Pastor's Corner - May 2011
What a blessing we experienced the Sabbath at the end of a Spring week of prayer. We baptized five dear souls into Christ and into membership with His church. The word for church in the New Testament Greek is “ἐκκλησία†(ekklēsia), or the “called out ones.†Called out of what? “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.†(I Peter 2:9, 10 NKJV) The church has been called out of darkness into the marvelous light of the Son of Righteousness, Jesus Christ. Praise God for calling men, women, boys and girls out of darkness! No longer do individuals need to wander around groping for light to see the way to salvation which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Now I want to clarify something so that there is no misunderstanding. Last week, I invited anyone who desired to partake in the Lord’s Supper on the day which is called Passover. We also held a week of prayer during what the Bible calls the Week of Unleavened Bread. What a blessing we gained as we learned that Christ wants to cleanse and free us of our entanglement with sin. What I discovered in my own life last week is that abstaining from bread or anything else with leaven in it is not the point for reflecting on this appointed time, but to catch the reality which can only be found in Jesus our Lord. “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.†(Colossians 2:16, 17 NKJV)
I made a mistake that week when I made available to the church copies of a book by Elder John VanDenburgh. Some of you who read the book gave me your response to the written content and I thank you. I was in no way trying to create any arguments, but it appears in the book that Elder VanDenburgh blurs the distinction between the moral law or Ten Commandments and the written statutes. The statutes seem to create a hedge of protection around the Decalogue. It also appears VanDenburgh makes it seem that in order to be a part of the 144,000 one must keep the feasts of the Old Testament or that perhaps salvation is tied to such. If this is what Elder VanDenburgh means by his statements, I disagree with the belief that observing the feasts is tied to one’s salvation. These, as the Apostle Paul writes, “are a shadow of things to come, but the substance (or reality) is of Christ.â€
The Apostle continues with this theme in the third chapter of Colossians, where he writes:
“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
“Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.
“But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.
“Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.†(Colossians 3:1-17 NKJV)
It is not observing a calendar date which saves us; Jesus saves us. Neither is keeping the seventh-day Sabbath or any of the other nine commandments the means of our salvation. However, those who have been saved by the blood of Jesus do, as a result of a relationship with the Lord, honor the commandments in their lives and allow the Holy Spirit to change them and make them washed, cleansed and freed from bondage to sin. Look at the characteristics of Heaven’s citizens which Paul lists in the above passage; holy, beloved, tender, kind, humble, meek, longsuffering, bearing with each other, forgiving each other. All these traits are included in the moral law; the Ten Commandments which are a reflection of God’s character. All these traits begin now, here on earth before Jesus comes to take His “called out ones†home with Him to the Father’s house.
I thank God that in Christ we can “put off our old tendencies: anger, wrath, malice, slander, filthy language, lying to one another and living like the old man of sin.†(Colossians 3:8-11, paraphrased) In baptism the old man is buried and the new man is raised in Christ. Not that we don’t continue to struggle with those old traits, but daily we can turn to God in prayer through the name and power of Jesus and be renewed each and every morning. The Lord’s desire is to take that law written on stone and to write it in our hearts, to change our sinful nature to reflect His moral and divine nature. Ultimately our willingness to allow Him to change us before Jesus comes will be completed by our willingness for God to renew us completely when He makes all things new. I don’t know about you, but I need a complete rebuild not just of my body, but of my flawed character as well. I desire the character of Jesus, to walk in His steps. (see I Peter 2:21)
My deepest prayer for all of us is that we will receive that power each and every day. The world we are dwelling in is a mess. The only hope we have is to be delivered from this way of life by the life, death, resurrection and return of Jesus our Saviour. He is our peace and He has broken down the dividing wall. What a Saviour, what a Friend, what a Hope. May we each draw nearer to Jesus through time spent in His word, prayer and fellowship with each other in the church – the called out ones.