JOY Fellowship Worship Service in Holland Hall: 9:00 a.m.
Worship Service in Main Sancutary: 10:30 a.m.
Worship service streams live at 10:30 a.m. EST (-500 GMT)
Welcome to our live-streamed Sunday Worship Services for September 17, 2023. Today we learn that understanding each other can be the basis for sharing and hearing of the Gospel.
JOY Fellowship Worship Service in Holland Hall: 9:00 a.m.
Worship Service in Main Sancutary: 10:30 a.m.
Worship service streams live at 10:30 a.m. EST (-500 GMT)
Welcome to our live-streamed Sunday Worship Services for September 10, 2023. Today we learn that the unstoppable power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ breaks down barriers, so that all might know the transformative love of God.
ALSO IN SCRIPTURE “But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong.” (Galatians 2:11, NLT)
When we think of God’s people, we tend to think one of two things. We might think of the Israelites who were God’s “chosen people”, or we might think of specific characters in the Bible. Either way, we tend to idealize the people we are thinking about. For instance, we may think that God’s people are super faithful, holy, perform miracles and live wholly devout and righteous lives. Unfortunately, this idealism enables us to distance ourselves from being God’s people, because we feel that we fall short of those ideals. As such, I have decided to write a devotion series on specific characters in the Bible in order to show you how much these Biblical people are truly like us, and how much we are truly called to be God’s people.
Part 248: Christians. The suggested Scripture above continues on with the account of the beginning of Gentile inclusion in the early church. While Luke didn’t have the time or space to fully recount the difficutlies in that debate of whether or not to include them, and the concessions that would need to be made to do so, it goes without saying that it was more difficult than the text lets on.
Peter’s reporting to the church leadership, of which he was a part, is a literary way of saying that eventually the church came on board, which is true; however, it would be more accurate to say that they did not come on board easily or right away. In fact, more than changed minds and hearts, circumstances are what led to the eventual acceptance of Gentile Christians.
The Apostle Paul’s own writings paint that picture all too clear. In Galatians 2, we learn that while Peter was eating with Gentiles when he was not in the presence of James, Jesus’ brother, and the other leaders, he kowtowed to them when they were around. According to Paul, he angrily scolded Peter and called him out publicly in Antioch. He basically called Peter a hypocrite and then argued the case that Gentiles should be included and that Peter was in the wrong. What’s more remarkable than what Paul wrote was what he did not write. Paul stated his case and then abruptly ends without sharing the conclusion to the big debate. The truth is that is probably indicative of the probability that the debate did NOT end there.
Peter and the rest of the Apostles, no doubt, continued to wrestle with this issue and Paul continued…FOR YEARS…to advocate for Gentile inclusion. In fact, his letter to the church in Rome shows us that his advocacy of Gentile inclusion led him to his eventual arrest, trip to Rome and, eventually, death.
This brings us to an important fact, the earliest church was distinctly Jewish and did not so easily want to blur the lines around that identity! The earliest Jesus followers were not known as “Christians”; rather, they were known as The Way. Make no mistake about it, they saw themselves as the The Jewish Way, meaning that they saw themselves as the fulfillment of Judaism as followers of the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
The term “Christian”, which means Christ Followers, was only later attributed to them by outsiders in Antioch. Like other great movements, such as Methodism, the Jesus followers did not choose their name; rather, it was given to them and it eventually stuck. These Christians would eventually go on include Gentiles, thanks largely to people like Paul, Luke, Timothy, Silas and probably Peter in the end; however, Christianity would eventually grow into a predominantly Gentile religion thanks the Great Jewish Revolt and the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple. Western Christianity’s center, from that point forward, slowly (or quickly in the grand scheme of things) moved from Jerusalem to Rome. Eastern Christianty moved to Syria, Egypt, India, and even as far east as China.
We should be challenged by these facts. We should, first and foremost, reflect on the fact that Christianity has never been a homogeneous group and that there was never that “old-time religion” where everyone agreed on everything in perfect harmony. That may be idyllic, but it certainly is not a realistic view of Christian history.
Whe should also be challenged by another fact: despite it’s bumpy history, Christians became known by outsiders as those who followed Christ and became like “little Christs”. In other words, despite human bickering and differences of opinion, God’s glory and self-revelation in Jesus Christ was still made known to the world through those Christians, which set Christianity on a historic and baffling rise to prominence and power. We can argue the pros and cons to such an assent, but there can be no doubt that Christians throughout the past two millennia have sough to share the Good News of Jesus Christ to a broken world still very much in need of Salvation. For that, we should all praise God and be thankful.
THOUGHT OF THE DAY Jesus. Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is. Jesus Christ is LORD.
PRAYER Jesus, you are our Lord, and I submit to you and your authority. Amen.
ALSO IN SCRIPTURE “Pride ends in humiliation, while humility brings honor.” (Proverbs 29:23, NLT)
When we think of God’s people, we tend to think one of two things. We might think of the Israelites who were God’s “chosen people”, or we might think of specific characters in the Bible. Either way, we tend to idealize the people we are thinking about. For instance, we may think that God’s people are super faithful, holy, perform miracles and live wholly devout and righteous lives. Unfortunately, this idealism enables us to distance ourselves from being God’s people, because we feel that we fall short of those ideals. As such, I have decided to write a devotion series on specific characters in the Bible in order to show you how much these Biblical people are truly like us, and how much we are truly called to be God’s people.
Part 201: Outsider. In the previous devotion, I cut the disciples some slack. After all, it was not necessarily their fault that they couldn’t cast out the evil spirit. What’s more, the disciples become such easy targets for criticism when it comes to how dense they can be. They seemingly never fully get what Jesus is teaching them. This is at least the case in the Gospel of Mark. The disciples never quite understand who Jesus is let alone what he’s teaching.
In this devotion, however, they will not be cut slack at all. In our Scripture today, the disciples come up to Jesus in a very boastful manner. They are proud of what they just did and they cannot wait to tell the Lord. John, who is the one who tells Jesus the news of their latest action, seems certain that the Master will be pleased with him and the others for what they had done.
“Teacher,” he said, “we saw someone using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he wasn’t in our group” (Mark 9:38, NLT). That’s right, John and the other disciples saw to it to stop someone from casting out demons in Christ’s name because that person was not a part of their group. In other words, the disciples believed that they were special because Jesus had chosen them and, therefore, NO ONE ELSE outside their group had the right to do ministry in Jesus’ name. They saw their discipleship as a popularity contest, as an exclusive social club, as a way to have status over others.
As can be easily imagined without even reading the rest of the account, Jesus is not happy with them at all. This is what I call a Jesus face palm moment. Jesus had been spending so much time with his disciples, teaching them that he had come to the “least of these”, to the poor, the sick, the marginalized and the lost. He had come for the sake of the OUTSIDERS and yet, in their own minds, the disciples thought that excluding an outsider was the right thing to do.
DENSE. The disciples were dense to say the least. Jesus, of course, scolded them. “Don’t stop him! No one who performs a miracle in my name will soon be able to speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us” (Mark 9:39-40, NLT). Jesus’ words, no doubt, must have knocked the disciples down from their proverbial high horses. Their action, according to Jesus, was not to be praised but to be denounced.
The Lord’s message to them is the same message to us now. Church congregations have largely become exclusive social clubs. Sure, we technically let outsiders; however, we don’t stop reminding them that they’re outsiders. Our orders of worship, our meeting structures, and even the way we greet them on Sundays are all reminders that they don’t quite belong.
The challenge for us is to change that exclusive social club culture we have in our congregations. Jesus was not pleased with his disciples when they quelled the spirit within the outsider, and he is not pleased when we do the same thing. Let us find ways of being as inclusive as we can be. Short of professing a false Christ, we should allow room for people to express Christ in their lives and give them a warm, inviting, and encouraging space to do so.
THOUGHT OF THE DAY
“But if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even find yourselves fighting against God!” – Gamaliel (Acts 5:39, NLT)
PRAYER
Lord, help me to be open and welcoming to other people’s expression of you in their lives. Amen.
Part 201: Outsider. In the previous devotion, I cut the disciples some slack. After all, it was not necessarily their fault that they couldn’t cast out the evil spirit. What’s more, the disciples become such easy targets for criticism when it comes to how dense they can be. They seemingly never fully get what Jesus is teaching them. This is at least the case in the Gospel of Mark. The disciples never quite understand who Jesus is let alone what he’s teaching.