Part 2 of Viewpoint Brief Bible Study #036. |
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JESUS calls US to be members of His church |
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The Christian religion is the worship and service of Jesus Christ. It’s not Mary we worship, but her Son. We worship neither saints, angels, a law code, nor even God’s Spirit. It’s JESUS who is to be honored. The Bible is our guide. |
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I advised that every Christian should (likely) subscribe to at least WINESKINS and the CHRISTIAN STANDARD. On 6/20/10 I remove Wineskins from the recommendation since they no longer have a printed publication. But WORLD Magazine still publishes, and it's an excellently published Christian news magazine. Other Christian publications also are excellent, but I'd run out of space to list ALL here that I should recommend. Wineskins in late 1997 was $16 for six issues (intended to be bi-monthly) to U.S. addresses. Address was P O Box 129004, Nashville TN 37212-9004. More On "Wicked Wineskins"
Brief Bible Study #36-A from Ray Downen
Wineskins Has An Imperfect Article
In an article in the WINESKINS for April/May 1997 is an article with which I'm not 100% in agreement. It's by Joseph Shulam, a brother who was born a Jew and was won to Christ. His article is, "Restoration--Through Jewish Eyes." The article is mostly very good. Joe evangelizes in the modern Israel. He says –
THE PLEA for a "restoration of the New Testament church" is a slogan that is fast catching on in evangelical circles. No one has a patent on the idea. It's been around for centuries, and continues to surface in dramatic ways.
In Tiberias, just above the Sea of Galilee, there are some 50 Russian families who say that all they want is to be like the first-century church. One weekend I was visiting a dear sister on the Golan Heights. It was a good opportunity to visit these Russian seekers after the Messiah.
When I arrived there on Friday about 3:30 p.m., they said that if I came in then, I would have to stay there through Saturday evening because they would have no part of me if I "desecrated" the sabbath. (Note that the Jewish sabbath begins at sundown on Friday and ends at sundown on Saturday. These seekers after Christ thought they were obligated to keep the sabbath day as a day of rest, and be submissive to Mosaic restrictions on sabbath travel, etc.)
These Russians come from a forlorn corner of the former USSR. It's said there are several villages in that area in which all desire to be "like" the N.T. church in every way. These brothers have some things in common with the Western Restorationist tradition (which includes the Stone-Campbell Movement of Churches of Christ/Christian Churches), but in some things they are certainly different.
I mention these folk in order to make three points:
1) Slogans are good, but mouthing a slogan does not guarantee "substance" – living as the slogan implies;
2) "Churches of Christ" have no monopoly on restoration methods and names; and
3) We of "Churches of Christ" (and Christian Churches) may already have capitulated to the strong forces of Western religious culture in some important ways.I say these things as introduction. I am a Jew who believes that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God. The Lord added me to his church. From the first years of my association with the Churches of Christ (Ray says – he here speaks of the anti-instrumental congregations) in America, I was taught that it is enough if the Lord adds you to his church. I've learned that the Lord's church has many names in the N.T., and that to be called by any of these names is acceptable to the Lord.
I've been taught (I was a student at David Lipscomb College in Nashville) that the only way to find unity in our congregations is to speak where the Bible speaks, and to allow freedom on matters of opinion (Ray says – any matter on which God has not spoken is surely a matter of opinion). I took it very seriously at the age of 16 when I gave my life to Jesus, was baptized into Him, and was cast out of my home.
For me the Bible was enough. I was not asked to accept a creed. Nor was I given a list of doctrines and position papers to read. Since 1962 until now, I have held strongly to the teachings of unity and freedom based on God's Word which won my heart in those early days. ...
The New Testament is a Jewish book. It was written by Jews in the first century A.D. (Yes, I know Luke the Doctor, and I know that it is presumed that he was a Gentile). The context and historical setting of the N.T. is the Jewish world in the land of Israel and in the Diaspora. The leading figures of the N.T. are acting from the framework of Israel's holy history in fulfillment of God's promises to the prophets of Israel. The Gentiles were grafted in by the blood of the Messiah. They have no right to usurp the place of Israel in direct opposition to the Word of God. ...
Ray comments Joe was doing well in analyzing restoration and the goals of the movement of which I'm a part. And he got lost. As did many Christians in the first century, he fails to see that the Gentiles are not usurpers, that the church which was begun in Jerusalem spread rapidly from there and did not take with it the trappings of Jewry.
The temple was NOT the center of Christian worship. Early Christians were NOT told to keep the sabbath day holy. They were instead told that most of the practices which made up Jewish religion were to NOT be practiced by Christians. Christianity was a NEW religion. It was not the Jewish religion reborn with minor differences. Gentiles did not usurp a thing. GOD grafted us in. From that day, the children of Israel are not those who are physically Jews but those who are faithful children of God. Those will inherit who are full of faith and who practice their faith.
Later in his article, Joe says, "The roots of the gospel are in Israel, and we have to restore our relationship with and understanding of Israel if we want to relate to the roots and see the full picture of what the early church was like." The article says many good things, but these items are, in my opinion, not correct. I do not agree that we need to study everything about the Old Testament in order to properly understand the New. We can learn all we need to know about the Way of Christ by reading the N.T. Our salvation is in Jesus rather than in Israel.
It may be that I'm reading more than is intended in Joe's call for us to "restore our relationship with and understanding of Israel."
But I feel that if we have a good relationship with the Israelite, Jesus of Nazareth, we'll be saved. And it won't be because He was an Israelite, but because He was and is God.
What do YOU think?
And consider this article written by Don Deffenbaugh in his church newsletter with attendance figures for December 20th, 1998.
"When God specified that the priests (Jewish priests who served under the Mosaic Law) were to come from the tribe of Levi, that meant that priests could not come from any other tribe, including the tribe of Judah (see Hebrews 7:14)."Here is an important principle of Biblical interpretation that the Holy Spirit uses to teach us the will of God. For example, when the New Testament teaches that we are to baptize (immerse), that excludes sprinkling or pouring. When the Holy Spirit teaches that the New Testament church sang, that excludes the mechanical instrument of music in worship to God.
"Where is the mechanical instrument of music in the following verses: Acts 16:25, Romans 15:9, 1 Corinthians 14:15, Ephesians 5:19, Colossians 3:16, Hebrews 2:12, James 5:13? Singing is found in all these verses but not the mechanical instrument of music.
"There is no authority for the mechanical instrument of music in our worship today."
RAY COMMENTS: Note that Don assumes that God does authorize particular acts "in worship" so that only such authorized acts are acceptable to God. The entire theory of God opposing use of musical instruments in His praise during "worship services" is based on faulty premises. The New Testament doesn't teach that Christians ever had any "worship services." The New Testament doesn't instruct that "worship services" are to be held or that any particular acts are there to be engaged in by God's people.
The verses referred to all speak of singing, but not in any case singing during a "worship service." No one teaches that Christians are not allowed to sing when there's no musical instrument to accompany the singing. The verses encourage Christians TO sing, but never authorize harmonizing in the 4-part harmony so pleasing to American ears. The verses mention that they DID sing, but never authorizes having altos, tenors, or basses joining in with those who sang.
Paul, in 1 Corinthians 14:26 mentions that Christians in Corinth during their assemblies each ("each" means something different than all together) had a psalm to share with the group, or a testimony, or an exhortation. Yet anti-instrument doctrine calls for individual Christians to NEVER sing in Christian assemblies unless all others join in while the singer shares (they oppose solo singing and teach that all singing must be by the entire congregation singing at once).
God established no law opposing sprinkling or pouring in place of baptism. He just makes clear that baptism is by immersion. But no such clear teaching affirms that singing must not be accompanied. The comparison is between unequal things, and certainly has no bearing on whether or not Christian musicians can honor God by use of their God-given musical talents of being able to produce good music on musical instruments other than the human voice.
I write this study with help from a computer. The Bible never authorizes use of mechanical aids in writing, or the use of a public-address system or radio or television. The same logic which condemns use of musical instruments in God's service surely also condemns use of unauthorized aids in preaching and teaching.
We DO want to think straight, and teach and practice only according to truth. Do YOU agree that God's laws are mainly hidden and must be uncovered by astute Bible students?
Brief Bible Study #36-A from Ray Downen. To go back to
Viewpoint's first page, click here. Or go to Viewpoint Study 36. For Ray's concluding remarks, click HERE.