The modern world does not have a particularly flattering opinion of the Church. Which is really a shame, because many of the issues we're seeing in modern culture are addressed within the Christian faith. I think the major reason for the lack of respect for the Church is because we have not made a strong case for Christianity’s positive contributions throughout history. We have let pagan, agnostic, and other religious groups define us, while allowing ourselves to believe many of the lies spread by progressive academia.
The Church as a political entity does not enjoy a very good reputation. When weak men use the church for their own selfish goals, they bring shame, and reproach upon the cross. This has been a problem from the very beginning of the Church. Much of it is because humans are lazy, easily misled, and usually self-centered. The Apostle Paul dealt with this problem in his letters often. His solution for false teaching was for Christians to study, pray, and follow Holy Spirit. STILL, even though the Church has seen its failures throughout the ages, it has changed the world for the best. As part of our study, we will be looking at what ancient cultures were like before Christ, and how the Kingdom of Grace and Love have changed humanity for the better.
As I began to study about what the ancient world was like, I was constantly struck by how little I knew about the ancient world before, and after Christ. To be honest, I had no idea how cruel, heartless, and indifferent ancient cultures were toward life. I also didn’t know the starts and sputters of the Church throughout its history. Having grown up in the latter half of the 20th century, I thought ancient peoples were just like me, loved and adored by my parents, deeply respectful of everyone, intensely devoted to God, living lives full of awe and wonder.. It never occurred to me that people could throw away children if they weren’t the right sex, or if they were ‘damaged.’ I had no idea that men and women would be willing to sell themselves into slavery, and how inhumanely they were treated once they were in that slavery. As I read on, I saw a world that was hostile to children, intolerant of individualism, and guided by hatred of others. I discovered an ancient world where the despots and rulers of ancient kingdoms viewed themselves as gods, and people as nothing more than dogs to serve their every wish. Some of you are probably saying "Duh! You should have known all of this." but I was never a history buff. In school it was all about memorizing dates and names, not necessarily the events and their importance.
My goal is to take you on a journey of the New Testament by studying the many letters written by Paul with an eye to the historical context of the people Paul came in contact with, as well as how he tailored each of his letters to those people. There are some interesting facts that will help you to understand how we’ve interpreted scriptures outside of the context of the peoples and their customs. I know I discovered many exciting truths through this study, and it made me appreciate the power of God’s grace to change the world. It is easy to frame things from our own little perspective, and totally miss the beauty and power of how Christ changed the world we live in today.
The way we’re going to do this is by bouncing back and forth from the letters themselves to the book of Acts, and then using historical accounts to bring deeper understanding to what Paul was teaching. We’ll dig deeper into the culture at the time Paul wrote the letters and see why and how he had to address many of the thorny issues that don’t make sense to us in our modern culture. Hopefully we’ll be able to dispel many of the purported contradictions that atheists like to use against believers.
In today’s society we have many who want to judge historical figures according to what we know today. This backward application of modern morals to past historical figures has resulted in many of our nation’s founders having their names, statues, and legacy removed from our culture. This process is also beginning to be seen in many modern churches, where even the Apostle Paul is being excoriated in modern churches because he didn’t condemn slavery. The Apostle Paul was as much a man of his generation as we are ours and to judge him against our modern understanding is a failing of human understanding. I find it amazing beyond belief that he was able to bring the Gospel of Christ to a barbaric world, setting in motion the Dominion of the Kingdom of God that we see today. How exciting to know that we are part of an ever changing, ever expanding Kingdom that has been the major driving force for improving the world around us. While it may appear that we are surrounded by evil on every side, we are actually the conquering force for good in the world. We don’t need weapons, for our battle is in the hearts and minds of people everywhere.
The world before Christ was cruel beyond our ability to know. We can have glimpses, and what we know may even cause us to recoil in disgust, but what Christ has done through the Church is beyond amazingly good. Those who wish to do away with the church in society are dooming mankind to barbaric cruelty the likes of which are long forgotten.
I’m going to give you a very stark picture of what the world was like prior to Moses, and then we’ll look at what it was like before Christ. That will set the stage for understanding just how much Christianity has changed the world for good, which is what Christ meant for it to do. For me, the greatest rebuke of our modern culture is the destruction of history. Without historical context we can’t learn what to avoid in the future. The great melting pot that was once America is now fragmented by race (read culture), sex, and gender, all in the name of inclusiveness. While it may be tempting to view the current cultural shift to ‘inclusiveness’ as a racial fairness issue, it has brought with it the ‘sexual liberation” movement which will in turn take us full circle to many of the cruelties of the past. Only through the lens of history can we see what happens to cultures without moral boundaries. The word of God teaches us that humans are incapable of establishing moral boundaries because we lack a stable moral ground to stand on. A higher moral ethic than another human being is needed, and we know that greater authority is in God. There is no utopian moral standard to which all mankind will agree. Now, in all fairness, even at its greatest point of influence, Christianity hasn’t been accepted by all cultures, but amazingly, its moral code has infiltrated other cultures without many of them realizing it.
The Kingdom of grace and love will triumph, of that you can be sure.. Our hope in the gospel is fixed in a future revealed to us in the Word of God. The unspoken debate within our men’s group will be if we are at the end of days, or is it still generations away?
Other questions we will have to address is: What is the future of the church in the United States? Can the Church still influence the world, or are the days of spiritual liberty over?
While it may seem as if I’m focused on the threat of socialism, I want you to know I am focused on the threat of socialism. Nothing in modern history is as threatening to mankind as the threat of socialism. Yet, we have churches throughout America wrapping their arms around the socialist agenda without even recognizing what they are doing. This is because they don’t know enough history to push back against the lies. Socialism inevitably leads to totalitarianism because the foundation for total government control is firmly in place. It is inevitable. Enough of that, though. I will get ahead of myself and have to backtrack later.
Our journey will begin with Adam, then Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Christ. Our study of the empires, and kingdoms that wove their way through God’s history will reveal their weakness in the face of God’s plan. Christ’s glorious Kingdom begins with a simple command to the eleven remaining disciples….”Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20
Don’t let go of that thought because we will come back to it many times throughout our study.
