Tag: christianity

Luke 1:68-79

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            When I was in graduate school at a public university some years back, I was describing for my class a New Testament view of Jesus and the church’s consistent historic teaching about him.  One of my classmates spoke up and said to me, “But you don’t really believe all that, right?”  Well, actually, I really do believe all the things concerning Jesus accounted for us in the Gospels.  Why?  Because I have found the historicity of Jesus from an objective ground of evidence as reliable, as well as a subjective witness within that resonates as true.  Christians call this witness within the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
 
            Old Zechariah experienced this firsthand.  The Holy Spirit came upon him and he uttered some objective prophecy over his newborn son, John that rang exultingly true within his subjective hopeful soul:  “You, my son, will go ahead of the Lord to get everything ready for him.  You will tell his people that they can be saved when their sins are forgiven.  God’s love and kindness will shine upon us like the sun that rises in the sky.  On us who live in the dark shadow of death this light will shine to guide us into a life of peace.”
 
            Indeed, this is exactly what John the Baptist did in his ministry.  When the Spirit resonates with us and testifies to the truth of Jesus, we can find genuine deliverance from sin, death, and hell, as well as have the confidence to proclaim the name of Jesus as Savior and King.  The objective and subjective aspects are both needed:  objective evidence alone is really nothing more than facts; subjective witness alone without evidence is just gut feeling; but the objective and subjective together presents the person and work of Christ with truth and grace, fact and flavor, mind and heart, in a compelling blend of Christianity for all people.
 

 

            Praise to you, Almighty God, because you have come to save your people.  Thank you for delivering me through your Son, the Lord Jesus, and giving me your Holy Spirit.  May the confidence I have with faith, hope, and love be used for your glory and honor.  Amen.

A Short Primer on Christianity

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
           It perhaps goes without saying, but, nevertheless, really does need to be said explicitly:  Christianity is and revolves around the person of Jesus Christ.  Anything less is not Christianity.  Christ is the second person of the Trinity, the triune God, with the Father and the Spirit – three persons, one God.  God the Father determined that in all things Christ would have preeminence (Colossians 1:18).  Therefore, the equal and full realities of Christ’s humanity and deity are of central importance.
 
            Christ’s humanity should not be suppressed, ignored, or diminished in order to protect his deity.  Christ’s deity must never be marginalized in order to bring his humanity to the fore.  Both the deity and humanity of Jesus must be carefully maintained at all times.  To do less is not Christianity.
 
            Only through this God-Man, Jesus, could redemption from an empty sinful way of life be accomplished for us.  This union of humanity and deity in Jesus alone is able to secure a new and fresh relationship with God, and do away with alienation, hate, death, and eternal torment.
 
            Jesus Christ is the ultimate prophet.  He has revealed to us the will of God for our salvation.  Christ is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).  Jesus has promised that the truth will set us free (John 8:32; 1 John 5:9-13).  Freedom involves knowledge, honesty, and decisions of faith, hope, and love whereby the truth is applied in one’s life.
 
            Jesus Christ is the ultimate priest.  He is the once-for-all offering as a sacrifice to atone for our sinfulness, to reconcile us to God, and now continually makes intercession for us (Romans 5:8-10; Hebrews 4:14, 5:6, 7:23-27, 9:11-12; 1 John 2:1).  As our representative, and the pioneer of our salvation, Jesus has blessed us with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3; 2 Peter 1:3).
 
            Jesus Christ is the universal King.  He is the rightful Ruler of all things (Matthew 21:5; John 18:36-37; Ephesians 1:20-23; Philippians 2:9-11; Revelation 1:5).  Jesus possesses all authority in heaven and on earth, and is Supreme over the Church.  He is able to make all things work together for good in life of his people (Romans 8:28-29).
 
            The church, therefore, is to do everything by completely wrapping herself around the person and work of Jesus Christ.  We are to continually unbend ourselves to conformity with prevailing cultural mores, and, instead, be thoroughly transformed through the complete renovation of our minds (Romans 12:1-2).  Our true spiritual act of worship in the church is to exalt the name of Jesus, praise Christ’s holy name, and enamor ourselves with his incredible grace, mercy, and peace.
 
            What this means, then, is that Christianity is not about being a particular nationality or ethnicity; is not merely a belief system; and, is not only an assent to certain facts and knowledge.  Rather, Christianity is a living relationship with Jesus, our Savior, Lord, Teacher, and Healer.  Christ scandalously died through an instrument of torture, the cross, which has become for us, ironically, our badge of honor and identity.  In short, since Jesus lived, died, and rose from death, we, too, as Christians, die to ourselves and live into a new life secured for us by Christ.  Through faith in this very unique God-Man, we are saved.
 

 

            This makes the church the Community of the Redeemed, a special people who are different than all other people because our lives are totally centered round Jesus.  Anything less is neither church, nor Christianity.  Christians are people secure in their identity, bold in their witness of Jesus, and concerned to serve the world in the words and ways of Christ, through the power of God’s Holy Spirit.  May it be so.

Cultural Christianity

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
 
            It is usually a dubious action to place adjectives in front of the noun “Christianity.”  The actual word can stand alone quite well on its own without any modifiers in place.  But sometimes it might be appropriate to do so, for no other reason than to point out the oxymoronic nature of some of Christianity’s adherents.  “Cultural Christianity” ends up being something like “Grape Nuts” which, in reality, is neither grapes nor nuts.
 
            Which gets us to the heart of the issue:  cultural Christianity is not really Christianity at all, and isn’t even distinctively Christian in its actual culture.  Okay, some of you are getting impatient and want me to say it plainly.  So here it is:  just because someone shows up as a church attender doesn’t make them a Christian, any more than standing in a garage makes a person a car.  A nice person isn’t necessarily a Christian just because he/she is pleasant to be around.  An atheist isn’t necessarily unethical or immoral just because he/she is an atheist. 
 
            One of the parables of Jesus that was a complete head-scratcher for his disciples was the one about the sower who went out to sow seed.  They just did not get what the heck Christ was saying because the disciples were too steeped in a cultural understanding of their religious practice and belief.  So, Jesus made the meaning of the parable of the sower scattering seed a bit more understandable for them: 
 
“The seed is the word of God.  Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.  Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root.  They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.  The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.  But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering, produce a crop” (Luke 8:11-15).
 
All four scenarios of the seed involve hearing the word of God.  But, here is the scandal that brought Jesus some derision:  only the seed that retained what it heard and produced a crop is real true genuine authentic belief.  This is not a parable from Jesus about differing levels of maturity among Christians.  Nope, this is declaration from Jesus that out of the four who heard, only one proved to be the real deal.  To put it another way:  three out of the four people were cultural Christians, which really meant they were not Christians at all.  They looked and acted like Christians enough to slide by as identified believers for a while, but the message never really took; it didn’t stick.
 
            At this point we could become cynical and pessimistic about the current Christian climate in the West.  If only three out of four people are really Christians, then what hope is there?  Am I in or out?  Are you questioning others’ salvation?  Instead, we need to look at this from a different angle.  If three out of four times the seed doesn’t take root and grow into genuine belief, then we keep scattering the seed!  A person who hears but doesn’t actually believe doesn’t mean that it is a one-and-done situation.  In fact, the average person needs to hear the gospel of grace proclaimed anywhere from five to twenty-five times from several different people before the word of God sticks, they take root in the true soil of belief, and end up growing up into mature faith.
 
            The real aim of Christ’s parable was to not only unmask the cultural religion that was rampant, but to encourage the disciples to scatter the seed, to keep proclaiming the word of God over and over and over again in all kinds of places, all over the world.  They were not to give up because the continual proclamation of good news will eventually result in a massive harvest.
 

 

            So, be patient.  Keep embodying the message of Christ.  Continue speaking of Jesus everywhere to everyone.  Persevere in praying for those within and without the church who need the redeeming work of Jesus Christ.  Do not give up.

Living by Faith

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
            Biblical Christianity is real, historic, personal, supernatural, redemptive, authoritative, relevant, dynamic, and demanding.  It’s all that and much more.  People, as created by God, were meant to have God firmly and lovingly at the central core of their lives.  But in humanity’s great fall into sin, God was replaced at the center of people’s lives with self.  Yet, the good news of Christianity is that Jesus has redeemed us back to God.  Through faith in Christ and a complete surrendering to him, we embark on a path toward spiritual growth and maturity that seats God back on the center throne of our lives.
 
 
 
            It’s not enough for the Christian to mentally know this stuff; the believer must understand how to put this knowledge into daily practice through faith (Hebrews 11:6).  Faith is the response of the entire person to God in loving trust, submission, and obedience through the person of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.
 
            Faith is neither a warm-fuzzy designed to make us feel good, nor a judgmental feeling of guilt that leaves us wishing our lives were better.  No, faith is a decision to take God at his Word and act upon it (Hebrews 11:24-28).  Now the kicker to all this is learning to make actual decisions of faith in practical daily experience.
 
            For example, let’s take a look at some decisions of faith based on 1 John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to purify us from all unrighteousness.” All of us have a need to exercise faith in regard to some specific problem that dogs us.  The following steps illustrate the kinds of decisions we must make:
Ø  Confess the thing as sin.
Ø  Forsake it as a sin.
Ø  Believe that God will forgive and deliver you.
Ø  Receive Jesus as the specific need you have to deal with the sin.
Ø  Believe God’s Word that you are purified from sin, and live like it.
 
Faith is how we allow God to do what God wants to do:  be at the inner central core of our lives so that he can exert his power, influence, and grace in every single area of our lives.  Only then can we live in such a way where we don’t have this weird sacred/secular life where we divide ourselves according to spiritual things and non-spiritual things.  The truth is that it’s all spiritual and all belongs to God.  Therefore, the greater sin is to keep Jesus out of the center of everything we do.  God is a jealous God; he wants all of us, not part of us.
 

 

      The essence of living by faith is taking God at his Word.  The provision that God has given for us to walk by faith is the person and work of Jesus Christ.  When we choose to apply this good news to our lives through decisions of faith, hope, and love we experience success in the Christian life.  It is very difficult to express faith when a person is out of fellowship with God.  So, a primary decision to make every day is to engage in spiritual practices that cultivate a basic relationship with God.  Disciplines of Bible reading; prayer; and, weekly Sabbath observance; these all are necessary to developing our muscle of faith into a strong robust belief that is able to take on the rigors of life in this world.