The teaching style of Jesus continued:
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
We cannot get past the fact that Christ's first and most command of us as children of God is to love one another. I guess that is why when I have thoughts on the church as God sees us I am forced to delve into those traditions and doctrines that have always separated us from one another. You see no where in the word of God can I find a place that tells me to develop doctrine and tradition that separates me from my brother in Christ.
The reason for this that is usually given is"we have a difference in belief", but I find it hard to think that anything that causes conflict with in the body of Christ would have very much value at all. I heard someone say once that we tend to want to be correct about our faith rather than to be loving. What I have found is that we want to be correct on things that have no importance to God at all instead of being unified in the power of God's Holy Spirit. It all comes down to who is in control, but that is the subject to be left for a different blog.
I do wonder though what the materials are that we each one build upon that perfect foundation with. It has all been put together with love and unity and then we continue along with tradition and doctrine to build on top of that. Christ has given us several warnings about using the wrong materials to build with. Although the book of Matthew in chapters 22, 23, and 24 Christ tells us to watch out for what we think of as a good outward appearance which may look very good to us and to the world around us but which is deceiving. Christ uses parables like the white washed tombs, and the house built upon the rock and not sand, because things can appear to be beautiful and very strong from the outside and yet be made of paper, wood, hay, and stubble. I can't help but to feel in my heart that is why many of the doctrines and traditions are made from that which we have clung to in this world. It feels like our own kind of comfort system or man-made attempt and control if we look at ourselves with the truth of Christ what do we see?
Now I'm already gone too far for many people, and I have stepped on some toes haven't I? If we aren't to become what Christ needs from us we must first take the plank of wood out of our own eye... Am I right? We have not been transformed to get along with this world, but to fit into the kingdom of God. What we don't seem to realize is that everything we build on the foundations of Christ with will be tested by fire at some point. What we use to strengthen and build our spiritual lives with must be of the very best quality we can find buried deep within our lives. I believe there is no doubt that many people will find that they have built their lives with inferior materials. Among those materials we will find such things as the doctrines that men have built up around that they feel are protecting them from the judgment of Jesus Christ that is yet to come. We failed mostly to realize that the Bible; which includes the laws, as well as the mercy and forgiveness of God are written directly to the believer, and not to the world around him. All of the warnings as well as the words of love that God has given to us have been written to his children. There is a continued theme of warning against being deceived by the world around us into thinking that we can use whatever materials we find laying around us in this world to build upon the foundations of Christ. Somehow we do not realize that we cannot build with the material from this world because it is made of temporary things. We must choose material that has eternal and spiritual properties to build upon the foundation of Christ with. We are going to discover many things together in this series of studies. I pray that you will continue to join me in these discussions. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
We cannot get past the fact that Christ's first and most command of us as children of God is to love one another. I guess that is why when I have thoughts on the church as God sees us I am forced to delve into those traditions and doctrines that have always separated us from one another. You see no where in the word of God can I find a place that tells me to develop doctrine and tradition that separates me from my brother in Christ.
The reason for this that is usually given is"we have a difference in belief", but I find it hard to think that anything that causes conflict with in the body of Christ would have very much value at all. I heard someone say once that we tend to want to be correct about our faith rather than to be loving. What I have found is that we want to be correct on things that have no importance to God at all instead of being unified in the power of God's Holy Spirit. It all comes down to who is in control, but that is the subject to be left for a different blog.
I do wonder though what the materials are that we each one build upon that perfect foundation with. It has all been put together with love and unity and then we continue along with tradition and doctrine to build on top of that. Christ has given us several warnings about using the wrong materials to build with. Although the book of Matthew in chapters 22, 23, and 24 Christ tells us to watch out for what we think of as a good outward appearance which may look very good to us and to the world around us but which is deceiving. Christ uses parables like the white washed tombs, and the house built upon the rock and not sand, because things can appear to be beautiful and very strong from the outside and yet be made of paper, wood, hay, and stubble. I can't help but to feel in my heart that is why many of the doctrines and traditions are made from that which we have clung to in this world. It feels like our own kind of comfort system or man-made attempt and control if we look at ourselves with the truth of Christ what do we see?
Now I'm already gone too far for many people, and I have stepped on some toes haven't I? If we aren't to become what Christ needs from us we must first take the plank of wood out of our own eye... Am I right? We have not been transformed to get along with this world, but to fit into the kingdom of God. What we don't seem to realize is that everything we build on the foundations of Christ with will be tested by fire at some point. What we use to strengthen and build our spiritual lives with must be of the very best quality we can find buried deep within our lives. I believe there is no doubt that many people will find that they have built their lives with inferior materials. Among those materials we will find such things as the doctrines that men have built up around that they feel are protecting them from the judgment of Jesus Christ that is yet to come. We failed mostly to realize that the Bible; which includes the laws, as well as the mercy and forgiveness of God are written directly to the believer, and not to the world around him. All of the warnings as well as the words of love that God has given to us have been written to his children. There is a continued theme of warning against being deceived by the world around us into thinking that we can use whatever materials we find laying around us in this world to build upon the foundations of Christ. Somehow we do not realize that we cannot build with the material from this world because it is made of temporary things. We must choose material that has eternal and spiritual properties to build upon the foundation of Christ with. We are going to discover many things together in this series of studies. I pray that you will continue to join me in these discussions. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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