|
What is the “ [Suggestion: Read the whole article once before clicking
on any links to properly grasp the powerful concepts being presented] If you could decide what
the perfect church would be, what would it be, especially if you were
using biblical standards? Augustine had this to say, and he was basing
this saying on Romans 14: “Unity in the Essentials, First, to be a born-again believer from
the Bible’s definition, strangely enough, does not depend on a person understanding all the essentials of biblical Christian doctrine. Often a new believer in Yeshua or Jesus will
merely have called on Jesus or Yeshua to enter his life and save him,
simultaneously asking for forgiveness of his sins. Then God acts, and pours his Holy Spirit
into that person. So, in the strictest and most biblical definition,
a believer is someone who has called Jesus (Yeshua) into his life, and
then God has caused that person to become indwelt with the Holy Spirit
(Romans 8:9, 16). It makes no
difference at all whether that person has come to understand or been
taught right doctrine in the essentials.
This person, oddly enough, may not have a proper understanding
about the Triunity of God, or other essentials and still be a believer.
[As a matter of fact there are whole Sabbatarian sections of
the body of Christ who do not have a proper understanding of the Triunity
of God, and yet this has not prevented or stopped God from calling and
drawing people to Jesus by means of these groups, and they are nourished
in the other essentials of salvation right within those denominations!]
Remember, salvation is primarily an
act of God.
Man merely responds to God’s calling and drawing (John 6:44,
65). So that is a major biblical criteria of what
makes a believer in Jesus, a born-again believer. As a believer studies the Word of God,
the proper “essentials” often are highlighted and illuminated by the
indwelling Holy Spirit within that new believer, right within his or
her mind. New believers are often like new-born babies
though, and need to be fed the Word of God from a healthy spiritual
mom. Paul referred to the Church as the mother of
us all, while God the Father is our spiritual Dad, Abba. But now, if you were looking for the perfect
church according to biblical criteria, you would have to follow Paul’s
and One: The church as a spiritual mom, should be really good
at preparing spiritual “meals” for her kids, the born-again believers
God has sired through the Holy Spirit.
So, one should look for a church that clearly teaches the Word
of God, and the best method I have yet encountered is what I term the
“connective expository sermon” method, which teaches verse by verse,
chapter by chapter, going from one end of the Bible to the other.
In two or three years, a believer will have been fed the entire
Word of God in clear, concise teaching, everything in proper context,
no passages taken out of context. [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/pom/philofmin.htm
.] Second: This church will major in teaching the Essentials
of Christianity, or the essentials of being a Messianic believer in
Yeshua. Third: This ideal church will be making a conscious effort
to de-emphasize the non-essentials, giving it’s members more liberty
and freedom to chose their beliefs in the non-essentials. Anywhere churches take a rigid, unbending stand on
non-essentials, they’re headed for trouble—I’ll explain the reason why
more thoroughly later. But Paul in Romans 14 legislated that believers have
freedom of choice in their secondary or non-essential beliefs. That is
basically why the believer has the God-given right to chose the church
that fits his beliefs in the non-essentials, and that is one reason
why there are so many differing denominations and independent churches. You have a right to chose, just be sure to choose
a church that is majoring in the essentials of salvation. True Christian or Messianic congregations ought to be striving to move toward this “ideal” within the major two sections of the body of Christ they find themselves in (i.e. Gentile or Jewish branch of the body of Christ). Naturally, what makes up the major differences in practices of worship between Gentile and Jewish branches of the body of Christ are strictly in the area of “non-essential” beliefs, as Paul brought out in Romans 14, such as days of worship, dietary restrictions or freedoms, etc. But within these two major groups the ideal church will be nurturing its members, discipling them so that they grow spiritually healthy via effective teaching from the Word of God [best method being teaching from the whole Word of God, and not getting stuck in any one part of it, over another], majoring in the essentials of salvation, and downplaying the non-essentials. The result of effective nurturing and discipling will be seen in an ever growing number of believers from this church displaying the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23; 1 Corinthians 13:1-8), and resulting in them doing the good works Jesus said that they would be doing as a way of life (Matthew 25:31-40; James 2:14-20). Mature Christians or believers in Yeshua are living a life of doing “good works” for others, as described in Matthew 25:31-40. This maturity comes from being properly nurtured in the Word of God. It also involves the believer maintaining a healthy prayer/Bible study life. Even babes learn how to feed themselves as they grow, and so must the believer. A healthy church teaches believers how to spiritually feed themselves in the Word. [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/ephesians/putonarmour.htm.] Now lets make two lists, one of the “essentials of salvation” and the other, of the “non-essentials of salvation”. "The
other major area a really good spiritual mom will be nurturing her "kids"
is in the area of prayer. God said of the temple, which would equate
to our churches, "My house shall be called a house of prayer."
To see how one church very successfully made their congregation a "House
of Prayer", which every church ought to be to qualify in this "perfect
church" status, log onto http://www.unityinchrist.com/prayer/congregation.htm."
Prayer and Bible study go hand in hand, as one is God talking to you,
and the other is you talking to God." THE BARE
ESSENTIALS OF SALVATION:
1.
The infallibility
of God’s Word, the Bible (both Old and New Testaments) [since God is
infallible, his Word must be too, right?].
2.
The virgin
birth of Yeshua or Jesus, and that he is the promised Messiah, both
God (Yahweh) and man,
3.
and that
this same Jesus, Yeshua led a sinless life, died to pay for the sins
of mankind, was resurrected, and ascended to glory,
4.
and that
this same Jesus, Yeshua will return visibly to earth (i.e. his 2nd
coming).
5.
And when
you call upon Jesus to save you and enter your life, he will do so,
covering and atoning for your sins, past, present and future by his
atoning blood and sacrifice;
6.
Jesus
and the Father will then enter into you by placing within you the Holy
Spirit, who will guide and teach you all things (in conjunction with
prayer and Bible study, of course).
When a
church steps away from those essentials, and starts majoring in any
one of the non-essentials of belief, that is where we encounter and
set up unnecessary church/denominational barriers that divide the body
of Christ. And in doing so, a church or denomination is
helping Satan to divide the body unnecessarily, which is his evil intent
and one of his major weapons against the church.
Don’t forget, in the most essential criteria, Satan can never
divide the body of Christ, those who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit,
because it is that same Holy Spirit who makes all believers one, regardless
of which church or denomination they belong to, Sabbatarian, Gentile
Christian, Messianic Jewish. Also
remember that the two major branches of the body of Christ, Jewish and
Gentile will be emphasizing the particular “days of worship” and customs
that are distinct to the group they belong to.
You can also include within the Jewish side of the body of Christ
the Sabbatarians as a subgroup, and they should never be looked down
upon for emphasizing as their distinctives the Jewish “days of worship”
or other dietary customs particular to the Old Testament law.
For it is God who has made a distinction here by supernaturally
and miraculously restoring the Jewish branch of the body of Christ,
by the direct calling of the Holy Spirit.[see http://www.unityinchrist.com/messianicmovement/twobranches.htm.] So this one apparently “non-essential” distinctive
is really a God-allowed distinctive that makes the Jewish and Gentile
branches of the body of Christ unique and special.
And there is good reason to believe, based on very scant but
still existing historic evidence, that the various Sabbatarian revivals
leading back to Asia Minor and Rome of the 300’s AD had their origin
in the Messianic Jewish congregations in existence during the early
300’s AD. So the Sabbatarians can be considered as a long
lost cousin to the Messianic Jewish branch of the body of Christ. So “days of worship” and dietary customs from
the Old Testament are merely a proper biblical dividing line between
the Jewish and Gentile side of the body of Christ, as allowed for by
Paul in Romans 14. And don’t
forget, at the time Paul was writing, the number of Messianic congregations
throughout Asia Minor and the THE NON-ESSENTIALS:
First, realize, this list is endless, so I will merely give the
major non-essentials that come to mind.
And remember, belief one way or the other in these non-essentials
in no way prohibits salvation or disqualifies a believer from salvation.
Way too many doctrinal mountains have been built from these doctrinal
mole-hills. And some of these mole-hill beliefs held through
improper biblical understanding and research have actually hindered
whole groups of people from being effectively evangelized to. Some churches and denominations need to seriously
back away from pounding the pulpit on these non-essentials.
1.
New-Earth
vs. Old-Earth Creationism
2.
Days of
Worship
3.
Dietary
codes Comment: # 2 and 3, as previously explained, are major “non-essentials” allowed by Paul in Romans 14, and make up the major dividing line between the Messianic Jewish and the Gentile Christian side of the body of Christ (Sabbatarians being included in the Messianic branch). It is 100 percent all right for these two points to be considered major non-essentials by those within these two divisions of the body of Christ, with all the resultant emphasis that’s placed on them. |