Talk of JESUS .com

Tag: elder

  • PK’s, EK’s, DK’s: Our kids; God’s kids

    PK’s, EK’s, DK’s: Our kids; God’s kids

    The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith.  – 1 Timothy 1:5 NLT

    If you haven’t guessed, our focus is on ‘Preacher’s Kid’s, Elder’s Kids and Deacon’s kids and the focus of scripture is Paul’s letter to Timothy, Paul’s son in the faith and pastor of a church. So as to not get entangled in particular setting and certain persons, here it is in part.

    1 Timothy 1

    Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope…

    To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

    To begin, note Paul’s greeting to this preacher’s kid (of a sort). Note Paul’s endearment of Timothy as not only his colleague in the faith who happens to be the pastor of an important church, but his public building up to the congregation (or gathering of his church) of Timothy as: “my true child in the faith.” Although Timothy was not a biological child of Paul, certainly the church would acknowledge him as a disciple of the Apostle, just as in an earlier time the Prophet Elisha would have been known as a disciple of the Prophet Elijah.

    The church would be watching this ‘preacher’s kid’ to see how he would get about when the preacher was no longer present. He would soon be as a Joshua after Moses in leading the church through the difficult territory of the place of faith after the Apostles were martyred for Christ Jesus.

    Paul continues:

    I urged you… to … remain … so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine,  nor to devote themselves to myths… rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.

    5 The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

    Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion,  desiring to be teachers … without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.

    Paul, by this introduction to the church, sets up a structure of leadership and accountability for the leaders chosen by the church. We have many names for these (in our different traditions): Pastor, Reverend, Rector, Father, Bishop, Brother, Elder, Deacon, Minister. 

    Although Paul, Peter, James, leader of the church of Jerusalem in the first century and John, only surviving Apostle to the churches who though not martyred was persecuted, tortured and exiled – although the Preachers of the early church entrusted the Gospel into the hearts of faithful disciples of their teaching; these prescribed neither hierarchy nor anarchy of committee for the direction of the church.

    Rather, the Apostles and early leaders of the church agreed in the Spirit to continue in preaching Christ crucified, died, resurrected in the body and present in the Spirit for continuation of the Gospel to all the ends of the earth. It is never: Peter’s church or Paul’s church, Apollos’ teachings or John’s churches, John Mark’s writings or Timothy’s preaching.

    For no leader or over-seer is of ANY importance in the light of the Gospel of Christ Jesus.

    The church is no longer – in the sense of the Jews being the chosen family of God through Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, David (and oh, did I mention Jacob, who God renamed: Israel?) – the congregation or gathering of the believers of God to worship is no longer a family in the sense of genealogy and ancestry; but a holy family in the true relational sense of being part of the household of God the Father and a brother of the Son of God, King and heir of the Throne of Glory, of which He IS a part, along with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

    Neither is the church to regard a holy family of Jesus in the worship of earthly ancestry. Worship the LORD only in the light of the Gospel of Christ Jesus, who together with the Father and the HOLY Spirit is glorified. No angel, no departed saint and no ancestry of example of faith is worthy of the worship deserved ONLY by God Incarnate, in the Person of Christ Jesus.

    In a true sense of our family connected by the grace of Christ Jesus and the gospel of our certain hope by faith in the resurrection and our own eternal life, we are children living in witness of the Living God, a preaching member of the Royal Household of our Heavenly King, Christ Jesus, who IS and will return to this temporal earth once more in victory over sin and death.

     To be continued… (Saturday, 28 June, 2014, God-willing)

     

  • Relationship with a Roman

    Relationship with a Roman

     

    capernaum map

    Luke 7:1 After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum.

    Jesus has just taught the crowds who were amazed at His teaching (probably under the watchful Roman eyes of their area squad of the Legion).

    Jesus taught His own people with such sayings as:

    • Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.
    • Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
    • The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good.
    • “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?

    The multitudes followed Jesus from place to place (under watchful Roman eyes, along with ears to hear the true motives of this Jewish teacher who taught in the synagogues of the towns and on the distant hillsides) … waiting to see what their promised Messiah would do. (The Roman authorities and Jewish authorities wanted to know that as well.)

    Jesus has told the crowds, “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit.”

    What is the fruit of Jesus’ ministry? For most of the crowds just watch. Many bear no good fruit.

    balage_capernaumJesus returns to his new home, followed by the crowds of onlookers.

    2 Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. 3 When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant.

    This Roman soldier had a servant, possibly a captured slave from their many battles of the Roman campaign and rule of the region (perhaps even a zealous Jew). We know that the culture of the City of Rome required many slaves (25% of the population). This person (slave or servant) was valuable to the Roman Centurion (a General in charge of many men, in addition to his own servants).

    Propriety and protocol require communication at the proper levels of leadership to approach a common Jew like Jesus; therefore the centurion sends another servant to communicate with the servant of a Jewish elder about dealing with this common Rabbi of the hillsides about possibly helping him in a personal matter of his gentile (Roman) household.

    The Elders themselves (highly esteemed and with the authority of Jewish leadership of their fellow Jews like Jesus) come to the Rabbi Jesus and ask Him a favor. No faithful Jew would refuse such a request directly from an Elder.

    land-bridge-600_24 And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He (this gentile, Roman centurion) is worthy to have you do this for him, 5 for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.”

    So the Jews then begin a short journey toward the Roman encampment nearby, but not in Capernaum.

    6 And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. 7 Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed.

     Fruit of His teaching! AND from a Roman gentile.

    8 For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

    And Jesus had just asked on the hillsides:

    “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?”

    Beloved believer, you who this day claim Christ by calling yourself a christian; do you hear now Jesus’ teaching to faithful followers of God?

    It is a further lesson for the ears of skeptical Jews and their local Elders:

     9 When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” 

    And later report would come back to Capernaum from the gentile Roman camp of this miracle that did not even require the touch or near presence of Jesus:

    10 And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.

     Adoption and mercy for gentiles like most of us. Jesus IS Lord of all.

    We cry out to Christ, “Lord, Lord.”

    Do you have the faith of this centurion?

    Is He your Lord?