Bearing His Reproach

We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. (Hebrews 13:10-13, NKJV).

He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. (Isaiah 53:3, NKJV).

If you have never been despised as a Christian, then you have either remained silent about Jesus, live in a cloister, or have lived your life of faith in such a way that there is no discernible difference between you and the world.

This is true because the unbelieving world hates Christ. He said it would and it does. Now this does not mean that it happens 24/7, or that the intensity of contempt is unbearable, or that the hostility is always overt, but it does mean that you can be certain you are not as accepted in the world as you might have been before becoming a follower of Jesus. And those who are most contemptuous may be in your own family, or even members of your own household. It happens. It is supposed to happen.

I am not speaking of the contempt you may receive for being obnoxious, or bitter, or unkind, or boastful, or demonstrating any number of other common and pervasive human failings. That's your doing. No, the reproach mentioned in the verse above is solely due to Christ being pure and beautiful and majestic and good, and you being His follower with His Spirit within you. This is true because the world is evil and hateful in its horrid rebellion against God. It hates everything about God (the true God of the Bible), and everything about you, because you are His.

If this hasn't been your experience, then maybe you are not being attentive. Or maybe you should examine yourself as to whether or not you are in the faith.

Open your eyes and ears, and if you are concerned about your popularity and acceptance, prepare for being crushed. In other parts of the world, Christians are beaten and imprisoned and killed. If, in the West, you are being sneered at, or spoken against, or mocked, count your blessings. It could be much worse.

However, it does hurt. It hurts when family turns against you. It hurts when you are excluded or spoken of behind your back. It hurts when you suffer public humiliation. It hurts when, through no fault or action of your own, your are despised and rejected.

But know this, you are in good company, for:

“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:11, 12, NKJV).

This equation is what makes Christians an unbeatable force for good in the world. We are never commanded to do violence, but to love and speak the truth. We are never commanded to exact revenge, but to leave vengeance to the Lord. We are never commanded to return evil for evil, but the opposite. And when all of this evokes even more intense hatred from the world, well, that is to be expected, for this world is not our home. We are citizens of Heaven.

How then are we to react to the enmity of the world? Simply put, like Christ.

When reviled He did not revile in return.

He forgive those who drove the nails through His hands and feet, and lifted Him on the Cross to suffer excruciating death.

He loved the unlovable, and forgave the unforgivable, and He did so with the complete assurance that such was His Father's will.

At the same time, He was fierce in His condemnation of evil. He overturned the tables and cages in the Temple and drove out the profiteers with a whip of cords. He called those who were falsely religious hypocrites and vipers. And He did not hesitate to stand for what is right and good. Even His mother and siblings thought He was crazy.

He is our example and He never compromised for the sake of not making waves. His entire earthly ministry was a gigantic tsunami, and He knew it would end in persecution and death, but He did it anyway.

His motivation was filial obedience and love.

So to bear His reproach means that we should expect the same. While there will be some who see Christ in us and are converted and become members of our eternal family (closer and far more loyal than blood relations), there will be others who will hate us passionately, and will overlook no opportunity to disparage us and cause us pain.

Even among our own family and friends.

But in the end, none of that matters, for the only thing of importance is Christ within us, the hope of glory.

His warnings to us should be heeded. We should expect betrayal and contempt. It happened to Him. It will happen to us. That is what He meant by counting the cost. To ignore the warnings is to be blind-sided by the attacks that will come.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 15:58, NKJV).

Coming Out

We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. (Hebrews 13:10-13, NKJV).

It has been said, “there are only two kinds of people in this world, those who divide people into two categories... and those who don't.”

A pithy saying, but based on a false premise and a false corollary. In reality, there are only three kinds of people, and in the order of their advent these are: Gentiles, Jews, and the church.

Everyone is from one blood, descended from the first human couple (even secular geneticists recognize “mitochondrial Eve”). Until Abram was called out of Ur of the Chaldees and renamed Abraham, all of Eve's descendants for the next 2000 years comprised “the nations”, or more accurately, “Gentiles”.

Then Abraham became the Father of the Jews by physical lineage (and the Father of the Faithful by example), followed some 2000 years later, by the ekklesia (church) of Christ, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. (Colossians 3:11, NKJV).

To advance (for advancement it surely is – but not by our own efforts) from either of the first two groups into the third, requires a full-fledged “coming out”, a conscious, volitional transition that leaves behind all that was valued before (position, privilege, pride-of-membership, comfort, familiarity, conformity). It is no small thing, and Jesus acknowledges this, and warns about the cost.

“For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it-- “lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, “saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ “Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? “Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. “So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. (Luke 14:28-33, NKJV).

“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. “And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. “So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. (Luke 14:26, 27, 33, NKJV).

Therefore “Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.” (2 Corinthians 6:17, NKJV).

However, the result far exceeds the price.

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ (Philippians 3:7, 8, NKJV).

Note what the Apostle Paul writes in that last citation: everything and everyone else in comparison to Christ, is rubbish. The word in the original Greek is dung.

Coming out from the world is not only essential for being a disciple of Christ, but it is the best decision and action that mortal man can undertake, for the world is evil and hateful and filled with death.

“The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil. (John 7:7, NKJV).

“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. “If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. (John 15:18, 19, NKJV).

Coming out is also the only course away from damnation into eternal life.

Now this does not mean isolation, but separation. We are to be in the world, doing the works that our Savior prepared beforehand that we should walk in them, but not of the world, and the distinction is crucial, for

...[do] you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:4, NKJV)

Popularity, conformity, and comfort with and in the world is a deep and abiding temptation. That, combined with human pride is a deadly spiritual toxin that prevents many from being saved.

In the end, it is death.

If you are not being persecuted in some fashion because of your faith, if you are not made to feel like a stranger in a strange land, if your unbelieving friends and family are not holding you in varying degrees of contempt and in some way letting you know that they consider you the offscouring of the world, then examine yourself to see if you are in the faith.

If your witness as a follower of Jesus Christ, however imperfect it may be, does not result in loss or heartache or discomfort, then your are either uniquely blessed, or not being the salt and light that Christ has commanded His disciples to be.

We are to be different, not because of outward piousness or false spirituality, but because of inward transformation. We are to speak the truth in love, despite Jesus guaranteeing that doing so would make us hated.

Some have said that the church needs to conform to the world, to become seeker-friendly, to modify doctrine and practice so that it fits more readily into modern culture. By this theory, we are to “cut all that chatter about sin and death, salvation and sacrifice, righteousness and truth, heaven and eternal punishment”, and thereby soften the message and make it more palatable.

But this is a strategy from the pit of Hell, and is exactly the opposite of what the church should do. It is also the primary reason why the visible church has so little influence on the actual daily living of so many who profess belief in Christianity.

Anemic, watered down doctrine has the same effect as any diluted cure; it gives the impression of effectiveness while leading to death and ultimate eternal despair. It is snake-oil and sugar water, good for nothing.

To dispense such a remedy, however lucrative it may be, is a monstrous crime. To proclaim that God forgives everyone whose good deeds outweigh their bad, or whose quiet and private religious belief does not make those around them uncomfortable or feel the burden of conviction, is to foster unconscionable evil.

The proclamation of the gospel of Christ, and the living out of faith in His death and resurrection should not be done in a closet. It should be shouted from the rooftops. It is supposed to make people squirm, and to fill those with the hardest of hearts full of contempt and hatred toward those who humbly live for Christ.

It is the only coming out that has any meaning or eternal benefit.

Our Altar

We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. (Hebrews 13:10-13, NKJV).

Altars have been a part of human history from the beginning. Even from a secular viewpoint, the earliest hominids left behind evidence of ritual platforms endued with religious or spiritual significance. These were entirely focused on the need to propitiate angry deities who sought to punish mankind for its unapproved behavior.

It is fascinating how pervasive such beliefs were, arising all over the globe, across cultures, widely variant religious beliefs, practices, vast geographical areas, and levels of civilizational advancement. Evolution cannot explain such commonality of thought and practice, but the Bible can, and does.

The inherent need to somehow make up for bad behavior, to placate powers beyond human control and understanding, the need to, in some way, offer sacrifice to forestall or prevent judgment is as natural to human behavior as avarice, greed and lust. It is a powerful impulse and remains to this day, and is expressed in any number of obvious or covert ways.

From self-inflicted suffering, to guilt-assuaging charity, to silent bargaining with the Universe, even the most rabid atheist feels, and acts upon, this ubiquitous need. It is part of our cellular make-up, an integral component of our emotional-spiritual DNA.

And it is all futile and useless.

The only sacrifices that had any effectiveness were ordained by God for the Jews of the Old Testament, and even these were only prefigurements of the one Sacrifice that would, once and for all, placate the Creator's righteous wrath against His creatures' unrighteous rebellion – the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross.

With the exception of the sacrifice of consecration, which was completely burned, the ancient Levitical offerings entailed eating a portion of the slain animal or produce in the vicinity of the altar upon which the gift was presented. The best parts of the animal or the first-fruits of the field were consumed in the presence of God, as an acknowledgement that He was the Person who was sinned against, while simultaneously acknowledging Him as the provider of that which was being offered in payment.

He both established the cost of sin and was the Source of the means to settle the debt, as He did with Abraham and Isaac, and by giving His Son to die on the Cross.

In the Old Testament economy, the priesthood of Israel was given the remainder of the sacrifice as payment for their service in the Tabernacle, and later in the Temple.

In contrast, our altar is of a completely different nature, based on the immeasurable superiority of our Sacrifice, the Lord Jesus. His death did not provide mere atonement (the covering up of sin, for that is what atone means), but complete elimination of the stain and debt of sin.

No other sacrifice was possible or needed after that one superb act of filial obedience and divine love on His part. And therefore the figurative altar of that sacrifice, the Cross, is utterly unique and irreplaceable, and can be approached only by those who place their complete faith in Christ. To everyone else, it is unapproachable.

The right of access, then, is inviolable and irrevocable. It is reserved for neither Jew, nor Greek, but for the church of Christ alone.

That is the bad news.

The good news is that everyone is eligible to be granted that right if they cease depending on anything else but Christ to satisfy God's wrath against sin.

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12, 13, NKJV).

Now the modern, “enlightened” world rejects this reasoning, considering it archaic, superstitious nonsense. If God exists at all, in their thinking, He would not be so arcane and bloodthirsty. Instead He would be more like what they imagine themselves falsely to be.

What they fail to understand in their arrogance, is that God is not the God of their own imagination, but the transcendent, eternal, all-knowing, and all-powerful Creator of existence. He gets to set the rules, and while He gives them the freedom to disobey those rules, He promises to exact judgment on those who do.

And he also provides the only vehicle of escape from that punishment, faith in His Son's sacrifice on the altar of His love.

Profitless Doctrines

Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them. (Hebrews 13:09, NKJV).

Because Jesus is unchanging (Hebrews 13:08), His teaching is unchanging and is established forever. Consequently there are no new doctrines needed or possible for the Christian faith. Nonetheless, these abound, and anticipating this, the writer of Hebrews gives this plain, common sense warning about the illogic of being enticed by the inferior teachings of men.

While we may not understand fully all the tenets of the New Testament, (in terms of the depth and richness of God's eternal purposes) we can only concur with what has been said by expositors throughout church history, “the main things are the plain things”.

Thus, the best protection against being carried about with various and strange doctrines, is immersion in the truth. We are to be steadfast, immovable, rooted and grounded, holding fast the word of life so that we do not fall prey to the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting and the trickery of men.

This does not mean we are to fear such error, for it has no power against the truth, but we are to guard against it in the same way that a diligent householder guards against threats to the security and safety of the house: with eyes and ears open, and ever-ready access to the armory of the Word of God.

Perhaps, one of the strangest doctrines in existence, one that has been around since the Fall in Eden, is that we are capable of saving ourselves. This is the foundation for legalism and it is deadly. It is the height of human arrogance and unreason, and if it gains the least foothold, it spreads like an enervating fungus, defiling the soul with spiritual pride.

That is why in the verse above, strange doctrines are coupled with the eating, or the not eating, of specific ritualistic foods. We know that the Levitical dietary restrictions of the Old Testament served two primary purposes – they kept God's people apart from the world, and they provided daily reinforcement of the concepts of “clean and unclean”.

However, these strictures were completely abrogated by the grace revealed in the New Testament, for the Law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. His atoning death made all things new and clean, so that the new contrast between the works of the Law, and salvation by grace alone through faith alone were equally reinforced by daily living. Yet, some could not put away adherence to outward laws, and, instead continued to be occupied by that which had been rendered obsolete. The temptation of the old and comfortable proved too strong for many, preventing them from fully embracing the “new” law of faith.

In the end, their unbelief, for that is what it was, resulted in their rejection of the promised Messiah.

Another enticing, but unequivocally false doctrine is Darwinian Evolution, which is the theory (dogma, really) that states that all Causality came about solely by chance over time. In essence, this false scientific premise states that some postulated Quantum Singularity, at some distant “time” in the past, exploded, and, in the process, created time and space and all the elements of primordial matter. These, in turn, through random happenstance over eons, “evolved” into galaxies, stars, planets, and ultimately, us.

The reason this impressive sounding idea is so alluring is because it brilliantly feeds the maw of human pride (mankind is accountable to itself only), while simultaneously rendering us as a kind of potluck result. We exist not because we are special, but because we aren't. And because there is No One and Nothing outside of Materiality that had anything to do with anything, we can go about our business of becoming the gods we have always wanted to be since the Garden, without regard to the true and living God.

Aside from the inherent utter despair this philosophy leads to due to its fundamental acknowledgement that there is no purpose, intelligence, or direction to anything, it provides the one thing a Christ-rejecting world so self-destructively desires: an argument for dispensing with a Creator. Doing so at the expense of all purpose and meaning in life is considered only a small price to pay.

Almost as good, and in someways even more brilliant, is the heresy of Theistic Evolution. This is the idea that while a Creative Intelligence may have started the whole thing, she/he/it has no interest in anything other than sitting back and watching the drama unfold – less despair, perhaps, but equally allowing for supernatural non-interventionism. Thus, dispensing more or less entirely with the God of the Bible, while retaining some semblance of overarching, but passive, authority.

There is no good reason to hold either of these fallacies as true, but reason and rebellion against God have little to do with each other. Both of these strange doctrines gives man the illusion of control and non-accountability to a Deity, with the unspoken corollary that we ourselves will eventually fill that post.

It requires more faith and suspension of reason to believe in Macroevolution than it ever would to believe in Special Creation by a Personal Deity. Everything in the Universe, from the Cosmological Constants, to the contradictory results of Radioisotope Dating, to the irreducible complexity of the simplest organic cell, flies squarely in the face of mindless, or “passive” Creationism.

The purported long ages of both the earth and the Cosmos are being addressed with new cosmological theories, extensions to Relativistic Physics, and hypotheses regarding gravitational time dilation, with earth at the center of a created Universe.

And regardless of whether these latest Creationist origins theories serve to explain fully all the scientific data at our disposal, it is clear that the Theory of Evolution does not. The dirty secret kept from popular culture is that Evolution is a paradigm on the brink of complete collapse. Even its staunchest proponents are beginning to realize (and admit) it is woefully inadequate in accounting for the most fundamental questions of modern physics. That is why we here about such imaginative pseudo-scientific constructs as Dark Matter and Dark Energy. These are the mathematical necessities required to “fill the gaps” in the whimsical Big Bang tales.

The bottom line of this exhortation in Hebrews, then, is for each of us to realize that there is no profit in denying truth. God has spelled out clearly what we must do to be saved, and among the most important steps is to cease being willfully deceived.

It is a profitless endeavor to turn aside from the truth of God to the gossamer imaginings of fallible man, knowing that ultimately, rejecting His truth ends in eternal calamity.

Instead, we should cling to that which was revealed to us through His Word, and in the ministry of His Son's propitiatory work on the Cross.

Finally, understand that all doctrines regarding faith and godliness that are sourced outside the recognized Canon of Scripture are neither authoritative or inerrant. These are, like all things man-centered, corrupt and corrupting, profiting nothing.

Ultimately, unless you are firmly anchored in the truth, you WILL be carried about by your own understanding and by “popular wisdom”. Jesus Himself said it best:

“But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: “and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” (Matthew 7:26, 27, NKJV).

Unchanging

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:08, NKJV).

There is no ground quite as useless as shifting sand. This is true in geology, and is metaphorically true in all spheres of human experience. Consistency, solidity, and stability - not whimsy - are the requirements needed in the realms of life and death, morality, ethics, and religion.

Mere mortals cannot achieve this goal, only Deity can. If we were to base anything of substance on vaporous human opinion alone, we would stumble through life as the blind leading the blind. Our views of right and wrong, the sanctity of life, the value of marriage and family, and the dignity inherent in being human would be blown about with the wind of culture and popular opinion. These would be as changeable and uncertain as shifting sand.

When you remove the omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent Being from the equation, all that is left is the miserable imagination and intellect of fallen and depraved man. The inevitable result is chaos and anarchy, the deadly slime upon which evil thrives.

Increasingly, as “modern” civilization departs from God, we see this very thing. When you decry the Standards-Maker as obsolete, standards themselves become pillars of reed in the sand. Nothing of value can be counted upon to survive the next gale of plebeian thinking and Christ-denying rebellion.

That is why the short verse above is so vitally important to understanding the nature of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This text, and others like it, affirm and establish the unequivocal deity and eternality of the One we serve.

It is logically impossible to accept the mistaken concept that Jesus was other than God in the flesh. If you accept Him at all, and understand the things He said and what was written about Him, you MUST conclude what perhaps C.S. Lewis said best:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

Now, at least on the surface, it does not necessarily follow that eternality equates to immutability. Other religions speak of the “whimsy of Allah”, or the “unknowability of God”, but if you look only a little closer you will see that for God to be God - infinite, and all-knowing - He must be immutable, unchanging. You must see, even further, that “change” from that perspective is antithetical to omniscience. Why would He alter an opinion, or action, or plan? Did He not foresee all the contingencies in the first place? Did His perception change?

Granted, the Bible speaks of God's interaction with Creation in anthropomorphic terms, “He regretted that He made man...”, “He turned against them...”, etc., but that is only an accommodation for human understanding; a way to describe the flow of events that, for God to be God, He must have foreknown before the foundation of existence.

What this means for us is simply this: the fact that Jesus is unchanging is surety that all His promises and warnings are true; that He is faithful; that He will complete that good work that He has begun in us; that He holds all of Causality in His hands and will fulfill all that He has purposed and planned... for us.

It also means that the doctrine laid out in the New Testament, inspired by His Spirit, is unalterable. His precepts and truths do NOT evolve, they are established in Heaven, and nothing and no one can change what has been written.

So, man's only escape from eternal judgement is by forgiveness through faith in Him. We are immortal whether we like it or not. There is no way into Heaven except through Him. We are saved not by works but by grace through faith. We cannot please God without faith. All our righteousness is as filthy rags. In Him is all fullness of joy forever. He always lives to make intercession for us. In short:

...He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21, NKJV).

Instead of arrogantly denying the relevance of Christianity as old-fashioned, we should glory in its stability, consistency and immutability. For upon that rests our entire eternity. There MUST be some things which cannot change in order for things to be at all.

While His unthinkable judgment against sin is unchanging, so too is His immeasurable forgiveness through faith.

Without Christ as our rock, we could not rest, for without Him we are forever on the shifting sands of our own powerlessness.

Consider the Outcome

Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct. (Hebrews 13:07, NKJV).

There exists authority in the church, real, ordained by Christ Himself, and purposeful. There is always first, Christ, then the Pastor or Under-shepherd, then the Elders and Deacons. It is simple, direct, and, if exercised under the guidance of Scripture and in the will of God, remarkably effective.

In some sense, it is modeled after Moses and his elders as the Children of Israel wandered through the Wilderness, and that is a fitting picture, for the church of Christ is also comprised of strangers in a strange land, sojourners in a place that is not our home.

All other ecclesiastical hierarchies are man made, and aside from a man being called by God, immersed in sound doctrine for an extended time, and leading a godly life, there are no other qualifications or prerequisites. The trappings of degree and pedigree, educational resume, and man-centered certification are all so much vapor and smoke. If a man is called, he can do no other than to teach and lead the people of God. If he is not, no matter what his official job title may be, or how large his following or congregation, he is a human figurehead, a kind of pseudo-spiritual counterpart to an elected official or hired CEO. No amount of ritual, ceremony, or stately pageantry can alter his (or her) standing.

But if a man is these things, called, godly, and immersed in sound doctrine, his authority and responsibility are as real and solid as the planet itself, and his people are to respect and comply with that authority. That is not to say that such a one cannot disqualify himself by sin, or “lording it over” his church, or holding to heretical views, but it is to affirm that the true church of Christ has structure and divine purpose. It cannot be a willy-nilly conglomeration of man-made strictures and codicils. It must be in accord with the pattern laid down in the New Testament or, regardless of what it calls itself, it is not Christ's ekklesia (church).

Now, a woman is not to hold spiritual authority over a man in the church, and in writing this, I can hear the gasps of feminist outrage rocking the very foundations of the universe. Nevertheless, that is simply the clear teaching of Scripture. Yes, we know Priscilla of the 1^st century taught Apollos doctrine, and corrected him in his misinterpretations of the gospel. And yes, often women did more in the founding of the early church than any number of men (Phoebe, Eunice, Lydia, the numerous Marys, Tryphena, Tryphosa, and many unnamed others), but that is irrelevant in the context of following Christ's blueprint for His church. He sets the rules for His reasons and purposes (and there are many – some known, some unknown), and obeying Him in all things, not just the easy or politically correct things, is the first priority.

In a practical sense, for a church to be a true church, the pastor must be a godly man whose primary purpose is to teach the Word of God to a submissive congregation in order to equip them for the work of ministry. Again I hear the seething outrage at the use of the word, submissive, but that may be because the word has taken modern connotations which have little to do with what it really means.

Submission in the Bible is entirely voluntary, propelled by love, not fear or intimidation. In the church we are to submit first to Christ, and then to one another. It is a gloriously simple proposition, when embraced unencumbered by the deadweights of sinful human society. It is the perfect plan for peace and unity, and it has in the past, and continues in the present, to shake the very foundations of the earth.

Which brings us to the desired outcome of the whole ecclesiastical plan: powerful witness for Christ while providing a home for the saints. And by home, I mean a place of safety, nurturing and edification – not a cloister, but a loving boot camp that trains and prepares the people of God for the work of God in a fallen world.

The outcome then is effective evangelism and protective sanctuary, a twofold mission implemented for the sole purpose of providing a means for human beings to escape from unthinkable judgement through faith in Christ.

A pastor or elder's effectiveness is based entirely on that performance criteria. It is not quantified by numbers or political influence, but by the faithful shepherding of the flock of God so that through their words, deeds and way of life, the Kingdom of God is increased.

Please note the conjunction of “rule” and “spoken the word of God to you.” These must go hand in hand; it is impossible to have one without the other in the church, for it is the faithful exposition of the inerrant word of God that saves, edifies, and equips. Nothing else will do, and without these, no matter what else may be present, there is no fulfillment of Christ's purpose for His church.

With these, no matter how unadorned or impressive from an earthly perspective, God's work is done and the impact and reward is both temporal and eternal.

Leaders in the church are not only to be “apt to teach”, but their leadership MUST be affirmed by example. Eloquence and erudition are no substitute for living out one's faith in steadfast and consistent example. There can never be a “do what I say not what I do” approach to pastoral ministry. Word and deed must be one.

The importance of this role cannot be understated. The influence wrought by a godly pastor can be far-reaching, and so can the damage by one who is unfaithful or hypocritical. That is why teachers are worthy of great reward... or “double judgment”. It is no small thing to be called to lead the people of God and then to succeed... or fail.

And it is for these outcomes that a pastor has been granted spiritual authority over his people, not as tyrant or potentate, but as a shepherd laying down his life for those under his care - pouring himself out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of their faith.

What happens if the focus exhortation above is ignored? If the ruler of a church is counted unworthy of respect and submission? The outcome is division and strife spiraling down into eventual dissolution of that fellowship.

It is very much a reciprocal arrangement between church and pastor. To the man is given respect and godly obedience. To his people, in return, he gives all he has, all the time, to build them up in the faith, to teach, to exhort, to correct, and to lead in the ways of godliness. 

Contentment

Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say: “The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:05-06, NKJV).

The root word in Greek for being content has a surprising etiology: it comes from an emphatic action verb that conveys the idea of “raising a barrier, behind which one is able to defend against, or ward off threats, to keep possession of unfailing strength, and thus, to be satisfied.”

First and foremost then, the formula for contented godly living is founded on security, rather than possessions. As Christians, this makes absolute sense since our security is in an all-powerful, faithful, eternal and good Person. It is NOT in anything we devise or achieve, but in what we have been given through Christ, which makes the barrier raised around us impenetrable and invulnerable. Therefore the rhetorical question that follows, What can man do to me? is answered with a resounding and unshakeable, NOTHING.

Contented living is a byproduct of faith. It is not an attitude of apathy or indifference, as often mischaracterized by the modern world, and it does not stem from material riches, but, paradoxically from poverty of spirit. The engine that powers it is thankfulness engendered by the humble realization of who and what we really are (miserable sinners), in contrast to what we are destined for in following Christ (inconceivable and utterly undeserved eternal blessing).

Too frequently the concept of “miserable sinners” falls blithely from our mouths as mere sounds signifying nothing. To be fully content, again paradoxically, requires hard-bitten introspection, coming face to face with what we were before Christ. This is not easy and the difficulty largely results from two handicaps.

The first, for those who came to Christ later in life, stems from the pain of viewing our past actions in the full light of Christ's glory. Even our most altruistic achievements were inevitably and ultimately motivated by fallen human pride, and the more we understand the Lord's purity and moral beauty, the uglier we become.

And our worst behaviors, however dark and evil they may have been, take on an unmitigated pall straight from the pit of Hell itself. We smell of death and decay, an endless noxious bog of depravity, selfishness, and murderous intent.

If you think this hyperbole, take note of Jesus' Sermon on the mount, where He condemns not only the outward actions but the inward intent, and summarizes each and every one of us by saying, if you being evil...

It is not that our past life was utterly devoid of benign, or at least morally neutral, misbehavior, it is that the heart behind every action, word and thought was incurably and desperately wicked.

Ironically, one advantage for conversion late in life is that we fall into the category of those who are forgiven much, love much.

The second difficulty arises for those who came to Christ earlier in life, and, by so doing, were mercifully prevented from committing the more obviously egregious sins. While equally hard-bitten introspection is also required, the concrete and tangible data points, the blood trail, so to speak, is harder to see. And the temptation to a false sense of spiritual superiority is that much greater.

This, incidentally, is why legalism is deadly – it overlooks the root cause, like a lovely house built upon shifting sands destined for collapse. Christianity is as far from an outward facade of righteousness as Heaven is from Hell. Without doubt, it is the inward that matters most – the thoughts and intent of the heart.

However hard then, contentment can only come from accurate self-perception in comparison to a doctrinally sound and correct view of our Savior. With Christ as the standard, we are all, indeed, the most miserable of sinners.

That realization must then be followed by a full comprehension of these facts: we are forgiven; and we have been made new.

Forgiveness is sometimes easier to give than to receive, but for us to be truly grateful we must first truly receive that which has been extended to us by the death of Christ on the Cross. If we don't, we can neither be content, nor can we fully rest in Him.

In turn, this lack leads to anemic witness and a life energized by either delusional pride, or enervated by the sense that we are not, in fact, forgiven.

The former leads to unforgiveness of others, and the second to unforgiveness of ourselves. Neither outcome is what the Lord desires for His children, hence the repeated New Testament exhortations to be content.

Again, contentment is not complacence or self-satisfaction. It is an active gratitude for the strength and security that is forever ours through Jesus.

It is living based on the certainty that “The LORD is my helper [companion, protector, reward]; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”

Finally, note again the emphasis on the absurdity of what mere man can do to us in light of our security in the Lord. The mention of man includes us, ourselves, individually. If we are fully cognizant of the forgiveness we have obtained through faith in Christ, we are fully immune to condemnation from whatever the source; the world, Satan, and ourselves.

The emphatic statement in Romans 8, There is therefore now no condemnation most assuredly, and perhaps especially, applies to self-condemnation.

Yes, spiritual pride is a definite temptation, but so is false spiritual poverty based on the lie that while Christ can and has forgiven all others, there is something special about our evil that makes it beyond His reach.

Beware, for that is blasphemy of the highest order.

The Undefiled Bed

Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. (Hebrews 13:04, NKJV).

It should come as no shock today that the world is attempting to undermine any and all aspects of godly living, marriage, childbirth and parenting being the most targeted. As human history winds down into its prophesied depraved conclusion, expect the battles to intensify.

Christian marriage, after all, is the bedrock of raising godly children. The cycle is designed to repeat, as it has for the last 2000 years, so that those engaged in Christian marriage raise godly children, who engage in Christian marriage and raise more godly children, and so on.

This a threat to the world's long war against God, and from its perspective, must be stopped at all costs. The strategies of warfare are many and devious.

In the past, Christian marriage has been portrayed in a negative light in terms of sexual repression. Puritanism, painted in the most derogatory terms possible, became a curse and insult. It was an effective tactic based on lies. Puritans believed in marital fidelity, but to say these godly men and women eschewed sex, is to imply that their typically large families were brought about by obligation and duty rather than the natural and joyful intimacy of loving married couples.

But the stereotype continues in books and movies, and Christian marriage has become synonymous with cold and perfunctory human relations, or the evil insistence that a faithful life-long marriage between one man and one woman is unnatural and damaging.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Human gender and sexual reproduction are inventions by God Himself. On the 6^th day of Creation, one physically perfect man became paired with one physically perfect woman, in a perfect garden situated in a perfect world. And both were unclothed.

Even in today's twisted and perverse morality, that does not sound like a sexually repressive scenario, but rather an idyllic and physically intense romantic setting. That the end result was corrupted by rebellion and sin takes nothing away from the obvious original intent.

God made man and woman to enjoy and revel in each other's presence and company on every possible level. Had our original parents stuck to the original plan, childbirth would have remained painless, and the marriage partnership would have been effortless and joyful, with physical bodies unencumbered by aging and decay forever.

That does not sound like something implemented by a pleasure-aversion Deity, for it is God who manufactured our bodies to experience profound joy on the marriage bed.

The corruption of all that is a human invention. Sexual activity was defiled by human sin, and used for purposes that are truly evil and unnatural. Sex outside of marriage (adultery) and sex before marriage (fornication), are fundamental violations of the Manufacturer's detailed specifications for His creatures.

The results of the last 50 years of the so-called Sexual Revolution has wreaked havoc on the institution of marriage, and has brilliantly served to undermine the foundation of the most tactically effective means of evangelism, the godly human family.

This is not to imply that saving faith is hereditary, but it is to emphasize that, aside from pleasure and life-long companionship, the institution of marriage was devised by God to maximize the chances of raising godly seed in a fallen world.

It is through the example and teaching of faithful Christian parents that children come to know of Christ as Lord and Savior. This is the crucial foundation from which each child may step beyond merely knowing of, to knowing in a personal relationship.

That the enemies of God recognize this, either intellectually or through brutal animal cunning, is clear by the all-out attacks against marriage, family and sexual purity.

From cynical mockery to rabid cultural antagonism, the ways of godly living are increasingly marginalized and demonized.

By far, the most effective counterattack is to simply live a godly life, in a committed Christian relationship that unapologetically affirms that the best course for human relationships is a godly family. That means purity and abstinence before marriage, and fidelity afterwards.

This is the diametric opposite of repressive or restrictive because it facilitates the manifold pleasures, blessings and security of lifelong monogamous marriage. There is no human institution more powerful, or that serves as a stronger bulwark against personal isolation, despair and moral dissolution.

It is no wonder that God promises to judge any and all who willfully, and without repentance or seeking forgiveness, violate His perfect design for interpersonal relationships, for in so doing these people become destroyers of the future of God's most beloved creation: humanity.

It has been well-proven throughout history, that when the foundations of godly family are undermined, civilization collapses. We are on that path now. It is only through God's grace and mercy that the battle rages on, but there will come a time when He lifts His protective hand from sphere of earthly events and gives humanity over completely to its own fallen desires and God-hating rebellion.

Then all Hell will literally break loose upon the planet.

Remember the Prisoners

Remember the prisoners as if chained with them--those who are mistreated--since you yourselves are in the body also. (Hebrews 13:03, NKJV).

Although muted in much of today's media, the persecution of Christians is on the rise throughout the world. In many areas, professing faith in Christ is a felony. Evangelizing others is a capital offense. Pastors are imprisoned and mistreated daily. Families are torn apart. Missionaries are beaten and murdered. It is a trend without precedent even given the hostility of the Roman world of the 1^st Century and subsequent Christ-rejecting eras.

Other forms of persecution, especially in the West, are more subtle but nearly as repressive, and none of it should be a surprise. In fact, it is exactly as Jesus said:

“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. “If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.” (John 15:18-20, NKJV).

Make no mistake. If you are a true follower of Christ, the world is against you. The more closely you walk with Him and the more you speak the truth in love, the more enmity will come your way. Those in your own household may turn away from you and betray you; your own family may despise and slander you.

There are really only two camps; those whose allegiance is with Christ, and those who are of the world. You can attempt to straddle the dividing line, closeting your faith, holding your tongue, trying to fit in, and you may, for a time, succeed. But know this, that is precisely what the world wants you to do: shut up.

If you have never suffered from this kind of pressure, your are either fortunate, or guilty of compromise.

While we are commanded to live peaceably, as much as it depends on us, we should not expect peace. We are soldiers in enemy territory, and while we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, it is often from our own flesh and blood that the deepest hurts come.

So what are we to do?

From the verse above, the strategy is profoundly simple. We are to so identify with, and support, each other, following Christ's own example, that what is done to one of us, grieves us all. There is no room or place for apathy in the Body of Christ. Indifference to the persecution and mistreatment of our brothers and sisters in the Lord is not an option.

We are to weep with those who weep.

Know this too, there are many forms of imprisonment, as there are forms of mistreatment - not just the physical kind. Chains are not always visible, and abuse does not always leave marks.

The writer of Hebrews exhorts us to remember the prisoners. Remember them in prayer. Remember them in anyway that can provide comfort and support. Remember them as you would remember the parts of your own body.

Think how desperately hard it is for you to forget a broken limb, or your own chronic illness. That is the model to follow.

When one child of God suffers, we all suffer, and in remembering them in this way, we are not only following the example of the Lord Himself, but we are reminding ourselves of His care for each one of us, and of His so extravagantly identifying with our own suffering and sin that He went to the Cross on our behalf.

This is not to say that weeping is our only recourse, for we are also to rejoice with those who rejoice. Martyrs throughout history have counted it joy to suffer for Christ's sake. From the Apostles onward, there are astounding accounts of men, women and children who, by God's empowerment, have faced persecution and death, not with sorrow, but with supernatural grace and resolve.

In the Book of Acts, we see Peter, John and others rejoicing with great joy to be counted worthy to be beaten and imprisoned on behalf of Christ. Not that they sought such outcomes, or by their own actions deserved them, but that when persecution came, they understood the glory of suffering for their allegiance with the Savior of the World.

This kind of attitude and way of life makes Christians indomitable. While the world wants to exterminate us like vermin, all they can do is kill our bodies. They can never take away our faith or our faithful witness.

And as was said by Hugh Latimer to Nicholas Ridley as they were burned at the stake in Oxford, England:

Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, play the man! We shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.

Above all we are to remember that this world is not our home, that our true citizenship is in Heaven as children of the King, and that nothing that comes our way in this life is without His purpose and meaning.

But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.” For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. (1 Peter 3:14, 17, NKJV).

Remembering the prisoners, then, is a way to bring us back to the Cross of Christ, to affirm our unity under one God and one Spirit, to remind us that we are utterly and solely dependent on the One who Himself purged our sins.

And to bring to mind this truth: nothing is ever truly lost in Christ. For those in chains are not prisoners of the world, but of Christ.

Stranger Hospitality

Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels. (Hebrews 13:02, NKJV).

The popular view of the Christian faith, foisted by an antagonistic culture, is one of isolationism based on a sense of superiority. While it is undeniable that there are so-called religious groups naming the name of Christ who are unbearably obnoxious, toxic, and even evil, these are not true followers of the doctrine and practice laid down by Christ and the 1^st century Apostles.

Believers are to be in the world, just not of the world. Permanent cloistered separation is as unbiblical as idol worship. Our relationship with Christ is to be lived out in the world so that others can see.

Aside from temporary retreats for the purposes of rest and recuperation, there is no verse in the New Testament that makes such a lifestyle permissible, let alone mandatory. Strictly isolated Monasteries and Cloisters were brought about by the traditions of men, not the commands of God. That is not to say that the less exclusionist variety of these communities have not done good for the world, for they most certainly have, but it is to affirm that complete separation from the world in this life is unscriptural.

Further, permanent isolationism may be a grand idea for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is sparing the world from obnoxious groups, but religious practice is not one of them. In fact, we are commanded to do the opposite:

I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner--not even to eat with such a person. (1 Corinthians 5:9-11, NKJV).

“I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. (John 17:15, NKJV).

“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. “Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16, NKJV).

It goes even further. Not only are we to be conspicuous Christians, speaking the truth in love at every God-given opportunity, knowing it is an offense to those who are in darkness, even among families and in “churches”, but we are to be hospitable in an inhospitable world.

As in the focus verse above, we are to entertain strangers. Now this was a crucial practice in the early church, since the gospel was spread through the ministry of traveling evangelists who, through whatever means necessary, journeyed the known world with little funding or advanced itinerary planning. These men and women usually walked into a city or village unannounced and with no entourage or sponsor, following the model set forth by the indefatigable Paul.

Their survival and continued efforts depended solely on the kindness of strangers.

It is not so easy today, I think, to open one's dwelling to total strangers, even with some kind of letter of recommendation from a trusted source. In the modern urbanized West, hospitality is a forgotten virtue. In large part, we are barely acquainted with our immediate neighbors, and share little of our private lives with anyone, but that is NOT the Christian way.

The incentive provided to overcome this reluctance is astonishing: some of those strangers, brought to our door by God Himself, may be immortal supernatural beings of immense power and intelligence. The Bible calls them angels, and it is unfortunate that misuse of that term has rendered these magnificent beings a cliché, or a caricature of their revealed natures.

Angels can and do manifest themselves in human form. Scripture is replete with such occurrences. From Abraham's visitors to Lots rescuers (and other such encounters), we know without doubt that angels from Heaven walk to and from among us, ministering to the saints (all believers in Christ), and carrying out God's will.

Now they are not to be worshipped or prayed to, or otherwise revered, nor are they to be considered beyond their role as holy servants of God – one day, Paul assures us, we will even judge fallen angels – but they are to be treated with hospitality and respect.

As I already mentioned: astonishing.

How many of us have unwittingly entertained angels?

Remember, one angel alone destroyed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night to protect the nation Israel.

Believe what you will, but if you hold the Bible to be the authoritative Word of God, you must understand that one or more these same individuals may show up on your doorstep.

And you are commanded to let them inside.

Despite the mischaracterizations rampant in the world, Christianity is anything but stifling and repressive. Instead, our faith is exciting and filled with joy. True Christian doctrine is astounding.

But to appreciate this, you must first actually read and study the Bible itself, as a disciple, and not rely on the lies perpetrated about it by the Christ-rejecting world.

If and when you do, you will fall in love with its Author, and marvel at the care and precision with which He has revealed Himself to His children.