When Jesus calls, a response is necessary!

Living in California allows me to experience my Christian faith in a very unique way. The number of Christian denominations are in far greater number here than in any other place in the world. I drive down the road and see the numerous churches on opposite sides of the road all claiming to proclaim the truth of Jesus Christ, and yet they are in disagreement as to what the Truth of Jesus Christ consists of. Churches pop up on a regular basis with a new version of Truth being made readily available to all who are willing to hear it, creating yet another division amongst God’s people. It seems that this has just become a way of life here, but I can’t imagine that I am the only Christian living in California asking myself why these divisions between Christians, seem to have become so accepted and in many cases promoted?

Matthew 4:12-25

(Small excerpt)

… “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” …

Reading through the book of Matthew, I see an exciting scene being presented towards the beginning of the Gospel where we see Jesus starting His earthly ministry. Jesus comes reaffirming a long held belief of the coming of a Messiah while also introducing new unexpected dimensions that not all people would be willing to accept. The message brought to light new standards of righteousness and holiness. For His ministry, Jesus elects a chosen few that He teaches and trusts to spread His message to the ends of the world. These men are given one message, one faith to pass on. As Jesus called, the people responded, with either an acceptance or a denial of His proclamations. Some followed Jesus for long periods of time and stayed with Him while others left Jesus when they realized what Jesus was asking of them.

When I see passages in the Bible like the one above, they always spark a variety of questions that I sometimes can’t wrap my brain around completely. Thoughts that make me question whether anyone else sees similar issues between what we see in the Gospels and what we are seeing today, especially here in California. In the Gospels we see only one message, one Truth being attributed to Jesus. In California, depending on what part of the state one lives in and what street one is driving down, we see hundreds of varying versions of Truth being attributed to Jesus. The Gospel shows us Jesus intended to present His people with one version of Truth because that is all He left for His people. His people, particularly the apostles, the first fishers of men, were entrusted with the one Truth by Jesus to spread to the world. But today, we see many men (and now many women) claiming to be fishers of men all preaching their versions of Truth and yet their messages differ.

I am truly saddened and just flabbergasted by how the acceptance of divisions between Christians has seemingly crept up on all of us and apparently most people seem to be unaffected by it. Am I the only one asking at what point did these divisions between Christians become acceptable?

(Long sigh…)

The Bible reminds me that if someone changed even the littlest of what was being proclaimed as the Word of God, that person (or group of people) was exiled from the Christian communities. Divisions within the Church were not acceptable by any means. There was one faith, one message, one Truth, not many versions of the one and only truth.

This, to me, is something especially critical for all of us Californians to keep in mind. I pray constantly that everyone takes a few minutes out of their lives to look around while driving down the road and ask questions like I can no longer not do. My prayer doesn’t stop there though; I also pray that everyone searches for the answers to the questions. Ask yourselves whether the current situation we Christians find ourselves in would be acceptable to not only the early Christians, but to Christ Himself and how this affects everyone’s ability to respond to Christ when He calls. 

Be not afraid to ask questions and find answers :-) We must be ONE, as Christ and the Father are ONE!

My Need For Guidance

As a person that has come to accept my need and reliance on the guidance that others provide to me, I can say that I am truly free. Free because I have faith and hope in the guidance that is being provided.

Acts 8:26-40

(Small excerpt)

… “Do you understand what you are reading?” He replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him…

As I usually read this passage, I see myself as the mentioned Ethiopian eunuch who reads the scriptures and knows that there is more meaning on the page that is being read from than he can ever come to understand without someone teaching him and explaining to him what the scripture passage means.

I, like the Ethiopian man, have the ability to read a certain passage in the scriptures and give it understanding from my own life experiences and from what I have been fortunate to study and learn about, but my own knowledge does not tell me what the passage was originally meant to convey. I’m sure the eunuch too was able to get something good out of passages, as he related them to his life experiences since that is all he knew how to do before he sat with Philip, but how much more did he want to understand about what he was reading? How much more did the eunuch appreciate the scripture after he learned the purpose of the scripture he had read and how it related to something much greater than he?

Philip was the person chosen to guide this Ethiopian man. Philip was the perfect person to teach the Ethiopian because not only had he been taught and been approved of by the apostles, through the laying of the hands, but was also commissioned by God, through an angel, to go instruct this man. I, being able to see, that Philip was the person guiding the Ethiopian to a better understanding of the scriptural passage, ask myself, who is available for us today? Can we expect to have such a person or people to help me or you to better understand the meaning of scripture?

I am here to suggest that the answers to these questions are an absolute YES!!! There are people who we can count on to help explain the scriptures to us. The same reason that the Ethiopian was able to rejoice after being with Philip is the same reason I rejoice to have people who through time have been appointed by the laying of the hands to preach, teach and bring people like you and I to a better understanding of scripture and the gospel. The people I speak of are the successors to the apostles. The successors are here to bring scripture to life and to allow me to rejoice in the scriptures that have greater meaning than what my experiences can offer. I feel absolute freedom in knowing that I don’t have to depend on my own interpretation of scripture but instead can like the Ethiopian man depend on someone more equipped to teach me what the true meaning of scripture is. 

Yes, I have come to accept my reliance on the guidance that the successors of the apostles provide to me. And because of this I am able to rejoice in my faith and my hope that is in my Lord and my God through the Holy Spirit.