Church History

Image by Erich Steinwendner from Pixabay

 The church Jesus left behind in Jerusalem and the church we experience today couldn't be more different, not only in terms of numbers, but also in practices. It didn't take long before the first simple disagreements and then power struggles, both internal and external, began to dominate church history.

If there is a word that could characterize the first church as Luke describes it in Acts 2 and 4 I would say it is unity. In the beginning there was no distinction between church and society. It was all one and the same to them. There was some resistance from other Jews, but internally, they seem to have been pretty united in fellowship and devotion to one another.

Soon after, however, divisions entered the picture. For example, the Council of Jerusalem was called in AD50 to settle various disputes between the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians, but that wasn't all. Soon all sorts of disputes about theological details started to pop up.

As their numbers grew, tensions with the outside world also increased. In response, the Romans turned up the persecution. Christians in Rome had to walk a pretty tight line to stay alive. As their numbers grew, their influence also grew and made it harder for the Romans to keep them oppressed and in AD313 the persecutions ended with the edict of Milan setting the stage for a dramatic turnaround in the lives of Christians everywhere. With their newly acquired acceptance, access to political power and to wealth quickly became dominant drivers. As the church in Rome gained power, the eastern church fragmented into various metropolitan centers throughout the region. The church in Rome continues to influence life in the west to this day.

Stoning has never been an accepted practice among Christians, but that didn't stop church leaders from executing opponents by burning them to death. Lots of kings and emperors have been crowned by Bishops. "Discoverers" have exploited indigenous populations around the world with the express blessing if not encouragement of the church. Countless wars have been fought in the name of Christ.

In the modern church, divisions are the norm. Dozens of labels separate us into groups with different opinions and the opinions aren't just in the details. Some of them are pretty fundamental. The division reflects the separation in the world around us. To unite us, Jesus told us to love God, but that doesn't really work when people can't agree on who God is or what it means to love God. 

As a result of the fragmentation, you as a church member, can basically spend your entire life surrounded by people with blinders firmly in place to tune out any outside influences. All you would need to know is that those other people aren't our people. They are not like us.

A quick look at the world's distribution of wealth makes it clear to me that one of the obstacles to unity is our insatiable thirst for hoarding things at the expense of others. If the world's riches were to be distributed equally, I'm sure there would be plenty for everyone. The ancient writers' vision for a Garden of Eden is possible. Jesus' message is to repent and be baptized. That is simply old language for organize, unite and change direction.

Turn from unbridled consumption to caring for our brothers and sisters around the world who suffer through poverty and violence. 

Church Community

 

Image by Vey Damneun from Pixabay

When Jesus declared Peter's faith to be the rock on which he would build his church (Matthew 16:18), he wasn't  referring to Peter himself or a physical building. For Jesus, the church meant the people who believed in him, his followers, the called out ones or the body of Christ as Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 12:12-14.

Jesus was a Jew just like most of his earliest followers. As Jews, they would gather weekly in synagogues throughout the region. They behaved just like other Jews with the ancient scriptures as the focal point of their practices. The separation is likely to have been happening gradually as new converts joined the new movement and subsequently got expelled from the synagogues. 

If there is a single event that can be seen as a significant milestone, it must be the Council of Jerusalem in AD50, just a couple of decades after the crucifixion, as described in Acts 15. The council was called to settle various differences between the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians. Apparently, Jews who were not Christians were not invited. The separation must have been more or less complete by this time.

After that, there have been many other milestones that have shaped the church as we know it today such as the Council of Nicea in AD325, the Great Schism in AD1054 and the Reformation in AD1517. Today the church has splintered into thousands of denominations around the world each with their own practices. Yet, all subscribe to the same faith in Jesus as the Messiah, the anointed one. They just do it in different ways. 

Some say that all the religions in the world are simply different manifestations of our species' innate desire for belonging in community with the rest of humanity. That is, of course, a tough sell in a world mired in isolation and separation. We're not going to be able to convince anybody that they are wrong and we are right. What we can do is demonstrate with our action who God is. Like some wize guy said: Preach the gospel, use words only if necessary. 

Establishing Christian intentional communities, a kind of modern day monasteries, is our answer to a broken world and its love affair with power and wealth that only leads to isolation and separation, the opposite of community. 

Universalism

Image by KindandCreate from Pixabay

 

The gospel writer says that God loved the world (John 3:16) and he sent Jesus to save it (3:17). God's vision is to restore the world to the state it was in before the fall. Jesus is his missionary. Exactly when or how Jesus realized what his purpose was is widely debated. Let's just say he knew what to do.

His early attempts at verbalizing his ideas were not well received, but he did find a few who would listen to him and little by little more and more people began to understand what he was talking about. In time, large crowds began to follow him. He did speak to a Samaritan woman at a well and a Roman centurion among others, but mostly to Jews like himself.

It is widely agreed that Paul was one of the first to write about Jesus' ministry. Paul is mostly known for bringing the gospel to people outside the Jewish community. As the new movement gained momentum, the gospel writers also began to stitch together a narrative that would not only elevate Jesus' ministry to levels well beyond what actually happened but also helped to unify the new movement.

The Jews had this idea that they were the chosen people of God and the only ones who would escape the fire of hell. Jesus' new and radical message was that the whole world can be saved and the Jews were chosen to show them what the Kingdom of God would look like. The only problem was that the Jews kept behaving so much like the rest of the world that they weren't much of an example to follow. As he became more successful at pointing that out, they felt threatened and had him killed.

If you turn on the news on any given day or paid any kind of attention in history class, I am sure war or other armed conflict will appear prominently in the headlines. That ought to surprise you given that one in three people on Earth claim to be Christians, a global movement founded by a guy who was all about peace. The prince of peace, they called him. Thousands of preachers have preached that message for thousands of years already. Everybody should know that by now. The reality is that the vast majority of Christians are either oblivious, in denial or even actively participating in the conflicts. The most disturbing part is when Christians turn on other Christians.

So preaching has not worked all that well, has it? Some modern day writers are suggesting that the only way to save the world is to adopt an attitude of being, to demonstrate with our own example what it means to be followers of Christ - to love one another. Let's go do that.

The Church

 

Image by Natalia Lavrinenko from Pixabay

When you say the word church, most people still think of a white building with rows of benches, a steeple on top and a parking lot next to it, but that is pretty far from the biblical meaning of the word.

I'm told that the word originates in Greek. In the time of Jesus the common language was Greek and someone had translated the ancient Hebrew scriptures into Greek. In the Hebrew scriptures, the word referred to the Israelites, the descendants of Jacob, as the people of God. Jesus was a Jew, someone who belonged to the people of God, an Israelite. He did not concern himself much with anyone outside that group. It wasn't until Paul began to bring the gospel to the gentiles that the word began to refer to local groups of Christians as well as the worldwide church.

The big difference between the old meaning of the word and Jesus' new interpretation is that if you could trace your ancestry back to Abraham, you were in. Everyone else was out. Jesus' new interpretation is revealed in Matthew 16:18: "you are Peter, on this rock I will build my church." No, it does not mean the person of Peter, not on flesh and blood, he says, but on Peter's faith that Jesus is the son of God, but not literally, of course. It just meant that what Jesus is saying is true, it is from God.

In the beginning, the disciples operated mostly within the Jewish synagogues. There is some disagreement about how the separation happened. What we do know is that some synagogues began to expel Christians who then went on to form separate groups. In the beginning, there may have been very little coordination among them. I think we can thank Paul's extensive letter writing campaign for providing some of that glue. Events like the Council of Jerusalem (50AD) and the Council of Nicea (325) helped formalize the new church.

Scientists argue about the relationship between Christianity and Judaism. My take is that Jesus did not intend to start a new religion. He simply re-interpreted the old Hebrew scriptures and built a new church that is for everyone. In the new church, there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, no male and female, but for all in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28). We, meaning our first century ancestors, caused the separation, not Jesus.

Jesus, a Servant King

 

Image by Deb Radeka from Pixabay

Jesus was not God and God is not the strict ruler some people say he is. According to 1 John 4:8, the very essence of God is love. To help us understand what that means, Jesus uses the Father metaphor. Actually, he uses the Aramaic word Abba which implies honor, affection and intimacy in relationship. Because God's only purpose is to care for us, we hold him in high esteem. According to John 3:16, he loves the whole world, not just you, but even the ones who might mock him or do you harm. 

Anyone who has lived for a number of decades should be able to tell you about the good old days when there weren't so many rules, laws and regulations. With laws comes the need for law enforcement because rules are there to be broken, right? It is easy to forget that our leaders have made those rules, laws and regulations to keep us safe or prevent others from taking advantage of us. Without this explanation, laws may feel like straitjackets or shackles. 

So who are the leaders who make those laws? In our modern society they are theoretically elected by the people, but there are many reasons this is a truth with modifications. A long time ago only landowners could vote. Then former slaves were allowed to vote. Now, even women can vote. Yes, some progress has been made, but for many, power is still something that belongs to someone else. No matter how you look at it, you have to admit that some people have more power than others.

And that is precisely the heart of the matter - power. The heart of God is for everyone, especially the powerless, to feel cared for. In the Kingdom of God, the last shall be first and the first shall be last (Matthew 20:16). It doesn't mean a reversal of roles - the poor ruling over the rich. It means adopting an attitude of humility and service - demonstrating to others by our own service - the way we want to be treated. 

If we could all do that there would no longer be a need for rules and regulations and consequently no need for enforcement either. Our default would be to care for one another and keep each other safe. But that's impossible, you say. In the old days, the preacher would say that we would need to ask God for help. In modern language, we would say we would help each other do it. We can only hope to achieve that by working together. It is relationships that enables us to do it. If we can prevent that there would ever be a situation in which anyone would feel threatened enough to take up a defensive position, then, everyone would feel safe and cared for all the time. 

For thousands of years, we have been taught to gain as much power and wealth as possible. That would make us feel safe and happy, they said. The truth is that this hoarding has torn us apart. For many nowadays, the world is a very lonely and hostile place. But we have the solution. Let's go do it - love one another.