What's the Big Deal?

Colossians 2:9

November 7th Devotional

      On this day in 680, 43 bishops convened in the imperial palace of Constantinople to debate a religious doctrine that was rapidly spreading.  This meeting would later become known as the Third Council of Constantinople.  This was the smallest gathering out of the major councils that helped determine the basis for Orthodoxy in Christianity.  The church was fragile in the mid 600’s and was seeking identity.  The religion of Islam was rapidly growing and becoming a genuine threat.  Many areas that were previously ‘Christian’ quickly fell under the flag of Islam.  The church as a whole was splintered as there was tremendous tension between the “western” church and the “eastern” church due to theological disagreements.  The church felt pressure to be united but in their attempt, they were willing to forsake Bible doctrine.  These compromises were a menace that caused the church to be divided and weak.  Emperor Constantine IV oversaw the meeting with hopes of settling some of the major differences that were rising.  This ten-month debate revolved around two new doctrines that were being propagated, monoenergism and monothelitism.  These complicated words mean that while the churches had agreed that Christ had two natures, the human and the divine (the God-Man), there was a question of Christ’s ‘energy’ and His will.  Did Christ have one will or two wills?  Was His will merely divine or was it like His nature, both divine and human?  This might not seem like a huge issue in our time but the church had five previous councils that each debated Christ’s relation to God the Father and the balance of His humanity and deity.   These previous councils were built on great scenes of passion and discussion.  Heretics abounded and it was of the utmost importance to have the right doctrinal teaching.  There could not be a tolerance for any ‘false teaching.’  After eighteen sessions the bishops concluded that Christ had two wills, both in perfect unity and accord, a human one and a divine one, though the human will was subject to the divine will.  The argument was basically if Christ has two natures, human and divine, then He must also have two ‘wills’ or else that would deprive Him of His full humanity.

      One might ask, why was this council of such value?  The value was to solidify our Christological doctrines.  We must teach correctly on who Jesus is.  The Bible unquestionably teaches that Jesus is both 100% God and 100% man.  In Colossians, we read that “For in him (Jesus) the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily (Colossians 2:9).  The deity of Christ matters.  If He was merely a man, a good teacher, a prophet, etc then He was also a liar when He told the people in John’s Gospel account “Before Abraham was, I AM (John 8:58).  Christ also could not just be just a man because that would destroy the understanding of His incarnation.  John 1:14 says that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14).  Jesus, being 100% God, took on flesh (100% man).  We cannot divorce those Biblical truths.  Christ undeniably affirms His deity and humanity over and over in Scripture.  We need to rejoice in our spiritual fathers who bravely stood firm on Bible truth, even when it would have been alluring to compromise.  We need to rejoice in their efforts to study the Word.  May our hearts take peace in settled theology.  May our hearts also be convicted to spend quality time in God’s Word to behold the truths before our very eyes.

Preparing for the Coming Days: April 30th Devotional

      

Preparing for the Coming Days

2nd Timothy 3:12

April 30th Devotional

      On this day in 311 Roman Emperor Galerius signed the Edict of Serdica (also known as the Edict of Toleration).  This edict granted liberty to Christianity for the first time and recognized the faith as a legitimate religion in Rome.  This edict was revolutionary regarding how Rome viewed the Church.  Before this, the church was severely persecuted.  Amazingly the church continued to grow despite the harsh treatment that it received.  One church father named Tertullian said that the blood of the martyr is the seed of the church’s growth.  But why was Rome so insistent on causing Christianity pain?  Rome was considered extremely accepting of other religions and they tolerated Christianity as long as it was regarded as a sect of Judaism.  Judaism enjoyed a position of religio licita (a legal religion in Rome) but as the church developed it became glaringly apparent that Christianity was distinct from Judaism.  Christianity would not embrace Rome’s full authority, they did not have many external practices of worship, and would not tolerate the sinful ways of Rome.  The height of oppression was felt under Roman Emperor named Diocletian. Diocletian reigned from 286 to 305 AD. In the year 303 on the feast of Terminalia, Diocletian put forth an edict demanding that churches be burned, Scriptures be burned, confiscation of church and Christian property, arrest, removal of office for Christians in authority, loss of legal rights, and even death. Four edicts would precede from Diocletian, the final one demanding that if a person did not offer sacrifice to the pagan gods then that Christian could be persecuted. The persecution swept through the land for nearly ten years. The suffering did not diminish the church but strengthened it. Rome noticed that their edicts failed to eradicate Christians and the new edict was meant to be a form of compromise. The edict still was harsh in its wording talking; it called Christianity foolish and abandoning reason. Here is an incredible quote from the edict about how the Christians responded to suffering "And yet since most of them persevered in their determination." They persevered.  They were determined that even in the face of loss and suffering they would not abandon their faith.

      The Scriptures tell us that we can expect to suffer persecution (2nd Timothy 3:12).  Most Christians in the West haven’t suffered much, if at all for our faith. Our brothers and sisters around the world languish in daily persecution and yet their faith remains strong.  American Christianity has become comfortable and tragically complacent.  A lack of drastic opposition has lulled us to sleep and inactivity.  The church as a whole is more bothered about politics than people.  We clamor over candidates instead of souls.  The world is literally on a wide road to hell and yet we are like Jonah at the bottom of the ship slumbering.  We need a shipmaster to cry unto us “What meanest thou O’ sleeper?”  Christ tells His church not to be afraid of what they will suffer (Rev. 2:10) because He is with them. The reality is that persecution will grow against the faith in the coming days and years.  God will not allow His church to slumber in a state of laziness because that does not prepare us for the coming days.  It is best NOW to live out your faith while persecution is minimal and it is best now to prepare yourself for coming oppression against your faith by getting into the Word of God, getting into prayer, and getting the Word out to a world that is lost in the darkness. Don't allow the liberty of faith to cause you to be lazy.  Let the world view us like Rome viewed early Christianity, “they persevered in their determination.”

Head of the Church: October 9th Devotional

  Head of the Church

October 9th Devotional

Colossians 1:18

      On this day in 1635, Pastor Roger Williams was banished from the Massachusetts Colony because of his ‘extreme Christian’ and separatist views.  The late 1500s and early 1600s were politically charged times in the colonies.  The Protestant Reformation was only slightly over 100 years earlier and England’s break from Catholicism even less time.  Christianity was in a moment of major flux.  While the Church of England proudly boasted its freedom from the Roman Catholic Church it still had many vestiges of Catholicism.  A group of people called the Separatists, better known as Puritans, felt a need to purify the church from what they called the rags of popery.  This particular group stood against the existence of a state-run church and felt that a church should have no authority over it except for the Bible and God.  This early group of Separatists were punished heavily for their opposition.  They would be jailed for failure to attend state-run church services, have their possessions removed, and some of them severely beaten.  One such Separatist was named Roger Williams.  Williams was born in the early 1600s.  The persecution against those that were Puritans in England was harsh.  Many were beaten and some were even burned at the stake. Williams fled to Massachusetts to find religious freedom.  He arrived in 1630, a mere ten years after the landing of the Mayflower.  Within those ten years, the Church of England dug its heel into the young colony and began to punish anyone who stood against the state church.  They claimed that the church’s independence was a doctrine of Satan.  Williams started to pastor in Boston but had to flee because of his views on the autonomy of the local church, along with his sympathy for the Native Americans.  He would then travel to Salem to pastor.  The congregation as a whole loved him but the magistrates did not.  They forced him to leave the colony under the penalty of death.  He left in the bitter winter.  He traversed 55 miles through the frigid and unforgiving terrain during a blizzard.  A group of Native Americans gave him aid and he legally purchased land from them.  It was on this site that Providence Rhode Island would be formed.  This land became a place for everyone fleeing religious persecution and seeking religious freedom.  This site would also be where the first established Baptist Church in America was formed.

      Williams's view 400 years ago was considered heretical.  It was extremely dangerous to question the state’s authority over the local church.  But, if the state isn’t the authority of the church, then who or what is?  The Bible doesn’t hesitate to tell us who is the authority of the local church.  Paul writes in Colossians 1:18, “He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.”  Paul uses the metaphor of the head to describe Christ’s position in the local church.  The head, or brain, controls the rest of the body.  What the brain does, the body responds in obedience.  If the body does not respond to the brain's requests then there is a serious medical issue.  Christ is the head of the church which means He is the leader of the church.  He controls every part of the church.  He provides it with life and direction.  Most of you reading this wouldn’t argue with the theological truth of Christ’s headship over the church.  The issue isn’t doctrinal, it’s application.  Does Christ have absolute authority in our local church?  Do we allow Him to lead and guide the church?  Does our church look more like a New Testament Church or a business model/pyramid scheme?  How do we place Christ as the head of the local Church?  It isn’t something a pastor or a counsel does, it’s something that individual believers do.  A church cannot have Christ in His preeminent position as leader unless He is first leader of each of our lives.  He must be the Lord of our hearts and homes before He is the Lord of our churches.  Honestly, do you allow Christ to lead your life and the life of your local church?

 

A Friend Brought to Jesus: August 28th Devotional

   A Friend Brought to Jesus

August 28th Devotional

Mark 2:1-5   

      On this day in 430 AD, Augustine of Hippo passed away.  Augustine was born in North Africa (modern-day Algeria).  His mother, Monica, was a devout believer but his father was a staunch pagan.  Needless to say, this caused a tremendous strain on Augustine’s developmental years.  Augustine was an ardent student.  He mastered anything he studied.  He traveled to Carthage to be educated and there his professors declared him to be of the utmost academic brilliance.  He would later go on to teach Rhetoric and would be rewarded with a chance to teach it at a premier university in Milan.  He was considered to be the best Latin and Rhetoric professor of his time.  It was while he was teaching in Milan that he encountered a man named Ambrose.  In many ways Ambrose was the polar opposite of Augustine.  Ambrose was serving as the Bishop of Milan and is considered to be one of the most important early church fathers.  He adamantly stood against heretical teaching all while loving sharing the Gospel with everyone.  Augustine was an intellectual leader but was battling many inner demons.  Augustine was also a follower of a religion known as Manichaeism, which was an ancient cult at that time.  Augustine would later write in his confessions how vital his friendship with Ambrose was.  Ambrose would challenge Augustine to seek out Christ.  Finally, at the age of 33, Augustine surrendered to Jesus for salvation.  Augustine and his son were also baptized by Ambrose.  Shortly after he entered school to study the Scriptures and would later become the Bishop of Hippo.  It is estimated that he preached nearly 10,000 sermons while serving in Hippo.  Augustine felt that the primary goal of each sermon should be to ensure the salvation of those that listened.  He worked tirelessly for decades to win the people of Hippo.  As a student of the Scripture, he pushed for the teaching of original sin and that man is inherently unable to save himself.

In his confessions, Augustine would write of Ambrose “To him was I unknowing led by Thee, that by him I might knowingly be led to Thee. That man of God received me as a father, and showed me an Episcopal kindness on my coming.”  Ambrose understood the huge importance that each believer has, to bring their friends to Christ as Savior.  This reminds me of a story in Mark chapter 2.  Jesus was teaching in Capernaum and the house was filled to capacity.  There was no room for anyone to enter.  A group of four friends brought their paralyzed friend to meet Jesus.  The crowd would not allow them to enter, but that did not discourage them.  They climbed to the roof, removed the roof tiles away, and lowered the man down before the feet of Jesus.  When Jesus saw this He said “And Jesus, seeing THEIR FAITH said to the paralytic, Son, your sin are forgiven (Mark 2:5).”  These men were determined to get their friend to Jesus Christ.  We should be equally burdened to get our friends to Jesus.  A pastor one time said that a friend brings their friends to meet their best friend named Jesus!  I couldn’t agree more!  We need to build relationships that lead to redemption.  We need to cultivate purposeful, intentional relationships with unsaved people that will positively influence them to come to Christ.  What Augustine is in our life?  Who works on the other side of the cubicle?  Who lives on the other side of the white picket fence?  What parent at your kid’s school needs you to come alongside them?  Pray that God would give you people to bring to Jesus.