09 Jan 06 113681653025638370

I would be hard pressed to express my complete frustration with the mouse problem in my office. The more mice who go on to glory the more mice who return. I find myself unable to stem the furry tide. Nothing like coming in to the office on a Monday morning welcomed by a plague carrying rodent. I know, I know someone is out there thinking “Oh yeah? Try working with my boss?”

At least my experience, thus far, does not compare to that of Luciano Mares. Click here to find out why.

I wrote a lenghty introduction for a new message series which I began yesterday. Following the advice of trusted counsel, who gave me correct advice, I decided to omit the first page of text. I didn’t omit these thoughts because I thought they were wrong. I was fearful of making people mad and having them subsequently not listen to what I was trying to say in the message.

Here’s the text of what I wanted to say but did not say.

There are those who view Bible Study as an archeological dig. The Bible, they believe, is the remnant of some distant civilization, a mine to be excavated for its treasures and teachings on how to be the church of Christ. The purpose of Bible Study, in this way of thinking, was to become the right church through the practice of right doctrine. I believe this approach to be sincere but misguided. The purpose of the Bible, as I see it, is to inculcate within us the attitudes and actions necessary to become like Christ.

The New Testament writers did tell the early believers how to function as a church. They told the believers in Corinth how to function as a church in first century Corinth. They told the believers in Ephesus how to function as a church in first century Ephesus. They told the believers in Galatia how to function as a church in first century Galatia. They told the believers in Rome, Asia, and Italy, how to function as a church within the specific contextual realities of their age.

These instructions, however, were given only as secondary instructions. The primary instructions, given to these believers, always focused on how to become like Christ. The most important instructions were to live like Christ. If these believers could become like Christ and live like Christ they were well on their way to functioning as a church which belonged to Christ

We cannot, nor should we, restore the church of the first century because we do not live in the culture of the first Century. We can, however, learn to become like Christ. We can learn to think like Christ. We can learn to live like Christ. In so doing we, as individual members of the body of Christ, can function as a church which belongs to Christ. This is why we need to read the New Testament for what the New Testament writers wanted to tell us and teach us about Christ.

Here’s where I actually began with my introductory thoughts:

What do the New Testament writers tell us about Jesus? Beyond the obvious accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, what do the other writers tells us about Christ? What of Peter, Timothy, James, Paul, and Jude? What of the anonymous essay of Hebrews? What do they tell us about Jesus? What can we learn from these who doubted him and denied him? They ran away from him and ran back to him. They lived for Jesus and died for Jesus. They were taught by Jesus and taught about him. One of these men even tried to erase his name from the face of the earth only to discover, first hand, there is no other name by which to be saved.

The resounding witness of the New Testament writers, the great treasure of the writings of the New Testament, is how to become like Jesus Christ. How to think and act like Christ. How to live like Jesus. The early followers were steadfast in proclaiming a central message: Good News is salvation through Jesus Christ. Not salvation through a church, not salvation through a system of doctrine, not salvation through the keeping of specific traditions, salvation through Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul said it best, as he summarized the teaching ministry of the earliest followers of Christ, he said: “We preach Christ crucified.”

The early followers did preach Christ. They preached him crucified. They preached him buried. They preached resurrected. They preached him ascended and returning. Salvation has always hinged upon Christ ‚Äì upon him crucified, buried, resurrected and returning. Salvation has never been about anything else. There are people who preach doctrine, doctrine, doctrine ‚Äì misunderstanding right doctrine as indisputable evidence of a right heart belonging to Christ. Our Savior preached grace and peace, forgiveness and acceptance, mercy and love. He said: ‚ÄúAll people will know that you are my followers if you love each other.”

Once, during a feast to celebrate the Passover, some seekers came to a follower named Philip with a life changing request. They said to Philip: ‚ÄúSir, we would like to see Jesus.” That‚Äôs exactly who I‚Äôd like you to see. I‚Äôd like you to see Jesus, first in my life and second as an overflow into my ministry of preaching. I wish that others, in your conduct, in your thought process, in your decisions which spill over into your lifestyle would see Jesus.

Let’s journey together. Let’s search the Scriptures with fresh eyes and open hearts to see Jesus. Let’s walk into the fertile soil of the Word of God and see what the New Testament writers wanted us to know about Jesus. Let’s read their instructions, seeking to follow their advice, that we would learn to live like Jesus. With the faith and trust displayed by those first seekers who brought their request to Philip let us approach the writers of the New Testament and say “we would like to see Jesus.”