Rethinking How We Do Church

Christianity is not "the faith of" Gentiles. It is "a faith for" Gentiles. But it was not created by Gentiles. Christianity is the fulfillment of the Messianic promises of the Hebrew scriptures. Its origins begin in Judaism and the promises of Christ's coming begin in Genesis 3:15.

In Acts 24:14-15 Paul makes this amazing statement:
But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets, having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. (Acts 24:14-15 ESV)

The Pharisees considered the Way a sect of Judaism. Paul lays out the faith of the Way based on the faith of Judaism: he worshiped the "God of our fathers." He believed everything in the Hebrew scriptures. He believed in a resurrection of the just and unjust, which the Pharisees also accepted.

How can I explain this further? Christianity is not a Gentile contrived faith with Jesus as the beginning. We do not have the right to start with Jesus and then go in whatever direction we wish. Jesus is the center or to be more precise: the way our faith should be directed, the truth by which we should develop our faith and the life of our faith when we honor Him.

Our contemporary Christian culture has abandoned biblical Christianity. We say that we seek to model ourselves after the New Testament church. But in fact we can trace the abandonment of biblical Christianity from Marcion to Constantine and even to the Reformation.

If I have your attention (or at least your shocked ambivalence) I need to clarify something. The purpose of this blog is not to attack contemporary music, reformed theology or whatever else you may hold dear. It is meant to be an appeal to come back to the truth of Matthew 5:17-20, Matthew 28:20 and 2 Timothy 3:16-17. It is meant to create the realization that you may be unknowingly missing out on God's richest blessing and even more important, you may not be living in full obedience to the word of God. In other words, your faith may not be the faith God desires you to have.

Topics we need to cover:

What does Matthew 5:17-20 mean for the contemporary church?

Obeying the commandments of Jesus: An alternative to legalism and license (Matthew 28:20)

Reunderstanding the preincarnate teaching of Jesus.

Why do we ignore the 4th commandment?

What does it mean to be salt and light?

Why did we stop doing what God says we should do "forever"?

How should we understand 1 Corinthians 5:8?

Do we want to be a New Testament church or a 4th century church?

The influence of Marcion and Constantine.