Over the past few months I
have been having conversations with some who believe Christianity has been
changed significantly since the time of Jesus.
The premise has been, a sort of "cultural drift" regarding the
Church that presumably has tainted the original intent and establishment of the
Church. A popular thought is that through
the years the teachings of Jesus, or at least the functionality of His purpose,
has changed significantly resulting in a Church that is hardly recognizable
when compared side-by-side with the First Century Church. Indeed, the multi-cultural influence coupled
with the passage of time with its incremental change has diluted the Church
teachings to say the least, and at most, has changed the Church entirely from
its foundational teachings from Jesus.
Offered are the examples
beginning with the changes that started taking place even with the Apostles in
the First Century. The entire discussion
of the Jewish Christians who maintained the obedience to the law plus the faith
in the Messiah. The Apostle Paul spent a
great deal of time and effort writing his epistles outlining his reasoning for
not depending on the law (works) in regard to salvation and
sanctification. Even though this was
addressed in the first century by the Apostle Paul and the Apostle Peter at the
time, it is very evident in religions around the world today that followers
depend on works more than faith in what Jesus did on the cross once, for all. If it started that early in the Church, so
goes the reasoning, then it is reasonable to assume that changes will continue
throughout the ages.
Throughout history we have
seen the influence of culture on the Church.
With each impending influence it appears there is yet another
incremental change that either adds to or takes away from a fundamental
teaching of Christ. Even in great
moments of history we see significant shifts in the message and the
Gospel. From the politicalization of
secular Rome with Constantine, to Christianity becoming the state religion of
Rome, and the establishment of the "Vicar of Christ" with total power of Christ centered in the
"Rock of St. Peter" as the Pope over the "Universal Church"
through Catholicism, all the way to the "Reformation" with Martin
Luther protesting what the Church had become through years of change. Even in the nineteenth century we experienced
the "Restoration Movement" even then sometimes referred to by a few
as "Campbell-ites." From the
establishment of the Restoration Movement to now we have splinters, many of
whom continue to preach "unity", even though that has not always been
achieved. Indeed, other great
"movements" have ensued in the past 150 years that have tried to
return the Church to the original, or at least reawaken the spirit of the
Church. "The Great Awakening, the second Great Awakening, the
Restoration Movement, the Spiritual Renewal movement, and the Third Wave
movement of church fellowship."
(Steven Chapman)
Beyond even those few
examples we see hundreds or thousands of variations of denominational practice
even to the point of disassociation with each other. That doesn't even count for the thousands of
sects that are culturally relative throughout the world.
In order to marginalize
the authenticity of the Church, some would like for us to believe that the
church has been subverted throughout history by cultural change and the
different arguments from various factions that have contributed altering, and
somewhat, contradictory interpretations of doctrine. By having such altering
movements through history and cultures the Truth established by Jesus is said
by some to have been altered to such an extent that it is difficult, if not
impossible, to unravel the current Christian world view from what it is now
back to the original founder of the Church.
So the conclusion of that thought is that we have incrementally moved
from the true representation of Christ beginning with the time He was waving at
His disciples as He ascended, and each subsequent year afterward.
To many it has the sound
and logic of relative truth. In some
people's mind it sort of makes sense given all the arguments and doubts the
early church had as recorded in The Acts. Jew verses Gentile; circumcision
verses non-circumcision; speaking in different languages as a sign of the
baptism of the Holy Spirit; miraculous healing with the touch of a hand, or
even having a shadow fall over you; or eating/not eating clean/un-clean food.
Even the very debate that the Apostle Paul so eloquently presents in relation
to the law (works) versus faith in the work that Jesus alone did on the cross. If
we have been so fully corrupted by the subsequent years and the multiple
cultures in which men have created and lived, then there would be no way to
uncover the real representation of Christ since it would have been so far
removed.
One thing in the above
analysis has been omitted: God's
Power! I believe that God’s power and
timeless message will stand firm until He decides to return and claim His own. God looks at mankind and our having fallen in
love with our sin nature. Knowing that we cannot do anything to save ourselves
from our own sin, we are still in need of salvation. God knew that if redemption was going to be
completed at all He was going to have to do it Himself. He gave the first clue
as recorded in Genesis 3:15. So here
comes Jesus who presents Himself as a perfect sacrifice and does His work on
the cross. God judged it and counted it perfect; accepted Jesus’ sacrifice and
raised Him from the dead. Satan was defeated, death was cheated, and we,
covered by the blood of Jesus, now can walk across that once-deadly chasm that
separated us from God and stand directly in front of His Throne because we are
covered by the blood of Jesus.
Now as we stand in Jesus, covered by His
blood, saved by His Grace our faith in Him urges us to walk in Him. How do we
do it? We follow the Apostle Paul’s example and declaration: “Live by the
Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. For the flesh has
desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are
opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to each other, so that you
cannot do what you want.” (Galatians 5:16-17) Find a Bible and read the entire
book of Galatians to discover that you can be free in Christ, led by His Holy
Spirit, and grow to maturity in Him.
I believe that we can truly know what God
wants from us. He wants us to worship Him, accept Him and seek Him. I believe
that God transcends all cultures and even our time-line that controls
generations. He uses the power of His Word to convict us of His Truth and our
simple job is to accept it or reject it. It is our “Free Will” that hinders us.
We choose to hide ourselves in everything else, including our respective
cultures, to refrain from submitting to Him. But when we do finally see Him and
accept His grace and become obedient to Him, He gives us His Spirit, along with
power, to live in the reflection of Jesus. We must, however, continue
throughout our entire lives to exercise our “Free Will” and submit to Jesus and
have faith in the work He did on the cross and His work saves us; as we
continue to submit to Him He gives us His Spirit to grow us through the power that
comes from the Holy Spirit.
So, what I am trying to
say with this little piece is even with such variances and incremental changes
throughout the past twenty-one centuries, the Church has stayed in tack through
the power of the Holy Spirit pointing to the Grace of God and the work that
Jesus did on the cross. I believe that
has survived through the ages and we can still be called "Christians"
because the power of God's Holy Spirit has protected the Word through the ages
and continues to testify of Jesus and His work on the cross relative to our
salvation and growth. Even with the
incremental changes passing through various cultures, God has not, nor will He,
allow His Church to be destroyed or buried under cultural relativism even
though the modern church of various religions have built the "broad"
road through their front doors.
Jim Killebrew
