Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

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March 8, 2010
    Good morning, Special family and friends.
    My head is kind of swimming in the volume of my TO-DO list.  Not sure if its doing the back stroke, crawl, or butterfly...  But I am committed to this reliable standard: YOU CAN ONLY DO WHAT YOU CAN DO.
    I coaxed Daisy inside again.  Hopefully she'll learn how to get along as a competent cripple...just like the rest of us.  That calls to mind that quip that says, "Never follow a man who does not walk with a limp."
    God bless you.
        Dad/Ray

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8 March 2010
Passage: Acts 15:22-35
Focus: “…some went out from us without our authorization…”  Acts 15:24.

            To begin with, I think it could be helpful to our understanding of how God works to point out something that is conspicuous by its absence: There is no evidence of miraculous and supernatural phenomena surrounding this first General Council meeting of the early church at Jerusalem.  By deduction I would take that to imply that God does not intend the supernatural (super-normal) to be natural (normal) in our processing and application of God’s supernatural message (the Gospel).  Think about it.
            This passage demonstrates the value of balanced organization within the Church.  One of the great benefits of church leaders gathering together for the purpose of discussion and sorting out problems and issues in the right spirit is that it allows them to formulate AUTHORIZATION—a set of godly organizational standards, policies, and procedures that represent their best balanced effort at setting forth a sound practical theology.  Without this kind of organizational unity, the church too easily becomes a free-for-all of independent “Lone Ranger” operators—pursuing what seems right in their own eyes.
            An example of unauthorized independence, and the damage it can cause, is seen in this account where certain believers who still clung to Jewish legalism infiltrated the Gentile revival at Antioch with the dogma that circumcision must be an absolute requirement of ALL (male) believers.  They apparently claimed to represent the Church at Jerusalem.  I’m sure glad Paul and Barnabas didn’t respond with a wimpy, “Whatever.”
            Balance is always the key.  Too much rigid AUTHORIZATION is just another form of legalism as it tends to view its organizational standards as an END.  Balance is most likely when the church body recognizes their organization as simply a MEANS to the END of proclaiming the Gospel to a lost world.