EMMAUS SCHOOL OF BIBLICAL STUDIES

I title this book this because John writes to the original reader most likely in Ephesus, surprise surprise.  The Ephesians are always getting into false doctrine, and yet again the Ephesians gave come to think a false teaching that is commonly known now as Gnosticism.  This is really important to understand because it teaches that “All Father God” is not involved in us, yet there is a god underneath him named Sophia.  To explain this sect is ridiculous. But mainly Sophia deposited these divine pockets of knowledge, and whoever they were given to are the only ones that were going to be in Pleroma, i.e. Heaven.  Crazy, yeah? Well, what’s even more wild is that they taught that Jesus was one of those people that got this divine knowledge.  That was simply it.  Their view of Jesus wasn’t so they could see their sin, and obtain eternal life through him.  They didn’t even see sin as a problem, rather their whole goal for their life was to be saved from ignorance, which is something I am confused still.  The most important reason I tell you all of this, is because John writes to a church that has no way to know how to decipher between someone who is truly a follower of Jesus, because they don’t discredit Jesus, thus making it confusing for the original reader.  It even gets more confusing when they believed in Dualism as well, which is the fact that their sins does not affect their spirit.  WRONG!  So, John writes to them and gives them these 3 tests…1. Disobedience Test, 2. Doctrine Test, and 3. Love Test. He equips the original reader with these to enable them to see if 1. they are not being obedient to God’s commandments, than they do not know God, 2, If they do not think that Jesus is the only way to heaven through forgiveness of sins, they are wrong, and 3. if they are not showing love to their brother and sister, they are definitely not from God.

I go into all of that, because if you get in the original reader’s shoes, it was probably so difficult for them.  The biggest thing that stuck out to me in this book was the very practical approach gives to the Christian life.  I should be modeling my life after him by laying my life down for one another, realizing the reality of Jesus, and taking my sin seriously.  These are crucial truths to apply to my life.  Going through this book, it comes in such a good time because I have been really seeing how God wants me to love him in the response of Jesus.  That statement was said by me a lot in the past, but just recently I have never taken it to heart so deeply.  What I learned in this book was just how much we need to be representing Christ in our lives, and not justifying our sinful lives, but rather look for more reasons to justify Christ. By first and foremost grasping this love of Christ that first spared me.

When studying the book of Acts, I was faced with so much conviction about how the Gospel needs to be represented, preached, and demonstrated more in my life, as it was in the early church.

Over and Over again I was slammed in the face by the obedience the early followers of Jesus had and the zeal to go to the limits of preaching his true, forgiving, ever powerful Gospel no matter what. It saddens me that I cannot think of a Paul or Peter in my life that has the commitment of serving Jesus no matter what the cost. Yes I have met a lot of people that are on fire for Jesus, and I admire them, but I think more often than not, they are holding onto something earthly, and it is causing them to stray away from proclaiming the Gospel with full strength. I was just talking to someone today about how I wish I could serve side by side someone identical to Paul, or Peter, etc. When I was pondering it more, a lot of thoughts came to my heart about how this really is my passion. I want the passion that Paul, Peter, and Stephen ever so often owned. The passion to not care about what their closest friends would think, or what “the norm” of society expects of them, or holding onto their own hopes and expectations for their life. How often to we find Christians these days that are all of those things. I find myself faced with hard hitting questions, like Where did the Church go wrong? How do we adapt the early followers of Jesus into the 21st century. The more I thought and sought insight on the matter, the more I realized that the answer is letting go, and losing the life you once called your own, and gaining a life in Christ. I mean Jesus taught that exactly to his disciples, and what do we see? THEY DID IT!

I cannot help but come back to the realization that I don’t want to hold onto this life I call my own. I don’t want to have to answer to life’s practical questions. I feel like I am wasting my time over and over again sometimes, conveniencing myself with making decisions that attain to the “me” factor. When I was away on a Discipleship Training School, I got to catch a whiff of losing my life, and serving Jesus whole-heartedly. The result = I loved it! Yeah, it was difficult at times, but the advantages and security in Christ doing his work is unreal, and vocabulary-less when it comes down to it. God has shown me through his personal Holy Spirit that this is my passion, and he has bestowed that upon my soul. I want a life where I might run into severe persecution, or being part of 3,000 people getting saved. Put in the blank whatever you will, I want that for my Journey with Christ.

My prayer for my life and all Christians, is that we can start to see the need to minus our life, and add life in Christ, whatever the cost, and to be sensitive what the Spirit wants us to do, or where the Spirit wants us to go. To ask ourselves truly what it means spread the Gospel in the 21st century. All I know is that it will relate back to Jesus’ quote “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the Gospel, will save it.”

One of the major themes of Titus is Grace produces change!  Paul is informed of how terrible the church in Crete, which Titus is in charge of, is doing.  It has gone so far from the truth, that Paul has to go back to basic truths of the Gospel reminding them of the grace of God and sound doctrine.  He not only reminds them, but tells Titus to get this thing in order.  It is so corrupt in Crete though, that noone is representing the Gospel, but a few people.  So, basically Paul tells Titus in order to see change, find people that know the Grace of God, then from there, good works will play out.

Speaking the truth out of love is huge in this book.  To expect change from people through the Grace of God is crucial!  Paul is ticked off by how once again there is false teaching going on, and tells Titus to make sure sound doctrine is stable, so noone can refute it.  He goes on to say that it’s not about refuting it though.  You are always going to live with different people’s views, but not to get caught up in them.  Get caught up in Jesus first.  That is my prayer.  That wherever I go, whatever I do, I get caught up in Jesus first with my relationships, conversations, attitudes, and thoughts.  Speaking the truth out of love is being an example of Christ.

This life with Christ is real, and it needs to penetrate every area of my life.  Even if it means that people aren’t going to like it.  First and foremost in my relatonships, I need to be a role model for Christ before I am a brother, cousin, friend, or son. awhile ready to speak the truth of the Gospel out of love.  From that, I should expect change, and never let it rest.