Meditation

"Ancient-Future Faith" Robert Webber

This is why the church as a fellowship in faith emphasizes the divine presence taking form in a new fabric of human relationships—a fellowship of people. This fellowship shares a corporate life. For example, Luke describes the early Christians as being of “one heart and one soul” (Acts 4:32). They even sold their possessions and lived in common, although, as the rebellion of Ananais and Sapphira illustrates, this original common community was difficult to administrate. Living together was not easy, and the principles of being the church together had to be learned as each member of the community submitted to the rule of Christ. But faith in the end was to overcome the boundaries that separated people, transcending racial, economic, and sexual differences. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female” (Gal. 3:28). The character of the “fellowship in faith” is to be far different from the character of other communities.

 

The difference is rooted in a common slavery to Jesus Christ. The image of a slave, so often overlooked, is an image that Paul often used of himself in relation to other believers, “For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Cor. 4:5). A slavery to God immediately transforms relations on the horizontal level. No longer can one person “lord it” over another. All God’s people are equal before God and each other. For this reason the church is called the “family of God” (1 Peter 4:17). We all serve in God’s house under God’s authority. Thus, the church is a fellowship in faith, a corporate existence under God, a mutual slavery to each other.
The church as the realized experience of the “fellowship of faith” will break down our extreme individualism. Modern individualism is something different from a personal relationship with God in Christ. It is a form of Christianity that fails to understand the integral relationship that exists between the members of Christ’s body. We need to reflect on the teaching of Ignatius, bishop of Antioch (A.D. 110), who wrote to the Ephesian church: “your accord and harmonious love is a hymn to Jesus Christ.” When the “fellowship in faith” is actualized, the church as a true fellowship makes Christianity real to the individual, as Ignatius indicated when he described the church “as a choir able to sing in unison and [with] one voice.” The mandate to break through the faÁade of individualism and create dynamic Christian relationships is demonstrated in this new fabric of human relations.

Consequently, the challenge of the church in the postmodern world is to recover community within the local church and the community of the entire church throughout history. We must learn that we are members of the whole church, the living and the dead, who constitute the fellowship in faith. Our calling is to deconstruct our sectarianism and to enter into dialogue with the whole church with the intent of recovering our relationship to the whole family of God—Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant. The more we experience the “fellowship in faith,” the more deeply we will experience the church as the body of Christ, a body that will attract and hold the postmodern seeker.

Robert Webber, Ancient-Future Faith : Rethinking Evangelicalism for a Postmodern World (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999), 79-81.

Scripture

• Acts 4:32-37
• Galatians 3:26-29
• 2 Corinthians 4:5-6
• 1 Peter 4:16-17

Challenge

We, as followers f Jesus, are called to live in community and for community (church).  If you really took this challenge seriously, how would it change the way you practice your faith on a daily and weekly basis?  What do you need to give up?  What do you need to embrace?

Meditation

The Ant and the Chrysalis – Aesop’s Fables

An Ant nimbly running about in the sunshine in search of food came across a Chrysalis that was very near its time of change. The Chrysalis moved its tail, and thus attracted the attention of the Ant, who then saw for the first time that it was alive. “Poor, pitiable animal!” cried the Ant disdainfully. “What a sad fate is yours!  While I can run hither and thither, at my pleasure, and, if I wish, ascend the tallest tree, you lie imprisoned here in your shell, with power only to move a joint or two of your scaly tail.” The Chrysalis heard all this, but did not try to make any reply. A few days after, when the Ant passed that way again, nothing but the shell remained.  Wondering what had become of its contents, he felt himself suddenly shaded and fanned by the gorgeous wings of a beautiful Butterfly. ”Behold in me,” said the Butterfly, “your much-pitied friend! Boast now of your powers to run and climb as long as you can get me to listen.” So saying, the Butterfly rose in the air, and, borne along and aloft on the summer breeze, was soon lost to the sight of the Ant forever.

Scripture

• Luke 24:13-31
• Job 28:20-24
• Psalm 139:14-17
• Colossians 1:24-29

Challenge

The simple lesson of Aesop’s Fable is  that often the truth is often hidden from us.  I frequent the Logos Bible Software forums where people often make bold assertions, and even become angry because of some perceived offense.  More often than not, their perception is changed when they take the time to get all the facts.  Even then, people are sometimes so committed to their belief, nothing can change their opinion.  Have you even been in a situation like that where you thought the answer was so clear, but then as time went, and your knowledge grew, on you changed your opinion?  These mundane examples from daily life only illustrate the problem as it pertains to our deeper spirituality.  Ravi Zacharias has observed the following traits among all people.

1. Finite Knowledge: No matter how smart or wise we are, there are gaps in our knowledge.  We cannot know everything or see every side of an issue.
2. Propensity to Believe: When confronted with a circumstance that causes discomfort, we tend to fill the void with our own beliefs.  Ultimately we distort the reality of the situation and create a false sense of safety.
3. Power of Deception: We are all susceptible to manipulation from others who are more than willing to take advantage of our weaknesses and lead us into destruction.

As we seek to walk the path that Jesus has laid out for us, we must be aware of our own limitations and learn to trust in the purpose, power, and presence of God in us.

1. What are the “gaps” in your knowledge that are causing you the most frustration and fear?
2. Are you filling those gaps with something solid or with convenient beliefs?  How can you tell the difference?
3. Who are the people speaking wisdom into your life?  Are they voices of deception telling you what you want to hear or voices of love telling you the hard truth?