Having said all that about Alexa, let me say a BIG THANK-YOU to everyone who’s visited Peter’s Patter over the past 18 months. By some quirk in the statistics this blog is ranked at #7. It’s my prayer that, in addition to quirky statistics, people are genuinely finding these thoughts, comments, and sermon followup to be encouraging and helpful in their spiritual walk and understanding of God.

On his blog, Kingdom Living, Matt Dabbs provides a list of the most popular Church of Christ blogs. So if your looking for some Christian money advice, homemaking tips, Biblical commentary, sermon suggestions, news from missionaries, or old fashioned controversy, there’s a great chance you’ll find it on this list.

Even if you’re not looking for anything in particular it can be fun to click your way through the list and see what’s out there.

It is notoriously difficult to develop a definitive measure of the popularity of blogs.  Matt uses Alexa rankings.  Alexa is a small utility that people can download onto their internet browser.  The program then anonymously keeps track of the sites people visits and ranks them.  So a person might have a very popular blog, but if no one with the Alexa utility visits it, then it won’t get recognized at all.  However, despite the obvious weaknesses of this methodology it does provide an objective way of ranking websites and distinguishing popular websites from those that might be out of date or rarely updated.  (To contribute to these rankings you can download the toolbar at this site.)

….now if I could only get some more comments and conversation flowing…

For those who are interested, the most popular posts at Peter’s Patter over the past year have been:

1. Jesus’ I AM Statements in John
2. Cleansing the Temple – John 2
3. Three Core Values for the church (plus 1)
4. John 21: Do You Love Me?
5. The President & “Childish Things”
6. 1 Cor. 3:9 – You are God’s Building!
7. Interview with the Christian Church
8. You Must be Born Again – John 3

• Read Exodus 13:17-18 here.
• If you missed Sunday’s sermon (October 25) you can listen to it here.

Exodus 13:17-18 tells us that God perceived that taking the shortest route from Egypt to Canaan would result in the Israelites arriving in Canaan unprepared for the battles that they would encounter there.  So God lead them on the longer route through the desert.

I compared the long route through the desert with the commencement of Jesus’ ministry.  The Gospel of John gives the impression that Jesus took the short route.  John 1:29-34 describe the baptism of Jesus and then the rest of the chapter tells of Jesus calling his disciples.  He hits the ground running.  But the synoptics all detail a gap between Jesus’ baptism and commencement of ministry.  No sooner does a voice from heaven confirm his anointing, than the Spirit leads him into the desert for 40 days, where he’s tempted by Satan.  Yes, God lead Jesus by the longer route through the desert.

I receive the impression from many Christians that once a person commits their life to Christ they should expect to start receiving blessings from God.  To be very honest with you, I’m torn about how to respond to this.  On the one hand, a person who submits to God’s rule over their life, receives forgiveness, freedom from guilt, the presence of the Holy Spirit in their life, and membership into the family of God.  There’s no greater blessing than these.  But on the other hand, I am also convinced that Satan likes nothing better than to attack newborn Christians.  He makes life as difficult as he can, trying to destroy faith before it’s taken root.  I believe this is the message of the 4 soils in Matt 13.

Churches seem to do a pretty good job preparing new converts for blessings, but not so well preparing them for obstacles and spiritual attacks.  Perhaps we worry that talking of long desert roads will deter people from committing their lives to Christ’s rule.  I wonder if Christ was thinking this when he spoke to the crowds in Luke 14:25-33 about their need to “count the cost” before deciding to follow him.

Have you experienced a church/person that does a good job of encouraging people to make an informed decision about their salvation?  Do you agree that Christians often get too excited describing the blessings or a relationship with God and overlook the struggles that come with it?  Is this justifiable or a serious shortcoming?

If we accept that young Christians often encounter particular challenges from Satan, we must ask ourselves “How do our churches provide extra support for new converts?”  I try to set up a regular Bible study/discussion with those I baptize, but it often doesn’t seem a priority to them right then.  (Just as newlyweds seldom schedule a counseling session for the week after the wedding.)

Have you seen effective ways that new Christians have been encouraged/supported?  Did you experience difficulties in the first year of your New Life?  What helped you stick with your commitment?

Read Isaiah 42:1-13 here.

Last night I was privileged to speak at Rochester’s Church of Christ Area Wide Worship Service (RCoCAWW).  The theme for the night was “Sing a New Song” which we took to heart with song leaders from half a dozen congregations leading our singing.  I always find these events encouraging as churches with different worship styles, theological emphases, and racial mix, come together to praise God.

Given the diverse audience, many of whom had never heard of me before, I worked to keep my presentation upbeat and entertaining.  This meant I didn’t get bogged down in a lot of exegesis and included plenty of “fluff” to keep people engaged.  But I believe my topic still had an important message that I hope people will relate to.

The phrase “sing a new song” occurs several times in the Psalms (33, 40, 96, 98, 144, & 149), Isaiah 42, and Revelation (5:9 & 14:3).  The Isaiah passage seems to give the most context to this phrase, so that’s where my talk was concentrated.

The first 9 verses of the chapter describe the changes God is going to bring upon the world through His servant.  He’s going to restore justice (v1, 3-4), open blind eyes, free captives, release those who sit in darkness (v7).  Verse 9 provides a succinct summary of the preceding verses, “See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare.“  God continues to redeem His people and His creation.

In the context of God’s creative and redemptive activity the appropriate response of His people is to “Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth.“  It seems to me that the new actions of God require new songs of praise from His people.  Our worship should respond and react to the presence and activity of God in our lives.  This may seem like a fairly simple conclusion but I think it has some practical application.

Just as I’m a fan of Bible translations that use contemporary English, I believe that if our songs are to be meaningful to us they should reflect God’s working among us today.  While we might comprehend the imagery of lighthouses, anchors, and lifelines, are they natural ways for us to express our relationship with God?  For me to worship genuinely from the heart, I need to use words and experiences that reflect my thoughts, not just the range of my vocabulary.

This is not just a rant against traditionalism.  I have observed that songs from different generations have different emphases.  While hymns from the the late 1800’s and early 1900’s often praise God for his actions, very few of them actually thank Him.  Many hymns written during WWI and the Great Depression look forward to eternity and heavenly reunion with loved ones.

Contemporary praise and worship songs also have gaps in their repertoire.  While many songs express our love to God, there is shortage of recent songs appropriate for communion.  I also have a hard time recalling many songs that encourage the church to reach out to a lost world in the way that the old “Throw Out the Lifeline” does.

So the application of this exhortation to “sing a new song” involves a thoughtful selection of songs that prompt the worshiper to consider God’s involvement in his or her life.  Sometimes this older songs will best accomplish this purpose, but sometimes God’s new activity requires new songs.  The church needs to embrace our modern songwriters who speak of and for God…even if the styles or repetition of lyrics don’t always seem natural to us at first.

Of course, there’s a whole lot more to be written on this topic, eg. How does the above discussion apply to music styles?  Can music styles prevent us from singing from the heart?  It is also distinctly possible to apply this “new song” instruction to simply transitioning from a lament to praise as we witness God at work.  It does not necessarily mean each of us should compose a new song each week.

At the end of the day I believe the principle of “singing a new song” means that our worship is to interact with and respond to God’s movement in our lives. I have previously written an article discussing how our regular monetary offering to God can be similarly interactive.  So I guess I’m 2 down with 3 to go.

Discuss how song selection impacts your worship experience.  Do some songs make your worship less heartfelt than others?  Do you find that the effort of learning new songs is worthwhile?  Can you recall an occasion that a new song has spoken to you?  I’d love to read your comments?

• Read Exodus 12 1-11 here.
• If you missed Sunday’s sermon (October 18) you can listen to it here.

New Testament Christians, that I know, tend to avoid spending too much time in the Old Testament.  I think this is a shame.  We can learn so much about God from the Old Testament.  We also gain understanding into how the New Testament relies upon and builds upon the Old Testament.  From understanding the Old Testament better, we better understand Jesus, who observed the Old Testament law.

Things we might learn from the Passover meal and the events it celebrated:

Lamb Roast

• The blood of the Passover lamb provided salvation for the Hebrews – 1 Cor. 5:7 refers to Christ as the church’s Passover Lamb.  (see also Jn 1:29, & Rev 21:27)
• Faith & Works: The Israelites needed faith, but they also needed to act.  They had to paint their doorframe with blood.  Just staying indoors and trusting God would have ended in death.
• Is Baptism a work? For Church of Christ members (and others) who believe that baptism plays a role in one’s salvation the Passover provides a good example.  The blood around the door didn’t save anyone.  The Hebrews actions in putting the blood there didn’t give them any merit.  They were saved by God’s grace when they followed God’s instructions.  Did God need to see blood to know who His people were?  No.  But would He save them without this action on their part? Again, No.
• The importance of putting God first: In Exodus 12:2 God gives His people a new calendar that begins in the month that He delivered them from Egypt.  This was radically different from the calendar they kept in Egypt.
• The importance of community: According to Exodus 12:4, small households were to share the Passover meal with other families.  This was not a time to be alone.
• Give God your Best: I believe Exodus 12:5 gives some of the earliest instructions concerning acceptable sacrifices, and immediately we see that the lamb is to be “without blemish”.  God demands more than our leftovers.
• God’s Grudge with Yeast: In Exodus 12:14-20 God institutes the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  During the seven days of the feast, if anyone has yeast in their house, they’re to be “cut off from Israel”.  That seems pretty extreme.  There’s not a lot of explanation given in Exodus as to why God doesn’t like yeast, except in 12:39, where their flight from Egypt was so urgent that they didn’t have time for dough to rise.  The New Testament sometimes equates yeast with sin & false teaching (Matt 16:6-12, 1 Cor. 5:6-9).  But it’s not always a bad thing.  In Lk 12:1 Jesus calls hypocrisy “yeast”, but in 13:18-21 the kingdom of God is compared to yeast.
• Deliverance from Slavery: The whole concept of God delivering His people from slavery to a Promised Land resonates with Christians who view themselves as having been rescued from the slavery of sin and delivered to an eternal Promised Land. (Rom 6:15-23)
• The Lord’s Supper: Since Jesus was celebrating the Passover with his disciples when he instituted the Lord’s Supper we should be able to apply something from that original setting to our celebration today.  Most evangelical churches seem to prefer “Lord’s Supper”, or “communion” rather than “Eucharist” (which comes from the Greek word for “thanksgiving”) to describe our commemoration today.  However, since the Passover was a celebration of thankfulness and all the Last Supper accounts have Jesus offering prayers of thanks, maybe we need to emphasise thankfulness more as we come around the Lord’s table.

That wasn’t actually what I intended to write about today, but I think it’s a good topic.  Can you add anything to this list?  Do you think some of my suggestions and connections are reaches?  Please join the conversation by leaving a comment.

• Read Exodus 11 & 12 here.
• If you missed Sunday’s sermon (October 11) you can listen to it here.

Hi everyone.  I’m back from a week’s vacation, so it’s taking me a while to get back in the saddle of blogging.  But here I am.  I’m continuing this series from Exodus, “Becoming People of God”.  This week we’re looking at the institution of the Passover.

This passage contains so much depth I think I could dwell here for a month or more.  As I read Exodus 12 this time, I realized that the Hebrews celebrated the first Passover before the Passover actually occurred.  That first night they they celebrated their salvation before they’d been saved!

While I suspect that many Hebrews that night followed Moses’ instructions out of fear, they still expressed an element of faith.  At a minimum the believed that God could/would carry out His threat of killing the first born sons.  At a higher level, many of the people celebrated that night out of faith that God would bring about their release that night.  They ate that meal as if God had already delivered them.

Jesus demonstrated a similar example of faith at the Last Supper.  The account of the Last Supper in Luke 22 emphasises Jesus’ forward view.  Twice, in vs 16-17, he looks beyond the cross to a future meal with his disciples in the kingdom of God.  Even when he looks forward to the cross he speaks with faith that God will complete what He has begun.  When he says “this is my body given for you“, he speaks of a future event.

My pet peeve is that when we participate in the Lord’s Supper today most of the time we do so looking backward, not forward.  We look backward at the cross.  We look backward at our sins.  We remember the suffering Jesus went through on our behalf.  Yet this one dimensional approach to communion omits the promises Jesus gave his disciples.

It’s appropriate for us to remember our sins, but why not do so in a context of celebrating their forgiveness?  Why do we not do a better job of remembering Jesus promise of the future meal with him?  Why do we not spend our time around the Lord’s Table remembering that he’s coming back for his saints?

Even 1 Corinthians 11:26, (the classic backward perspective passage due to the instruction “examine yourself“” in v 28, but more on that another time), looks outward when it describes the Lord’s Supper as a proclamation, not a commemoration.  It also looks forward by say that we do this “until he comes“.

At the core of this discussion is the issue of how we live out our faith.  Do we live as though God’s promises are already completed? This was the challenge for the Isrealites at the first Passover, and for Jesus at the Last Supper.  As we participate in the Lord’s Supper this is the question we should be asking ourselves.  In earlier posts I posed the questions this way, “Most of us believe in God, but how many Christians actually believe God?“  Read those posts here.

Do you agree or disagree?  How do you approach the Lord’s Supper?  Please leave a comment!

Read 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 here, and James 2:1-5 here.

There’s no recording of the sermon this week as Lawson Rd had its annual Fall Fellowship in a park.  But I presented the same material in the park that I shared on Friday at the Camp Hunt Men’s Retreat.  (The recording is available HERE, along with the other speakers.)

The subject I was allocated for the Men’s Retreat revolved around the idea that Christians are called to be humble.  Both 1 Cor. 1:26 and James 2:5 remind us that the world doesn’t think we’re better, smarter, or stronger because of faith in Christ.  In fact, they regard us as foolish, lowly, and poor.  While these passages also reassure the church that at the end of the day our faith will be vindicated, they also dismiss any suggestion that the ultimate vindication is any excuse for pride or arrogance in the present.

Many people outside the church seem to regard Christians as having a “holier-than-thou” attitude to them.  Since this impression is so widespread, I expect it’s rooted in reality.  Churches, and therefore by definition individual Christians, can easily fall into the trap of looking down our noses at people who are not as “enlightened” as us.  We can even think less of other Christians who interpret Scripture differently or choose to express their faith in a different manner than we do.

Paul asked the Corinthian church to “remember what you were when you were called.“  I wonder if we forget that too quickly.   Or do we sometimes exaggerate our “goodness” before we accepted God’s grace?  Do we expect people to clean themselves up before they show up at church?

Ephesians 2:1-10 also discusses this phenomena of Christians forgetting their total dependence upon God’s grace.  Throughout this passage God acts to save people.  God initiates and we accept his gift of salvation.  Verses 8-9 provide a succinct summary, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.“  Even here Paul warns of the dangers of pride, and the need for humility.  It’s easy for us to take credit for our own salvation.

God does want us to boast, but not in our our abilities.  “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 1:26; Jer 9:23-4)  How would our churches be different if we did more “boasting in the Lord”, and less in our knowledge and behaviour?  I’m also interested to hear how others think churches/Christians communicate pride? What would a humble church look like?

• Read Exodus 7 here.
• If you missed Sunday’s sermon (20 September) you can listen to it here.

I am regularly surprised by how often I have conversations where the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart comes up.  I’m not saying it’s every week or anything, but it’s more than I’d expect.  It’s often in a context of discussing the issues raised by Calvinism concerning humanity’s freedom to make decisions.  Are we free moral agents, or puppets with God as the puppeteer?

The other scenario to which people apply this concept is that of evangelism.  If someone hasn’t responded to the Gospel message, then “maybe their heart is hard like Pharaoh’s.”  This seems to give the Christian permission to give up on that individual and turn attention elsewhere.  Of course, the possibility that maybe the other person won’t respond because of the aggressive nature the Christian brought to the discussion, or because the way the Christian treats his wife and kids is inconsistent with his message, is never entertained as a possibility.  It’s much simpler just to blame the person with the “hard heart”.

I’m not willing to turn this post into a Calvinism debate.  That’s been going on for hundreds of years and I doubt I’ll be able to settle it here.  However, I will say that I disagree with Calvin.  I do not believe that our choices and eternal destiny is predetermined by God.  Foreknown, but not predetermined.  We make our own choices and are responsible for their consequences.  (eg. John 3:16, Acts 2:38)

Back in Exodus, I understand why the phrase “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart” attracts the attention it does.  How could a loving God make Pharaoh reject His instruction and then punish him for it?  It seems inconsistent with our understanding of God.

Nahum M. Sarna provides a valuable analysis of this statement that I find clarifies its use and meaning a lot.  He points out that between chapter 4 and 14 Pharaoh’s heart is said to harden 20 times, but we need to notice how these statements are distributed.  10 times God is said to harden Pharaoh’s heart, and 10 times Pharoah either hardens his own heart, or it is stated in the passive.

The first two times (4:21; 7:3) God predicts that He will harden Pharoah’s heart, but it’s still a prediction at this point, not an event.

The next seven statements (7:13, 14, 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7, 13:15) are either passive “Pharaoh’s heart became hard”, or Pharaoh actively hardens his heart himself.  It is not until after the 5th plague (9:12) that we’re told that God acted to harden Pharaoh’s heart (also 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10; 14:4, 8, 17).  Then after the 6th plague we’re again told that,

When Pharoah saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again:  He and his officials hardened their hearts.  So Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the Lord had said through Moses.  (Exodus 9:34-35)

I believe that the sequence of events provides the key to understanding the phrase.  God only hardened Pharoah’s heart after Pharaoh himself had rejected God and His instruction.  God gave Pharaoh multiple chances, and 5 major signs that he should listen to Him, but Pharaoh refused.  At that point God decided something like, “Okay, if that’s your decision I’ll use your stubbornness for my glory.  The deliverance of My people will bring more glory to My name, and you will be punished for your pride and disobedience.”

Pharaoh is responsible for his own decisions.  What we see in God’s actions is that sometimes his judgment comes sooner than at other times.  However, we need to recognize God’s grace in giving Pharoah 5+ chances to obey God, even though He knew what the outcome would be.

Other passages that seem to reflect similar circumstances include Romans 1:21-25, where people that choose to reject God’s message are abandoned to the consequences of their sinful desires and actions.  1 Corinthians 5:1-5, and 1 Timothy 1:20 both speak of “handing someone over to Satan”.  I don’t know the exact implications of this, but in both cases it’s a result of deliberate sin, and seems consistent with the examples of Pharaoh, and Romans 1.  The good news about these latter passages is that in both cases the purpose of this action is to prompt repentance leading to salvation.  In this context, I’m reluctant to conclude that even in Pharaoh’s case he ever lost the ability to obey God’s instructions and let the Hebrews leave.

Okay, so that’s a long post today on a complex topic.  What do you think?  Have you heard this phrase referenced in a different context?  I’d love to receive your comments!

• Read Exodus 5 here.
• If you missed Sunday’s sermon (13 September) you can listen to it here.

My sermon this week focused on the frustrations Moses experienced as he sought to share his good news of God’s deliverance with the Israelites.  At first they were excited, but when things didn’t go smoothly they turned on Moses and Aaron, abusing them.  My sermon emphasised the persistence that sharing our faith requires, if it is to bear fruit.

We also benefit from considering the other side of this relationship.  It’s easy to criticise the Israelite overseers who in 5:20-21 abuse Moses.  We know that Moses is the hero of the story and he’s working with God, so anyone that contradicts him is on the wrong side of God.  But I think the overseers’ attitude is very realistic and more common than we often credit.

My impression of this story is that during their 400 years in Egypt the Israelites had forgotten a lot about Yahweh.  In fact, given how quickly they adopted the golden calf in Exodus 32, many of them had probably converted to Egyptian gods.  Then Moses turns up in Es 4:29 to meet with the Israelite elders and he tells them a fantastic story of a god that will free them from slavery.  On the basis of the signs Moses performs and the foggy memory of Yahweh’s promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the elders buy into the story and in 4:31 they “bow down and worshiped” Yahweh.

It seems to me that this mirrors the faith journey of many people today.  While their parents or grandparents attended church the people we encounter have forgotten more about God than they remember.  Some of them, through desperation, relationships, or Bible study, will be convinced of the truth of God’s Good News.  They will “bow down and worship Yahweh”.

In emphasising the Good News of hope and freedom, forgiveness and reconciliation, grace and love, we run the risk of creating the impression that deliverance from all of life’s difficulties is imminent.  It’s no surprise then when our new brothers and sisters in Christ have a hard time understanding what’s going on when they encounter obstacles.

The Israelite overseers certainly encounter a major obstacle.  Pharaoh demands greater productivity with less resources, and then beats them when they fail to meet the new standards.  I don’t think anyone can blame them for questioning the message Moses brought.  There’s not much good news in a beating.

This story reminds us that making right choices and accepting God’s truth doesn’t necessarily result in an easier life, particularly in the short term.  However, knowing the ultimate fate of Pharaoh should encourage us to keep the big picture in mind and the victory Christ has already won.

It should also remind those who are older Christians to continue to encourage and disciple those with younger faith, because baptism’s just the beginning of their new life.  Questions, doubts, and difficulties are all common experiences that Satan throws at new Christians and we can’t afford to leave them on their own at that time.

Have you experienced particular challenges in your life soon after accepting the Good News of Jesus?  or maybe after a particularly uplifting spiritual experience, eg. a great book, a retreat or seminar?  What got you through that difficulty?  How important was the encouragement of other Christians?

In the final class I taught in my series on the Restoration Movement, we discussed the previous week’s interview with Chris Bacus, a local Christian Church minister.   Some of my comments may not have been thought through very thoroughly, so I clarified my thoughts with Chris.  Below is our correspondence that I hope you find beneficial.

Chris,

It seems I got myself into a bit of a pickle in class last night by stating that “I admired that it seemed that significant differences could exist between Independent Christian Church congregations that in Church of Christ circles would lead to disfellowshipping each other, while the ICC seemed to be able to still call each other brethren while disagreeing.”

That was probably an overstatement on my part.  I expect Anchor would have a hard job working closely with a church that had women leading prayers, and the Lord’s Supper in a side room after the main worship service.  I’m also sure that some Bible Colleges are pegged as conservative and liberal and some churches wouldn’t sent their kids to particular ones.

However, I also sense that Christian Churches are more willing to say that some of those issues are “opinion” rather than “faith” and are reluctant to write them off as unfaithful congregations.  I also know that not all of the Christian Churches in and around my wife’s hometown of Kokomo, IN are a result of geography, so splits and disagreements occur.  But I also get the feeling that the NACC provides a unifying focus that all these churches can, and do, attend and worship together.  Whereas the CoC has several different lectureships and if you go to one you’d be out of place at another.  I understand all groups have a spectrum of views, it’s just a question of how solid the divisions on the spectrum are.

Our CoC congregational directory divides churches into several groups.  We also get a lot of newsletters come through the church office criticizing other congregations.  I get the feeling this spirit of criticism is more prevalent among CoCs.

I have now finished teaching that class, so we’re on to new topics, but any clarification you’re able to add would be appreciated.

Sincerely,

PETER

Dear Peter,

Your “pickle statement” is, to my knowledge, technically accurate.  I have never heard of one congregation disfellowshipping another congregation among the Christian churches.  However, I certainly know of churches that have done so tacitly. As you note, churches split.  Beaver Rd Church of Christ split three times before I got here.  And I’m sure the those churches had little to do with one another, at least for a cooling off period.  I do recall that we played softball against one another and it was a friendly game for the most part.  My home church was a less-than-amicable “plant” from a church down the road — there was a geographical component, not just hard feelings — but I heard very little about the existence of the “mother” congregation.  I think the leaders bore some ill will to the church from which they immigrated.  However, today (30 yrs later), they do quite a bit together.  All those old leaders are gone.

I’m not sure that your wondering about Anchor Christian Church having a tough time working closely with another Independent Christian Church that had markedly different perspectives on issues is actually the case.  The closest congregation like us is in Victor.  They have had women ministry leaders (in the past, at least) and sincerely believe there is no problem with that Scripturally.  While we were surprised that a faithful congregation could hold such a viewpoint, and while we discussed it among our elders and agreed that we disagreed with them, we did not cut them off at all.  We still work in the Camp together, and offered to help them financially when they were having a tough time of it, etc.  They are faithful in preaching the true NT gospel, and that’s what makes us one.

We might vehemently disagree on other things, but if that is the same, I guess we don’t feel like we have the luxury (or authorization from the Lord) to cut them off.  So your statement that Christian Churches are more willing to say that some of those issues are “opinion” rather than “faith” and are reluctant to write them off as unfaithful congregations is truly accurate and the operational strategy.

You’re probably giving the NACC too much credit.  It’s really an resource for inspiration and information, but I don’t know that people think of it as a force for unification.  Maybe the Bible colleges do that some, in that the preachers have a common, shared, kind of “boot camp” experience, even if they didn’t attend the same college.  They are all quite challenging and instill a sense of call and mission, and thus camaraderie.  But it really seems to me that the unity comes from the shared Gospel message (including the 5 steps of salvation, though not under that name, label, or even schema).  If we’re in agreement on the essentials, we are brothers and that’s it.  If God accepts someone, I must accept them, even thought I may not like what they think about other issues.  The issues of women’s roles, worship styles, even inerrancy have threatened unity on a wider scope than just intracongregational (where splits over issues do occur), but on an intercongregational range, those just don’t seem to occur very much.  What unites us is much stronger than what divides us somehow.  I know of no ICC paper or publication in my lifetime that has named another ICC person or congregation as one to be shunned.

God Bless,

Chris

Finally, let me add that my initial comments may better reflect the state of affairs between Churches of Christ in other parts of the country than here in Rochester, NY.  I have ministered with a church in Mississippi that has been completely disfellowshipped by another Church of Christ a couple of miles down the road.  (We also frequently receive newsletters to the church office criticising other preachers and churches.)  In contrast, it has been my observation in Rochester that in many cases even where new churches have begun as a result of a church split, there continues to be support for each other’s Gospel meetings, and we now have a regular city wide ministers meeting that is well attended.

Please join the conversation by leaving a comment.

• Read Exodus 3 here.
• If you missed my last couple of sermons from Exodus 3 (30 August & 6 Sept.) you can listen to them here and here.

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been hanging out in Exodus 3.  In this passage God reveals himself to Moses and also  gives Moses a mission that would consume the rest of his life.  Both of these points are important.  God’s promise in 3:12 that He will always be with Moses, only contains meaning when one understands who God is.  (A non-burning, burning bush is a good way to convince someone that being on the same side is a good thing.)

I think many people today encounter the same issues.  Lots of people believe in the existence of God.  Many people want a relationship with God.  But how many people really know God?  Through requiring Moses to remove his sandals, God begins by emphasising His holiness to Moses.  How many people would start with holiness when describing God?

I would usually start describing God as Creator, emphasising His power and majesty.  I would probably then move on to describing His patience with Israel and His love and grace revealed in the incarnation and crucifixion of Jesus.  If I wasn’t studying Exodus 3, I’m not sure when I would mention holiness as a vital character trait of God.

In my second sermon I compared the pattern found in Ex 3:7-12 of commission accompanied by reassurance of God’s presence, with Jesus final words in Matt. 28:18-20 which also contain commission and reassurance of Jesus/God’s ongoing presence.  However, this comparison makes me wonder how people compare the first part of the story.

The whole Gospel of Matthew reveals the identity of Jesus, so when he says “surely I am with you”, what does that mean to you?  What reassurance does Jesus’ promise provide as we carry out our mission to make disciples?  Which part of Jesus’ personality or aspect of his ministry makes his presence most comforting?

On a lighter note, it also reminds me of this scene from the movie Talladega Nights which I think has an important message about how we think of Jesus.

(I’m not recommending this movie as it’s certainly not rated PG, but this scene has been cleaned up and has a good message.)