Archive for category bible
Trying to Reconcile
Posted by thelokey in bible, commentary, hot topic on September 16th, 2007
This is a totally different subject than what I planned on writing about so this will be a little short. Keep in mind that my goal is not to offend, but rather to inspire thought.
Have you fulfilled the Great Commission in your own life? Now I know that some who read this may be ordained ministers so the answer could be “yes”. I myself am an unordained minister (long story) and I can say with no hesitation that my answer to that question is “no, I haven’t”.
To make sure we’re all the same page (literally), here’s the exact passage. Matthew 28:19-20 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Here’s my problem that I’m trying to reconcile, Can I fulfill the Great Commission within the average Baptist church? My short answer is “no, I cannot”, and here’s why. I’m not ordained as a minister.
I’ve had the privilege of leading people to Christ, yes. I’ve taught Bible Studies, Sunday schools, and have probably preached to close to 1000 people, but I’ve NEVER baptized anyone. The sadness of that is, I never will baptize anyone if I a) remain unordained or b) remain in an average baptist church.
But I’m not alone. To my female readers I ask, “Can you ever fulfill the Great Commission in an average Baptist church?” The answer is “no, you cannot”, and here’s why. You can NEVER be ordained as a minister. Interesting. Let’s look at Jesus’ ministry. Mary and Martha, Mary Magdalene, all women involved in Jesus’ ministry. They were welcomed in his ministry. Fast forward to the early church and you will find many women that were instrumental in spreading the Gospel (lookup Priscilla and Phoebe). Phoebe is referred to in Romans 1:16 as a “servant” of the church. The interesting thing about the word “servant” is in the original language (Greek) it’s the word “diakonos” which when referring to a male is mostly translated “deacon”. Very interesting.
So what do you think? How do we reconcile a command from Jesus Himself with a culture that makes it almost impossible. Keep in mind that I’m arguing the fulfillment of the Great Commission within the context of the average Baptist church. I know that not all Baptist churches are the same and I also know that there is no mandate that the fulfillment of the Great Commission MUST be in a local church.
Every Now and Then
Posted by thelokey in bible, commentary on October 20th, 2006
Every now and then I get the urge to write a little commentary on a particular subject. It’s nothing spectacular, but it helps my understand my own faith a little better. Here goes…
To know the love of Christ is to know Christ. Not just the person, but also the heart behind the person. How does one come to understand this love, which surpasses all understanding (Eph. 3:18)?
First you must know that you will never comprehend the love of Christ. It is the goal of the Christian life that can always be strived for but never attained. The depth of the love of Christ is what keeps Christians always searching for more of God. And the more God that is in your life, the less there will be of yourself, which is God’s goal. God’s dream is to fill you with His Holy Spirit so that you may be holy as He is Holy. Many times in the Old and New Testaments God gives us that command. In the Old Testament the example was the Holy sacrifices of the unblemished animals. But those animals lacked something…love. The animals didn’t love the person that was sacrificing them. They couldn’t comprehend any kind of love. Then in the New Testament Jesus became the sacrifice and He did not lack love at all. He was love incarnate.
Secondly, you must know why you love God. You can easily do this by listing out the attributes of God and then pick the ones that you like the best. Don’t just focus on those attributes alone, but use them as a starting point to find out why it is you love God. In I John 3:16, John says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us…” The passage goes on to ask how can a person see a brother in need and not have pity on him? If he does this the love of God is not in him. If nothing else, we can love God simply because He sent His only Son to die for us. Start there if you have to.
Finally, know that the only love you can possibly have comes directly from God. Your understanding of the love of Christ is in direct proportion to your acceptance of His love for you. If you ever find yourself not loving a person, yourself or God take a look at how much love you are accepting from God. All love comes from God, and any person that denies that doesn’t have true love in them. In the Bible it says that God is love. The word “is” usually implies a definition. It can be equated with the word “equals”. God equals love. Therefore if God is the definition of love, no love comes from any other source but God himself. The love one person has for another is the love of God being distributed though those people.
A Well-intentioned Traitor, Just Like Me
Posted by thelokey in bible, commentary, personal on January 25th, 2008
I just finished the book “Jesus: A Novel” by Paul Wangerin. It is, you guessed it, the Gospels in the form of a novel. Since it is a work of fiction, some things were added to the story to deepen the character development, but all in good taste.
My favorite character in the book turned out to be Judas Iscariot. Weird, right? The author puts a great spin on his character, making him a young idealist that longed to see Israel restored to its former glory. Throughout the book we see Judas as a man drawn to power and the idea of change. He is always well-intentioned. So through the whole book I’m waiting for some moment or encounter to “turn him to the dark side”. There’s a few times Jesus rebukes him for one reason or another, but the problem is Judas thinks too much and thinks this peace loving, peace making Jesus is just a front. By the time their final Passover comes, Judas is anxious to see Jesus’ power unleashed on the Jewish leadership. When Jesus clears the temple, Judas is ecstatic!
But then Jesus starts talking about how he’s going to die at their hands and the hands of the Romans. This doesn’t make sense to Judas. So he takes matters into his own hands. His thinking was that if Jesus was put in a “fight or die” situation, his Master would certainly fight, wouldn’t He?
How many times have we thought, “God, if only you would just come down and destroy our enemies…then EVERYONE would know you are God and believe in You.” But God never does.
I find a lot of myself in this Judas. Wishing that God would just swoop down with an army of angels and overthrow all the injustice in the world. Wishing that sin wouldn’t go unpunished any longer. But the truth is, if sin was always met with justice…there would be no one left. I would be disqualified.
As hard as it was for the disciples at the time, Christ HAD to die! There was no other way. It didn’t matter how much they wanted to stay with Him, where He was going, they could not follow. I found myself reading this story, hoping that there would be a surprise twist at the end and Jesus wouldn’t die. I was right…and wrong.
There was a twist. It turns out that the Man claiming to be the Son of the Living God was telling the truth all along. Who would’ve thought…God in the form of man…dying. The problem with Him dying is that He IS life, so death can’t keep its grip on Him. He defeated death and is now sitting at the right hand of the Father, living, breathing, blinking; His blood still flowing through His veins and arteries. I can’t explain it, I just know it’s true because His Spirit still lives in me…a well-intentioned traitor.
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