“Legends,
Fairy Tales, Truth or Traditions”
Galatians
5:7
By
Ron Schwartz
kmsrjs@triton.net
The
Word of Truth
Acts
3:1-8 (KJV)
1
Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of
prayer, being the ninth hour.
2
And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they
laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask
alms of them that entered into the temple;
3
Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.
4
And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.
5
And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.
6
Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give
I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.
7
And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately
his feet and ankle bones received strength.
8
And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the
temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.
What
do you see in this scripture?
Some
of you would say ‘faith,’ while others would say ‘boldness.’
Still others might respond ‘the power of God,’ ‘spiritual
gifts,’ or ‘confidence.’ I’ve
asked this question of many people over the years and I have yet to
hear this reply: ‘Me!’
The
doctrine that Jesus taught His disciples (including Paul) contained no
theory. It was all about
a way of living. He
instructed His followers in discipleship, He counseled them against
hypocrisy, and He explained to them the scriptures.
Hence, the disciples went forth practicing this same doctrine
and teaching others to do so. For
this reason, the first century Church knew great power, growth, and
authority. They simply
believed and obeyed the gospel they received.
When
we consider the Church described in the Book of Acts we must ask,
“What happened?” How
did the Church go from a vibrant, growing assembly of believers (who
preached the same message as Jesus and demonstrated His power) to the
stagnant, powerless, divided Church we see today?
What happened? The
answer is simple: sin and compromise.
For
example, the military has devised a way to keep missiles from hitting
the jets at which they are shot.
It’s known as a countermeasure.
When a jet detects that a missile has it locked on, it begins
to release chaff. Chaff
is a reflective material like tin foil that creates a cloud behind the
jet. The cloud of chaff becomes larger and larger, causing the missile
to home in on the center of the cloud.
The larger the cloud becomes, the further away from the jet the
missile will explode. The
missile misses the mark, just as we do when we sin (as we all know
that “sin” means “to miss the mark”).
The example demonstrates not just what sin is (missing the
mark), but possibly more importantly, how it comes to be so prevalent
in the Church.
In
the example of the missile, the jet represents the truth.
When we embrace the “Word of Truth,” we hit the mark.
As decades and centuries have passed since Jesus and His
apostle preached the gospel, a cloud of doctrines and traditions made
by men have grown around the Truth.
Today, it has become almost impossible to find the Truth as men
glorify and promote their doctrines and traditions.
However, as in the case of the missile, the jet stayed the
same, and so does the Truth. The
gospel we believe and preach should be the same as the gospel preached
by the apostles. It is
not dispensational, it is not a respecter of persons (as though it
were just for the early apostles), and it never ever changes.
It is timeless!
Where
should we worship?
John
4:5-24 (KJV)
5
Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to
the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph…
20
Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem
is the place where men ought to worship.
21
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye
shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the
Father.
22
Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is
of the Jews.
23
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall
worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such
to worship him.
24
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit
and in truth.
In
this story, Jesus comes to a well situated on a mountain that Jacob
once owned about 2,000 years before.
There He met a woman who needed an answer to her question, the
same question men have been asking since the dawn of time: where
should we worship?
She
explained the argument to Jesus as she understood it.
Why do the Jews worship in Jerusalem?
There is nothing holy concerning that city.
It’s just a place that your King David decided to use.
Is he greater than Abraham or Jacob?
She
was correct in that God was with Abraham and Jacob, and that they did
worship God on that mountain. However,
God moved on. About 500
years after that, we find God on a different mountain giving the law
to Moses, and His people worshiped Him there.
But God moved on. About
500 years after that, we find God coming down to inhabit the Temple in
Jerusalem. Once again,
His people worshipped Him there.
But something was about to happen to the Temple.
The Veil was about to be ripped from top to bottom, and God was
going to move on once again. Jesus
spoke this to her when He said, “the
hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the
Father in spirit and in truth.”
Throughout
history, each time God has moved, men have tried to bottle it and
define it as a recipe for success.
This is how most denominations have come to be.
Great men of faith have walked before us and we seen, heard and
marveled at their works and relationships with God.
Following them, men attempted to imitate their form of worship
in a hope of having what they had.
But it is nothing more than an imitation, and God has moved on.
As great as men like Luther and Wesley were, they were just
men, and they are now dead, just like Abraham, Jacob, and Moses.
God does not acknowledge you in your affiliations.
If He did, then we should build a church on top of Mount Sinai
and worship God there.
Consider
this woman’s question. She
had been so distracted by the religious arguments of the day that she
never even noticed that the answer to her question now stood before
her. God was in Jesus,
and through His son He had returned once again to the mountain where
Jacob had served Him in the past.
It is not the well, nor the mountain, no place that is
special: it is God. It is
not the church we attend or the doctrines to which we hold that mean
anything. It is all about
God.
Like
this woman, sometimes believers are so enamored with their buildings
and doctrines that they never notice that God is not present in their
midst. Is it possible
that we have become so lost in the doctrinal discussions of our time
that we completely miss the fact that God is not present with us?
Why
do we do what we do?
Acts
17:16-23 (KJV)
16
Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in
him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.
17
Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the
devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him.
18
Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks,
encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other
some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he
preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.
19
And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know
what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is?
20
For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know
therefore what these things mean.
21
(For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time
in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.)
22
Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of
Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.
23
For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with
this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly
worship, him declare I unto you.
Imagine
Paul in the marketplace looking to purchase food.
A man passes by with a large basket of dates and figs.
“Kind
sir, may I purchase some of those dates and figs?”
Paul asks.
“No,”
the man replies briskly, then turns and places the fruit methodically
on an altar. Paul cannot
help but notice the inscription on the altar: To The Unknown God.
As
the man turns to leave, Paul asks him, “What god do you worship
here?”
“I
don’t know,” the man responds.
“What’s
his name?”
“I
don’t know that either.”
“But
you do know that he requires dates and figs?”
“No,
I don’t know that either.”
Very
puzzled, Paul then asks, “Is there anyone in this city who can
answer these questions?”
“Well…
I think there was at one time an old man who knew something about this
god, but he died before I was born.”
By
now Paul can hardly contain himself.
“Why then do you bring him figs and dates?
How do you know that is what he wants?”
The
man thinks for a moment, then answers, “Well, because my father
brought figs and dates and so did his father.”
Paul
considers this for a moment. “Just what did your father do for a
living?”
“Both
he and my grand father raised figs and dates, and so do I.”
Finally,
a bewildered Paul makes this observation: “So you worship -- you
don’t know what -- a god -- you don’t know who -- in a way -- you
don’t know how.”
Ask
yourself these questions:
-
Why
do I worship God the way I do?
-
Why
do I serve God the way I do?
-
Why
do I believe the doctrines I do?
Can
you answer these questions? Then
ask yourself this: do you believe and worship the way you do because
that is the way your church does?
Have you ever sought out the scriptures to KNOW that you know
that the worship, beliefs, and doctrines you hold as sacred are indeed
the very gospel Jesus and his disciples taught?
Years
ago, when I first became a Christian, I began to see discrepancies
between the Bible and the practices of the church I attended.
I remember asking my counselor why things were done as they
were. His reply is
something that I continue to hear from believers to this day: “There
are over 100,000 people who are a part of this denomination.
If we are wrong, wouldn’t you think that someone would notice
it?”
Is
not this the same argument that each denomination uses?
Are they all correct in what and how they practice what they
believe? It’s not just
denominations who believe numbers equate to truth.
Even small gatherings of believers can find themselves
congregating together around an idea or a man and not around the Word
of Truth. We must always
come back to this very question: do I hold fast to the doctrine taught
by Jesus and his disciples?
The
Space Shuttle and ruts in the road
I
want to share with you something that is sometimes taught to
engineering students. When
the opportunity rises, examine a picture of the Space Shuttle.
It has a huge tank attached to its underside and two solid fuel
rocket boosters (SRBs) attached to the sides of the tank.
The solid fuel rocket boosters have been problematic for NASA.
Everyone either remembers or has heard of the Space Shuttle
Challenger. Challenger
exploded minutes after launch because of one of the SRBs.
The engineers who designed the Space Shuttle wanted to make the
SRBs shorter rather than long and slender (like a pencil).
So, let’s do the incomprehensible and ask the question: why
are the SRBs designed as they are?
As
it turns out, the SRBs are manufactured at
a factory in Utah. From
the plant in Utah, the SRBs are shipped by train to the launch site.
To get to the launch site the train must travel through a tunnel in
the mountains. The SRBs
must fit through that tunnel, which itself is only slightly wider than
the railroad track. So,
let’s ask the next question: why are railroad tracks the width they
are?
Railroads
throughout the United States are 4 foot 8.5 inches between the rails.
Well, that seems like such an odd number, so let’s ask the
next logical question: why are they 4 foot 8.5 inches?
Because that's the width they were built in England, and it was
English immigrants who built the railroads in the United States.
This goes all the way back to the 1800’s.
Okay,
then why did they build the railroads in England to this
specification? It turns
out that the first railroads were built by the same people who built
the tramways (or trolley cars). Okay,
so now we’re back to the 1700’s.
Before you ask, the tramways used this same specification (4
foot 8.5 inches) because they were built by the same people who built
the wagonways and wagons. Now
were back into the 1500’s, still with the same specifications.
Wagonways
were nothing more than wagons pulled by horses across a primitive
wooden rail system. The
people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they
had used to build the wagons and wagonways.
Wagons were used for thousands of years and the standard wheel
base (4 feet 8.5 inches) has always been the same.
I know what you’re going to ask next: why were wagons built
to this specification?
The first primitive road system in Europe was the
ancient Roman road, built primarily for the Roman Legions.
These roads were built out of solid rock, and they were about 6
feet deep. Because of
their design, they tended to last for centuries, and they were found
all over Europe. As it
turns out, these roads had grooves that had been worn into them after
decades and centuries of use by the wheels of Roman chariots.
Therefore, the people who built wagons had to build them so the
wagon wheels fit perfectly in the groves.
If they did not, the wagon would tear itself apart.
We have now arrived at the last question: why were
Roman chariots built to this specification?
As it turns out, the Romans built their chariots to be the same
width as the two horses that were destined to pull it, that is, 4 feet
8.5 inches. So the next
time you see the Space Shuttle ready for launch take a good look at
the SRBs and consider the fact that their diameter was determined
thousands of years ago by the width of a couple of horses.
Isn’t
it interesting how one tradition led to the next and the next and the
next? One tradition led
to a standard. That standard became a rule that eventually became a
law. This law is now so
engrained into our transportation system that it will probably never
be changed. Go to some
railroad headquarters and them if they can change the width of
railroads. In doing so,
trains wouldn’t require as many cars to transport goods, and they
would not need to be nearly as long.
Their reply is predictable: the cost of such a change is too
great. Every train and
every track across the continent would have to change.
It’s much easier to leave things as they are.
How
much is this like believers of today.
I constantly meet believers who struggle with the Word of
Truth. They recognize
that their lives are not in alignment with the scriptures, but neither
are those of the others in their church.
If no one else is changing, why should they?
The
Sheep Market
John
5:2-9 (KJV)
2
Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called
in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.
3
In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt,
withered, waiting for the moving of the water.
4
For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled
the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water
stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
5
And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight
years.
6
When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in
that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?
7
The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is
troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another
steppeth down before me.
8
Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.
9
And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and
walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.
Now,
the Bible never actually says that anyone was ever healed there.
The man suggests they were when he said, “when the water is
troubled… another steppeth down before me (John 5:7).”
Remember the (Catholic) stories of the children and women who
have reported to have seen the virgin Mary at a particular place?
What followed each of these encounters is that the spot
eventually becomes a shrine, a spot where miracles are alleged to take
place for centuries that follow.
Now I ask you, is this God’s way?
Does God tend to select a parcel of ground and then bless it?
If so, maybe we should build a church on Mount Sinai where God
first met Moses, where the law was given, and where His covenant was
made with man. Surely,
that must be a holy place, no?
Perhaps
it goes more like this: a prophet once stood in that very spot and
said, “One day a man will come here and trouble the waters of
Israel. He who steps into
the water will find rest, but he who waits will know no peace.”
Then followed years, decades, and quite possibly even centuries
of the story being told and retold until it eventually came to take on
a completely different meaning. First,
it was a “man sent from God.”
Later it became “a messenger from God,” and eventually
“an angel of the Lord.” Finally,
the story became that that very spot that was blessed and destined to
become a shrine for the Divine (rhyme not intended).
What if that was not what the prophet had intended at all?
What if it was a prophecy about Christ that men had enshrined
(they have a habit of doing that)?
Going a step further, what if from time to time, as wind
whipped across the water, people claimed to see an angel.
Then through the hysteria of the moment as people pushed,
shoved, clawed, and screamed while trying to enter, someone would
claim healing. Have we
today ever heard or witnessed anything like that?
Perhaps
over the course of time, men became enamored with their traditions and
legends, and the original prophecy was completely lost.
Perhaps what they came to accept as truth had no foundation in
the truth at all. Perhaps
the original word became so misinterpreted that, when the prophecy was
fulfilled, no one there understood.
It is quite possible that Jesus came as the man who troubled
the waters of Israel, and we know that there were those who freely
accepted Him as Lord and those who drew back.
Try
to imagine what it would have been like.
Jesus shows up as that messenger of the Lord and the one who
troubles the waters. He
stood there able to heal and deliver each soul but no one noticed Him.
He had the power to give life and healing to all who were
present, but no one sees Him. Why?
Because they were too busy with their shrine.
They were caught up in their legends and habits and didn’t
notice that the prophecy was being fulfilled right before their eyes.
Once again, why? Because
that’s how they always did it.
That’s the way their fathers did it, the way their fathers’
fathers did it, and no one dared to challenge the accepted standard.
I
believe that we can and should question the standard.
Are our actions and our faith rooted in the Word of the Lord or
in generations of legends and fairytales that we have accepted as the
truth our whole lives long?
Amen!
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