In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now all the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

Monday, April 25, 2011

After the Resurrection: Then What?

Yesterday (“Easter Sunday”) was a remembrance of Christ's Resurrection, which brought God's eternal plan to light. His plan was first revealed to His chosen people, the Israelites (Jews). What many Christians do not realize is that ALL JEWS were in attendance on the Day of Pentecost when God gifted the Holy Spirit into believers' hearts (Acts 2:5, 9-11). Remember, the Day of Pentecost was one of the three required Jewish feasts (ordained by God), and on this particular Day of Pentecost when God poured His Holy Spirit onto His people, it was the beginning of the "Church." Do you find it shocking that not a Gentile was in sight, only Jews? What most do not know is that the early church believers were predominantly Jews, and they continued meeting in synagogues, they held to the regulated Jewish Feast days and lived by Jewish Law, and they were not even called a "church.” They were called "The Way." Greek converts were called "God fearers." What we Christians seem to ignore (or not know) is that (for the most part) THE JEWS MADE UP THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST. 

The Gentiles merged into the Jewish faith; we (Gentiles) were grafted into Israel (
Romans 11). We see the early church's struggle as to how best to incorporate the new converts (mainly Greeks) into their early church in the Book of Acts when Paul goes to the Jerusalem Council to ask if these new converts must follow Jewish Law. I find it sad that we Christians have so isolated ourselves from our Jewish roots. We have set ourselves apart as "The Church," yet the word "church" (Greek: "ecclesia") was a Greek word used merely to mean "an assembly" (and, ironically, usually meant as an assembly to settle disputes). The word "church" did not take on its meaning of "a place to worship God" until much later, actually (and sadly) when the need arose to call THIS place of worship the "one and true church" over THAT place of worship who believed differently. Yes, "church" was designed by division rather than unity. There IS One True Church, and that is the Body of Christ, which is made up of each and every believer joined together in spiritual form to the Head of the Church, Jesus Christ (Ephesians 5:23). Okay so off my soapbox and back to the subject at hand...this next part is amazing, so bear with me.

Notice Christ's instructions to His 12 Jewish apostles prior to His death. Pay particular attention to His focus: "These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: 'Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim this message: The kingdom of heaven has come near'" (
Matthew 10:5-7). When I first ran across this verse, I was stumped. Why would Jesus exclude the Gentiles from the knowledge of the kingdom of heaven? Then, I found my answer in other Scripture. God desired for the Israelites to bring Jesus to the Gentile nation: "For this is what the Lord has commanded us [Jews]: 'I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth'" (Acts 13:47). Although many Jewish people accepted Christ as Messiah, the nation as a whole rejected Him.

Then, notice Jesus’ REVISED commission to His apostles after His death on the cross, now expanding His plan to ALL NATIONS. The instructions He gave, following His ascension, were: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (
Matthew 28:19) and "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Certainly, these verses show us that Jesus initially intended for the gospel to be preached to the Jews first, but after they (as a nation) rejected and aided in His death on the cross, He revised His plan and opened up His salvation to ALL nations.

Then, 30 years later God calls Saul, a devout Jew, to follow Him, renames him Paul, and takes him away to the desert for three years where the Holy Spirit teaches and prepares Paul for his mission to go and preach the kingdom of heaven to the GENTILES. God never intended for the Gentiles to be ignored. One way or another, God would offer His salvation to ALL NATIONS, as promised in His covenant with Abraham: "Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him" (
Genesis 18:18).

So, as the other apostles focused on preaching the Good News of the gospel to the Jewish people, Paul and Barnabas spread out to what are now the Turkey and Greece areas to preach the gospel to the Gentile nations. But what I find interesting is that every town Paul went to, he first went into the synagogues to try once again to reach his own people, the Jews. But see their reaction when Paul preached in Antioch: "So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. Now when the synagogue broke up, many of the Jews and of the devout *proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas; who, speaking to them, urged them to continue in the grace of God. The next Sabbath almost the whole city was gathered together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with jealousy, and contradicted the things which were spoken by Paul, and blasphemed. Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, and said, 'It was necessary that God's word should be spoken to you first. Since indeed you thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. For so has the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set you as a light for the Gentiles, that you should bring salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth.' As the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of God. As many as were appointed to eternal life believed. The Lord's word was spread abroad throughout all the region. But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, and stirred up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and threw them out of their borders. But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came to Iconium. The disciples were filled with joy with the Holy Spirit" (
Acts 13:42-52).

*"Proselyte" is a Gentile who converted to Judaism.

This, folks, is the beautiful story of the beginning of our Christian faith. When our first Gentile representatives heard the Word of God, their hearts were stirred and their souls rejoiced with the Good News of Jesus. They begged for God's Word. They GLORIFIED the word of God, meaning they lived it out in their lives, giving glory to God in all they did.



Do we Christians today still respond so quickly, so faithfully? Do we beg to hear God's word? Do we feel the same gratitude of those early converts to "The Way" for being included in God's eternal plan? Praise God that we, Gentiles, are included in The One and True Church, the Body of Christ!

Today, feel blessed. 



In His love,
Gaynor

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