Persecution

We don't see much persecution in the U.S. today.  But it is happening in many places in the world.  And it was a serious problem for the early church as we see in the book of Acts in the New Testament.  So we will look at the persecution that the early Christians were enduring and how it affected the church growth at that time.

In the fourth chapter of Acts, Peter had just healed a lame man and it caused quite a stir.  The Jewish leaders placed Peter and John into jail overnight and challenged them the next day.  Peter explained that Jesus was the one who provided the power of healing.  This infuriated the leaders who said: 

"What shall we do to these men?  For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.  But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name.  So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus."

So what was the result of this "severe threat"?  "And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.  So when they heard that, they raised their voices to God with one accord and said, 'Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them......grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word." 

In Acts chapter 5 we see a similar situation.  In this case, the Jewish leaders become more antagonistic and beat the apostles.  "...and when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go." 

So how did this severe persecution affect the Christians?  "So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.  And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ."

Persecution did not deter the growth of the church at all.  Praise God!  And we may one day see persecution in our country.  If that be the case, we can learn from the early Christians to be strong and keep on keeping on.

Thanks for reading.  Have a great week.

The Church

In the last blog entry we talked about why Jesus came to earth, that is, Jesus came to earth to seek and save the lost.  Without Jesus we are lost, we don't have eternal life with God.  The emphasis is primarily on the individual as we look at the teaching of the New Testament.  But there is teaching also about the collective, the coming together as a church; so we will look at that briefly.

In Matthew 16:18, Jesus was talking to Peter and the rest of the apostles saying, "...upon this rock I will build My church."  His plan was to build His church, sometime in the future, upon the rock foundation of Jesus being the Son of God.  He could have started the church right then, but we see that His plan was to lay the ground work, then leave the actual formation of the church to the apostles after He left the earth. 

The word "church" comes from the original Greek word "Ekklesia" which simply means a gathering, a group of people; in this case a group of Christians.

And we see the first church being formed in Jerusalem as people first became Christians, as recorded in Acts chapter 2.  The last verse of chapter 2 says, "And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved."  It was His church and He does the adding.  But from the beginning we see that the church is formed as people became Christians.

We will note that the term church is used in two different ways in the New Testament.  It is used in the over all sense, meaning all Christians are part of His church.  And it is used in a local sense to reference a particular group of Christians meeting together in a local place.  Paul, in writing to the Ephesian church in Ephesians 5, said "Husbands love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it."  We see in this passage that Christ loved the church so much that He died for it.  And if He felt that strongly about the church, certainly we should value it highly....and be a part of it, both in becoming a Christian and in participating in a local sense, in a local church.

Hebrews 10:24-25 teaches us, "And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another...."  We serve God by coming together as a group; but we also serve and help one another in doing so.

The church is good.....it is His....and we need to be a part, an active part.  Thanks for reading.  Have a great week!

Why Did Jesus Come to Earth?

There are perhaps many reasons why Jesus came to the earth.  It could be said that He fulfilled all Scripture, all prophesies; or He completed God's plan for man, a plan made before the Creation of the world.  I would suggest that the teaching shows that Jesus' coming was for one main purpose:

Jesus came into the world to save man from his sins.  We all know the verse in John 3:16-17, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."

Luke 19:10 puts it this way:  "...the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."  People then, and people now, are lost without Jesus.  Sin causes man to be separated from God and being a follower of Jesus is the only solution. 

We might ask where sin came from in the first place.  We see the answer in many places, one being Romans 5:12, where it is putting the initial blame on Adam, the first man.  "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin...."  But the solution is given in this passage as well, in verse 17:  "For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ."  Sin began with Adam, but is solved by the coming of Jesus Christ, who died for us, giving us His grace which cleanses us of our sins....if only we follow Him.

Romans 3:23 says, "...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."

And Paul said to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:15, "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief."

Thanks for reading.  Feel the love.