My Journey of Faith
The Message Proclaimed
For eight years, I attended a Catholic school and church, where I heard the fundamental truths of Jesus Christ, His death on the cross, and resurrection from the dead. The added caveats pointed to the sanctity of Catholicism as the only way to heaven, the rites and rituals as necessary, the priesthood above all others, and by these, the Gospel was made of no effect to me.
At fourteen, I was confronted by an evangelist named Billy Graham; my sin became stark, unavoidable, and crushing; having been undone, I gave my heart to Jesus Christ. Six years later, having seen my sins afresh as a man, my eyes were opened, and the scriptures were opened to me, much like the Apostles after Christ's resurrection.
Until four years ago, against my better judgment, according to the Holy Spirit's voice within me, I gave in to the nagging cry of the Protestant establishment that says, "You must go to Church." I know how my previous statement sounds, but while you are going to church, are you going into all the world and making disciples, taking responsibility among those you are discipling, and encouraging them to do the same? Are you leaving the work to the professional establishment, or are you obedient by doing it yourself as you should?
The following is how we should view Christ.
The Message Proclaimed by Word and Deed
Jesus' first miracle occurred in Cana of Galilee, where he told the mother of the incarnate Christ and not the mother of God, which does not exist. "Woman, (a term of respect) what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come." In Jesus' question, we can understand that by Jesus' first miracle, His ministry would have begun, and He would be staring at the cross where He would become sin in the Father's eyes for the salvation of those for whom He would suffer. Jesus performed the miracle, proclaiming His person as the Only Begotten Son of God.
The second miracle happened not many days later where we read, "...And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple..." Let us consider Herod's Temple of Jesus' day. Herod's temple was built of stones weighing up to 400 tons and could accommodate up to one million people. I observed one of these stones in Israel, which is no joke. The average football stadium today can accommodate 60,000 fans. Can you imagine one man driving all of them out of the stadium? And that is only 60,000. His disciples remembered in that moment: "ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE WILL CONSUME ME."
The moral of this story is the zeal with which Jesus Christ encountered the organized religious elites of His day and how enraged He became by observing their hypocritical, thieving, but professional supposed observance of Moses' law. His famous words to them were, "Take these things away; stop making My Father's house a place of business." These blind leaders were not satisfied by the miracle but asked for another. Jesus replied, "Destroy this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up." "So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken." Jesus is the living word, and His disciples finally got it.
A person's faith is only as good as its object. Is your faith's object, Jesus Christ, when you are tempted to value an institution, denomination, or faction when Jesus denounced them, albeit never rejecting those who belong to Him even when beguiled by them?
The Message Proclaimed was Misunderstood
Jesus regarded the teachings of Matthew 18 so vital that He did not wait to send the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. The disciples walking daily with The Only Begotten Son of God asked Him, "Who is the greatest in The Kingdom of God." Did they think about the words they used in their question? Who is greatest in God's Kingdom?
If we act like they did before Pentecost, should we assume that we are different from them because we live after Pentecost? I tell you, we are not!
Jesus' teaching that immediately follows, Who's the greatest, is about stumbling blocks. Let me tell you what the most significant stumbling block in the church is by quoting a verse. 1 Corinthians 8:1b, "Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies." Makes arrogant in Greek is phusioó: to puff or blow up, could be one word, inflates. The Greek scholar adds swelled up, like an egotistical person spuing out arrogant ("puffed-up") thoughts. There, we have the stumbling block in a word.
The teaching of stumbling blocks is followed by judging and exposing sin. "If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. "But if he does not listen [to you], take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. "If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. "Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.'
Forgiveness is then mandated by our Lord, but hear this: there can be no repentance without first uncovering the sin, and apart from repentance, there does not appear to be any need for forgiveness. Is the church in trouble?
When the Message Proclaimed is Rejected by Conscience
We have been considering the church and the institution of the church; these are not the same. When writing to the Ekklesia or Gathering of believers, Paul said, "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world..." (Ephesians 2:1,2). We have explained to us in Romans 1:32, the course of this world. "and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same but also give hearty approval to those who practice them."
Is the church permitted to overlook sin rather than identify and expose it and, by so doing, give hearty approval to the things being done?
The Message Proclaimed Had Better Be Acknowledged
Let us hear the admonitions (warnings) from the writer of Hebrews.
1:5, "For to which of the angels did He ever say, "YOU ARE MY SON, TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU"? And again, "I WILL BE A FATHER TO HIM AND HE SHALL BE A SON TO ME"?
1:8, "But of the Son [He says], "YOUR THRONE, O GOD, IS FOREVER AND EVER, AND THE RIGHTEOUS SCEPTER IS THE SCEPTER OF HIS KINGDOM."
1:9, "YOU HAVE LOVED RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HATED LAWLESSNESS; THEREFORE GOD, YOUR GOD, HAS ANOINTED YOU WITH THE OIL OF GLADNESS ABOVE YOUR COMPANIONS."
2:1-3, For this reason, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away [from it]. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?"
10:26-27, For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES."
If not followed, the message proclaimed and heard will lead to one of two ends. First, a loss of rewards at the Bema seat of Christ. Second, hearing those awful words by our Lord, "I never knew you, depart from Me."
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