Journey to The Journey

Cody has admitted throughout his teaching on Acts that he would describe himself as a naturally skeptical person. This doesn't mean that he doesn't believe in miracles in general or that he believes miracles do not occur. He would be quick to affirm that God's work in salvation is clearly miraculous in nature! However, I believe he and I would agree in saying that miraculous sign gifts like we see in the scriptures do not appear to be the normative way in which God chooses to act in the world, both now and throughout history. After all, even within scripture they only "commonly" occur during unique periods in redemptive history. In other words, they have always served a special purpose in the outworking of God's plan of redemption and salvation. Therefore, skepticism (or at minimum, proceeding cautiously) related to claims of miraculous signs and wonders is a reasonable, and even biblical response. Allow me to explain why.

When we neglect God's word, we cut ourselves off from its life giving power. Jesus says without his bread and his water, we will perpetually suffer from persistent hunger and thirst (John 4:13-14, John 6:35). However, spiritual malnourishment and dehydration are just the tip of a much larger iceberg. This is what we can see, but there is much more that lies hidden beneath the surface and threatens to sink us like the great vessel, Titanic.

When we think about the price we all must pay, our minds inevitably wonder to thoughts of persecution and suffering. We often think that's all Jesus himself had in view when he called us to "take up our cross." However, sometimes walking in obedience to Christ will cost us in ways we never imagined or considered.

Reason is defined as "thinking that is coherent and logical." Could this be any further from how Christianity is viewed in our increasingly atheistic culture? Professing faith in God is often, at best, viewed as antiquated and at worst, outright stupidity. God however has never desired for people to follow after him blindly, but rather he desires to engage both our hearts and our minds. We are encouraged, and clearly expected to think critically about what we believe. So why has Christianity gotten such a bad rap?

The story of Ephesus is a mirror to the soul of sinful men. We were created to worship, but instead of worshiping our Creator, God, we worship that which he has created. Instead of pursuing the eternal Giver of every good thing, we devote our hearts and our minds to the pursuit of that which is perishable. We follow after men, gods, and idols, instead of walking in obedience to the Almighty King. We revel in chaos and disorder, and reject the Prince of Peace. This is who we are.

In our confusion, we don't properly give reverence to the Spirit as we should. Thus, we often neglect him in our worship when we gather together corporately. At the same time, we often fail to rightly understand the vital role he plays in our own spiritual vitality and well-being. Additionally, this lack of proper understanding, as Cody explained in this week's lesson, has led some to fall into mysticism and to affirm things contrary to the teaching of scripture. This can, and has, clearly been problematic and, I believe, led to a number of dangerous, yet pervasive, beliefs in and among evangelical Christian circles. Therefore, it may be helpful to briefly look at a few key points of doctrine concerning the Holy Spirit specifically, so that we might, unlike the Ephesian disciples, rightly know and worship God the Holy Spirit.

We live in a time and place in history where we have unprecedented access to a wealth of information. With a few keystrokes, we can mine the depths of the Internet. Technology has given a voice to anyone with a keyboard and some bandwidth. The rise of "cheap" information has made us lazy. When we know everything...in many ways we may actually know nothing at all. There is likely more bad teaching, bad theology, and false doctrine being consumed than good. Sadly, this reality has infected the church all the way up to its highest level. Christians who accept and believe false doctrine become teachers who propagate it. The repercussions are many, but none is more damaging than the defacing of the imago dei.

Here Jesus highlights the important truth of his plan for kingdom expansion through his Church...it takes an army! Regardless of the greatness of the leader, how charismatic he is, how great he is at casting vision or rallying support; regardless of his giftedness in speaking, or how many times he can make you laugh (or cry) in his sermons; in spite of all of those things, and more, no one man can do it alone. When churches become all about the guy in the spotlight, they are on a path of inevitable destruction. Either by attrition, because that guy will eventually get old and die or retire; or by burnout, because that guy can't sustain the demands of his ministry, and he eventually collapses in exhaustion or falls into sin. We see this play out in our churches almost daily.

The greatest need for idolatrous man is the Gospel. However, far too often, the true Gospel that they need is replaced with some other false gospel. In churches, on the street corner, and in "Christian" books, false gospels like easy-believism, the prosperity gospel, the self-help gospel, and other distortions of the Christian faith are being proclaimed and heralded. Instead of helping, these erroneous and, dare I say, heretical, "re-imaginings" of the true teaching of scripture and our Lord Jesus Christ are selling their followers on a hope that doesn't deliver.

If you have questions about the Church, the best place to look for answers is within God's word. Jesus himself clearly and definitively establishes the marching orders for the Church just before his ascension when he delivers his Great Commission, which is recorded in the Gospels of Matthew (chapter 28), Mark (chapter 16), and Luke (chapter 24). The mission of the young Church (and to the Church today), according to Jesus, was to go and proclaim the Gospel (which literally means "good news") about him to all nations. Here the term "nations" doesn't refer to sociopolitical governments, but rather unique ethnic people groups.