Teleios

1. MacIlvaine, W.R., Nelson, L.A., Stewart, J.A., Stewart, W.C. (2013). Association of strength of religious adherence to quality of life measures. Complement Ther Clin Pract, 19:251-255.

Response policy - The purpose of the comment section is to promote discussion that is encouraging, propels the further search of Scripture and raises interesting and thought provoking Biblically related questions. You may feel free to disagree with me in a constructive manner using appropriate language. I reserve the right to remove your comments if they are profane, pornographic, libelous or I do not consider them constructive or consistent with the policy stated above. By posting you no longer own your comments and you are granting me an unrestricted worldwide license to use your comments.

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Sealed by the Holy Spirit

Welcome again to my blog. Thank you for visiting.

We have discussed already the past two weeks several wonderful promises accompanying salvation. This week let us overview the Spirit sealing, another fantastic biblical promise!

The Holy Spirit is often misunderstood, but He is a key component in our salvation, resulting position before God and subsequent Christian walk.

At Salvation the Holy Spirit is given to us. This is a great promise and is a part of the results of our belief to salvation by faith alone in Christ’s substitutionary work on the cross (Ephesians 2:8-9). These are the main points to review about the Spirit at salvation. Read and enjoy!

Spiritual baptism - We discussed this great promise two weeks ago; that the Holy Spirit regenerates us to a new life in Christ, identifying us with His death and resurrection upon the cross. We are a new creature in Christ (Romans 6:2-9, Ephesians 4:24, Colossians 3:10).

Entry into the church - The Spirit places us in the church universal through which serve Christ.

The Spirit sealing - This week we learn that the Holy Spirit at Salvation is given to us as a seal unto the day of our redemption, the second coming of Christ, when we will live with him eternally (Ephesians 1:13-14, II Corinthians 1:22, 5:5).

Fortunately, this seal is not talking about a cute aquatic mammal, but it is speaking of a secure seal to bind us to Christ. Seals were used in the ancient world as a legal means to close a document ISBE. If a king had created a new law or order, molten wax might be poured on the document to seal it and the king's signet ring pressed into the wax. The king’s symbol in the wax would tell the carrier or the recipient that the contents of the document were the king’s will and breaking the seal inappropriately or ignoring the order was done at a person's own peril.

We are sealed by our King and it reflects the same legal and unbreakable character as ancient law. Further, the Spirit seals us throughout our whole life on earth until we go home to heaven. Importantly, all those who believed by grace in Christ's forgiveness on the cross are Christians and have the Spirit and the seal (Ephesians 2:8:9).

What great promises we possess as believers in Christ with a position so eternally secure with a great hope for the future and a steadfast anchor our souls while we are on Earth (Hebrews 6:19; I Peter1:4-5).

Thank you for joining me on this fascinating Journey of who we are as a Christian before God. Please join us again next week to learn more.

WC Stewart

1. MacIlvaine, W.R., Nelson, L.A., Stewart, J.A., Stewart, W.C. (2013). Association of strength of religious adherence to quality of life measures. Complement Ther Clin Pract, 19:251-255.

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

All praise for Christ’s church

Welcome again to my blog. Thank you for visiting.

Two weeks ago we began a discussion regarding the results of personal salvation in Christ and why it might be associated with enhanced wellbeing as found through Teleios research.¹ Our current blog series is describing what happens, as taught in the Bible, to individuals at the time of their salvation. We started last week with the fantastic promise of spiritual baptism, resulting in a steadfast new and wonderful position of a believer. This week let us overview our membership in Christ’s church.

At salvation the Holy Spirit places each of us into the church of Christ (I Corinthians 12:13). This is a great promise and is a part of the results of our belief in salvation by faith alone in Christ.

The form of the church into which we are placed by the Spirit can be called, in theological terms, the church universal. This form of the church roughly can be described as the following:

It is the union of all believers worldwide who form the complete body of Christ.

Its head is Christ who sits at the right hand of God the Father and currently leads His church (Colossians 1:17-18, Hebrews 8:1, Ephesians 1:20-23).

Scripture does not indicate that our membership can be revoked from the church universal.

Although we are each instructed to be holy as God is Holy (I Peter 1:16), we each have different functions within the church (I Corinthians 12:13-27; Romans 12:4-5).

The practical outworking of the church universal is multiple organized bodies of believers often called the local church, but in our current age might be virtual (online) as well. Para-church organizations (e.g. independent missions or college ministries) function within the church universal but similarly to the local church. This is a topic for a future blog. Scripture gives broad definition to how churches are organized which allows great flexibility to serve Christ in various times and cultures.

These concepts of the church I've tried to base on Scripture without cultural overlays of expectations and definitions. Regardless, the concept of the universal church is controversial. For example, the some Baptist churches may not accept the concept of a ‘universal church’.² However, as the Apostle Paul states, we do what we do in faith using what we need to serve God, filtered by prayer and God's word (I Timothy 4:4-5, Romans 14:23).

Our reviews so far we've covered…that at our salvation through faith in Christ’s death on the cross; we have a spiritual baptism that identifies us as resurrected to a new life and places by the Spirit in Christ’s Church.

Praise be to God for such wonderful promises and positions resulting from such a great salvation. Stay tuned next week as we continue our discussion of the results of salvation. Thank you for joining me today.

1. MacIlvaine, W.R., Nelson, L.A., Stewart, J.A., Stewart, W.C. (2013). Association of strength of religious adherence to quality of life measures. Complement Ther Clin Pract, 19:251-255.

2. Ryrie, C.C. (1981). Basic theology: A popular systematic guide to understanding biblical truth. Colorado Springs: Victor Books; 277.

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Baptism, it is not just for dunking anymore!

Welcome again to my blog. Thank you for visiting.

Last week we began discussing the effects of personal salvation and why it might be associated with enhanced wellbeing as found through Teleios’ research.¹Let's discover the Biblical reasons why. This is a fantastic journey!

The next several blogs will talk about what happens, as described in the Bible, at the time of salvation resulting in a steadfast new and wonderful position of a believer. The blogs are based on the list presented last week.

Let's start with spiritual baptism. This important biblical truth is vital in understanding who we are as Christians. Our knowledge about baptism will transform the way we think!

First, let's consider the word itself. Although controversial, in the Epistles when baptism is mentioned it speaks generally of spiritual baptism. It does not mean dunking or sprinkling primarily; water baptism might be considered as an external ritual to signify the internal event. The word is βαπτιζω (baptizoo) in the Greek (this is the language in which the New Testament originally was written), and was an old term borrowed from the dye trade. It meant that a piece of cloth immersed in the dye became identified with the new color.

Secondly then, what does being identified with Christ have to do with us as Christians? Fortunately, a lot!

When we become a Christian we are identified with Christ’s gracious death and His resurrection. Otherwise, at salvation our old self died and was buried with Christ. We are raised now to new life with Him and we sit with Him on the right hand of God the Father (Romans 6:2-12; Ephesians 2:4-7; Colossians 2:12-13).

Why is this concept so important? Similar concepts in Scripture that also appear to speak probably to spiritual baptism are: regeneration (Titus 3:5), born again (John 3:5) and a new man (Ephesians4:24; Colossians 3:10):

Believer’s sin - Although every believer sins we can say ‘no’ to sin because as a new person in Christ we have the power to live a victorious life.

The reason for the resurrection - Baptism teaches us the importance of the resurrection because we are raised with Christ to new life without which we would still be dead in our sins (I Corinthians 15:17).

Eternal security - Baptism helps prove we cannot lose our salvation. because scripture does not indicate that if we commit sin that our new self can be killed and the old dead self re-resurrected like some bad re-make of the ‘Night of the Living Dead’!

In other words, you are transformed permanently to a new life, resurrected with Christ and sitting with Him in heaven. These changes cannot be reversed. What a great comfort we have in truth of scripture.

Therefore, as a new person, we are liberated from sin and are free to serve Christ. We cannot be defeated by the misdeeds of our old self.

Christ is a fantastic and true Savior! The nature of our salvation is so important that we will continue to address each of the individual promises overviewed last week. We’ll see how they will enhance our wellbeing. Come back next week as we continue this exciting journey about the nature of our great salvation.

WC Stewart

1. MacIlvaine, W.R., Nelson, L.A., Stewart, J.A., Stewart, W.C. (2013). Association of strength of religious adherence to quality of life measures. Complement Ther Clin Pract, 19:251-255.

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Wow, what a great salvation!

Welcome again to my blog. Thank you for visiting. We've been discussing in recent weeks the church, God's chosen method of administration for our time before Christ returns, and that all members should be productive believers, born again through faith alone. This is important so the church may advance the Gospel and positively affect its community. However, it is also important for the individual believer. Why is this?

This question is multi-leveled, complicated, but wonderful. As understanding our salvation is transformative. Let's spend the next few blogs discussing it.

Teleios Research has found that knowledge of salvation and eternal security enhances our wellbeing.¹ What are the Biblical reasons why? Today’s blog will talk about what happens, as described in the Bible, at the time of our salvation which results in a new and wonderful position for the believer.

We know from Scripture that our merciful God chose us (Ephesians 1:4-5, Ephesians 1:11; Romans 8:29-30), convicted us by his Spirit (John16:8), and dragged us to Himself (John 6:44) that we might believe in Christ’s forgiveness. All this by grace through the Christ’s sacrifice on the cross to grant us salvation by faith alone (Ephesians2:8-9). Indeed, God is worthy of praise for such a great salvation.

However, it is vital for us to know exactly what happens at salvation as it enhances our wellbeing and confidence, and certainly our praise to God.

At salvation we receive:

Spiritual baptism - We are regenerated by the Spirit into a new person and our old self dies (Romans 6:2-9). We become identified (the meaning of the word ‘baptism’) with Christ's death and resurrection. This marvelous spiritual truth speaks to the importance of the resurrection because it is the vehicle for our new life in Christ and eternity (Romans 6:9, 10:9-10). Indeed, we are a new person and the old sinful self is gone forever.

Membership in the church (I Corinthians 12:13) - The Spirit places each believer in the church universal (the fellowship of all believers under the headship of Christ, Colossians 1:17-18). We serve others, and God, typically through a local church assembly.

The Holy Spirit - He is given in part as a down payment to our salvation (Ephesians1:13-14, II Corinthians 1:21) that we cannot lose (Romans 8:28-39, I Peter1:4-5). He maintains us until the day of our redemption when Christ comes again (Ephesians 1:13-14; 2:10).

Adoption - Each believer is a child of God, adopted into his family. As generally in first world cultures today, when a child was adopted in the ancient Greek and Roman world, it was a legal right that could not be overturned.² In other words, the adopted child received all the rights and privileges of a natural-born child; so with a believer as a child of God (Ephesians 1:5).

Justification - Before we believed we were guilty of sin for which Christ died on the cross to provide his forgiveness and to declare us innocent (Romans 3:24-25). The word for justified in Greek (δικαιος, dikaios) means legally found innocent as in court of law. In other words, there is no double jeopardy: οnce found innocent no one can bring a charge against us (Romans 8:33).

Possession- We are the possession of Christ and God (Ephesians 1:13-14; 2:10). No one can take us out of their hand (John 10:27-30).

Christ is a fantastic and true Savior! The nature of our salvation is so important we will speak to each of these topics individually and how they might enhance a believer's wellbeing. Come back again next week as we start this exciting journey to discover the nature of our great salvation.

WC Stewart

1. MacIlvaine, W.R., Nelson, L.A., Stewart, J.A., Stewart, W.C. (2013). Association of strength of religious adherence to quality of life measures. Complement Ther Clin Pract, 19:251-255.

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adoption_in_ancient_Rome

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

How to help a tare - share your faith

Welcome back to my blog. I am so glad you can visit today.

The last few weeks we have overviewed scriptural methods to recognize true and non-true believers in the church (tares). Importantly, it may be someone close to you: your friends, your family or perhaps even someone on the church staff. Last week we began by considering why helping a tare towards salvation can be difficult. It can be a tough sell!

This week we cautiously present some suggestions about how to share your faith with a tare (assuming an adult age group), realizing the difficulty at hand.

Here are some hopefully helpful suggestions:

Friends - The first step is to befriend your potentially unbelieving acquaintance or increase the depth of your relationship. Ask them peripheral questions over issues related to Christianity and the church, for example: likes and dislikes about their church such as the preaching, choir, Sunday school, leadership, etc. Then listen! People love to talk about themselves and their opinions.

Listening is vital because it shows your respect and acceptance of the person. Further, it allows you to analyze their scriptural needs as you learn about them. Every individual is important. After you listen for a while, follow up with more specific questions, eliciting more detail.

Advance the depth of questions - Ultimately, when they trust you then you can progress the conversation to what they believe about Christ specifically; who He is, why He came, favorite Scripture about Christ, or what they thought about what the pastor said about Christ in his sermon.

These questions should be asked in a conversational, non-threatening manner. Again, just mostly listen! These types of questions will teach you more about your friend and especially help you assess if they understand the nature of salvation through Christ.

Advance the conversation to the Gospel - At some point you need specifically to express the Gospel to your potential tare (Romans 10:9-10) without helping them answer. How to do this? This task is a 100X easier after you have shown your respect and affection by building the relationship and listening to them. Every person is different. Here are some ideas:

Should the elders’ preparation class ask the attendees to state how to express the Gospel, what would you want them to say? An alternative, if your friend asked you how to be saved, what would you tell them?

If your friend confesses a need to learn scripture knowledge, ask them to do a one-on-one study with you where you can discuss the Gospel and who Christ is from scripture itself. Warning, they rarely will mention doing a Bible study themselves, you will need to propose to them directly a study based on the needs they express when you are listing to them.

For example, if they have mentioned in prior conversations they do not know much Scripture then propose a verse by verse study from Colossians or Ephesians. A Bible study is a great tool as it brings your friend and you to a neutral ground where they can observe the Gospel themselves.

Ask them during the study, at an appropriate verse, what they believe is important in expressing the Gospel to someone. They will need to learn it with your teaching, probably over several Bible study sessions.

St. Peter’s question - If all else fails I describe a scenario in which one day tey stand before St. Peter and he asks ‘What gives you the right to enter heaven?’ or ‘Why should I let you in here?’

This question cuts to the fundamental basis of a person's true faith. They must express exactly what qualifies them for heaven. Try this question with even long-standing church believers and you will get amazing answers.

In my wife, Jeanette’s and my own experience in teaching the Bible to churched adults, at the beginning of the study probably ⅓ to ½ of our students did not understand the grace of salvation, even on prompting; not even close!

Once your friend knows the Gospel, do not indicate they just became a Christian as this may cause discord, but just be joyful that they can express it confidently and can tell someone else. If you think they may not believe what they say, then ask directly if they believe the plan of salvation to hopefully address any questions or doubts.

Have mercy on your friends and your family! Consider carefully if they truly understand their salvation which is so carefully laid out in Scripture.

That is all for today. Thanks for joining me as always.

WC Stewart

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

How to help the non-believer

Welcome back to my blog. I am honored you can visit.

We have been discussing that the church is God's plan to implement His purposes for this time before Christ’s return. It should function efficiently with love and act consistently with God's word. The last few weeks we overviewed scriptural methods to recognize true and non-true believers (tares) in the church.

This week let’s think how we might help the church-attending non-believer. It can be a tough sell! How can we bring a tare’s attention to their own unbelief? Next week we’ll provide a few suggestions about how to share your faith with a tare.

What makes helping a tare difficult is if you ask a tare if they are a Christian, they most always would respond “yes.” Are they being dishonest? Consider that there are several levels of Christianity accepted in our culture.

Christian Seeker - These are typically new church attendees who may not recognize that they are not a true believer because they are interested in learning about Christianity. Generally, they are comfortable in the social setting of the church (which often is designed expressly for that purpose). A seeker may say they are a Christian. However, they may be more willing to admit they do not yet believe as their motivation for church attendance may be to seek a solution to their needs, which might be spiritual.

Social Christian - These are individuals, most likely church members or attendees, perhaps longstanding, who would readily indicate they are a Christian. However, when asked to explain their Christian beliefs in specific terms they might be unable to express the gospel, even with prompting. Unfortunately, since they typically are tied to the church and its social structure, they would be embarrassed to admit they are not truly a believing Christian; this would likely affect their self-esteem and social standing. Tares would fall into this group.

Evangelical, born-again Christian - These Christians identify as saved by grace, by faith alone in the forgiveness provided by Jesus Christ‘s death on the cross (Ephesians 2:8-9).

What’s the problem? The first two groups are accepted socially and are comfortable within the typical evangelical church setting. Consequently, to confront them regarding salvation may (almost assuredly) produce a defensive posture and perhaps a damaged friendship.

How then can we bring these important church members to be willing to evaluate their own salvation in an objective way? Good question! We don’t yet know from research how to best approach them. Further, the method will likely differ per the individual. Consequently, we must cling to scripture where God reminds us to try to bring the gospel to all people.

How to do this? We will discuss this interesting topic next week!

Thanks for joining me today. I look forward to seeing you again next week!

WC Stewart

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Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Why are tares important?

Welcome back to my blog. I am so glad you can visit today.

The past few weeks we overviewed Scriptural methods to recognize true and un-true (tares) believers within the church. Why is helping tares towards salvation so important? Bringing them lovingly to Christ is vital for the church for two reasons:

Salvation in Christ is essential for the individual for eternal life.
Salvation for the unbelieving church member is important for the local church. A congregation needs active members to be effective so they help and don’t hinder the advance of the Gospel and affecting society for good.

We'll deal with salvation in upcoming blogs but let's consider today the influence of the unbelieving church member inside the local church.

Scripture stresses the importance of unity in the church (Ephesians 4:1-7). Unfortunately, churches sometimes can be a place of discord with angry splits between groups (1). No one knows all the reasons for disunity in churches, either on the personal or global level. The causes are probably multiple.

However, an unbelieving church member may pursue an agenda that can be distracting to church unity either by wasting people's time for their disruptive purposes or a deeper discord leading potentially to division. Although I don’t know that this question has been researched specifically I believe generally a tare could negatively influence the church in several ways, by:

Building a power base by which they can control a portion of the church ministry
Seeking attention for their emotional pain or desires - While appropriate biblically (Galatians 6:2) this situation can become draining if the tare is not willing to change to conform to scriptural wisdom, or is solely interested in soaking up people's attention.
Living a passive Christian life - Even if the tare is not overtly disruptive they can have a negative influence by merely talking continuously about subjects that are non-biblical, or not encouraging others to seek scripture or act in godly ways. Otherwise, they hide the truth by their words and actions.

For the church to function productively and for individual Christians to attain the greatest benefit from body life, the effect of tares and other unbiblical agendas must be limited. How to do this?

Recognize who tares are (please read my prior blog).
As we discussed before, bringing them salvation this is the best solution!
Expect tares to conform their life to the Bible. If they do not, then members and leadership should consider:

Limiting social and fellowship time with them.
Refraining from giving them spiritual or non-spiritual leadership positions from which they might build their expectations that they could influence the church.
Consider corrective biblical action (by the church leaders) if the tare is clearly disruptive to body life (e.g., Matthew 18:15-20, II Corinthians 2:5-11).

The health of the modern church is vital! Each member should be a functioning, growing Christian who facilitates fruitful and positive teaching, praise, prayer and fellowship and enables the church to have a positive impact on their community. Don’t allow the agenda of a limited few, who refuse to come to Christ or be obedient to Scripture, to diminish the progress of Christ’s church!

Next week we will begin talking about methods to bring salvation to tares. Please come back and join us then.

WC Stewart

(1) https://www.gotquestions.org/church-splits.html

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

So who are tares?

Welcome back to my blog. I'm thrilled you can visit!

We have been discussing that the church is God's plan to implement His purposes for this time period before Christ’s return. It should function efficiently with love and consistent with God's word. Last week we overviewed Scriptural methods to recognize true believers in the church.

This week we discuss methods to recognize those who might be churched unbelievers or tares (Matt 13:24-30).

Jesus said there will be tares (who look like wheat but are false believers) in the church of whom we cannot differentiate until he returns. However, as part of our love for the church and its people we should try, as best we can, to discern those who are not really saved that we might help them understand the Gospel.

Who are they? Again it is difficult to determine, but on close inspection, the opposite of Scripture and without the knowledge of salvation. Regarding the list below, we all probably struggle with these issues from time to time (I do), but for the tare it characterizes their whole life.

What they say?

Self-focused - They talk about themselves usually expressing: self-aggrandizement, desire, jealousy, criticism and lack of gratitude.

They speak church ‘jargonese’- It is like learning just enough Spanish to get by in Mexico City, it may sound good on first hearing but you sure do not want to get into detailed theological conversation. Tares will pick up just enough church jargon, which is easier than learning scripture, to fit in socially. What is ‘jargonese’? It may possess a grain of truth, sounds good, but generally teaches lies about God and cannot be found in Scripture such as: ‘I was called to do this’, ‘God has one person for me to marry’, ‘God will open a door’, ‘I'm in the place where God wants me’, ‘I don't have a peace about this (so I will not do it)’ etc.

Victims - They often feel they are treated unfairly. Most usually their expectations for the church, its leadership and their fellow members are not met, leading often to bitterness and criticism.

What they know?

Scriptural Knowledge - They do not know much! They usually are familiar with a few individual versus that they learned in high school or college and fill in the rest with whatever legalistic system is pushed by their domination or church, or the youth group where they first learned Christianity. This makes for a person who may be inflexible and does not know or enjoy the freedom offered by Scripture and living by faith.

They know they are right - Not knowing Scripture and clinging to a legalistic system does not provide them a strong basis to make decisions or handle change. This may cause the tare to become defensive, and cling to their stance despite Biblical evidence to the contrary.

Salvation by what? - If you simply ask them ‘what gives you the right to enter heaven when you die?’ they will not give you a coherent or correct answer but they hesitantly may give you a long, circuitous and confabulated explanation.

What do they do?

What they do is simple, ‘peudo’-Scripture.

Christian practice - They may show for church but rarely practice on their own the five tools to maturity (prayer, praise, teaching, Bible study and Bible based fellowship) outside of church. They do not exhibit spiritual growth. They are more comfortable with non-spiritual (but often needed) service activities such as keeping nursery, arranging showers etc.

Scriptural application to their lives - When confronted with Scripture they doggedly dig in and hold to the system of Christianity they learned in their youth (e.g., ‘this is the Baptist Church, we immerse here’).

Comfort - They typically desire a secure churched-based earthy existence within social Christianity.

Teaching and evangelism - These are not parts of Christianity with which they are comfortable with perhaps not their ‘gift’. If they do teach at all it is typically from prepared material from a book or video.

In contrast, a true believer, even if young, over time will start to speak and do the things of God in a loving but truthful manner. They will grow to love His Word. We should seek to identify and then help those who do not know the full regenerative power of the Holy Spirit through Christ's forgiveness in faith so they too may contribute to the church.

That's all for today thank you for joining me. Please return next week as we discuss how to handle tears in the church.