The book of Galatians is challenging and powerful. Written by the apostle Paul early in his ministry (around 49-50 AD), it reveals one of the first serious doctrinal struggles in the church. The main issue at stake was legalism vs. grace.
Continue reading “An introduction to Galatians.”As we pointed out in our introduction to 1 Corinthians, the Corinthian church would have been challenging. This one gave him the most grief and heartbreak of all the churches he started. You see this culminating in Paul’s admonition in 2 Cor. 13:5, when he said to them, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? – unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” (ESV) Undoubtedly, Paul is beginning to question their salvation and connection to Jesus.
Continue reading “An introduction to 2 Corinthians.”First Corinthians is a significant book for the church because today’s church struggles with so many of the issues and problems of this church. No doubt this was a challenging church to call brothers and sisters, but that is precisely what Paul did. This letter reminds us that no matter how bad it gets, it could always get worse, and there is always hope.
Continue reading “An introduction to 1 Corinthians.”The book of Acts is perhaps the most widely taught and read book in the churches of Christ. So much of our doctrine and practice comes directly from this 28-chapter history in narrative form. While it does contain history it is also a remarkable story of promises and fulfillment.
Continue reading “An introduction to the book of Acts.”An introduction to John’s Gospel.
There was a time when I didn’t appreciate the Gospel of John as much as say, Matthew, but that has changed. All the gospels are unique and that’s part of the beauty, but John just seemed, well, odd. John presents Jesus in beautifully articulate words and ideas that require more effort. The gospel of John soars to the highest peaks in the New Testament. From antiquity, it was known as “the spiritual gospel” because of its focus.
Continue reading “An introduction to the gospel of John.”Most scholars agree that Luke’s gospel and the book of Acts were written by Luke who is an interesting character. Truthfully, we don’t a whole lot about him personally. We don’t know where he was born or how he died. We have hints to where he was born and how he and Paul became friends and coworkers in Acts 13:1. In that passage we see Lucian of Cyrene as one of the prophets and teachers at Antioch. I believe this is Luke which would mean that that they meet at Antioch before Paul and Barnabas left on their first missionary journey. If this is Luke it means that he was a Gentile like Timothy. He was important to Paul because he was a physician who Paul calls “the beloved physician” (Col. 4:14).
Continue reading “An Introduction to Luke’s Gospel.”This gospel account is the second book of the New Testament that was probably written by John Mark of Jerusalem sometime between 60-68 A.D. Tradition states that John Mark recorded the words of Peter, who recounted the teachings and events of Jesus Christ to Mark and then organized them into the second gospel account.
Continue reading “An introduction to Mark.”One of the first things I want you to notice about Matthew’s gospel is the fact that it’s anonymous. Nowhere in the text does it clearly say who wrote it, but there is no need to worry about the authorship of the first gospel since the early church and scholars all agree that it was Matthew, the apostle.
Continue reading “The Gospel of Matthew.”Is there a difference between being a disciple of Jesus and being a Christian? That’s an interesting and important question. It’s important because it’s easy to misunderstand discipleship and think it is something different from being Christian. Continue reading “Christians and Discipleship.”
Over the past months, we have been hearing about this movement called “Occupy Wall Street.” It would seem that this movement is gaining momentum and its springing up in almost every city in the country. The mountains of NC are no exception. I keep hearing about this movement called “Occupy Asheville” and the difficulties it is causing for the people/government of Asheville. It would seem that the government would like these people to fade quietly into the background.
The question I keep hearing is what are these people standing for? What are they against and what are they hoping to accomplish? It would seem that the theme for this movement is summed up with the statement, “We can no longer afford to allow corporate greed and corrupt politics to set the tone of our country.”
Before we are quick to point fingers or call names just remember how movements like this have shaped our country. Who can forget the “Civil Rights movement” or the “Women’s Liberation movement?” Each of these movements called for a better way for all people. This is just two and that’s not mentioning all the other movements that shaped the beliefs of our country. In fact it was a religious movement similar to occupy that shaped this very church. The Restoration movement called for Christians to go back to their bibles and restore the grandeur of the Lord’s Church. As a country and a church we owe a lot to people who were willing to stand against the status quo, people who would stand up and demand something better.
Remember that the call to end greed and corruption is consistent with the teachings of the New Testament. I will not tell you whether or not to embrace the “Occupy” movement that is something you must decide for yourself. However, I will tell you that the bible speaks loud and clear on such matters.
Let me encourage everyone to go to their bibles and read what God has to say on such social and moral issues. Here are just a few of the verses that come to my mind as I thought about this: 1 Timothy 6:3-5, 6-10; Prov. 30:7-9, 11:28; 1 John 2:16-17; Eccl. 5:10-12, 13-14; Matt. 19:24; Luke 6:24; James 5:1; Luke 16:19-26; Rev. 3:17; Acts 4:32-25; Luke 3:11; Matt. 19:21-24; Luke 19:1-10, 12:15-21; Matt. 6:24; Luke 16:14-15; Eph. 5:5-7; James 2:1-7; Psalms 10:2-3; Hab. 2:5, 6-11; Prov. 15:27, 29:4, 28:25, 1:19, 22:7-8; Matt. 3;24-26.
Let’s make it our calling to allow the teachings of the Bible to “Occupy” our hearts and minds.
Jeff
Central Haywood Church of Christ 