I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. [1 Corinthians 1:10 (NLT)]
Controversy within the Church didn’t stop with the creeds and we continue to get bogged down with disagreements over things like purgatory, open or closed communion, the observance of Lent or saints’ days, the way communion should be received, and women in the clergy. Whether we sprinkle or do full immersion, worship on Saturday or Sunday, kneel or stand to pray, stand or sit to sing, or use wine, grape juice, thin wafers, matzo, or Wonder bread for Communion probably are of no real significance to God. Rather than division, He just wants our praise and thanksgiving, our love and obedience, our faith, our prayers, and our witness.
The Christian church, with its three distinct branches of Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox that are separated into more subgroups reminds me of the Fabaceae plant family. Like the Church, it has three distinct branches: Faboideae, Caesalpinioideae, and Mimosoideae and each branch is divided into more subgroups. Typically having pea-like flowers, the largest branch, Faboideae, include plants like soybeans, peanuts, peas, and lentils. Usually having 5 distinct petals, the Caesalpinioideae branch has plants like the showy Royal Poinciana and Hong Kong orchid trees. With flowers that look like powder puffs, the Mimosoideae are the smallest branch and includes the acacia, mimosa, and sensitive plant.
While there are around 18,000 different species in the three branches of Fabaceae, it’s estimated that there are over 45,000 different Christian denominations within the three branches of the Church! Within the Protestant branch, for example, we find subgroups like Pentecostals, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Lutherans (who are divided into more subgroups like the ELCA, Wisconsin Evangelical, and Missouri Synod)!
While their distinct flower types are what distinguish the three branches of Fabaceae from one another, it is slight differences in doctrine, dogma, emphasis, or style of worship that distinguish the three branches and their various subgroups of Christianity. What unites the Fabaceae into one family is their pods and what unites all of these Christian denominations into one family is their agreement regarding the essentials of Christianity. They all are part of the Body of Christ.
Even though they don’t look much alike, all of the plants pictured in today’s message are Fabaceae and descendants of the same first pea seed God planted millions of years ago. Like the Fabaceae, Christians also trace their beginnings to the same seed: Jesus. While the Fabaceae take root in the soil, Christians are rooted in the Word of God. Instead of the sun’s light and photosynthesis, it’s the Son’s light and the power of the Holy Spirit that makes us grow. In spite of their differences, all Fabaceae bear similar fruit in their pods. In spite of Christianity’s diversity, like Fabaceae, Christians are to bear similar fruit, as well. Rather than peas or beans, however, it’s the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Rather than focusing on our differences, let us focus on our unity in Christ. May we always remember Paul’s words to the Romans that, “We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.” [12:15]
We need not all agree, but if we disagree, let us not be disagreeable in our disagreements. [M.R. DeHaan]
1 Timothy doesn’t tell us much about Hymenaeus or Alexander—the men whose faith was shipwrecked. From Paul’s other references to the men, we do know that Hymenaeus denied the doctrine of the resurrection and that Alexander did “much harm” to Paul, but we don’t know the details. Whatever these men said or did, by accusing them of blasphemy and handing them “over to Satan,” Paul seemed to be excommunicating them from the church.
You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich. [2 Corinthians 8:9 (NLT)]
When the ten northern tribes refused to submit to Rehoboam, they revolted and, by 930 BC, there were two political states: Israel, the northern kingdom, and Judah, the southern one. Both kingdoms suffered from inept, disobedient, and often corrupt leadership but Judah’s king Ahaz (743-728 BC) was one of weakest and most corrupt of all the southern kingdom’s leaders. Because of his apostasy (which included sacrificing some of his sons to Baal), the Lord allowed Judah’s defeat at the hands of Rezin (king of Aram) and Pekah (king of Israel). By the end of the battle, Ahaz lost a son and two of his close advisors and Judah lost 120,000 seasoned warriors. The Arameans took captives to Damascus and Israel’s warriors returned to Samaria with a huge amount of plunder and 200,000 captured women and children they intended to enslave (in spite of its prohibition in Leviticus 25:39-43).
When writing about the Good Samaritan yesterday, I recalled being asked who represents Jesus in the parable. The most obvious answer appears to be the Samaritan. After all, love that unlimited and sacrificial had to have been supernatural. The parallels are somewhat obvious—both men were merciful, compassionate, paid another man’s debt, promised to return, and were despised and rejected by the Jews. In fact, early commentators like Irenaeus, Clement, Augustine, and Origen found all sorts of allegorical meaning in the story with the injured man representing Adam, the bandits Satan, the loss of clothing as man’s loss of innocence, the wine given the man as Christ’s atoning blood, the inn as the Church, the innkeeper as Paul (or the Pope), and the two coins given to the innkeeper as the Law and the Prophets or the two testaments. While some of Jesus’ parables (like the Sower and the Soils, the Wheat and the Weeds, and the Evil Tenants) clearly are allegories, other are not.
Operating on a salvation by works mentality, the lawyer/expert in Mosaic law asked what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. When Jesus asked what the law said, the man cited Deuteronomy 6:5, about total devotion to God, and Leviticus 19:18, about loving his neighbor as himself. When Jesus told him, “Do this, and you will live,” the man realized that perfect obedience to loving everyone wasn’t possible. Hoping to limit the commandment to something more attainable, he searched for a loophole and asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Perhaps he was thinking of the words found in the book of Sirach (a collection of moral counsel and maxims well known in Jesus’ time), “If you do a kindness, know to whom you do it, and you will be thanked for your good deeds. … Give to the godly man, but do not help the sinner.” [12:1,4] These words reflected the prevailing view of the time that kindheartedness and aid were mainly for family, friends, or a righteous deserving person, but certainly not to one’s enemies.
Devotions of the Heart 