Yesterday’s sermon was not on this text but one that follows: when Christ appeared to the disciples who were hidden in a room. for they were afraid of the people. One had died on a cross, Christ, and one had died by his own hand Judas Iscariot (there were two Judases or Judahs in the thirteen, and Thomas was out doing something else.
Now, one of the academics from the school of ministry was preaching, and he talked about the fear in the modern congregation, as the Presbyterian church continues to shrink, and how we are not prepared to speak or act. He speculated as to if the Pentecostal renewal in his generation died because we did not look at what it was given for: so we could be sent as Christ was sent, to forgive sins and to heal as Christ did.
But instead we sit in small rooms, huddled together, counting out gifts as if they are merit badges, and we are afraid to speak boldly and act gently. This should not be.
It is as if we see the city, but not the land that sustains it. We see those in power and tremble, forgetting that their authority is based on the collective acceptance of lies, and we forget that we have an intercessor who has prayed for us. For he has claimed us, and prays that we will be sustained, and that we will be for him, and no other.
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.
(John 17:1-11 ESV)
The world divides us into factions. We are put into boxes by the race or people we are born into, the genitalia we have, the people we sleep with, and the degree of hatred we have to our gender. All things are collective: the individual does not count, and has no dignity. The end matters more than the ends, and the sense of brotherly charity that allows society to exist has to be abraded to ensure the elite have the voting blocks that ensure power remains in their hands.
Anti Hillary Clinton street art in Brooklyn http:// http://t.co/mQkuRoBnVC #tcot #tlot #tgdn pic.twitter.com/MgO1ZW8Hni
— ???(•_•) (@exposeliberals) April 12, 2015
And this sort of happens within the church. In NZ, we have (in my mind, foolishly) let the Maori believers, the believers from the Samoans, Tongans, Rarotongans Nauru Islanders and Tokelau Islanders, the Korean, Chinese and Indians to have their ethnic churches. We need to learn from the Pentecostals, which say we are all united by the holy Spirit and worship together. For we are not to be divided, as of we are pieces on a chessboard to be moved, but to be one.
1924: A human game of chess, St Petersburg, Russia. pic.twitter.com/neF5gE3GDR
— ClassicPics (@History_Pics) February 26, 2015
Now, this unity has difficulties. I’m quite aware that the Roman and Orthodox see the Reformed as having grievous errors and we return the favour. There are disagreements between us. The development of tolerance related to these things: the separation of the state from the church (at the end of the wars of religion) meant that Catholics and Protestants (and then, Jews) could be loyal subjects to the French and English Crown or the Holy Roman Empire. The old rule of Cuis regio, cuis religio was broken, and with good reason: if the Turk had converted petty princes the believers would have been forced to convert.
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— Conservative Chick (@NaughtyBeyotch) April 12, 2015
[Oh, I forgot. The Muslims still work that way, and so do the liberals. If they take over, you are forced to convert: this is why the Orthodox continue to add neomartyrs to their list of saints]
What we need to remember is that it is not us that will make us one, but Christ. It is not us who will preserve the church and keep it to the last day, but Christ. What we need to observe, and I see all so frequently, is that as the people of Christ come under pressure the Prod is defending the Papist and both are backing the Orthodox, for we have to work together.
For we may be preaching truth in a broken and fallen fashion, but there is still truth there. We may have difficulties understanding the gospel, but we write and post and preach the words of Christ. And that is why we are hated. And the hatred of the world has made us allies with each other, and that leads to us being one.
I thnk we wll ncreasngly become one n the short term just to survve but when the real tests come along many wll fall away and t wll revert to those relatve few wth fath to endure.
I currently attend a Presbyteran church and am amazed at the lack of theologcal knowledge among the supposed elders and leaders. In my vew these are dangerous people that can lead many astray. The Presby church has great doctrnal statements of fath yet many seem to have no knowledge of these and wll look at every new dea and “sm” that comes along. The preachng s often flmsy and there was even a statement recently that the subject was hard and the preacher struggled wth t – the lack of effort was obvous. If that was the case why not ask someone who has more experence – they are out there, or look up Spurgeon and hs lk. There seems ncreasngly to be no real understandng of the power of God and the fact of the vctory of the death, resurrecton and ascenson of Chrst. Where s the Gospel message?
There seems to be a consstency n revvals and that s the realsaton of that great queston when confronted by sn – “What must I do to be saved?”
A good frend, a retred Anglcan mnster, blames the charsmatc movement for the declne from the 1950’s and 60’s where some real growth was appearng. The “experence” type servce came along and many flocked to t. It was a shadow of realty and my frend beleves t was Satan posng as lght that was behnd t. The musc, the drummng – always n the background, untl we gve n a pretend to be saved whle lookng forward to another fx next week. No room for quet contemplaton of our condton and the securty of the ndwellng Holy Sprt.
Its a bt depressng on the surface but there’s always somethng great gong on somewhere – usually where ts darkest. Maybe we are just not at that pont yet?
Pastor Mke s gong to start preachng through the book of Acts… wll be very relevant. I look forward to t!
Very topcal at ths tme, Acts s.
[…] I currently attend a Presbyteran church and am amazed at the lack of theologcal knowledge among the supposed elders and leaders. In my vew these are dangerous people that can lead many astray. The Presby church has great doctrnal statements of fath yet many seem to have no knowledge of these and wll look at every new dea and “sm” that comes along. The preachng s often flmsy and there was even a statement recently that the subject was hard and the preacher struggled wth t – the lack of effort was obvous. If that was the case why not ask someone who has more experence – they are out there, or look up Spurgeon and hs lk. There seems ncreasngly to be no real understandng of the power of God and the fact of the vctory of the death, resurrecton and ascenson of Chrst. Where s the Gospel message? […]