Paul, The Runt Apostle

A paraphrase of Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 15 captured my attention today: ^{8 “}And finally, at the very end of His appearances, Christ appeared to me and showed Himself to me as well—as if I was a forgotten child, a runt, or a baby who was thought to be aborted, but survived. ⁹ I exist as the very least—the smallest in size, amount and dignity—of the apostles who have been chosen by God as His ambassadors carry forth His message with miraculous powers. I don’t even deserve to be called an apostle. My former life of pursuing and persecuting the Church of God totally disqualifies me in character and competence. ¹⁰ But by the divine favor of God upon me, I exist in the very way that I exist—a runt apostle. And this divine favor that God has granted me was not in vain—it was not empty or without purpose, because I have labored and toiled so incredible much more abundantly and to so much a greater degree than all the other apostles until I have been wearied and fatigued. Yet, it wasn’t me, it was the divine favor of God reflected in my life and working through me.”

Who would have thought of Paul (formerly known as “Saul of Tarsus, disciple of Gamaliel”) as an apostle of Jesus Christ? Yet, against human logic and intuition God chose him to be “the apostle to the Gentiles”. God had specifically chosen Paul and to pull him out of the insanity that he was pursuing and the expectations of those around him that he was trying to please and to totally alter the course of his life. It apparently was so hard for the other apostles and Christians who had been with Christ for 3 years already to come to grips with this that it took more than a decade.

God does this! It’s amazing! He takes the student that the teachers dislike the most and who causes the most trouble and turns him into the most inspiring student leader the school has ever seen. He takes the most delinquent student in the high school and turns his life around in college and sends him off to change the world. He takes the most unnoticed student and shapes her life so that she has an impact that no one would have ever imagined. He takes an poor unknown nun, in the poorest European country and gives her a vision of His work and sends her to minister to the poorest most rejected people in India, then from that platform brings her to rebuke the most powerful men on earth and gives her a funeral that rivals the most popular princess ever—televised to millions of people.

I’m no Saul of Tarsus or Mother Teresa, but I’ve seen this in my life and the lives of my peers and my students. There were more popular, better looking, far more articulate and organized boys in my high school. There were brighter prospects that me that CSCS could have hired. There have been better teachers, mentors and sponsors who have some through the doors of CSCS and have left, but God in His grace has chosen me for this moment to be in this position to have this influence to whatever end He has in mind. This emboldens me to live the life that God has called me to. To boldly have the influence that He has called me to have and to live in the confidence of that calling. In another place, Paul wrote: “My life is worth nothing, except to live out the calling that God has given me…” (Acts 20:24)—that inspires me.

History shows us that Paul’s tireless efforts for the Kingdom of God we, in fact, NOT wasted, but continue to produce fruit among Gentiles like me and millions of others in Europe and America and around the world who read from the New Testament—most of which was written by Paul—the runt apostle.

Other schools don't do it this way....

“Other schools don’t do it this way….”

I get so tired of the phrase “the way other schools do it”. I’ve heard this phrase used by many of our students, but also by our teachers, administrators. To me that means that we haven’t articulated what we mean by Christian education very well. When were we called to be just like other schools? If Christian schools are to be just like other schools, then I think that we’ve lost our calling or American-ized it too much.

Whatever happened to being in the world, but not of the world? Whatever happened to, the way other school do it may be wrong? Whatever happened to the way other schools do it may be passé, old school, non-innovative—why can’t we be creative and innovative and do something new and different? Whatever happened to the narrow and straight road where few travel on? Some, quoting my hero Paul, have taken the phrase “being all things to all men” and distorted the phrase in a way that dilutes our uniqueness of a Christian school and expanding the scope of our calling and ability to trying to do everything that the largest of government funded school districts try to do (and aren’t we saying they are not doing it well?).

Now, this is not to say that “other schools” don’t have a good idea. In the free market of ideas, it’s good to see what other schools do and adapt the good ideas that fit at our school, but employing other schools’ ideas just for the sake of “being like other schools” simply dilutes the distinctiveness of our mission and calling and the traditions that have resulted.

Thoughts on Communion

It seems that there is something unique and holy about communion or as it is referred to in the New Testament, “the Lord’s Table”, the “Lord’s Supper” or “the Breaking of Bread”. Yet so few Christian churches regularly participate in this unique and holy Christian ritual. If Christianity is divided into three general categories (Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Protestant), then a whole 1/3 of those who practice the Christian faith do not frequently participate in communion or the Eucharist. That third of Christianity is the self-proclaimed biblical (solo Scriptura) and is the fastest growing, most contemporary third.

Holy Communion is one of two very simple and yet hugely profound rituals or ceremonies that originated with our Lord (the other being water baptism—which is also a reminder of Jesus’ death and resurrection). When we observe or partake of Holy Communion, that simple ritual it is loaded with significance.

• Holy Communion is a reminder of Jesus Christ’s death on the Cross for our sins. The reminder of His body that was broken for us and His blood that was shed for us in order to pay the eternal penalty for our sins and to redeem us to God the Father.
• Communion is also the Holy Act that unites and binds us together as a catholic body of believers in Jesus Christ. Our participation in Holy Communion identifies us with our community of faith—specifically our community as followers of THE Faith. It is our holy feast as Christians. The Jews had their holy rituals—especially their sacrifices and feasts they ate together that united them and the pagans had their sacrifices, rituals and feast to their demonic gods that unite them. Paul taught the Corinthian believers that to participate in either the Jewish holy rituals or the pagan holy rituals AND in the Christian Holy Communion was to deny Christianity (1 Corinthians 10:21). Participating in the holy feasts, sacrifices and rituals of other faiths is to violate the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• Holy Communion is also a time of personal purification and continued sanctification for the believer. As the believer approaches the Communion Table or the Lord’s Table, the Bible instructs him to examine himself to see if he is worthy to partake of the Body and Blood of our Lord. The result of not examining ourselves is that we bring God’s judgment upon ourselves resulting in illness or even death. The purpose of our examination is so that we can worthily partake of communion or to put it in the negative to not partake unworthily. Paul tells us that to partake in an unworthy manner (unworthily) is to be unfit or irreverent when we take communion. When we do so we are guilty sinning against or profaning the Body and Blood of Christ. The judgment that we incur isn’t an eternal judgment, but a judgment on our wellbeing and life on this earth. We are to try, test and prove ourselves worthy to partake before entering into Communion. We are to hesitate for a time, step aside and discern whether we are fit join our fellow believers in this uniting memorial of our Lord. It is true that in and of ourselves none of us is worthy, but we are instructed to live a blameless life. Blameless means that we have identified our sins and shortcomings and have dealt them. Everything has been taken care of...there are no outstanding accusations against us. Paul focuses our examination specifically on how we act toward our fellow believers. our examination of ourselves would result in:
• confession of our sins (Mathew 5, James 5)
• forgiveness of our sins (James 5, John 20)
• future self-discipline (1 Corinthians 9:27; 11)
• restored unity in the body (1 Corinthians 11; Ephesians 4:14-4)
• emotional, physical, spiritual healing (1 Corinthians 11; James 5)
• Our Holy Communion is also a time of anticipation toward the coming of our Lord (1 Corinthians 11:26). Paul instructed us that every time (as often as) we “eat this bread and drink this cup” we proclaim our Lord’s death until He comes”. Our continued and frequent commemoration reminds us that one day we will commune directly with our Lord Jesus when He returns for us.

On the unresolved (in my mind) issue of healing and communion, could it be that some people are sick because they have unconfessed sin and/or that they are taking communion irreverently—with unconfessed sin? 1 Corinthians 11 would indicate so.

If during the service of Holy Communion, a person is examining himself and the Holy Spirit points out a sin—whether it be against another person or an area of sin in his life, that person should confess his sin to God and to another person in the congregation. This person should be the offended party (if that is the issue) so they can be reconciled or another person. This would provide for what we today call “accountability partners”. This biblical and contemporary idea provides for accountability with someone who is traveling the road of life with you and has a committed relationship with you, yet is of the same gender and station in life. as people in the congregation are being accountable to each other and confessing their sins to each other (mutual confession), they pray for each other (mutual intercession) many times there will be healing (James 5 ) or even averted illness (1 Corinthians 11).

Application to church services: our frequent Communion Services should include time for personal reflection, mutual confession and mutual prayer before communion is partaken of. Whether communion is taken as a body together or individual at stations or as it is passed, time should be taken to adequately prepare as individuals and as a congregation for communion. this would encourage Communion to not be something that is tacked onto the end or beginning of a service, but to either be (in our modern mindset) a separate service or a regular premeditated part of our time together as a church—included with the preaching service (Acts 20) or a common meal together (1 Corinthians 11).

what are your thoughts?

We The People Are the Ultimate Authority

Romans 13:2
For there is no authority except form God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

I firmly believe that we the people are the ultimate human authority in the United States of America because we are a republic or a Jeffersonian Democracy (if you prefer). Therefore we the people are accountable to God for those we put in office. Think about it…re-read The Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution and all the writings of our founding fathers.

I believe in America God has instituted we the people as “the authority instituted by God”.” What are we the people doing with that authority?

Every 2-4 years we loan our authority to the President and Congress in order to make laws are designed to protect and prosper us, to execute foreign policy and appoint judges to insure justice in the land.

• If we are God’s appointed authority in the land, then are we the people not ultimately accountable to Him for who we loan our authority to and how they use our authority?
• Will we not be judged according to their actions by the Supreme Judge of the World?
  

We should judge our elected officials according to God’s standards, for He will judge both them and us for their actions.

• The fact is that we the people are responsible for not putting regulations on the banking industry and therefore the mess we’re in—because those we loaned our power to misused the power we gave them.
• We the people are responsible for the way the US is defending our freedoms at home and in Iraq and in Afghanistan because we the people elected a President who took us to war and a Congress who approved and funded the war—and we re-elected them.
• We the people should be congratulated for the protection of America since 9/11 because we’ve elected officials whose administrations have kept us safe.
• We the people have become negligent of our responsibilities as citizens and power holders of the United States. Each of us was born into or immigrated to a unique country at a unique time in history, yet we have become content to let other people vote or let other people tell us how to vote or to be swayed by the outward appearance of candidates and their rhetoric.

If we the people are the authority instituted by God in our country, then we need to bear that responsibility carefully and conscientiously. Is Candidate X as good for us as he says he is? Will Candidate Y protect us as much as he claims? Does this amendment to our state constitution really accomplish what its proponents claim it will? Is it well written? Will it stand up in a court of law? Does it better our state? Does it uphold biblical principles? Does this other law help us be better stewards of Creation as God as commanded us to be? Does that other law mandate or forbid behavior that is really the result of a lost soul who has rejected God? Am I funding a cause that forbids someone’s lifestyle instead of spending my money getting to be that person’s friend and showing them the love of Christ and praying that they come to know Jesus?

Whether we care of not, on November 4th we the people will make a bunch of decisions for which we are accountable to God.

• We will direct our foreign policy, guide our financial futures, set out guidelines for health care, impact the environment and determine issues of freedom of speech and freedom of religion for ourselves, our children and the world all depending on which button we select on the touch screen or which bubble we fill in on the bubble ballot or if we simply decide we are too busy or too disinterested or too tired to care about the whole mess.
• Those of us in Colorado get to chose how to define “person” and if that should be an issue; how to fund education and if our local school districts are spending our money the way they should and whether they should be rewarded with more of our hard earned money. In El Paso County and Colorado Springs we’ll decide if we should fund or hobble our justice system and city government.

As we cast our ballots—whether on a touch screen or a bubble form or in the mail, we will make decision that will affect quality of education, the safety of our streets, the care of our environment, whether people are hired or fired, how criminals are prosecuted, whether we go to war or not and so on. Or we will stick our heads in the sand and stay home. We’ll choose something and God will judge us for it. After all, we the people will speak and things will happen. It’s the American way and God has honored and condemned us accordingly for how we’ve delegated our authority for 232 years now.

As for me, I have examined the issues and have considered the proponents of the various issues, I have listened to the candidates and I’ve prayed about my responsibilities as an American citizen. On November 4th, I will go to Bates Elementary school and stand in line and will vote for the people and for the issues and for the taxes that I have concluded are the best for America and fit the standards set up in Scripture. I will vote “no” on candidates and against issues and taxes that I believe will harm our country, state and local community. It’s my duty as one of the millions of power holders who are the citizens and ultimate government of the United States of America and the State of Colorado. I hope and pray that you will do the same.