Drew's Question This Morning...

[Murph]

Drew posed a good question for thought on FB this morning. Second one that occurs personally to me is...would I accept or reject Him if He walked into Alton Baptist Church today?

Drew asks...

"Would Jesus of Nazareth be accepted in many of our "Christian" Churches today?

The one Who declared Himself to be God manifest in the flesh, Who declared that He Alone was the Only way to God, Who took up a whip and drove the moneychangers from the temple.

Would God manifest in the flesh, the One Who is our Creator, the Author and Finisher of the only way of salvation, the One who was so intolerant of sin that He declared that those who reject Him would be forever condemned if they died without receiving He Who gave Himself as the only sacrifice for sin, the ONE TIME sacrifice and propitiation for all sin, which must be received to be applicable, would this Jesus of Nazareth be received and accepted in many of our pulpits today?"

[veterinarian]

I have thought about this many times before, and most of the time the answer would be "no".

[Murph]

Well Donna, the question being raised on a Christian MB and bringing only one response seems to me to answer the question quite adequately.

Jesus would probably be ignored...

[Keith]

Mar 1, 2013 8:59:01 GMT -6 Murph said:

...the question being raised on a Christian MB and bringing only one response seems to me to answer the question quite adequately.

No other response would have been Biblical.

[Murph]

The question has an underlying meaning that is quite Biblical. Seven parables of the Kingdom illustrate the answer I believe.

Lord isn't suprised about what is going on in the churches today anymore than He was about what was going on in the Temples and synagogues of that day...

[Deleted]

I found this that is free to post since it is an author unknown . . .

A church was in need of a pastor for some time but was having trouble getting one; but not because pastors weren't applying, but because the congregation always seemed to find fault with the pastors. Most pastors were rejected when the people just read the résumé. Some didn't have enough experience, some too much, some not enough education, some too much and so on.

One day a board member, who was getting very tired of this, decided to do something. So the next Sunday, he got up in the pulpit and announced that he had another résumé to share with the congregation. Most of them sat back, folded their arms and began to listen; ready to see what faults they could find on the new applicant. The board member began to read and the résumé went like this...

"Dear church members; I am writing to apply for position as your pastor. My experience is more along the lines of evangelist but I believe I could fill your position adequately. I've never attended any bible school per say but I have a lot of field experience. I don't have a degree on my wall, or a wall for that matter; I've traveled around most of my life, renting and doing odd jobs to support myself and preaching wherever I was invited; churches, streets, even jails. As a matter of fact, I've been thrown in jail several times and been involved in a few public squabbles. I've been accused of being anti-semantic, anti-authority and causing disturbances almost everywhere I go. But I did have a few conversions to Christianity during my ministry as well as a few healings. Thank you for considering my application."

Most of the people looked up at the deacon with smirks of condemnation while others chuckled out loud. One man stood up and still laughing asked the deacon,

"Does this guy actually expect us to seriously consider him for our pastor? Just what's this fellow's name any way?"

The deacon replied that the letter was signed -

The Apostle Paul

You could have heard a pin drop.

Author unknown.

[Murph]

Hit a big ole "LIKE" button on that one Virgil...

[Bud]

That is great Virgil.Gotta copy and post if that's ok.

[Deleted]

This question might have been asked twenty years ago or so, around the 70's at least . . .

Today it is will the committed Christian be welcomed in any of the steepled social clubs that call themselves churches today. Even many of the once fundamental, independent Baptist churches across the country have never changed their beliefs on paper, but in practice - a much different story.

We are so far removed from the purity of the early church that I am pretty sure that we would be cults in comparison. It is only as a congregation from the strongest to the weakest cling to biblical principles as their only source of faith and practice that they could even barely qualify.

Today, it is Reader's Digest, Dr. Phil, Oprah and Dr. Oz that determine how folks react to life in general.

There might have been a reason why some have chosen not to respond to this question . . . and mine should be obvious. No one really wants to hear the answer.

American Christians are no longer interested in the cure for their spiritual problelms, they only want a bandaid to molify their sores, or as Isaiah was prompted to say . . .

"Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow" (Isaiah 1:4-17).

And God's solution to the whole mess is in the next verse . . .

"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land" (Isaiah 1:18-19).

But today, the only time you hear this verse is in the context of how the church needs to be "reasonable" and accept changes for her better, to make her more palatable to the world . . .