One Church

Let me set the scene for you. Jesus enters Jerusalem. It is a celebration. The people are ecstatic. He has a smile on his face as he rolls in on his fat donkey and there are thousands of people lining the streets praising him. His disciples right behind him. Everyone supports his teachings. They can’t get enough. Everyone there is ONE.

The party continues into the night. Jesus speaks an encouraging message of hope and forgivness. His yoke is easy. What he teaches everyone can follow. He comes to the world with one goal in mind. . .

The evening ends, Jesus retires to his sleeping place. Takes off his dusty sandals, washes his face, and goes to the roof under the stars. He knows that within the next few days Judas will betray him and he will be spat at by the very people who welcomed him so warmly that night. He gets on his knees and prays. He prays for his disciples and the work they will do after he is gone, and then. . . get this. . . he prays for us. Check this out:

“I ask not only on behalf of these [believers], but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be ONE, as You, Father, are in me and I in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory you have given me I have given them, so that they may be ONE, as we are ONE. I in them and you in me, that they may become completely ONE. So that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

Read that a few times.

Does it break your heart?

You see, I get a sick feeling in my stomach when I read that. What have we become? Are we ONE?

I don’t think so.

Jesus’ dieing wish for Christians was for us to be one. He did not say anywhere ‘Lord may the Church of Christ be one and the Baptist be one and the Assemblies of God be one and the . . . be one.

So many people wish to make church like the New Testament church. Ok lets start at ground zero. Where in the bible does it mention any form of denomination? Nowhere.

Lets check out some church history. Ok it looks to me like Jesus in Matthew 16 tells Peter v. 18 “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church.” After Jesus’ death, Peter heads to Rome to preach to the Jews right? AD 45 he builds the first Catholic church with himself as the first “Pope” or father. Something like 266 Popes have succeeded him to this day. There is your first example of a “denomination.” The Roman Catholic church. Did you know that?

Then in AD 1054 there is the huge break off the Catholic Church. And that is where we come in. Denominations start to break off everywhere and now almost a thousand years later, here we are in America with over 2,000 different Christian denominations. Does that sound like the ONE that Jesus wanted us to be? Now this could be true if we (the 2,000 denominations) were all together and believing the same things and not fighting about stuff but sorry to point it out, as you already know, that doesn’t quite describe us today.

Here’s what I’m thinking. . . I have grown up my whole life in the Church of Christ. Essentially a late break-off of the Catholic Church and I have also grown up believing that the Church of Christ is right. It’s funny to me that you can grow up strongly believing in something without ever really figuring it out on your own. I almost thought there for a minute that the Church of Christ had been around since Jesus. I mean there is all this talk about the Church of Christ wanting to be the “New Testament” Church. . . hello! Wouldn’t that be Peter’s Church. . . The Catholic one?

Again this blog is meant to be food for thought. And there is more to come on this post and I want to make it clear that I have no intentions of becoming Catholic. I don’t think any “denomination” today has the unity that Jesus prayed for or there wouldn’t be denominations. I mean look at the start, Peter starts a Church and tells the people what Jesus said in Matthew 16 and automatically they think their church is the “right” one. And that is where we fall into the trap of Satan. He wants to divide us. And I’d say he has done a pretty good job of it right from the start.

Again there will be more of this but I’m tired and would like some sleep. Goodnight.

Think about it. What would it take for us to reunite the Body Of Christ? What is it gonna take for us to be the ONE church Jesus wants us to be? The answer may be found in my previous post about loving one another no matter what. Hint, hint.

God Spoke to Me Today

This is my first blog and what a blog it is. I had an experience I have only felt once before in my life but this one hit much harder than the last. Have you ever felt like God looks you in the eye and tells you something you really need to hear, straight from His mouth? I mean goosebump chilling, stomach dropping, God speaking to you. Well, that happened to me today.

I went golfing at Hefner Golf Course today. It started off as just another day of going and practicing the game I love to play (I’ll admit the only reason I went today is because I really want to beat my dad when we go play golf in Hawaii this summer, sounds horrible huh?). But God had different plans. I started off by hitting a few bad shots but I found a groove there and played alright. But the golfing itself was not where I learned a valuable lesson. I played with a guy named Terry. He owns a construction business and is a blessed man, and he will tell you that. We rode in the cart together and got to know each other. You know the small talk, hi how are you? What do you do? Etc. We were talking and around the 8^th hole we started to talk about church a little. We talked about different worship styles and what we prefer. Then we moved on to just talking about people. I told him that I am a Worship Ministry Major at ACU and he thought that was cool. But then things got really interesting.

You ever feel like one of the Pharisees of Jesus’ time? And I don’t mean the scholarly men that they were but I mean the bad guys. I mean the hypocritical, judgmental, hateful Pharisees. That’s exactly who I felt I was being today. It’s the 9^th hole and I am in the cart with Terry and I shared with him my disappointment of kids my age who have no passion to dig into scripture. I said, “You know Terry, I feel like the kids today have no desire to understand scripture. They just feel that they can just have a relationship with God, and go to church and hear scripture from the pulpit guy and that will be enough for them.”

Terry stopped me dead in my tracks. He mentioned that he had goose bumps and he was about to share something with me. This is when I felt like God just spoke straight through Terry to teach me a lesson. Terry said, “Wade, you are forgetting one of the most important aspects of being a Christian. And that is to LOVE (I nod my head) No stop nodding your head Wade you’re just a kid and I’m trying to share something with you.” He looked me dead in the eye and told me something I will never forget. “Wade, it’s so easy to get caught up into looking at others and finding the bad in them. God LOVES those kids and by you saying that you are saying you hate something He loves.” Let me just say I was shocked at this point. Terry never lost eye contact and I literally felt like God was calling me out on something that I really need to work on. He continued, “We need to always find the good in people and lift it up. Look at Jesus he found the good in everyone. If we can’t LOVE one another and lift each other up, we can’t be good Christians.” He continued on even more but I can’t remember the exact things we talked about. (and on a side note, Terry knew very well what he was talking about. He wasn’t just blabbering on about love he knew exact scriptures, I mean to the book, chapter, verse that pointed out lots of things. The man knew scripture--better than I.)

I got such a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. That feeling that I had been failing God for so long. I so often think I have it all figured out. I think I know so much when I really know so little. I am an educated person and I am going to a great Biblical school and I know all. I have that mentality, just as the Pharisees. But Jesus called out the Pharisees on everything. They didn’t get it and I didn’t either. I mean how hard is it to look for the good in everyone? I hope I can figure that one out. I will only be tearing down His kingdom. Slowly sucking the bad out of everything good God is doing in people’s lives. 

You know kids today may not know as much scripture as our elders. The modernist view of religion is scripture based. Memorization was everything 20 years ago. But now as we are shifting, and many would argue already in a post-modern view of Christianity, scripture is not as big of a deal. It pains me to say that because I want to know that book inside and out. Reguardless, kids today are way more in touch with the loving others thing (me aside obviously, I need to work on it). And is that so bad? No. And I will show you why.

Matthew 23:34-40

The Pharisees (me) come to Jesus and say, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is greatest?” What a stupid question! These men knew the law. They knew what was greatest. They didn’t have to ask Jesus. “You shall LOVE the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first command. And the second is like it: You shall LOVE your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang ALL the laws and the prophets.”

The Pharisees could do part one. They couldn’t handle part two as well. I am the same way. I have no trouble LOVEing God, it’s the other part I struggle with. I am going have to start looking for the good in everyone. I have to quit seeking out the bad. Or I will only become one of the “bad guys” of the bible. A Pharisee. I will be very educated, but I will use that education to point out how I’m right and others are wrong instead of looking for the good in others and learning from them. I’m feeling real down on myself right now. Almost like I have been a stupid blind sheep. I feel that I have failed God and he spoke through Terry today to show me what is most important. I highly doubt there is going to be a Scripture trivia game in heaven and the one who knows the most is going to get to hang out with God more. The people who get to heaven are gonna be the ones who can LOVE the Lord their God and love their neighbor as themselves. I thank God for showing me this through speaking through Terry today. Go ahead and shoot a prayer that I look for the good in others and love them. That’s what Jesus did, That’s what I want to do.