In 1859, a scholar named Tischendorf was doing some research in the Holy Land collecting old manuscripts to be used in the study of ancient Greek. He asked the monks at an old monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai if they had any old documents he could study. He was given a bundle of old worthless documents that had literally been laying around collecting dust in a neglected corner of the monastery for centuries. No one knew what they were or from where they came. All they knew was that the documents were worthless, and they were more than happy to give them away.
As Tischendorf began reading the manuscripts, a fire began to burn within him that still burns to this day. What he was reading as we would read the Sunday paper was a complete copy of the Greek New Testament copied in the mid-fourth century, only 250 or so years after John put down his pen. It was and is the oldest complete copy of the Greek text in existence and the single most important document for the translation of the New Testament. What the monks saw as worthless was of incomparable value!
Value is in the eye of the beholder. What one person sees as worthless and boring, another recognizes as of infinite value and worth. The original readers of Hebrews were giving up on the church to return to the Judaism of their past. They were discouraged and bored with "feeble arms and weak knees" (Heb 12:12). So the writer asks them, “Don’t you know the value of what you are holding?” The power and value of Christianity is not found in its traditions or institutions or worship. It is in Christ. These discouraged Christians needed to see Jesus, so the Hebrews writer begins by asking them to take a fresh look--
As Tischendorf began reading the manuscripts, a fire began to burn within him that still burns to this day. What he was reading as we would read the Sunday paper was a complete copy of the Greek New Testament copied in the mid-fourth century, only 250 or so years after John put down his pen. It was and is the oldest complete copy of the Greek text in existence and the single most important document for the translation of the New Testament. What the monks saw as worthless was of incomparable value!
Value is in the eye of the beholder. What one person sees as worthless and boring, another recognizes as of infinite value and worth. The original readers of Hebrews were giving up on the church to return to the Judaism of their past. They were discouraged and bored with "feeble arms and weak knees" (Heb 12:12). So the writer asks them, “Don’t you know the value of what you are holding?” The power and value of Christianity is not found in its traditions or institutions or worship. It is in Christ. These discouraged Christians needed to see Jesus, so the Hebrews writer begins by asking them to take a fresh look--
1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. (Hebrews 1:1-3)The power of faith is not in finding the right church but the right Christ! May we never get so bogged down in the details of "doing church" that we loose sight of the majesty and glory that is the Christ who is its head! May we ever take a fresh look at Jesus to see the glory and majesty of the God that we serve. At those times when we get the most discouraged, may we turn our eyes upon Jesus!
2 comments:
Well said, yes yes and yes
Who’s church will one be ‘placing membership with’ and to who’s authority are we to submit ourselves? Let us be careful who we join our hands with and to who we yield ourselves. And keep in mind that just because there is a “Church of Christ’ on the door. That does not necessarily mean that He is the head of that group of people, who holds the key to the door. Sometimes the devil really is in the details. The right Christ indeed! who is the head of and moves the church.
Post a Comment