Scriptural Truth Found in Ancient Texts?

"So, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what the Prophets and Moses said was going to take place; that the Christ was to suffer, and that by reason of His resurrection from the dead He would be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles." (Acts 26:22-23 NASB)

 While camping one year, I met a believer who had some very unorthodox views.  He said he was somewhat like a church movement trying to get away from "organized religion" and back to early church roots.  It sounded interesting until two topics popped up chained together.  First he was against tithing saying it was a thing created by large churches to get more money.  Second, he based this view on his rejection of the Hebrew Scriptures as valid for Christians.  He totally missed the irony, even when I tried to explain it to him.

How can any Christ-following movement claim to be anywhere near the mindset of the early church and yet reject the very Scriptures they used in worship?  While this person, and others in such a movement may be an extreme example, there are others who are functionally in the same boat.  I have heard all sorts of excuses for such a practice: We're under "grace" not "law", The Old Testament was superseded by the New, Jesus said to reject it when He taught on "wine skins", and on and on.  HOG WASH!

Rather than debate these ridiculous excuses or give them any further thought time, let me ask the following:

1. When Jesus is tempted, where does He get His responses to Satan?  Where are those references found?
2. When Jesus corrects the Pharisees and religious leaders, what does He quote to them? Where are those references found?
3. On the road to Emmaus in Luke 24, what did Jesus use to support His statement that what happened was supposed to happen?  Where did He get those references?
4. How can Paul claim that he follows the law of the Jews in his repeated self-defense in Acts 22-26 if he has rejected the Hebrew Scriptures?
5. Why would he claim in Acts 26:22-23 that the core of his good news is "...nothing but what the Prophets and Moses said was going to take place..." if he has rejected the Hebrew Scriptures?
6. What was being read in the Early Church gatherings in Troas since we don't have a "letter" from Paul or anyone else to them?  One isn't even mentioned, so what were they reading?  The ink was drying on the other letters we do have, so what did everyone else read?
7. How can Jesus claim that He did not come to abolish the law, that not least stroke would disappear until all is completed, if He didn't want His followers reading those Scriptures?  Unless I suppose that those in these reject movements believe they are completed, which would fit their arrogance.

The only conclusion I can reach is that anyone claiming to follow Jesus yet rejecting, functionally or openly, the very Scriptures He used Himself are not even reading the Scriptures they claim as valid.  This is a rant, perhaps a "straw man" argument, and I am clearly emotionally hot about this topic.  I admit it, confess it, but I'm not apologetic.  A view of God that does not incorporate both the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Scriptures together is not only wrong, but dangerous.  That's not an opinion, it cannot be done and my Master be honored, be worshiped, or be obeyed.  There are sixty-six books, no more, no less, or someone else is being worshiped.

Up On My Old Testament Soap Box…Again

Sanctification is a big theological word (like theological isn’t).  I have said in previous entries that it refers to the process used to dedicate something to a deity.  Remember that a pagan language, Greek, was used to convey this idea, and so the word had use and understanding for those who did not know the One True God, nor the Son, Jesus.  So it refers to the process used by any religion to dedicate something solely to the use of a deity, whatever deity.

The important things are the two elements of “process” and “dedicate”.  Dedication conveyed an idea of being cut off from whatever use, location, or possession something used to have and replacing that use, location, and possession over to the deity.  Now the object having gone through the process of dedication is used only for or by that deity, located with the deity, and is owned by the deity.

I want to put that in its simplest terms because I think the idea of “holiness” is often lost on modern minds, even in church.  For instance, how can someone consider themselves holy to the God of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures but not spend time in the Hebrew Scriptures?  How is it that they can really be considered dedicated to that deity if there are reservations about that devotion and how they will be devoted?

Well meaning believers will say they want to know the will of God in their daily lives, yet never even think to look in the laws God gave to the Hebrews for their daily lives.  If such a suggestion is made, then they look hurt or offended or shocked and say, “we’re under grace not law!”  I don’t get that response.  It’s like taking the quote of Jesus where He says, “Man shall not live by bread alone,” and renouncing the super market lest you might buy such evils as bread.

Being dedicated to the Master of all matter means submitting myself to everything He reveals, not just the parts I’m comfortable with.  If my Master reveals areas in which He is interested that involve my daily routines, then I need to accept those.  There are lots of those in what we call the Law of Moses.  We seem to forget that it was recorded by Moses, but inspired by our Master.  What needs to be avoided is the temptation to use those laws as a means to be accepted by my Master, and as a measuring stick to compare myself to others.

Some of my favorite laws are actually in the set recorded in Exodus, and I don’t mean the Ten famous ones.  They are very practical means of guiding daily life, written much like ancient legal codes.  They are written in a way to decide cases brought before judges, or the city elders in the gates.  They hold insight into what my Master considers important, how my Master sees the value of people, and what does it mean to be holy in the daily routines of this unholy culture.

But to bring them forward into the circumstances of this day and age takes work.  And many people do not like to to do the work or find it intimidating.  It isn’t easy, but it is rewarding.  I find that among the ancients, my Master was progressive in women’s rights, spoke to the rights of employees and workplace safety, and took family relationships and the roles of parents and children very seriously.  This isn’t normally how my Master is seen or understood.

A lot of the will of my Master can be found simply through basic study of Scriptures rather than difficult passages.  It isn’t impossible or even hard to figure out how to treat women, employees, children or parents by studying the easier, more accessible passages.  The key is devotion and obedience to what is found in such study.  If the law of Moses is too hard, then the Beatitudes will suffice for a start.  The rest of the Sermon on the Mount is enough to occupy several years of study in understanding how a holy person behaves in this corrupt culture.

I find something wonderful about the character of my Master in discovering how He is the same even way back in the days of Moses and Abraham.  It’s sort of exciting when I find the words of Jesus among the Proverbs.  It’s comforting to me to know and see such evidence that my Master is truly the same yesterday, today; and then I can more easily believe that He’s forever.  I had a teacher who said something very profound, “There is more grace in the Old Testament than people think; and more wrath in the New Testament than people think.”  I have found that to be very true. 

I admit that the Hebrew Scriptures hold a fascination for me in a way not unlike my fascination with antiques.  I find a measure of quality and detail and heart put into such items that is sorely lacking today.  Our concrete buildings will never stand as long as the stone structures old in the days Abraham saw them in Egypt.  The words of my Master to the people of that day also carry a certain degree weight, greater than the stones they used to build.  Words of my Master to people capable of such work on behalf of demonic deities are words I feel a pull to seek and understand.  There is something there for the prideful people of this day; a message being missed in the hustle and bustle of the daily grind.

Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, October 20