As I noted last time, SOMETHING CHANGED (in the year of our Lord 1950 when God determined that I should be born or sometime during the early years of my mortal life).
Neither did the Holy Spirit breathing life through a new Adam into the condemned dust of sinners crossing the line of the DOCTRINES of God change in any way.
It wasn’t God’s HOLY BIBLE that changed in which IT IS WRITTEN:
All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Second Letter of the Apostle Paul to Timothy 3:16-17 Christian Standard Bible
“christianity-lite is weightless witness of Christ-less preaching to the Scripture-starved chaff of Common Era culture.
In fact, the BIBLE warns us of times and churches and christians like these in the very context of the Apostle’s epistle to the pastor Timothy.
STRUGGLES IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Evil people and impostors will become worse, deceiving and being deceived.
Few souls, I suspect, with a BIBLE in hand and ears to hear Scripture.
SO WHAT GOSPEL CAN WE PREACH TO A COMMON ERA CROWD?
It's a dilemma for any preacher and church leader isn't it?
HOW can we multiply our members IF we are always saying, 'it is written?'
Any ideas?
JESUS IS JUST GOOD NEWS!
GOOD NEWS for EVERYONE (Right?)
Never let it be written or said that OUR Jesus is ever bad news for any.
OLD testament is definitely OUT (except maybe a Psalm or so).
Let’s imagine there’s no hell. (It isn’t hard to do.)
NO Judgment or REVELATION! (Too scary even for youth and children.)
a CHURCH FOR THE Common Era
“It is written” will mean MUSIC! Our CHURCH for the COMMON ERA will be all about OUR MUSIC. We’ll start with a great band on stage to set the mood of worship. WE’LL fill stadiums with NEW christians for JESUS!
Between the christian stage
& the Common Era audience.
WE may as well preach litely toward gathering unbelievers into the indistinct undefined masses of our cultural mixing pot.
SO without saying, ‘it is written..,’ WE can preach a more palatable gospel in OUR own words as an exposition of OUR all-inclusive church VISION.
If we really believe in jesus, it isn’t hard to do.
Let's just remove all the BIBLES where 'it is written' from our McChurch worship hour and add holders for our lattes of the latest christian music trends.
If you will forgive my light-hearted humor of what can be done to worship and the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, let's take a more serious glance at WORSHIP as it seems to have changed by now in 2023 of this Common Era.
Referring to the A.D. 1960's and the three subsequent decades and 'churches moving into a marketing mode,' David Wells writes:
“Adapting to culture became a key ingredient in outreach strategy. The result of this was that worship was more likely to be led by a worship team made up of musicians than by the pastor(s) as was the case in more traditional churches.
David F Wells – GOD IN THE WHIRLWIND – P.189
CONTENT and FORM
Pointing to two differences, Wells goes on to describe the ‘WORSHIP DIVIDE’ we have encountered in the contemporary church now most common in this Common Era of the 21st century.
What the worshiper brings to worship is an indispensable part of the mix. Without the knowledge of God in those who worship, without faith, without reverence, without gratitude in the worshiper, even the best forms of worship simply fall flat.
David F Wells – GOD IN THE WHIRLWIND – ibid.
FOCUS ON THE TRIUNE GOD? or
FOCUS on OUR EXPERIENCE of OURSELVES as worshipers?
Is the chaff from your ERASER changing anyone’s faith?
PREACHING ASIDE, Wells suspects that ‘worship wars, which are almost wholly music wars, are really obscuring the larger issues that are in play.’
“NEEDS-SHAPED WORSHIP is invariably self-focused.”
“SERMONS.. aimed simply at providing a lift, some inspiration, from whatever source can be had.”
“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it. “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
“His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.
They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.
God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it.
His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
- from a speech of Job 21:17-20 King James Version
It is written in the Revelation of JESUS Christ to John:
“HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.”
And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
“Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”
is YOUR christianity-lite WORSHIP worthy of the HOLY, HOLY, HOLY Lord Jesus Christ?
proskyneō – a probable derivative of G2965 (meaning to kiss, like a dog licking his master’s hand); to fawn or crouch to, i.e. (literally or figuratively) prostrate oneself in homage (do reverence to, adore):—worship.
“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.”
JESUS Christ was the SON worthy of Christians who once worshiped like this:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, having been kept in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart..
Deuteronomy 6:5-6 ESV
And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
In the year of our Lord 1959, I joined our local Christian church and the Pastor presented me with a Revised Standard Version of the HOLY BIBLE, which our membership class had studied beginning with the first five books of the Law in addition to discussing key verses from the New Testament.
So the A.D. 1950's apparently were not yet a time when Christians walked away from God's HOLY BIBLE.
As children of Christian parents we were expected to become part of our local church and community. Some did so begrudgingly and others of us out of duty to family. What else could we do? And everyone I knew seemed to ‘go to church’ one place or another.
We referred to God and Jesus as ‘Lord,’ addressed adults as ‘Mister‘ or ‘Missus‘ [so and so] or if we didn’t know them sir or ma’am.
Our pastor and preacher was to be addressed as, Reverend, just like most of our parents addressed him. (Even children understood what reverend meant as to respect due to this man and his piety associated with God’s leadership of our church.)
Before the Common Era
SOMETHING CHANGED during the 1960’s, continued to change into the 70’s and yet more beyond the close of the 20th century.
Many churches still EXPECTED Christians to stand in acknowledgment of GOD’s HOLY Word as WE bowed in silence to hear proclaimed:
“THE GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST ACCORDING TO .. [Matthew, Mark, Luke or John],”
and then the Holy Scripturewas read.
christianity-lite churches of 2023 of the Common Era can hardly imagine it!
Some imagined it to have been liturgical routine rather than intended due reverence for the HOLINESS of God's Very Word.
The dichotomy of holiness as separation of GOD ABOVE ALL and JESUS CHRIST as LORD of ALL seemed to blur into a common division from contemporary culture.
Christians loved their Christ of Christmas and Easter, while ALL the world (mostly US) awaited a dismissal of JESUS as just another sweet lord of some days of a future passed.
JFK was elected the first Roman Catholic President of the U.S.
The average family income was $5,600
and a new house cost $16,500.
The starting salary for a teacher was $5,135. It was $4,400 for a police officer and $9,400 for an engineer.
A slice of pizza cost 15 cents, a McDonald’s hamburger was also 15 cents, and candy bars were five cents apiece.
The minimum wage was $1.00, (family members no min. I made .50/hr. in the 60’s)
Farmers made up 8.3% of the U.S. labor force.. about 3,711,000 American farms.. about 303 acres apiece.
Over 90% of American households had at least one TV,
and about 65% of Americans were churchgoers.
The FDA approved the world’s first commercially produced birth control pill.
The Roman Catholic Church opposed its use (even by married couples)
Protestant churches and other religions still expected NO SEX before marriage and discouraged any divorce.
Why did christians erase the LINES of Scripture?
Churches had to re-imagine JESUS for a post-Christian world of members who no longer wanted to GO TO CHURCH.
Christians of OUR future world will embrace a Jesus Christ SUPERSTAR along side our flawed antagonist apostle Judas who seemed to be just as I am. WE are the world, too.
Among our [*] secular friends WE continued to claim that WE are ‘believers,’ BUT we no longer liked to be identified as MEMBERS of the [*] BODY of CHRIST.
a few definitions erased and eroded
*SACRED [now archaic in the Common Era] once meant separated from the common sin and evil of the world in order to remain HOLY[on GOD's side of good and evil] and used in 700+ verses in the HOLY BIBLE.
*SECULAR [also archaic to Common Era culturaly inclusive speech] pointed outward to a world separated from the SACRED by clear BIBLICAL LINES of DOCTRINE.
The Body of Christ and the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ point to HOLINESS only attainable through Christ as symbolized in HOLY COMMUNION.
So clearly defined Biblical church lines of religion blurred
AND antiquated doctrine retired and relegated into the annals of church history.
The Church of our Lord OR christians of the Common Era?
HOW OFTEN DO YOU HEAR ‘our Lord Jesus Christ’ preached from the pulpit of your Common Era church?
Rarely, since in a post-Christian world HE is now a familiar pronoun for a more familiar jesus who embraces believers of every culture into gatherings for the anonomous ME.
IS SCRIPTURE INSCRIBED on the doorposts and gates of YOUR COMMON ERA CHURCH?
god forbid! For holy means separated and WE are together.
Therefore the BIBLE bows down to OUR corporate vision to which WE must preach to include ALL the world for the love of our culturally correct Jesus.
Just call Him KING; NEVER Prophet or Priest, which would separate HIM from the multitudes of the world WE seek to gather. AND remember,
MOST books of the BIBLE are OFFENSIVE to seekers of other beliefs; consequently NO Scripture on the walls (or church building or worship screen up front).
THE BIBLE HOLY? – Prophets, Priests and gods forbid!
christianity-lite
a graceful LIFE
RE-imagining jesus
for a culturally-correct
church of the Common Era
christianity-lite is weightless witness of Christ-less preaching to the Scripture-starved chaff of Common Era culture
Roger@TalkofJesus.com
In the context of Western culture and because of growing biblical illiteracy in our churches, the content has often been highly eroded. It has been made light and insubstantial, replaced by a set of self-focused interests.
SOMETHING CHANGED between the years of our Lord in centuries past and these last days of the Common Era.
God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
And it was not Jesus Christ (re-branding HimSELF for a Common Era church).
“Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings..” the letter to the Hebrews continues in 13:9a.
All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be equipped, having been thoroughly equipped for every good work.
(although some have intentionally smudged scripture by their own rewording).
COULD IT BE THE COMMON ERA CHURCH (members, not the building so much) THAT HAS CHANGED?
..it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
Lord OR just another king of culture?
Let the church of these last days of a Common Era hear the prophesy of John the Baptist:
“And the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals;
Gospel of Matthew 3:10-11b LSB
DO YOU WORSHIP JESUS IN TRUTH AND WITH THE HUMILITY OF JOHN?
“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, in Your name did we not prophesy, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many miracles?’
“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’
Podcast - 3 min 30 sec
From time to time we recommend other sources of Scriptural resources to help Christians like you with your own personal social witness.
Barry Cooper explains how translations of the Bible from Latin, Greek and Hebrew led to the Protestant Reformation.
Ad fontes is a Latin expression which means “[back] to the sources”. The phrase epitomizes the renewed study of Greek and Latin classics in Renaissance humanism. Similarly, the Protestant Reformation called for renewed attention to the Bible as the primary source of Christian faith. Wikipedia
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