Church Membership

The writer of Hebrews encourages us in Hebrews 10:25 that we are to not forsake "the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. 

Martin Luther said of this, “Membership in a confessing body is fundamental to the faithful Christian life. Failure to do so defies the explicit warning not to forsake "our assembling together." His understanding of this prompted Martin Luther to say, "Apart from the church, salvation is impossible." Not that the church provides salvation; God does. But because the "saved" one can't fulfill what it means to be a Christian apart from the church, membership becomes the indispensable mark of salvation.”

Brother Luther and I are in complete agreement.

Blessings,

Dwayne

A Call to Humility

1 Peter 5:5-6 You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE. (6) Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,

This is a call to humility for all of us. We are all the younger to someone and older than someone else.

Illustration: In the House at Bonn occupied by Beethoven there still is preserved the piano upon which the great master played, and which he used in the composition of his great music. Years ago, an American girl visited the shrine. She waltzed airily to the instrument and began playing a careless tune; and then, turning to the custodian, said, "I suppose you have many visitors here every year?" "A great many," was the reply. "Many famous people, no doubt?" said she. "Yes, Paderewski came recently." "I suppose, of course, he played on the piano?" said the girl, her fingers still thrumming the keys. "No," said the custodian, "he did not consider himself worthy."

This is the reverence of the great in soul. The flippant enter the hallowed places, the sanctuaries of the world, with light laughter and careless jest; they feel nothing in their shallow souls, and reduce everything to the flippant and commonplace; but the high-souled enter with bared heads, they take the shoes off their feet, they stand awed and in silence. "They do not consider themselves worthy."

We live in a society that has forgotten humility.

Luther on Bible Study

Martin Luther said, “I study my Bible like I gather apples. First, I shake the whole tree that the ripest may fall. Then I shake each limb, and when I have shaken each limb, I shake each branch and every twig. Then I look under every leaf. I search the Bible as a whole like shaking the whole tree. Then I shake every limb--study book after book. Then I shake every branch, giving attention to the chapters. Then I shake every twig, or a careful study of the paragraphs and sentences and words and their meanings.”

A Knowledgable Candidate

A candidate for church membership was asked, "What part of the Bible do you like best?" He said: "I like the New Testament best. Then he was asked, "What Book in the New Testament is your favorite?" He answered, the Book of the Parables, Sir." They then asked him to relate one of the parables to the membership committee. And a bit uncertain, he began...

"Once upon a time a man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves; and the thorns grew up and choked the man. And he went on and met the Queen of Sheba, and she gave that man, Sir, a thousand talents of silver, and a hundred changes of raiment. And he got in his chariot and drove furiously, and as he was driving along under a big tree, his hair got caught in a limb and left him hanging here! And he hung there many days and many nights. The ravens brought him food to eat and water to drink. And one night while he was hanging there asleep, his wife Delilah came along and cut off his hair, and he fell on stoney ground. And it begin to rain, and rained forty days and forty nights. And he hid himself in a cave. Later he went on and met a man who said, "Come in and take supper with me." But he said, "I can't come in, for I have married a wife." And the man went out into the highways and hedges and compelled him to come in! He then came to Jerusalem, and saw Queen Jezebel sitting high and lifted up in a window of the wall. When she saw him she laughed, and he said, "Throw her down out of there," and they threw her down. And he said "Throw her down again," and they threw her down seventy-times-seven. And the fragments which they picked up filled twelve baskets full! NOW, whose wife will she be in the day of the Judgment?" 

The membership committee agreed that this was indeed a knowledgeable candidate!

Love the Gifts

The university gave us Camelback water bottles today. I guess they want us to be ready for the summer. 

The Real Issue with Gay Marriage

"The problem with redefining marriage for gays on the premise that it's unconstitutional to deny them the right to marry is that the courts have changed the meaning of the Constitution's language concerning "liberty" and "equality." Now...if the courts are to be legally consistent...any discrimination against anybody vying for recognition for any number of marital arrangements is unconstitutional. They are either all equal and protected or they are not, and if not, why not and by who's moral judgement? Rights are now thoroughly vested in the government's power to create them out of thin air...and to take them away. Gay marriage may have won the legal war but in doing so they may have opened a Pandora's box of social chaos and a path to social collapse."

Massacre in Kenya

Meanwhile, in America, we fight over wedding cakes and flowers for gay weddings.

The Measure of a Man

A man should be measured not only by his friends, but also by his enemies. 

Interesting Occupations.

Apparently, the only two occupations that one can have and be consistently wrong is a weatherman and a politician. 

Bible Doctrine - The Canonization of the Bible

The word canon means “measuring rod, rule, or standard”. In reference to the Bible, the Canon refers to those books that have been measured and found worthy to be a part of the Bible. The process of canonization is viewed in two stages: the books that were determined by God which was complete by 96 AD with the writing of Revelation, and the recognition of their’ inspiration by man at the Third Council of Carthage in 397 AD.

In regards to being determined by God, the Old Testament was written and collected by the Jewish people. Jesus believed that all of it was inspired because he either quoted from or alluded to every book in it with the possible exception of Esther.

Unlike our English Bible, the Hebrew Bible starts with Genesis and ends with 2 Chronicles. Jesus alluded to this in Luke 11:51 when he said: “From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, it shall be required of this generation.” Abel’s blood was shed in Genesis 4:8 and Zacharias’ in 2 Chronicles 24:21. Thus, Jesus was affirming that he believed everything in between.

In regards to being determined by man, the books of the New Testament that were chosen to be included was determined by things such as apostolic authority, authorship, local church acceptance, church father’s recognition, subapostolic (immediate leadership after the age of the apostles), and authority.

Of course, there were books that were rejected that we refer to as the apocryphal books. These were written during the intertestamental period between Malachi and Matthew which was approximately four hundred years. The reason for their rejection included the fact that they never claimed to be inspired, some of their teachings are heretical (e.g., sinless perfection, worship of angels, prayers for the dead, etc.), they were never recognized by the early church, they were never allowed a place in the Canon until 400 years after Christ by Jerome in the Latin Vulgate under pressure of the Roman Catholic Church, and finally they contradict other portions of the Bible and even themselves.

Of course there is much more that could be said on this subject. A great book to read if you want to go deeper is The Canon of Scripture by F. F. Bruce.

Blessings,
Dwayne