of the chapter, verses 27 through 30, Paul lists gifts yet again, and urges his readers to “earnestly desire the greater gifts.”

How strange! Didn’t he just get through insisting no gift was greater than another; all were important? Didn’t he just say in so many words, in verses 24 and 25, that this diversity of gifts actually caused unity, “so that there may be no division in the body”? This seems counterintuitive. If we are to be truly united, the Corinthians might have asked, shouldn’t we all have the same gifts and the same jobs to do for God? No, says Paul, just like our physical bodies, our churches need all their different parts, and they need them to work efficiently together, with no one making lists of who’s important and who’s not. Now he turns around and says, “Earnestly desire the greater gifts.” Then Paul moves into one of the most beloved and celebrated chapters in the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13. What is the greatest gift of all? Paul lays it out clearly in Romans 13:10:“Love does no wrong to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” (Emphasis supplied.)

Jesus was pretty insistent about it. In His last hours with His disciples, with the weight of the world beginning to make itself felt, He said again and again, “Love one another!” Love everybody, love all the time, love as I have loved you. (See John 13:34, 35; 15:12, 17.) This is the only way the world is ever going to even consider buying into this unbelievable story of grace and redemption.

Living with Real People (part II)

“One Another” Passage Number Two: Next we will study Ephesians 4. There are hours’ worth of subjects for fruitful study and imitation in this little chapter. It would be difficult to even outline it, since there is so much packed into this text that the outline would be nearly as long as the chapter. Let’s focus on verses 1-3 and 25-32. This first passage is a beautiful pastoral message from a pastor who has now been many years in the work.

“Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

What would happen if, every time a problem came up, as problems inevitably will, each party sat down and read this passage to each other, and prayed through it in detail, before even beginning on the admittedly hard work of actually figuring out how to resolve their problem? Some problems would disappear like mist in the sunshine. Those which remained would begin to look less threatening if we could really practice looking on each other with humility, gentleness, patience, and tolerance. What if we listened and didn’t judge or jump to conclusions? It isn’t easy. It wouldn’t take diligence to preserve this bond if it were easy. But once we remember the Spirit and seek that loving face, everything seems possible again.

The middle portion of this chapter lists spiritual gifts again, makes the point again that we are one body with one Lord, and says that the only way we’ll ever really grow up is in the stumbling exercise of our gifts, exactly the same as a baby stumblingly exercises her body and grows up strong and graceful.

Verses 25-32 reads almost like the book of Proverbs. Lay aside falsehood and speak truth with one another. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger. Find something for idle hands to do. Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit. It would be interesting to make and decorate posters of these. At any rate, we need to have them all posted on the walls of our minds and hearts.

Finally, Paul ends with another loving admonition: “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” In other words, we are still human. Forgiveness will still be necessary. But it is there when we need it, always available, to give and to receive. We must never forget that.

Living with Real People (part I)

Living with Real People (part I)

It sounds so perfect, this early, excited, on-fire church. There was only one problem with it; they let people in! And you know how those humans are. Sure enough, there were problems at least as early as Acts 6 (and no doubt from the very first day, realistically). The thing about humans is that we live in this broken world, disconnected from the God who made us, and therefore by default, disconnected from each other. Every single one of us has been hurt and scarred and damaged. Every one of us gets afraid, angry and sad. We have an almost unconquerable need to protect ourselves, look out for our own interests, get defensive, judge others. The kindest, most loving Christian gets a little sideways from time to time.

When that happens, it’s good to remind ourselves where we came from and where we’re going, and looking at One Another texts is a great way to start. They are easily found—just go to Strong’s or another concordance and look up “another.” Look for the letters and books of the New Testament, and watch for places where “another” has “one” in front of it. (Or, in some translations, look for “other” and find places that have “each” before it.) There are way, way too many to go into here, so we’ll choose three places, from Romans, Ephesians, and 1 Corinthians.

These three were chosen for this unit for a particular reason: they are all right next to spiritual gifts passages. Why should this be so? Paul’s fascinating idea seems to be that it is just this endless diversity of gifts that leads to a complete, or whole fellowship.

“One Another” Passage Number One: The entire chapter of Romans 12 is devoted to how to be a fellowship of faith. If we were to outline it, it might look something like this:

1. You can be a perfect sacrifice to God. Verses 1 and 2.

2. Start by being humble. Verse 3.

3. We have many gifts, and it takes all of them to be the body of Christ. Verses 4 and 5.

4. Some gifts are listed. Verses 6-8 are most often listed, but 9-13 make an even more complete list of spiritual gifts.

5. Join in the feelings of others, including your enemies, and don’t seek revenge. Verses 14-21.

The last half of the chapter in particular, lists specifics about how to treat “one another.” Look for the good, be devoted to one another, give preference, be diligent, rejoice, persevere, pray, give, share hospitality.  Continued…

The Great Experiment (part III)

Of One Mind: It does seem that if one could effectively create a group whose members were likeminded about things in general, community living would succeed much better. But what does “of one mind” mean? Does it mean they all thought just alike? That can’t be, or there wouldn’t be so many counsels later encouraging diversity. Besides, it’s impossible to think the exact same way in any two languages, let alone in many of them, as they had that day. And if it did mean to think alike, the personality cults we’ve seen in the past century would have worked better.

Well, does it mean they agreed on everything? If so, how could Peter and Paul, or Paul and Barnabas have such sharp disagreements later? Unless we wish to believe that these men were not in the Spirit during the times they had these disagreements, we must accept the fact that sanctified Christians can disagree, sometimes vehemently. If there is one thing we know, it is that God created us individuals, with different ways of being. So what does “of one mind” mean? Let’s look more closely at the verse. They “all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer.” Ah. They all agreed on one thing, at least. They agreed they needed lots of prayer.

There are dozens of other texts in the New Testament which speak of being of one mind, or likeminded. Let’s look at some and see if there are other specific definitions.

Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. (Rom. 12:16-18)

There are some specific characteristics of like-mindedness here. When we are likeminded, we will not be haughty, or wise in our own estimation. We won’t seek revenge. We will respect—an interesting phrase—“what is right in the sight of all.” What we do have in common, in other words. This little phrase could be one of the most important of all. We could actually make it a practice to respect what was right in the sight of all and leave the rest to God, instead of doing our utmost to be sure everyone else believes what’s really right - that is, what I believe! In the last line, Paul recognizes that it is, unfortunately, not always in our power to be at peace with all. But we can do our prayerful best, and that will never happen so long as some of us see it as our duty to correct the beliefs and behaviors of others.

“Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Rom. 15:6)

Like-mindedness takes perseverance and courage, which come from God. It is about glorifying God, not ourselves.

“Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.” (1 Cor. 1:10) This passage looks, at first, as if it does mean to think exactly alike and judge everything the same. To be understood, it needs to be read in context. People were dividing up in the name of their favorite preachers. “I’m a follower of … Billy Graham? Ellen White? Mark Finley?” If there is one thing in the world every Christian, of every background, of every faith tradition, liberal, conservative, or purple polka-dotted needs to be in agreement on, it is that we are followers of Christ! Let’s enjoy the preaching and teaching of whichever of God’s messengers speaks our own peculiar language. But let’s not get the servant mixed up with the Master.

“Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.” (2 Cor 13:11)

Here, like-mindedness is linked to completion and comfort, and leads to peace. Isn’t it a good feeling to be mature enough to think your very own thoughts and let others think theirs, trusting the One Lord of us all to make mistakes clear in His own time? “Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; in no way alarmed by your opponents. … Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.” (Phil 1:27, 2:2) God’s followers may disagree courteously on all kinds of things, but they are standing firm in one Spirit, united in love, and intent on one purpose—striving for the faith of the gospel. When is it that we have reason to be alarmed by our opponents? When they can rightly point a finger at our bitter spirit, divisiveness, and lack of love. If we unite in God’s love, we will not have that to fear. But it seems impossible. You would have to be like Jesus. “But we have the mind of Christ.” (I Cor. 2:16) How can that be? It’s an old promise, really. It’s been around for thousands of years. Jesus said He had come to make it reality in our lives.

“They shall be My people, and I will be their God; and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for (the good of) their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me.” (Jer. 32:38-40)

Then we’ll be able to keep the oldest, greatest commandments of them all: Love God! Love everybody else! Do it with all you’ve got!

The Great Experiment (part II)

All Things in Common: First, the text says they “were together and had all things in common.” This can’t mean they lived all in one building, or even in one enclave. This is a tremendous number of people, in a time when whole towns numbered in the hundreds. There would have been no building big enough. Besides, it says they broke bread “from house to house.” Most of the people who heard Peter’s pentecostal sermon had probably come to Jerusalem for the festival season just past, and they went to their countries and carried this exciting news with them. They must have done the same things in their homelands—praised together in crowds when they could, and lived and worked in daily contact with their own growing circles at home. But many lived there, or chose to stay. In what ways did they exercise this commonality?

One possibility is that at first they may have believed Jesus was coming back right away. It could have been an atmosphere somewhat like that of the Great Disappointment in 1844, when thousands of believers in the Advent thought Jesus was coming that year. They, too, lost interest in earthly things, shared what they had, even left crops unharvested. The early church does not appear to have gone to that extreme, but they did share more than we’ve come to see as normal, even selling houses and lands so they could meet each other’s needs.

It is certain that when a person truly gets hold of the gospel—truly understands that Jesus has opened a clear path to the presence of God for whoever will accept it—day-to-day mundane details of living lose some of their hold. Once you get a glimpse of how much God loves you, and begin to return that love, you start to notice those around you in a new light. If they have a need, and you can fulfill it, it just comes naturally to do so, and you know it goes both ways. When you have a need, you are not afraid to share it with these brothers and sisters.

There have been endless attempts to recreate something like this atmosphere, both spiritual ones such as monasteries, convents, intentional religious communities, and a proliferation of cults of all varieties, and secular ones such as the kibbutzim in Israel and environmentally aware communes in various places. If they are places where people visit for a certain length of time, they seem to retain their feel of “something different”—more togetherness than we are used to. Something we like, but then want to leave and go home, back to life as we find it more comfortable, not quite so united. If they are communities people bind themselves to by lifetime vow, and which are also bound by prayer, like monasteries and convents, they can last for centuries, though not without lists of rules, often long and minute. All other attempts generally seem to break down after a while and disappear. Certainly state attempts at communism as a system of government have not succeeded in providing for even the physical needs of citizens, let alone an atmosphere such as described in Acts.

The Great Experiment (part I)

The Great Experiment (part1)

And so it began, the greatest experiment the world has ever known. Now that we had seen and touched the face of God, was it possible for a human community to actually live out this astonishing ideal? There is a lot riding on it. One of the things Jesus asked of His Father on that dark night appears to be dependent on this unity. “That the world may believe.” In other words, when Christians live in loving fellowship with God and each other, the world “may believe.” There are two ways, in English, that this phrase can be taken. It may indicate possibility; in other words, “It’s possible that the world will believe if they see your love.” Or it may mean ability; that is, “Your love will make them able to believe it. They can’t, if they don’t see love as a result.”

No doubt both of these are true. Some people never will believe in the admittedly outlandish story that the Creator of all things came down and became a baby, lived without sin, and died to make it somehow possible for us to be reunited with this Creator. Let’s face it—that is outlandish! Who could believe it? Those who see that the result of believing it is a depth of love they have never experienced may believe. It seems that the Holy Spirit can produce a mature and profound Christian love and unity that may also seem outlandish and unbelievable. Our love of each other, therefore, takes on a truly sacramental value; that is to say, it connects us to a fuller life of the Spirit, as does any sacrament, and it reaches out to make a connection as well to anyone nearby that it can reach.

After praying this eloquent prayer, Jesus proceeded to demonstrate the power of this outrageous love in the most profound way possible. He walked steadfastly to hell and back for us. He suffered, thinking only of Peter and His other disciples, the women crying by the way, His mother. He died, paying attention to the soldiers, and the seeking lost one dying beside Him. He rose again in a flash of lightning, yet His first thought was for Mary Magdalene, and His second appears to have been for the guilt and shame Peter was bowed under. He comforted them, fed them, tried to give them some last words, breathed the Spirit on them, and finally went back to His Father, leaving the work He had begun to be finished by shaky human hands. Heaven and all its angels united with the handful of bewildered believers who went back to the Upper Room to pray. And study. And discuss. And debate. And pray some more. Until they were “ of one mind.” (Acts 1:14) On Pentecost, the day the Jews celebrate the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai, the Holy Spirit crashed into their lives in a new and more powerful manifestation.

Three thousand people, people who had seen the crucifixion a few weeks earlier, people who might have seen resurrected people of earlier ages wandering around, people, probably, who had shouted, “Crucify Him!” Three thousand people joined the new community that day. What do you do with 3,000 new believers when there are only 120 of you to begin with. What do you do? Acts 2:42-47 lays out the beginning of the Grand Experiment:

“They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

Verse 42 lists four things they were devoting themselves to; the foundational elements of the new Christian fellowship:

1. Apostles’ teaching

2. Fellowship

3. Breaking of bread

4. Prayer

There is more detail added in verse 46. They were in the temple daily (not necessarily all of them at once), and this may, at this early point, have even been where the apostles were teaching. Perhaps they taught in the courts, as Jesus had. This would explain why so many were being added. Many of those who had heard Jesus, but hadn’t really believed or hadn’t committed, did now. The fellowship and breaking of bread, verse 46 says, took place in homes. So it is clear that this throng of people were somehow organized into smaller fellowships, ones that fit into houses. Prayer, of course, was everywhere, as it always is.

All of these are things Christians do today. We, too, devote ourselves to the preaching and teaching of the leaders among us. We, too, value fellowship and friendship, both at weekly worship services and in our homes. We break bread together, in communion services, at home meals, church potluck meals, picnics, and pretty much any other chance we have to eat together. We pray. The healthiest of us pray daily, and pray all day long. We strive to live our lives in the constant atmosphere of prayer.

Why, then, does this description of early unity seem so different to us? Why do we read these verses with such wishfulness for what seems a vanished and elusive joy? If the church today wants to replicate and continue this experience of communal living, there are several things we must explore. Two major differences strike us.  (continued)