"And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, 'Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hat not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church: and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matthew 16:16-18)
Thus was the foundation laid for the community of brethren that came to be known as the "church." Some have mistaken this scripture to believe that it meant Peter was the foundation of the church, and they have gone on to name Peter their first bishop or pope, attempting to prove their spiritual authority by claiming relationship to Peter; but this is far from what the Lord intended.
The Greek word Petros (translated in the KJV as Peter) means a rock, or more specifically a large fragment of a rock. The Greek word petra (translated in this KJV scripture as "rock") means a massive rock such as a ledge or a cliff, something that is said to be 'living' in that it is not fragmented and broken away from its source.
The fragmented rock was Peter in the flesh; the massive living rock was the revelation of Jesus Christ to man; revelation that became the foundation for the church. Revelation that united all the fragmented Peters of the world (men who sought God with everything within themselves, men who loved God fervently, men who failed God at times, men who cried bitterly at their failure before God, men who recognized that Jesus was the Messiah, the Anointed One who had come to save them) joining all the "rocks" into ONE LIVING MASSIVE ROCK, reuniting them into close fellowship once more with God.
The foundation was not Peter, and it was not what Peter had done or said that was the foundation. The foundation was the "revelation" of who Jesus Christ was to man; and revelation such as this comes not from man, but from God alone. Jesus told Peter that this knowledge didn't originate with anything relating to or made of flesh and blood; in other words, nothing human, thus pointing once more to the Father from whom all blessings flow.
And the content of the 'revelation' was important; it couldn't just be any revelation claimed by man, for many of these have been later proven to be false. No, this revelation had to come from God and be witnessed by God Himself, Jesus Christ, to be of God alone and not of man.
This revelation was the "with one accord" that describes the community mentality of the early church in at least ten passages of scripture. There is one Greek word that is translated into the three English words "with one accord" and that word is "homothumadon." Strong's concordance tells us that homothumadon is a compounding of two words meaning "to rush along" and "in unison" that can be best understood by picturing a variety of musical instruments, each unique in itself, yet being directed by the concert master to produce a glorious harmonic symphony; "so does the Holy Spirit blend together the lives of members of Christ's community of believers known as the church."
And it all begins with, or has as its foundational basis, this revelation, the confessing with one's mouth what has been recognized and received in one's heart, that:
"God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved." (John 3:16)
The "glad" recipients of this revelation, in the early church were identified by these characteristics and actions:
-they were together;
-they had all things common;
-they sold their possessions to meet each other's needs;
-they met daily in the temple (this was even before the Gentiles were being preached to, saved, and added to the fold);
-they ate their meals in each others' homes daily;
-whenever they ate together it was with gladness and singleness of heart;
-they praised God;
-they had favour with all the people;
-and the Lord kept adding daily to their community others that He wanted saved.
All because they had received revelation from God and were united with one accord in that revelation!
Without that revelation, there is darkness instead of light, and fear instead of joy. The Word says that "he that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." (John 3:18-21)
So, we can safely say that this revelation is requirement number 1 for community among the brethren; without it, there would be no "with one accord."
Without that "with one accord" what do we really have? I guess we have an orchestra with a lot of instruments, out of tune with one another, paying no attention to the orchestra leader, resulting in an out-of-harmony symphony that NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR.
This is the truth we must stay connected to the Vine.
ReplyDeleteIf I can speak in the tongues of men and (even)angels,but have not love(that reasoning,intentional,spiritual devotion such as is inspired by God's love for and in us) I am only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
1 corinthians 13:1 amp
Amen! It is His love that found us, and only His love that will keep us. And it is only His love with which we can love each other. Thus, all glory and honor and praise belongs to our Lord! There is no other but Him who is worthy to be praised! How can our hearts not be grateful for such a Savior as this?
ReplyDeleteDouble AMEN! GW
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