Last week, the attempt by the Republican Party to overturn the
Affordable Care Act (aka: Obamacare) failed. Because of the
division in the majority party not enough votes could be
mustered in order to prevail. This failure to deliver on the
campaign promise made both by presidential candidate
Donald Trump and many congressional candidates as well is a
major setback.
The obvious conclusion is that our national government is
divided. The question that yet remains to be answered is, “Can
our government reach a level of unity where legislation can be
passed that will serve to move our country in a more positive
direction?”
Jesus Christ addressed the issue of a house divided in Matthew
12:22-26, “Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed,
blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the
blind and mute man both spoke and saw. And all the
multitudes were amazed and said, "Could this be the Son of
David?" Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, "This
fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the
ruler of the demons." But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said
to them: "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to
desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will
not stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against
himself. How then will his kingdom stand?”
Barnes’ Notes comments, “Their subtle and cunning device
was completely foiled, and Jesus made their argument recoil
on their own heads. A kingdom or a family can prosper only
by living in harmony. The different parts and members must
unite in promoting the same objects. If divided-if one part
UNDOES what the other DOES-it must fall. So with the
kingdom of Satan. It is your doctrine that Satan has
"possessed" these whom I have cured. It is also your doctrine
that he has helped me to cure them. If so, then he has helped
me to undo what he had done. He has aided me to cast himself
out-that is, to oppose and discomfit himself.
At this rate, how can there be any stability in his kingdom? It
must fall, and Satan must have less than human prudence.”
(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database Copyright © 1997,
2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
The national leadership of the United States seems to be
hopelessly divided. Can we come together to achieve a
common purpose? I’m sure we all hope for that outcome.
However, we must realize that if we continue on the current
divided against itself it will not stand.
Living in a divided world is one of those things that is vexing
to a Christian. How do we change this situation? Sadly, we
cannot change this situation.
But we can know that when we come together on Passover
evening, to participate in the footwashing, the bread, and the
wine it symbolically points to unity.
Unity begins with humility and service of others as
symbolized by the footwashing.
Unity is further accomplished as we continue to yield to Jesus
Christ continuing His work in us as symbolized by the eating
the bread and drinking of the wine.
We may live in a divided world, but we by our humility,
service, repentance, and growth in righteousness can be
unified as the body of Christ. In the Passover service, we are
renewing our commitment to be one with God and one
another.
I think Paul summarizes the concept of unity conveyed in the
Passover well in 1 Corinthians 10:16-18, “The cup of blessing
which we bless, is it not a very sharing in the blood of Christ?
When we break the bread do we not actually share in the body
of Christ? The very fact that we all share one bread makes us
all one body. Look at the Jews of our own day. Isn't there a
fellowship between all those who eat the altar sacrifices? (The
New Testament in Modern English, J. B. PHILLIPS)
Enjoy the Sabbath rest,
Gary Smith
Showing posts with label Footwashing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Footwashing. Show all posts
Friday, March 31, 2017
Friday, April 15, 2016
The Christian Passover: One Bread and One Body
As the Sabbath of April 16 approaches, we are only a few days away from the Passover. In light of our observance of the Passover, I thought it would be timely to consider a first century problem that is still most important to us today. It is a problem that relates to the Passover.
In the world in which Jesus Christ carried out his ministry, Jewish culture predominated in Judea. It was a culture that impacted all of the Apostles and many Christians with a Jewish heritage. Jewish culture greatly impacting the church should not be surprising because the church was almost exclusively Jewish until God added Cornelius and his household in Acts 10.
Although Peter and those who accompanied him to the house of Cornelius could clearly see that God had added Gentiles to the church just as he had the Jews gathered at the temple on Pentecost in 31 AD, it was hard for them to fully grasp the meaning of this dramatic shift. The first century Jewish Christians, including the Apostles, were “cultural captives”, meaning they operated based upon their cultural heritage which was not God’s perspective in regard to the church.
The impact of Jewish culture on the Apostles is illustrated in the book of Galatians. There in Paul’s epistle, we find that Peter and other Jews had no problem eating meals with the non-Jewish Christians.
However, when leading Jewish Christians came to Antioch and saw Peter and the other Jews in Antioch eating with the Gentiles they created a fuss over this. From the perspective of these visitors from Jerusalem Paul and the other Jews were being made ritually unclean by eating with the Gentiles. Peter, Barnabas and other Jewish Christians stopped eating with the Gentiles feeling uncomfortable and maybe confused about what to do. So they separated themselves for meals from the Gentiles.
Paul seeing this take place could not let this hypocrisy pass. We find him addressing this, “But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, "If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?”” (Galatians 2:14).
Paul addressed this because this division between Jew and Gentile was going to create a huge rift in the Church of God if not properly dealt with. Paul intervened in the matter strongly because of the potential for splitting the church into Jewish and Gentile factions. Such division was not God’s intention as illustrated most emphatically in Acts 10 and Acts 15, as well as, in the epistles of Paul.
We might ask, “How does this situation relate to the Passover?”
Consider the footwashing.
We have a separation for the footwashing between men and women for modesty and decorum in a groups setting.
However, should we seek to separate based on whether we are Jewish or Gentile? I am an Israelite and will not wash the feet of a Gentile. If we went down such a path of segregation, we would be back to the same situation as the first century. We would be divided which is not what any part of the Passover service symbolizes.
Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free — and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.” In other words, we are one body, bound together through the Spirit of God dwelling in each member.
Our being one body is emphasized by each member partaking of the bread and the wine. Every member of the body of Christ partakes of the Passover symbols. Paul points out what this symbolizes in 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.” As we partake of the Passover symbols we are unified.
The word communion in this passage causes some confusion because it is used by some as a title for the taking of the bread and wine. However, the word used by Paul indicates unity of the body of Christ in partaking of it. The word “communion” is translated as “share a fellowship” in Amplified; “a sharing” in the New Century Version; and the Wuest Expanded New Testament translates the Greek as “our joint-participation”. Paul uses the word “communion” to indicate we are together as one body as observe the Passover.
So as we come together to observe the Passover, we are neither Jew nor Gentile, slave or free, male or female. We are all heirs of salvation.
Enjoy a most pleasant Sabbath.
Gary Smith
In the world in which Jesus Christ carried out his ministry, Jewish culture predominated in Judea. It was a culture that impacted all of the Apostles and many Christians with a Jewish heritage. Jewish culture greatly impacting the church should not be surprising because the church was almost exclusively Jewish until God added Cornelius and his household in Acts 10.
Although Peter and those who accompanied him to the house of Cornelius could clearly see that God had added Gentiles to the church just as he had the Jews gathered at the temple on Pentecost in 31 AD, it was hard for them to fully grasp the meaning of this dramatic shift. The first century Jewish Christians, including the Apostles, were “cultural captives”, meaning they operated based upon their cultural heritage which was not God’s perspective in regard to the church.
The impact of Jewish culture on the Apostles is illustrated in the book of Galatians. There in Paul’s epistle, we find that Peter and other Jews had no problem eating meals with the non-Jewish Christians.
However, when leading Jewish Christians came to Antioch and saw Peter and the other Jews in Antioch eating with the Gentiles they created a fuss over this. From the perspective of these visitors from Jerusalem Paul and the other Jews were being made ritually unclean by eating with the Gentiles. Peter, Barnabas and other Jewish Christians stopped eating with the Gentiles feeling uncomfortable and maybe confused about what to do. So they separated themselves for meals from the Gentiles.
Paul seeing this take place could not let this hypocrisy pass. We find him addressing this, “But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, "If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?”” (Galatians 2:14).
Paul addressed this because this division between Jew and Gentile was going to create a huge rift in the Church of God if not properly dealt with. Paul intervened in the matter strongly because of the potential for splitting the church into Jewish and Gentile factions. Such division was not God’s intention as illustrated most emphatically in Acts 10 and Acts 15, as well as, in the epistles of Paul.
We might ask, “How does this situation relate to the Passover?”
Consider the footwashing.
We have a separation for the footwashing between men and women for modesty and decorum in a groups setting.
However, should we seek to separate based on whether we are Jewish or Gentile? I am an Israelite and will not wash the feet of a Gentile. If we went down such a path of segregation, we would be back to the same situation as the first century. We would be divided which is not what any part of the Passover service symbolizes.
Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free — and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.” In other words, we are one body, bound together through the Spirit of God dwelling in each member.
Our being one body is emphasized by each member partaking of the bread and the wine. Every member of the body of Christ partakes of the Passover symbols. Paul points out what this symbolizes in 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.” As we partake of the Passover symbols we are unified.
The word communion in this passage causes some confusion because it is used by some as a title for the taking of the bread and wine. However, the word used by Paul indicates unity of the body of Christ in partaking of it. The word “communion” is translated as “share a fellowship” in Amplified; “a sharing” in the New Century Version; and the Wuest Expanded New Testament translates the Greek as “our joint-participation”. Paul uses the word “communion” to indicate we are together as one body as observe the Passover.
So as we come together to observe the Passover, we are neither Jew nor Gentile, slave or free, male or female. We are all heirs of salvation.
Enjoy a most pleasant Sabbath.
Gary Smith
Friday, April 3, 2015
Our World Needs Servants Who Will Follow Christ’s Example, Not More Lords
On Tuesday evening of Nisan 14, 31 A.D., Jesus sat down with His disciples to observe the Passover. “When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God” (Luke 22:14-16).
One part of the Passover service is found in John 13. There we find a most meaningful ceremony established. “And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. . . . Jesus answered and said to him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this."
So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them” (John 13:2-7, 12-17).
We might ask, “Why did Jesus wash the feet of His disciples on Passover evening? Why did He take the opportunity to give them an example of service?”
Luke recounts an incident of human nature on display even at the Passover itself. “Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest. And He said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called 'benefactors.' But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves” (Luke 22:24-27).
Christ settled the question of who is the greatest by showing them what a servant is all about. Surely those who were to become the Apostles of Christ were mortified when Christ, their teacher and master, washed their feet and explained that the greatest in the kingdom of God will be the one who serves.
We, who are members, participated in the footwashing ceremony on Thursday evening, and one of the great reminders of that ceremony is that we are to follow Christ’s example of service to all. Christ’s example of service reminds us we don’t need more lords who exercise authority over others. Our world needs servants who will follow Christ’s example and show what true greatness is all about.
Have most pleasant Sabbath, the first day of Unleavened Bread,
Gary Smith
One part of the Passover service is found in John 13. There we find a most meaningful ceremony established. “And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. . . . Jesus answered and said to him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this."
So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them” (John 13:2-7, 12-17).
We might ask, “Why did Jesus wash the feet of His disciples on Passover evening? Why did He take the opportunity to give them an example of service?”
Luke recounts an incident of human nature on display even at the Passover itself. “Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest. And He said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called 'benefactors.' But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves” (Luke 22:24-27).
Christ settled the question of who is the greatest by showing them what a servant is all about. Surely those who were to become the Apostles of Christ were mortified when Christ, their teacher and master, washed their feet and explained that the greatest in the kingdom of God will be the one who serves.
We, who are members, participated in the footwashing ceremony on Thursday evening, and one of the great reminders of that ceremony is that we are to follow Christ’s example of service to all. Christ’s example of service reminds us we don’t need more lords who exercise authority over others. Our world needs servants who will follow Christ’s example and show what true greatness is all about.
Have most pleasant Sabbath, the first day of Unleavened Bread,
Gary Smith
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