17 August 2022
We must rebuild what once stood under the authority of Christ. The Covenant sets boundaries that we must honor.
A part of Old Testament prophecy was the vision of any generation being like flagstones in the Covenant path God had laid. If they bothered to look back, they could see there were many generations leading up to that moment. If they took the time to look ahead, they could see many more generations to come.
The road from the past was in places quite poorly laid. Indeed, whole patches seemed to have been missing. What would this road be like in the future? A lot depended on the current generation recognizing their part in the grand long vision God presented through His prophets. What kind of road would you leave for God to tread through the ages? Would your generation be a smooth path, or would it be more like rough dirt and sharp rocks that give Him pain?
Our lives form the moral infrastructure of our times, and set the tone for future generations. Will we leave a pattern for them to follow, or will they have to start from scratch trying to discern how to make way for the Lord to walk? We do not have the privilege of choosing whom the Lord brings alongside in His Covenant. The burden is upon us to take advantage of the gifts He gives in the form of people, and make it work for His glory.
Do you understand what the churches looked like under the Apostles? Everywhere Paul went he planted Christian synagogues; they certainly didn't look anything like churches today. Are you foolish enough to imagine that the social structure of those Christian synagogues was not part of the divine model itself? Men sat down front, along with boys nearing the age of manhood apprenticeship (still roughly age 12). Women and other children sat toward the back. The latter were quiet during the study and worship.
Paul said flatly that the issue was raising the eternal standards, something we are obliged to do in the company of angels (1 Corinthians 11:1-16). He was addressing the Corinthian church, the one that struggled so very hard with just the moral basics. If there was any group that would choke on Hebrew customs, it was they. While the issue of symbols of authority is very much a cultural thing, the underlying truth of how authority works in the Covenant is not.
We could go on in that vein for days, discussing the huge differences in social expectations between now and then. The long highway of the Covenant is for God's honor and glory. We are obliged by the Covenant to build a society that stands strong as the place the Lord strides through this world. Today's churches do not make for a smooth walk. If you ask me, the Lord has been traipsing through pretty rough ground for a very long time. For centuries they aped the words of 1 Corinthians 11 and forgot all about the issue of authority, but now they don't even bother to mimic it anymore.
Consider all that comes with it. I recently called for a better understanding of redemption; you don't get to choose the other stones in what God builds. You make the most of what God provides, and you must build with whatever those stones provide. We need solid families, yet there is a place for celibacy. The New Testament included plenty of admonitions about that. We need households that stand firm in the Covenant pattern of life.
Do you understand that if the men were men of God, the women would follow. The solution is not putting women in their place, but men taking their places. We need the strength of committed marriages rooted in the ancient truth of the Covenant. We are His Temple. Temples made of dirt and straw won't stand long when the fire of testing comes.
The testing is already here. Are you the clay that hardens in the heat, or are you dried up dirt that collapses into sand? You need the water of the Word. We don't need more of the ambient culture running through the Body of Christ.
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