A Word A Day - Key Words from the New Testament

Greetings All,

     This week's thought comes from a very enjoyable and easily readable book on Greek words which offers insights into 365 Greek words in a daily devotional type style.
     If you enjoy studying the origin of words, its a great resource. It's called "A Word A Day - Key Words from the New Testament" by J. D. Watson.
     For example, he does a study of the Greek word "thesauros."  It means "treasure" and is the word from which we get our English word Thesaurus (a treasury of words). He also goes over the Greek word "klepto" (which means "to steal"). It's the word from which we get our English word "kleptomaniac." That means some of you have spoken a Greek word without knowing it! For today's selection I chose the Greek word "ekklesia." Enjoy.

     "What is the church? A study of the church in the New Testament reveals that it's not Judaism improved and continued, not the kingdom of heaven, not a denomination, and not a mere earthly organization. Ekklesia (church) is a unique word. It's comprised of "ek" meaning "out" and "kaleo" meaning "to call." The word therefore means "a called out assembly."

     It is found in Classical Greek from the fifth century B.C. onward and was used for the assembling of citizens of a city for legislation and other public business (Acts 19:32, 39, 41).

     While ekklesia occurs about 100 times in the Greek translation of the Old Testament for the gathering of Israel for some definite purpose, the usual word is "sunagoge"  ("synagogue") which appears 225 times to translate various Hebrew words. It's amazing that Jesus followers didn't describe their meetings using sunagoge, since this would have been the natural word for Jews to use. When it is used, it refers to the meeting place of the local Jewish community or assembly.

     So ekklesia is, indeed, unique, appearing some 116 times. As our Lord declared, "Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell will not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18). Our Lord truly transformed this word, using it to refer to HIS assembly, making it distinct from Judaism.

     Our English word "church" actually comes from kuriakos, which is derived from kurios (Lord) and literally means "belonging to the Lord." Combining these two words, then, the church can be defined as the called-out assembly of New Testament believers that belong to the Lord"... It is the living entity that God is using bring about His purposes on earth. And what a blessing it is to know that each of us (who has been called out and believes) is an integral part of it."

     It amazes me how much the meaning of words change!  In fact, contrary to its original meaning, most people think the word "church" refers to the building where Christians meet, rather than the gathering of Christians who meet in the building!

     In ancient days a town crier called out, or rang a bell, calling people out of their routine daily activities to gather for some important announcement or hear some important proclamation. This assembly was called an "ekklesia."

     In the Christian transformation of this word, taken from Greek culture, there is a beautiful picture.  God becomes the "caller" and issues the call to come and follow Christ (Rom. 8:28-29), particular sinners are enabled by God's grace to both hear and respond in faith to that call (John 6:44 and 65 / Acts 13:48 / 16:14), and in doing so they become disciples of Jesus who inwardly feel compelled to gather with others who have received that same call that they may worship Him, grow in the faith, and pool their efforts and resources to carry out the work He has assigned all the "called out ones" (or the "church") to do.

     What a miracle the church is! What a miracle it is that we even belong to it! What an awesome yet undeserved privilege it is to have received the call to gather, to belong to, and to worship Jesus as part of the "ekklesia" -- sinners called out from among the masses to come and belong to Jesus and be made part of His body the Church.

In the Bonds of Christian Fellowship, Pastor Jeff 

Called to Suffer. Called to Die.

Greetings All,

     This week's "thought" comes to you, not from a book or magazine, but from a conversation that took place during a Bible study on Colossians which focused primarily on Colossians 1:24.  The dialogue was recorded by one of the participants present.

     The leader of the study was Josh Fairbaugh.   The study itself took place while training the incoming staff that particular year for Worldview Academy (a Christian instructional camp where Josh was serving as camp director).  It was just days before the students arrived.

     Josh attended my church here in Perkasie PA, and has filled the pulpit for me on a few occasions.  He presently resides in Charlotte, NC, with his wife Kristen where he is a student at the Reformed Theological Seminary campus in that city.

     I found the dialogue both insightful and challenging. Enjoy.

Called to Suffer. Called to Die.

"Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of His body, which is the church."

     "You are allowed by God to be a minister this summer," Josh said.  "You are going to struggle, and Satan is going to try to stop you."  Josh spent most of the session discussing what Paul meant by, "filling what is lacking in Christ's afflictions." (1:24)

     "We can go above and beyond by doing things that don't come naturally or are not comfortable," Isaac said when asked how they will suffer for the summer.  "Showing that we are there for them. Suffering for their sake. Well, I don't like using that word."

     Josh stopped him. "But it's what the verse says, so it's okay to say that you will suffer this summer. You will. It isn't bad to suffer."
     "Not only did Paul suffer, but he rejoiced in his suffering," someone chimed in from the other side of the room. "And in Philippians," Lauren added, "Paul talks about how to live is Christ and to die is gain."
     Kristen raised her hand and what she said brought new understanding to the discussion. "To love is to die," she said quietly. "Christ laid his life down for his bride, and Paul does that for the church in the same way that we must die for our students."

     Hands ceased to rise and Josh continued the session. "Our suffering is not a byproduct of preaching the gospel. It is an essential part of preaching the gospel and making it known. The only way to bring the suffering of Christ to people is to show them suffering. God has designed and appointed us for suffering, to be a minister of the gospel and a person who carries the word of God."

     Staff were silent as they processed Paul's message: Suffer to further the gospel, give to gain, die to love.
     "If you are going into the summer and you aren't ready to suffer as a part of preaching the word of God," Josh continued, "then you need to go home. Preaching the gospel isn't some high in the sky, fun thing. We are called to be Christ to people. When you think of being Christ to people, how did he do that? He died for them. In doing so, you will fill up the lack in Christ's afflictions."
     In a church culture where some suggest that preaching the gospel is the path to health, wealth and prosperity, it is good to be reminded that Paul never saw his own calling in that way. There is never even the slightest hint of it. He simply accepted and was content with whatever came his way (Phil. 4:11-13). 

     Paul wasn't in it to acquire worldly gain.  He had died to all such desires and determined that to live was Christ (not the earthly benefits he could get from Him) and to die was gain.  Love for Christ consumed his heart.  His Lord was his all in all, and merely serving Him by seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness was itself the greatest of all possible rewards in this life -- even when it included the honor and privilege of suffering or going without and finally dying for Jesus' sake.

     As one of my seminary professors one time noted in relation to our motivation for serving Jesus: "Serve Christ for a dollar and you'll serve the devil for two."  There's more truth to that statement than we'd often like to admit. Our service for Jesus must be unconditional. That is, it must never be conditioned on the benefits we hope to receive. After all, we are servants, not mercenaries.

Living in the grace of Jesus, Pastor Jeff

Called

Greetings All,

 

      This week's 'thought' comes to you from "The Call -- Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life," by Os Guiness.  It's a book that is profoundly insightful, intellectually and spiritually stimulating, and personally encouraging, while also being challenging. If you want to understand postmodern culture -- and especially want to help your older children or other young people find direction and a way through the maddening maze of contemporary life-alternatives -- this book is extremely helpful.  Guiness has an uncanny grasp of human need, sees the big picture, and relates it to the smaller details of modern life very well. 

      I know this quote is long, but ask you not to ignore it for that reason!  It was difficult to condense into a short selection, since the whole chapter is so good.  It comes from the chapter entitled: "A Focused Life."   If you are one who often feels like life is confusing, superficial, too fast-paced and overloaded with too many alternatives, options and choices, you may gain helpful insight and guidance for your dilemma from his words -- words you can share with others.  Enjoy.  

    "Pluralization is the process by which the proliferation of choice and change rapidly multiplies the number of options. This affects modern society at all levels, from consumer goods to relationships to worldviews and faiths... The modern world offers an endless range of choice and change, overwhelming traditional simplicities and cohesion.... Life has become a smorgasbord with an endless array of dishes.  And more important still, choice is no longer just a state of mind. Choice has become a value, a priority, a right.  To be modern is to be addicted to choice and change.  These are the unquestioned essence of modern life.  

    Some of the effects of pluralization are desvastating... For example, the increase in choice and change leads to decrease in commitment and continuity -- to everyone and everything. Thus, obligation melts into option and choice.  Other effects are also terribly obvious -- above all the way in which choice and change lead quickly to a sense of fragmentation, saturation, and overload.  In the modern world there are simply too many choices, too many people to relate to, too much to do, too much to see, too much to read, too much to catch up with and follow, too much to buy.  

     Each choice sprouts with its own questions.  Might we? Could we? Should we? Will we? Won't we? What if we had? What if we hadn't? The forest of questions leads deeper and deeper into the dark freedom, then to the ever darker anxiety of seemingly infinite possibility. At some point different to us all, a cut-off switch kicks in.  We are overloaded, saturated. There is too much to do and too little time to do it.  But life goes on.  Neither planning nor juggling can span the gap.  But life goes on.  At the level of our relationships alone, their sheer number, variety, and intensity become impossible. But life goes on. One minute we feel the vertigo of unlimited possibility and the next the frustration of superficiality. But life goes on. 

     The result is not only overload but also a profound loss of unity, solidity, and coherence in life. Experience comes to us shredded into fragments and episodes.  Each moment stands on its own, with neither roots in any yesterday, not consequences for any tomorrow.  Like a sound-bite or a headline, each experience bursts into our attention and quickly fades from our memory. So today's rage is ridiculous tomorrow; today's celebrity is tomorrows bore.  Not surprisingly, attention-deficit is a contemporary disorder and genuine tradition is a scarce commodity. 

      Stone, it is said, was the medium for the ancients and steel for the early moderns; ours is plastic and the name of the game is recycling.  'One-and-only' and 'forever' are obsolete, and 'needing more space' is our most readily given excuse.  In our fragmented lives the one thing necessary is to "keep our options open." The art of "identity building" is more a matter of fluidity than fixture.  And since the rules of the game change as fast as the games themselves, we are taught to avoid above all else, being 'stuck' with commitments that might 'mortgage' the freedom of tomorrow...

   Yet the very character of [our God-given] calling counters the fragmentation and overload at key points and opens up the secret of a focused life in a saturated world: First, calling subverts the deadly modern idolatry of choice... Choice for modern people is a right that overwhelms both responsibility and rationality... But, ultimately, only one thing can conquer choice -- being chosen.  

    Thus, for followers of Christ, calling neutralizes the fundamental poison of choice in modern life. 'I have chosen you,' Jesus said, 'you have not chosen me.' (John 15:16) 'We are not our own, we were bought with a price.' (I Cor. 6:19-20)  We have no rights, only responsibilities.  Following Christ is not our initiative, it is merely our response, in obedience. Nothing works better to debunk the pretensions of choice than a conviction of calling.  Once we have been called, we literally 'have no choice.'

    Second, calling provides the story line for our lives and thus a sense of continuity and coherence in the midst of a fragmented and confusing world.  The saturation and overload produced by pluralization, and reinforced by mobility, are a leading cause of modern alienation.  If we have lived too many places, had too many jobs, known too many people, and watched too much TV, how do we make sense of it all?  Is there a story line to our lives or are they just a jumble of experiences that are, 'sound and fury, signifying nothing'?... 

     Whenever we feel this dilemma, calling reminds us that there were nomads before modern mobility -- and calling gave them meaning.  Thus Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees and followed the call of God without knowing where he was going. The people of Israel crossed a trackless desert following a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.  In both cases their sense of direction and meaning came soley from God's call, not from their foresight, their wisdom, or their ability to read their circumstances. They were on their way to a land of promise.  They did not always know the way God was leading them, but they always knew why they trusted God: His word was the promise and his call was the way...  Follow the call of Christ despite the uncertainty and chaos of modern circumstances, and you have the story line of your life.

    Third, calling helps us to be single-minded without being fanatics. Modern choice and change, reinforced by the pace and pressure of modern life, constantly threaten to diffuse our concentration and dissipate our energy... The dangerous notion that 'the need is the call,' is a sure recipe for overload and confusion... The remedy, needless to say, lies in setting wise goals and setting aside everything else.  But how? Long ago the writer of Proverbs observed, 'Folly may amuse the empty-headed, but a man of understanding makes straight for his goal.'  More recently, Harvard philosopher George Santayana wrote, "in accomplishing anything definite a man renounces everything else' ....

     A sense of calling helps because it provides the bull's-eye at the center of the widening concentric circles that are life's possibilities.  Modern life assaults us with an infinite range of things we could do, we would love to do, or some people tell us we should do.  But we are not God and we are neither infinite nor eternal.  We are quite simply finite. We have only so many years, so much energy, and so many bank notes in our wallets... Let God's calling be the ultimate compass in your life... [For] calling is a 'yes' to God that carries with it a 'no' to the chaos of modern demands, and helps us trace and unriddle the meaning of our lives in a chaotic world."    

       We live in a challenging era, where living out our faith in Christ is difficult (maybe more difficult than ever before), and thus empathy and compassion for struggling and lost souls, and not anger, or an escapist desire for a "return to simpler days," needs to drive us to offer advice such as which Mr. Guiness gives. Advice which is intelligent, coherent, wise, and finds its source in the high calling of God, and not your typical superficial remedies.

                             That we may all reorient ourselves to the compass point of His call, 

Pastor Jeff