Author: eejoseph

The laying to rest of the layman presbytery

eejoseph, , , ,

Not one of the founders of the church organizations of the last three centuries was a biblical scholar.  Not one of them was an eyewitness of the majesty that Peter saw in the mount (2:1:16-18).  The Bible is all they both clergy and laymen have.  That fact stands out with the unique literature each of them claims to be extra-biblical authority.  Neither Peter nor Paul proposed that the average church member should be expected to guide the church to effective productivity.  God will certainly manifest his power, authority and grace through church members of modest intelligence, but prophets, apostles, evangelists and pastor-teachers will never be replaced by ill-equipped members like William Miller or wild-eyed fanatics who seem to be pillars in the Church Christ built.  The presbytery will always be created by ordination and the prophetic word, therefore having all laymen in the presbytery is a demonic fantasy.

Pastoral incompetence and pride

The reason pastors fail is they have no interest in having parishioners who rise to ministry in their footsteps.  They do not impress their congregants with the unique altitude of the biblcal texts. They pander to every sensual whim while pretending to be judges of immorality and paragons of loyalty. The layman is often found racing half-cocked, never sufficiently humble to learn what biblical interpretation entails, and often daring to teach when they themselves have not scratched the surface of the field where the treasures lie.   They have created in their several traditions infallible sources of commentary. The notion that laymen are God’s primary guardians of the mystery of godliness is absurd, because it was the men trained by Yeshua who challenged Judaism, pushed the church beyond the borders of Judea and Samaria, and were the primary contributors to the New Testament. Even among the apostolic college Yeshua appointed and empowered Peter to “strenghten the brothers”, and the task of pastoral care in all churches entails training the saints to do ministry. Laymen may be critical in witnessing to the power of the Risen Christ, but a church built on laymen and guided and guarded by laymen has not yet been recorded.

A precious few elders and pastors

That’s conclude with what Peter saw as the primary witness that creates our witness.  There were three men with Yeshua in the mount when God’s  voice assured them that Yeshua was his VOICE, and a quick look around our 21st century room we can. See him very many are setting themselves up to be a modern version of the voice.  If Yeshua’s voice (as reported by his main eyewitness and their immediate disciples) is not all we want to hear then  the more sure word of prophecy is completely bogus.

For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 2Pet 1:16 For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 2Pet 1:17 And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. 2Pet 1:18

Take note that we do not have 12 Gospels in the record of what Christ said and did.  Why should we expect Christ to put the transmission of his sayings to this generation into the hands of thousands of biblically illiterate laymen or pastors?  But let us observe our own practice, too often having nothing biblical to put forward.

12)  Words from the mouth of a wise man are gracious, while the lips of a fool consume him; 13) the beginning of his talking (mouth) is folly and the end of it is wicked madness. (Ecclesiastes 10:12-13, NASB)

Trade your traditions for the timeless

eejoseph

The point of the saying  in the book of Hebrews (13:8)”Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever” is not to address God’s immutability.  The unchanging God is fully defined in the first chapter of the book of Hebrews, where the Word of God is the Creator.

(10). … “You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the works of Your hands; (11) They will perish, but You remain; And they all will become old like a garment, (12) And like a mantle You will roll them up; Like a garment they will also be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end.” (Hebrews 1:10-12, NASB)

Philosophy and empty deception

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. (Colossians 2:8, NASB)

They will tell us that bodies are important and that spirit is all important, so when we say “Jesus Christ” we ought to be referring to the incarnate Word, who was not present at the creation of the world. Our confession impels us to say that God was seen by angels for the first time when Christ came into the world. So, the saying – the same yesterday today and forever – is affirming the God in whatever form as love, as abounding in goodness, and full of mercy and compassion.

Empty traditions do not cut it

The book of Hebrews is concerned with change, the change from humanity – the ancestors and the prophets – as the channels of God’s interaction with humanity to divinity as the initiator and guarantor of human security.

The book of Hebrews is concerned with change, the change from the shadows and moonlight of the levitical system and Mosaic instruction.  It is not destructive to discard the erotic system of priesthood and all the regulations and ordinances, because Moses himself indicated that he would pass into obscurity.  Jesus of Bethlehem is not the same as Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus of Capernaum or Jesus of the Cross or Jesus of the right hand of God in heaven.  Jesus is not interrupting funerals, and pronouncing woes on scribes and Pharisees.  So if we answer the question “Same what?’we realize that Hebrews in 13:8 is not talking about immutability, but eternity.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Heb 13:8

The Hebrew people and very many modern Christians are more interested in empty traditions including those traditions  of the Hebrew people. Tabernacles, observations of days, weeks, months and years, dietary scruples, prohibitions on who to marry, and their books that they have written are truly all hollow pillars.

I suppose that with all the modern talk about law, God’s true this and that,  and the (unlikely) priority of compliance with all that God has ever said, there is no tradition originating with God’s Anointed.  The law is not of faith.  An orange is not an apple. If you are going to be justified by the law you have spurned the grace of God and Christ is of no effect to you, and your life is a Hollywood production, cooked up in the dark caves of Jewish and American rebellion against the truth of the gospel.

Ignoring of truth and elevating tradition

21. Jesus answered them, “I did one deed, and you all marvel. 22. “For this reason Moses has given you circumcision (not because it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a man. 23. “If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses will not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath? (John 7:21-23, NASB)

Gotta have a controversy?

If you think you can be radical and extreme I can too: easily and without controversy. You take your law with its shadows, your moon, your ancient traditions, your elementary principles ylour slave economoy offerings, and pretend they are food, and I will have one thing, Christ crucified.

Deeper wells, be grateful for the ability to care for anyone at all within reach

eejoseph,

What’s your #1 priority tomorrow?

Tomorrow is here; this Sunday night’s a well lit cave, from which I begin to brave the light of day; my day, one more among my tens of thousands.  If my brain, body, mind and spirit work, I will take my sobriety to the next level and seek out my friends and watch for new ones, with whom I can share a thought, a smoothie, even a single grape or nut, and hope to receive a smile that matches or exceeds mine.