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theology
Most people feel that God is angry and judgmental in the Old Testament but full of love and forgiveness in the New Testament. And they struggle to read the Old Testament as a result. But Jesus constantly quoted from it and Paul said that “all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Are we reading the Old Testament the way they did? I think that there are at least three things that can help us reconcile the depictions of God in the Old and New Testaments.
Over time, it’s easy for historical figures to be seen as caricatures. We’re not so concerned with the details of their lives so much as what we think they stood for. As a result, we can treat them as mascots for our cause, rather than hearing them on their own terms. That seems to have happened with Jesus in a number of different ways. Some people believe in Jesus, the moral teacher. Others esteem Jesus as a prophet. Some see Jesus as a champion of social justice. And still others see Him as an ally for conservative politics. What Jesus do you believe in? And more importantly, who do the Scriptures reveal Him to be?
We create sayings to remind ourselves about things we recognize as important:
“Keep the main thing, the main thing”
“First things first”
“Don’t sweat the small stuff”
Each of these slogans helps us remember the importance of prioritizing our priorities. And they highlight the reality that often other things distract us from what we believe should be central.
The church is not immune to this. I’ve seen Christians become obsessed with ‘biblical’ diets, numerology, church growth, the end times, particular forms of worship, home-schooling, social justice, speaking in tongues, and not speaking in tongues. In each case, a secondary issue became an all-consuming issue. In some cases, a good thing became a bad thing because it replaced the best thing. At times, I despaired that Christians seemed to get excited about almost anything other than the gospel!
Today, there is a trend to make the gospel a priority. But like all trends, this one will likely pass. When it does, we will still have God’s appointed means for keeping the gospel front and centre in our lives: The Lord’s Supper. Let me explain three ways that the Lord’s Supper can help us remember to keep our focus on the gospel.
Over time, things that initially shock us don’t anymore. I think something similar happens with the strangeness of baptism. It’s weird, right? If I asked you about your first day at work or your first time at a photography class and you said that they gathered everybody around to see all the new people dunked in a pool or a lake before they got started, I’d be pretty surprised. That would seem like a really strange company or club to me! So why have churches been doing that for the last 2,000 years? Let me give four reasons.
Last time, we considered the practice of infant baptism. And we said that since baptism in the New Testament is an expression of a believer’s faith in Jesus and a powerful reminder of vital truths about what happened when they trusted Him, it’s inappropriate and misleading to baptize someone who hasn’t yet put their faith in Jesus for salvation. But the question remains about what to do when a person does come to believe. Should a person who was baptized as an infant be baptized again when they understand and respond to the gospel?
There are so many things that churches of different backgrounds agree on. But baptism is one of the areas where there’s disagreement and the average person is often left confused. To say that churches disagree on baptism is an overstatement. Even churches with historic disagreement largely agree on the symbolism and meaning of baptism. You could quote many sections of the Roman Catholic Catechism on baptism and think that you were reading a baptist discipleship text. And the same could be said for the baptismal teaching of other denominations. There’s a lot of agreement. But one significant disagreement is with the baptism of infants. Some church denominations do it. Others don’t. Let me try to explain why.
Some people live in denial about death. They just don’t want to think about it. Others have decided that it’s impossible to know and so they’re just going to wait until it happens. Those who care about what the Bible teaches, look to the Scriptures but can often be confused. This week, a person asked me to reconcile the verses that speak of death as “sleep” with those that describe other things going on after death. What really happens when die? And did Jesus teach that we just go to sleep?
There are as many views of what the church is today as there are people. For some, the church is a historical building. For others, it’s a place the community gathers for weddings, funerals and potlucks. For others, it’s a hub of volunteer activity. Some people see it as a religious service provider where they can get their spiritual boost for the week – a little bit like a movie theatre highlighting Christians topics. But how did Jesus think about the church? You may be surprised to learn that the word, “church,” only appears three times in the gospels. But what it teaches about Jesus’ vision for the church is profound and is at odds with how we typically understand it.
One of Paul’s favourite metaphors for the church was the body of Christ. And it’s an image that’s attractive to many Christians today. It helps us remember that we’re part of something bigger. It helps us to see ourselves as the hands and feet of Jesus in our world. It helps us to understand our diversity while celebrating our unity. What’s intriguing to me is that people can enjoy the idea of being a member of the body of Christ without ever seeing the implications for becoming a member of a local church. So, I want to pose the question, “Can you be a member of the body of Christ without being a member of a local church?”
Most Christians leave the gospel at the door of the Christian life. They see the good news about Jesus as the key to getting into the Christian life, but then struggle to see how the gospel is also the engine that drives the Christian life. As a result, they end up running on fumes and living the Christian life like a non-Christian.
