Monday, December 11, 2006

Long ....but worth reading (in my opinion)

Still reading Organic Church...Still loving it

Here's a little for you to nibble on...

"If any ONE Christian alive today were to lead just one person to Christ every year and disciple that person so that he or she would, in turn, do the same the next year, it would take only about thirty-five years to reach the entire world for Christ! But it could be even closer than that. If every Christian alive today were to reproduce in the same way, the world would be won to Christ in the next two to four years....Christianity is always just one generation away from extinction. If we fail to reproduce ourselves and pass the torch of life into the hands of the next generation, Christianity will be over within just one generation. Yet because of the power of multiplication, we are also one generation away from worldwide fulfillment of the Great Commission. The choice is ours."


I mean...come on...REALLY?!?! What are we sitting around for?


I also got another bit of insight on the Lord's Supper... never heard this before. Still not sure what I think...tell me your opinion...

So in the book, it says how the Church has "taken and 'sanctified' them (symbolic exercises) to the extent that only the ordained can conduct them and they are performed only in the sanctity of church halls behind stained-glass windows. We even instruct unbelievers not to participate in the communion (which is a restriction not actually found in the Bible).

Hm...that's interesting... So I looked at the notes in the back of the book ... which say...

"The actual warning not to take the elements of communion 'in an unworthy manner' (1 Cor. 11:27-32) is for church members who are abusing the Lord's Supper for personal gain at the expense of others. It is clear that the discipline accompanying taking the supper in an unworthy manner is directed toward Christians, as Paul explains that this very punishment is one thing that seperates us from the condemnation of the world (v. 32). There is no mention that this applies in any way to unbelievers who are already under a strict judgement for sin, or as Paul says, 'condemnation.' When we do take the communion as Jesus intended, we 'proclaim His death until He comes' (1 Cor 11:26). Even in the very first communion, when Jesus gave us the example to follow in rememberance of Him, he clearly did not exclude the unbeliever who was at the table (Luke 22:14-23; John 13:10-11)."


Just something to think about

1 comment:

katy said...

so i took a look at the lord's supper in matthew 26...

26:26 "While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples..."

i think that because in this scenario, it is Jesus in an intimate, closed setting, "reclining with the twelve" (v 20) that communion now is restricted to believers...to disciples. it's an act of communing with God...and that's something that can't be done unless you are his disciple.

maybe.