Churches: Good or Bad… how to know
One of the things we talked about during Sunday’s ONE PRAYER message was Jesus prayer for his believers to be ONE. (John 17)
That is a real challenge today. A lot of Christian energy has been expended on an internal Civil War and distracted us from the primary command of Jesus. That is to “Go and make disciples.” (Matthew 28 )
So, how do we differentiate between “friendly fire” and “a wolf in sheep’s clothing” (Matthew 7:15)?
Having been asked recently my thoughts about a few specific preachers and churches I thought it would be good to share some ways for us all to be discerning.
There is a saying…
“In the majors… unity, in the minors… liberty”
THE MINORS:
We used an apple pie as a metaphor for this on Sunday. There is a lot of liberty in how an apple pie is prepared, how it is presented, what kind of crust is used, and even what ingredients and measurements are used. Those are all the minors. You could take out the cinnamon, use a store bought crust, change the preparation procedure and in the end it would still be… Apple pie.
THE MAJORS:
But, if you take out the apples… No matter what else you do, no matter how much it looks like an apple pie on the outside, it is not an apple pie. The major, what makes it an apple pie or not are the apples. The apples are the majors. No substitute will suffice.
So, what are the Apples in the church world?
THE APPLE TEST:
1) Jesus is THE Savior:
fully God and fully man, sinless one, died on the cross, raised from the dead victorious over sin, death and the devil. He is the one and only way to salvation.
2) God is the focus and not man:
God, the three in one: a) our creator, God the Father, b) our redeemer, God the Son and c) our helper, God the Holy Spirit is THE focus of worship regardless of style.
3) the Bible is the truth:
The Bible is THE inspired word of God. It is NOT a collection of fables and fairy-tale like stories, but rather the true, active and living word of God. It is followed, studied and by it do all other practices, teachings and confessions stand or fall.
4) Repentance is taught:
Repentance is the confession of sin and seeking of God’s forgiveness as found only in the grace of Jesus sacrifice on the cross and victory over the grave
I contend, that the more that we recognize those who stand together with us on the foundational and eternal MAJORS the less we will fight amongst ourselves and the more we will work toward the calling for which Christ has called us heavenward.
May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. John 17:23
John said,
June 10, 2008 at 12:25 pm
1 John 4:1-4 comes to mind.
1Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
Tim Douglas said,
June 30, 2008 at 7:36 am
Not all luthern’s believe what you are posting ? What do they think about your new wave of luthern messages. Martin Luther would not be very happy.
Tim
Michelle said,
July 27, 2008 at 7:26 pm
It is true that not all Lutherans believe this. However, Martin Luther strived to get the Church to change and focus on the Bible not to create a new denomination. I think, from what I have studied of him that he would be in line with this path of thought and he may have been on the forefront to change Christianity from what we see it as to more Biblical. He would want us to use the Bible and the Holy Spirit to discern what is from God and what is not. I think Martin Luther would not be happy with many Lutheran Churches today for the same reasons that he was upset with the Catholic Church.