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.”
Luke summarizes an 80-90 mile [~130 km] journey from Philippi by these apostles of Christ in a single verse.
~ A.D. 50 – Philippi to Thessalonica (by land)
Silas and Paulos, who are Roman citizens, as these apostles of the Messiah have just reminded Roman magistrates in Philippi;
with Timotheus, a Greek Jew and fellow follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Once again in the city of their second stop in Europe the context of culture comes into play.
Whereas Philippi (which they have just left after unjust imprisonment and a freeing sign from God) was a ROMAN city on Macedonian soil, Thessalonica is more Greek (in a sense) and has a Jewish place of worship.
So as in Cypress on Paul's first missionary journey and in most of the large cities of both missions to Asia, Thessalonica has a synagogue where Jews may gather, exchange thoughts and worship God.
2 And Paul went in, as was his custom..
Again Paul, Silas and Timothy would have listened to the prescribed Scriptures of the day and then would have discussed their relevance to the Gospel of the Messiah Yeshua.
AND once again on the next Sabbath Saulos, Silas and Timotheus would have repeated this customary worship routine of the Sabbath at the synagogue in Thessalonica.
No doubt many of the Thessalonians became convinced by these three apostles during these three weeks that Jesus IS risen from the grave and that many Jews have witnessed this Good News of His resurrection.
(And then, they might confidently add, we have witnessed the many such signs including those last month in Philippi.)
And the men and women we baptized were Romans, including our jailer!
.. and on three Sabbath days he [Paul] reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead,
“This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”
– Did Saulos of Tarsus PREACH IT IN HEBREW to the JEWS?
Did Paulos PROCLAIM IT from the Greek Septuagint?
For that would be how Jewish Thessalonians knew their Scripture of the Old Testament better than you and I
Faithful Jews took the Old Covenant of God’s written word to heart.
Were these Jews converted to their own Messiah by Paul’s reasoning with them perhaps daily for three weeks?
This Christ whom I Preach
.. he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”
4 And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women.
When the gentile Physician Luke records in his second account that, 'many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women' joined Paul and Silas, he refers not to Jews but to local Hellenist gentiles of Thessalonica - local Greeks.
Saul of Tarsus, first a Jew, also a Roman, goes to the Jews first AND when they refuse to listen to reason from their own Scripture about the Messiah of Israel, Savior of sinners in all the world, these Apostles and disciples of Yeshua PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED in their own HOME Churches, the public squares and to any of the places a humble created people of any origin gather to seek our Lord and only Savior.
5 But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd.
Why would they attack 'the house of Jason' (who is first mentioned here)?
Jason is a Jew who certainly also worshipped in the Thessalonian synagogue and who apparently hosted these three travelers as had Lydia hosted them in Philippi. Some commentators suggest that Jason may be related to Paul.
Like back in Philippi, or contemporarily like those crashing the doors of the US Capitol, this lynch mob (so to speak) wants to rule over the city and throw their opponents out of town.
6 And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting,
“These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”
Another King, Jesus
“KING Jesus in v. 7 is just an accusation
Worldly god claimants would use the same title for JESUS as Pontius Pilate when the GOVERNOR asks his accused prisonor:
Are you a king?
Paul, Silas, Timothy and Christian disciples of the Lord Jesus addressed the Risen Messiah as Christ or Lord!
In fact, “Caesar is lord” and “Jesus, king of the Jews“(like Herod was) were ROMAN labels. Except here, as false accusations these are not in any way legitimate Jewish labels OR acknowledgement of a Roman emperor.
Caesar is Lord evoked emotional reaction to SOME Jews, but others compromised their faith to acknowledge that any MAN other than the LORD God Almighty could be THEIR Lord.
Thessalonica
Θεσσαλονίκη
Thessalonica founded in 315 BC by Cassander of Macedon, who named it after his wife Thessalonike, daughter of Philip II of Macedon and sister of Alexander the Great.
The same claim that offends the Jews, JESUS IS LORD, also offends those who worship MANY gods out of our own selfish motives to worship only our SELF by choosing which gods to which we will bow down. INCLUDING:
ROMANS, who worship Caesar as a god and Greeks, who in addition to celebrating many gods worship their own philosophies of self-deduced knowledge.
SOON we will travel to Corinth where Paul will later write to the church:
For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
~ A.D. 55 – from the first letter of Paul to the Church at Corinth – Corinthians 1:22-24 ESV
Time to move on from Thessalonica
“These men have turned the world upside down
Jason has received them
they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar
saying that there is another king, Jesus.”
8 And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things.
9 And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.
The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea..
ACTS of the apostles Paul, Silas and Timothy — To Be Continued…
Original post date: 29 March, in the year of our Lord 2022
Today’s topic is scandal!
ASH WEDNESDAY in the year of our Lord 2023, we begin with TODAY’S subject:
Christians in the shoes of Jonah
Repent, Jonah!
It’s raining and you are NOT Noah who will save only his own family from the flood.
The ground is shaking in the year of our Lord 2023 and you are NOT Abraham who will rescue only his family from the evil and the fate of Sodom or the judgment of Gomorrah.
This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: “I, myself, have risen against Babylon! I will destroy its children and its children’s children,” says the LORD.
So YOU claim to be an evangelist of JESUS to the nations?
GO into all the world and preach Good News, the Gospel of forgiveness and eternal life for those who will REPENT of their sinful past and FOLLOW Jesus Christ as our Lord.
The Good News of Jesus’ death and resurrection, however, becomes BAD NEWS to any who turn the other way – in the direction away from God’s grace.
Such bad news for evangelicals! christians who suddenly turn in the other direction + a direction of SELF and a gospel of what God has done for ME (and should do for you).
Have you turned to a path AWAY from the word of God, even like Jonah?
Won’t sailing away from the command of the Lord have dire consequence?
I WON’T PREACH THAT, Jonah responded by sailing away from the command of God.
But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness
As we have learned in ACTS of the Apostles, disciples are followers of Christ Jesus.
Evangelical christianswho claim His Namebut turn away from God’s command become obstacles to the Lord saving others from the cities of destruction.
At the moment Jonah turned away from Nineveh even this Prophet of God was not an obedient disciple ‘chosen‘ for eternal life.
A last-days appeal to the Evangelical
Evangelicals who claim other cause of the world above Christ cannot boast of the burden of the millstone placed around their necks.
And evangelicals who embrace condemned cultures of the cities of destruction without revealing the cost of the Cross may find the weight of the Cross around their neck weighing down their witness with veiled hope while singing of ME and JESUS.
Scandal – Do you recognize it in the warnings of Jesus?
Then He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come!
“It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.
Luke 17:2 NKJV
“Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.
Luke 17:3
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry.
Then the LORD said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city.
– Jonah 4:4-5
The Millstone
“It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck..
Does this punishment (even self-inflicted) remind you of Jonah?
And he said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me.”
the movable stick or trigger of a trap, a trap stick
(And evangelicals with ears to hear, now hear this:)
any person or thing by which one is (entrapped) drawn into error or sin
Scandal: fig. applied to Jesus Christ, whose person and career were so contrary to the expectations of the Jews concerning the Messiah, that they rejected him and by their obstinacy made shipwreck of their salvation
Is your faith scandalous because you dare Talk of JESUS?
‘But I have a few things against you, because you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumblingG4625 blockG4625 before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality.
Your comment on this post and these Scriptures encourage the witness of this author. RH (original post date 29 March in the year of our Lord, 2022)Thanks.
Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
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