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I have good news! We will face nothing that the early church did not meet and conquer. Human nature has never changed. The same combinations of opportunity and opposition face us today as those which faced the first century saints. We will face the seven realities that the early church was in conflict with and which all too often we have formed alliances with.
They are:
- Sadduceeism — Those who deny the supernatural.
The Sadducees were the “rationalists” or “modernists” of the day. They have been around since man first doubted God's word and denied the supernatural. They denied the resurrection, life after death, and anything that was not reducible to matter plus time plus chance. This spirit is also alive and well in the church.
- Pharisaism —Those who exalt principles over people.
In pharisaism we discover ritualism without power. Pharisee are religionists who choose principles over people. The Pharisee is so legalistic in his orthodoxy that he will strain at a “gnat” yet swallow a “camel”. In Christ's ministry the Pharisees where only concerned that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath (when no work was to be done) and could care less about the man, whom God had healed. The spirit of Pharisee legalism is alive and well.
- Ananias & Sapphira —Those who pretend that the part is the whole.
In the book of Acts we encounter a Christian couple whose sin did not lie in giving part or in keeping part but in pretending the part was the whole. These immature believers thought they were pulling the wool over Gods eyes yet the church was so unified that such behavior brought instant death. If we want the building to shake when we pray we've got to be willing to die when we lie.
- Persecution —The inevitable result of a spirit life.
The early church prayed not for diplomacy or peace but for “boldness”. The church prayed for the very thing that got them into trouble in the first place. The question still remains in our culture “if we were arrested for being Christians, would there be enough evidence to convict us?”
- Idolatry - Giving an ultimate commitment to anything less than the ultimate.
Everyone has an ultimate commitment, something which they cherish above all else. To give an ultimate commitment to the ultimate (God) is called worship. To give an ultimate commitment to anything less than the ultimate is called idolatry. The early church faced idolatry idols abound today just as much as they did in the first century. We engage in idolatry when we worship anything that ought to be used or use anything that ought to be worshipped. Idols are idols whether they are mental or metal . Although “metal idols may not be present on every street corner, yet, “Mental idols abound. My freedom, My way, My opinion, My political views, etc. Idols must be destroyed wherever they may be found.
- Demonism —Power encounters with the realm of darkness.
If we think our cities are better than those in the first century then we don't know them. Demonism is not the outmoded superstition of our ignorant past. The same spirits which were behind the lust for “pleasure, possessions, and position are still around. To discount the spiritual nature of the battle we are in, is to be a fool and blind. The early church was not so blind.
- Apollos — Those who truly seek God.
Apollos was a learned man who walked in the light that he had. He knew of the ministry of John the Baptist but was hungry for the full truth. To our great delight after struggling with Sadduccesism, Pharisaism and Ananias and Sapphira, persecution, idolatry and demonism we still have the joy set before us of winning sincere seekers like Apollos to Christ.
No there is nothing new this year. There are no new weapons in the enemy's arsenal and there is no new mandate for the Christian church.
Blessings,
Pastor Craig |
