Four Mile Hill church of Christ

In the first Century, Christians came up with a symbol to show if they were a Christian.  They did this because of the persecution of Christians that was prevalent in the first few hundred years after Christ.  The symbol was a fish.  Christians today still slap a bumper sticker of the “Jesus fish” to their cars and call themselves Christians.  The reason those first Century Christians chose a fish was because of its letters.  They made the acronym utilizing the letters that made up the Greek word for fish, ichthus (ἰχθύς).  Each letter stands for Jesus, Christ, God’s Son, Savior.  That last word is where the title of this article is derived.  Soteriology is the study of salvation (from σωτήρ (sōtēr) meaning “savior”).  You have to start from why salvation is needed.

When God created the world, he was fully present with his creation.  When men sinned, that made a separation between humans and God, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear” (Isaiah 59:1–2, ESV).  God cannot look upon evil, “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong,” (Habakkuk 1:13a).  There is a need for a savior because sin and evil are prevalent in the world and God wants to be fully present again.

Stanley Grenz noted, “In his response to Arius, Athanasius showed that the deity of the Spirit is necessitated by soteriology.  If the Spirit who enters our hearts as believes is not the actual Spirit of God, then we have no true community with God.”  In other words, you are not saved if you do not have God’s Spirit.  Paul lays this out beautifully concerning the Ephesians’ salvation in 1:3-14, but look specifically at verses 13-14, “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”  It is impossible to have salvation (sōtēria) without “the promised Holy Spirit.”

—Casey McDonald

Be sure to check out iTunes for updated sermons.  Stay tuned throughout the week to catch up on sermons from October and November as well.  Have a great day.

People through church history have been hesitant to use unbiblical terms.  One of the restoration pleas that developed was from Alexander Campbell, “Where the Scriptures speak, we speak; where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent.”  Because of this mentality, which is helpful, many stay away from any term that cannot be found in the scriptures.  If Christendom was to follow through with this, topics like “providence” and “restoration” must be avoided because of their lacking appearance in the Bible.  Christians are affirmed that God does provide and he desires to restore his people back to fellowship with himself.  Thus, providence and restoration are topics Christians cannot afford to avoid.  The same is true with the Trinity.

The Holy Spirit as part of a divine Trinity may be confused as tri-deism.  The divine plural seen in Genesis 1-11 has similar implications to the concept of a Triune God.  The Holy Spirit is not some arbitrary thing or “glorified ‘it’” as Earl Edwards puts it.  The word for “spirit” is a neuter noun, but when the personal pronoun is used in conjunction with the Holy Spirit it is the masculine, “he.”  Let not the believer in God be confused about the oneness of God,

“And God spoke all these words, saying, “‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God…’” (Exodus 20:1–5a, ESV).

The eternally present, divine, equal, and unified Trinity does not consider its three “persons” as separate.  The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit make up the one God of Abraham, who formed Adam and created the world, who came in the flesh then died leaving the Comforter until judgment day.  These three persons of God are evident in the baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:16-17) and his great commission before he ascends to be with the Father (Matt. 28:19).

-Casey McDonald

Remember this old look? http://g.co/maps/tsjac

We’ve done some renovations since then and added some parking spaces.  We’d love to have you come out and visit!

Theology is a fancy word for the study of God (theos).  People carry many different ideas about who God is and what his nature entails.  There is a plural nature to God seen very early in the Bible, “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26).  The narrator uses these plural words (us and our) to describe God.  Some theologians explain these plurals used in Genesis 1-11 and other places in the Bible to portray a divine counsel of sorts that includes celestial beings.  Since God and the Spirit of God are mentioned in the text, that suggests that the plurality of the one God is solely at work in this creative act.  As seen in Christology, God’s son was present during the creation process and is an entity of the unified Godhead seen at work in creation and certainly part of these plurals.

The study of God encompasses the Trinity.  One cannot get around the idea of three “persons” in one substance when Paul writes things like,“…be filled with the Spirit…giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…” (Ephesians 5:18c, 20).  There are truly three parts of God and man has come up with countless metaphors to try and explain this.  Sometimes metaphors can be very dangerous though because they may leave someone with the wrong idea.  Let us stick to the Bible when trying to explain the plural nature of the one God.  Deuteronomy 6:4 does this beautifully, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”  Trinitarian Christians are not polytheists or tri-deists, but believe in one God that has different roles that are named in the Bible as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

A temptation might be to make God modal who puts on different masks through history to play different roles.  The problem is we see all three “characters” on the seen at Jesus’ baptism.  The Son was baptized, the Spirit of God descended on him, and the Father spoke from heaven declaring favor for his son. (Matthew 3:16-17).  We must be careful to explain God to others and not give the impression we worship three different gods, but only the one God who is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

—Casey McDonald

Within the past few weeks, the church of Christ has seen 2 great women of faith move to Paradise.  Wilma Treat was beloved by all she came in contact with and passed from this life Saturday morning, November 5, 2011.  Last Saturday, November 19, Maxie Scudder made her move as well.  The visitation for the Scudder family is Tuesday, November 22, from 6-8 PM and the funeral is Wednesday at 2 PM.

Christians do not have to fear death because Jesus Christ conquered that foe when he burst from the grave giving everyone who believes in him hope.  We await with great anticipation to see these two fine women of God once again when the dead in Christ rise.

Christology may sound like a confusing and scary word, but do not let it be.  Break down its parts and you get simply the study (from –logia) of Christ.  This study within Christian theology deals specifically with the person and nature of Christ.  There are many conflicting views about who Christ is and what his purpose was while he walked on earth in the 1^st Century A.D.  Some of these differences people hold include his deity, humanity, status as “son,” the resurrection, and his eternal reign.

Jesus wanted to know, “Who do men say that I am?”  How people answer this question is the core of christology.  Jesus is eternally divine.  Everything was created through him making him present in and responsible for the creation.  He was called Immanuel, “God with us,” because he was God in the human form.  The historical implications to this claim are affirmed in Jesus’ own claim of his divinity and the confirmation of that claim through his resurrection from the dead.  Jesus’ humanity is strongly affirmed through his birth to Mary.  He was born of flesh and blood.  The book ends of his life point to his humanity maybe more than anything else.  While he was born of flesh and blood, he died because of that same flesh and blood that he allowed to be abused and poured out during his crucifixion.

Christ is God’s one of a kind son.  Jesus’ discourse with Nicodemus in the gospel of John carries one of the most descriptive christological verses in the Bible.  Jesus said in 3:16 (NASB), “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son…”  The description “only begotten” is also translated “only” and “one and only.”  The notion that Jesus came from or was created by God the father does not line up with his eternal nature.  The second verse of the Bible expressly mentions God and the Spirit of God during the creation narrative.  Later in that same story, the divine plural is seen for the first time, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26).  It is a little easier to understand why the Jews could understand the Spirit, but not a third substance of God.  John 1:1-5 tells of the son’s presence also during creation.

—Casey McDonald

            Onehobby I enjoy thoroughly is camping.  A“must do” while camping is building and maintaining a campfire. The fire isused for several different activities while in the woods.  Food is often cooked on the campfire,marshmallow roasting is a sure hit, heating up chocolate Hershey bars to make”smores” wets my taste buds, keeping warm during the night’s coolbreeze, and “chewing the fat” are all events that I love to take part in aroundthe campfire.

Agood campfire starts out as a dead pile of brush and small twigs that willcatch a spark easily.  As the base isbroadened, larger sticks are used for the endurance of the fire.  Once the base is set up a spark is needed toignite the flame either from a match, lighter, or the old school hard core wayof friction from a stick.  The campfireis now going, the food has been cooked and the time is at hand for gazing intothe fire being mesmerized by the red hot coals.

            It isnot a new concept or weakness to allow one’s Christianity to burn out.  Peter was on fire for Jesus and stated in Matthew 26:35“Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You.”  Peter’s fire soon died out when he wasapproached three different times that night being accused of being associatedwith Jesus and denying the accusation all three times before the rooster crowed(Mt. 26:69-75).Do not be discouraged if your fire dims down, but do not become slack concerningthe matter.