GOD'S own possesion

THE CELEBRATION OF THE PENTECOST AND BIRTH OF THE CHURCH.

Frankbennet — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 07:35:06 GMT

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE CHURCH HAVE A BLESSED PENTECOST!

THIS DAY WE CELEBRATE THE BIRTH OF THE CHURCH
Sunday, June 8, is Pentecost Sunday.
Mass Readings
Vigil: Genesis 11:1-9; or Exodus 19:3-8, 16-20; or Ezekiel 37:1-14; or Joel 3:1-5; Psalm 104:1-2, 24, 35, 27-30; Romans 8:22-27; John 7:37-39
Sunday: Acts 2:1-11; Psalm 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34; 1 Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13; John 20:19-23

Our Take
Perhaps the best way to see the true drama of Pentecost is to look at all of the available readings the Church offers for the Pentecost vigil and Pentecost Sunday. Here is a quick overview:
The Tower of Babel is one option. The story tells us how haughty humanity looks to technology for salvation, but ultimately cannot communicate without Divine intervention. Without the Holy Spirit, we are in Babel, trying to helplessly communicate.
God’s might in the Mount Sinai reading is the next vigil option. When the Lord came to Mount Sinai to converse with Moses, "the smoke rose from it as though from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently." When the Holy Spirit speaks, he sounds like thunder.
Ezekiel’s dry-bones vision is next. He sees dry, dead bones with no spirit. We, too, are like Ezekiel’s lifeless bones until we learn his prayer: "From the four winds come, O Spirit, and breathe into these slain, that they may come to life."
The prophet Joel is the next option, in which he sees the future dispensation of the Spirit in a dramatic scene: "I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy; your old men shall dream dreams; your young men shall see visions."
St. Paul’s vigil reading sums them all up. You can imagine the Babel people alienated from God, the terrified Hebrews at Mount Sinai and the empty bones of Ezekiel when he says: "We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now," waiting for the Spirit, and "we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies."
In the Gospel for the vigil Mass, Christ himself expresses the longing for the Spirit.
"On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and exclaimed, ‘Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink. … Rivers of living water will flow from within him who believes in me.’"
Without God, we feel disjointed, empty and aching.
With the Spirit, we are transformed into new creatures. Says the Psalmist, "When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth."
In the Pentecost Sunday Gospel, Jesus breathes on his apostles, and they receive the power to forgive sins.
We experience the Holy Spirit when we go to confession, when we pray and when we come to Mass.
Pentecost Sunday is the Church’s reminder of just how powerful this life-giving reality truly is.
Tom and April Hoopes
write from Atchison, Kansas,
where Tom is writer
in residence at
Benedictine College.

THIS DAY WE CELEBRATE THE BIRTH OF THE CHURCH
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JESUS CHRIST THE IN-COMPREHENSIBLE & MOST POWERFUL.

Frankbennet — Sat, 07 Jun 2014 21:24:27 GMT

Jesus Christ, God and Man

by Fr. William G. Most

Summary

This write up teaches that Jesus Christ is the Redeemer promised to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:15, the only Son of God, and by that very fact, Lord of all Creation. He is the second Person of the Holy Trinity, sent to the world by the Father to become man and save us from our sins. So St. Peter said in Matthew 16:16: "You are the Christ, the son of the Living God". The name Jesus means Savior, as we see from Matthew 1:2. The name "Christ," "Messiah" in Hebrew, means the Anointed one (cf. Acts 10:38).

Jesus is God

"And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us" wrote St. John (1:14). So, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity assumed human nature. Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Divine Word of whom John wrote, "In the beginning was the Word; the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1).

He Became Man

"In the fulness of time, God sent his Son, born of a woman" (Gal 4:4). In order to become a member of the human race in the fullest sense, the Second Person of the Trinity became man by being born of a human woman, Mary. He was conceived by her without the help of a human father, but rather, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus, the God-man Jesus Christ had only God as His Father, and the Virgin Mary as His Mother. (See the section on Mary, the Mother of God.)

Jesus as Teacher

We can easily see He was not the same as other great religious teachers. He not only worked miracles that could be authenticated, but worked them in contexts such that there was a tie established between the miracle and the claim, as we see in the healing of the paralytic in Mark 2. He foretold His own resurrection; He lived a life of such holiness that He could challenge people: "Which of you can convict me of sin?" (John 8:46). Hardly anyone else would dare to give such a challenge! His teaching rested not on human reasoning but on the divine authority which He claimed, e.g., when He said several times over: "You have heard it was said to them of old... but I say to you" (Matthew 5:27-44). He inspired His followers to follow Him even to dreadful deaths. If someone objects: other religions have had martyrs too - correct. But not one of them can provide the solid support of data that we can, as shown in our sketch of apologetics in part one.

Jesus as Redeemer

However, the chief reason that God became man was to redeem us from sin, that is, to pay the debt of our sins, as Leo the Great said (Letter to Flavian, June 13, 449). We read in the Epistle to the Ephesians (2:4-5): "God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive again together with Christ." (See the section on Jesus' suffering and death.)

Jesus as Founder

He founded a Church whose doctrine can and does develop in the same line, that is, without reversing any previous teaching, over all centuries. He made clear that this was the divinely given means of getting peace in this life and eternal salvation in the world to come. (See the section on the Church.)

One Person, Two Natures

The Council of Chalcedon in 451 brought to the climax the long debates about the make-up of Jesus: He is one Person, a Divine Person, having two natures, divine and human, in such a way that these two natures remain distinct after the union in the one Person. We call this union "hypostatic union" from the Greek "hypostasis" which means person - two natures joined in one Person.

His human nature is the same as ours, for he had a human body and a human soul. He was like us in all things except that He was without sin, even though He was tempted as we are (Hebrews 4:15). However, this does not mean that He had within Him disorderly passions. The Second Council of Constantinople in 553 defined this truth against "impious Theodore of Mopsuestia".

His divine nature is the same as that of the Father. The Council of Nicea in 325 defined that He is "one in substance [homoousios] with the Father".

The Wonder of the Incarnation

Finally , Plato, the great Greek philosopher, in his Symposium 203, wrote: "No god associates with men". Aristotle in his Nichomachean Ethics 8. 7 wrote that friendship of a god with a man is impossible; the distance is too great. What would they have thought had they learned that God actually became man, and even, that He willed for our sake to submit to a horrible and shameful death? In the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 21:23 says: "Cursed be everyone who hangs on the wood". No wonder St. Paul told the Corinthians (I. 1:23) that the doctrine of the cross is folly to the Greeks, and a scandal to the Jews!

Taken from The Basic Catholic Catechism
PART THREE: The Apostles' Creed II - V
Second Article: "Jesus Christ His Only Son, Our Lord"

By William G. Most. ©Copyright 1990 by William G.

BEING CHRIST-LIKE

Frankbennet — Sat, 07 Jun 2014 12:46:53 GMT

BEING CHRIST LIKE SUPPOSE TO BE THE FOCUS OF ALL BELIVERS OF CHRIST.
I remember vividly the major question that perplexed me (and my friends) as a young Christian. It was this: What is God’s purpose for His people? Granted we had been converted, but what next?

Of course we knew the famous statement of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, that “man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” We also toyed with a yet briefer statement of only five words such as “love God, love your neighbor.”

But neither seemed wholly satisfactory. So I want to share with you where my mind has come to rest as I approach the end of my pilgrimage on earth. It is this: God wants His people to become like Christ, for Christlikeness is the will of God for the people of God.

The Biblical Basis of the Call to Christlikeness
The biblical basis for the call to Christlikeness consists of three texts which we will do well to hold together: Romans 8:29, 2 Corinthians 3:18 and 1 John 3:2.

The first is Romans 8:29: God has “predestined [His people] to be conformed to the image of his Son.” When Adam fell, he lost much, though not all, of the divine image in which he had been created. But God has restored it in Christ. Conformity to the image of God means to be like Jesus, and Christlikeness is the eternal predestinating purpose of God.

The second text is 2 Corinthians 3:18: “We all, who with unveiled faces contemplate [or reflect] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed [or changed] into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” The perspective has changed—from the past to the present; from God’s eternal predestination to His present transformation of us by His Holy Spirit; from God’s eternal purpose to make us like Christ, to His historical work by His Spirit to transform us into the image of Christ.

The third text is 1 John 3:2: “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” And if God is working to this end, it is no wonder He calls us to cooperate with Him. “Follow me,” He says. “Imitate me.”

We don’t know in any detail what we shall be, but we do know that we will be like Christ. And there’s really no need for us to know any more. We are content with the glorious truth that we will be with Christ and like Christ.

Here then are three perspectives (past, present and future) that are all pointing in the same direction: God’s eternal purpose (we have been predestined), God’s historical purpose (we are being changed, transformed by the Holy Spirit), and God’s final eschatological purpose (we will be like Him). These all combine toward the same end—Christlikeness, for Christlikeness is the purpose of God for the people of God.

I want now to move on to illustrate this truth with a number of New Testament examples. But first, a general statement from 1 John 2:6: “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.” If we claim to be Christian, we must be like Christ.

Some New Testament Examples
We are to be like Christ in His incarnation. Some may immediately recoil with horror from such an idea. “Surely,” you may say, “the incarnation was an altogether unique event and cannot be imitated.”

The answer is yes and no. It is yes in the sense that the Son of God took our humanity to Himself in Jesus of Nazareth, once and for all and never to be repeated, but no in the sense that we are all called to follow the example of His great humanity. So Paul could write in Philippians 2:5-8:

“Have the same attitude of mind Christ Jesus had: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human being, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!”

We are to be like Christ in His service. Come with me to the upper room where He spent His last evening with His disciples. During supper He took off His outer garments, tied a towel around Him, poured water into a basin and washed His disciples’ feet. When He had finished, He resumed His place and said: “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” (John 13:14-15).

Just as Jesus performed what in His culture was the work of a slave, so we in our cultures must regard no task too menial or degrading to undertake.

We are to be like Christ in His love. As Paul wrote: “Live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2, NIV). To “live a life of love” is a command that all our behavior should be characterized by love, but “gave himself” for us is a clear reference to the cross. So Paul is urging us to be like Christ in His death, to love with Calvary love.

Do you see what is happening? Paul is urging us to be like the Christ of the incarnation, the Christ of the foot washing and the Christ of the cross. These events in the life of Christ indicate clearly what Christlikeness means in practice.

We are to be like Christ in His patient endurance. In this next example we consider the teaching of Peter. Every chapter of Peter’s first letter contains an allusion to suffering for Christ, for the background of the letter is the beginnings of persecution. In chapter two, in particular, Peter urges Christian slaves—if punished unjustly—to bear it, not to repay evil for evil (1 Peter 2:18).

We have been called to suffering because Christ also suffered, leaving us an example so that we may follow in His steps (1 Peter 2:21). This call to Christlikeness in suffering unjustly may well become increasingly relevant as persecution increases in many cultures today.

We are to be like Christ in His mission. In prayer, Jesus said to His Father, “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world” (John 17:18); and in commissioning, He said, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20:21).

These words are immensely significant. This is not just the version of the Great Commission recorded in John’s Gospel, it is also an instruction that their mission in the world was to resemble Christ’s. In what respect? The key words are “sent into the world.” That is, as Christ had to enter our world, so we are to enter other people’s worlds.

It was eloquently explained by Archbishop Michael Ramsey when he said: “We state and commend the faith only in so far as we go out and put ourselves inside the doubts of the doubters, the questions of the questioners and the loneliness of those who have lost their way.”

This entering into other people’s worlds is exactly what we mean by incarnational mission, and all authentic mission is incarnational. We are to be like Christ in His mission.

Here then are perhaps the five main ways in which we are to be Christlike: we are to be like Christ in His incarnation, in His service, in His love, in His endurance and in His mission.

Three Practical Consequences
We conclude now with three practical consequences of the basis and examples for Christlikeness that we have considered.

Christlikeness and the mystery of suffering. Suffering is part of God’s process of making us like Christ. Whether it is a disappointment or a frustration, we need to try to see it in the light of Romans 8:28-29. According to Romans 8:28, God is always working for the good purpose of His people, and according to Romans 8:29, this good purpose is to make us like Christ.

Christlikeness and the challenge of evangelism. Why is it that our evangelistic efforts are often fraught with failure? One main reason is that we don’t look like the Christ we proclaim. A Hindu professor, identifying one of his students as a Christian, once said, “If you Christians lived like Jesus Christ, India would be at your feet tomorrow.”

Christlikeness and the indwelling of the Spirit. I have spoken much about Christlikeness, but how is it possible for us? In our own strength, it is clearly not, but God has given us His Holy Spirit to enable us to fulfill His purpose. William Temple used to illustrate the point this way:

“It is no good giving me a play like Hamlet or King Lear, and telling me to write a play like that. Shakespeare could do it; I can’t. And it is no good showing me a life like the life of Jesus and telling me to live a life like that. Jesus could do it; I can’t. But if the genius of Shakespeare could come and live in me, then I could write plays like his. And if the Spirit of Jesus could come and live in me, then I could live a life like His.”

God’s purpose is to make us like Christ, and God’s way is to fill us with His Holy Spirit.

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John Stott served for many years as rector of All Souls Church in London and participated with Billy Graham in such events as the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization and Mr. Graham’s Amsterdam Conferences on evangelism. He has written many books, and he says that at age 88, with the completion of “The Radical Disciple,” he now lays down his pen for the last time.

*Taken by permission from “The Radical Disciple,” by John Stott, ©2010 John R.W. Stott, published by InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Ill.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations taken from the HOLY BIBLE, TODAY’S NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION.

LIVING IN FAITH

Frankbennet — Wed, 04 Jun 2014 21:47:19 GMT

Life in Christ: Living Like a Christian
Christians are saved by God’s gift, not by works (Ephesians 2:8-9). Good behavior cannot earn us salvation. But Christianity does have behavioral expectations. It involves changes in the way we live. God created us for relationships, and so he has certain desires for the way we interact with other people.

We are to live for Christ, not for ourselves (2 Corinthians 5:15). One of the last things that Jesus told his disciples to do was to teach people “to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20). Jesus gave commands, and as his disciples, we also teach commands and obedience.

These commands are not a means of salvation, and are not a standard of condemnation, but they are instructions from the Son of God. People are to obey him not out of fear of punishment, but simply because their Savior says so. We trust that his instructions are for our own good.

Perfect obedience is not the goal of the Christian life – the goal of the Christian life is to love God. Christ lives in us, and he leads us by the Holy Spirit toward obedience.

God is transforming us into the image of Christ. By God’s grace and power, we are becoming more like Christ. His commands involve not just outward behavior, but also the thoughts and motives of our hearts. These thoughts and motives of our hearts need the transforming power of the Holy Spirit – we cannot change them just by willpower.

Part of faith is trusting God to do his work in us. The greatest command — love for God — is also the greatest motive for obedience. We obey him because we love him. It is God who works in us, both to will and to behave according to his good purpose (Philippians 2:13).

What do we do when we fall short? Repent and ask forgiveness, in full confidence that it is given to us.

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A basic list
What does the Christian life look like? There are hundreds of commands in the New Testament. We are not lacking in guidance for how a faith-based life works itself out in the real world. There are commands for how the rich should treat the poor, commands for how husbands should treat their wives, commands for how we should work together as a church.

1 Thessalonians 5:12-22 contains a basic list:

Respect those…over you in the Lord….
Live in peace with each other….
Warn those who are idle,
encourage the timid,
help the weak,
be patient with everyone….
always try to be kind….
Be joyful always;
pray continually;
give thanks in all circumstances…
Do not put out the Spirit’s fire;
do not treat prophecies with contempt.
Test everything.
Hold on to the good.
Avoid every kind of evil.
Paul knew that Christians need some basic exhortations or reminders about the Christian life. Paul did not threaten to kick anyone out of the church if they failed to measure up — he simply gave commands that instructed them in the paths of faithfulness.

Live by the Spirit
Paul had high standards. Even though we are forgiven in advance for our sins, the New Testament gives us plenty of commands. We can see that in Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Christians are not under the law, Paul says, but neither are they lawless. Paul warns the Galatians about people who would try to prevent them “from obeying the truth” (Galatians 5:7).

Christians are called to be free — “but do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love” (Galatians 5:13). Freedom comes with obligations, or else one person’s “freedom” would infringe on another’s.

“The entire law is summed up in a single command,” Paul says in verse 14: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This summarizes our responsibility toward one another. The opposite approach, fighting for self-advantage, is self-destructive (verse 15).

“So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature” (verse 16). The Spirit will lead us to love, not to self-centeredness. Selfish thoughts come from the flesh, but God’s Spirit produces better thoughts. “The sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other…” (verse 17).

Because of this conflict between Spirit and flesh, life does not always go smoothly. “…you do not do what you want” (verse 17, last part). We sometimes sin, even though we don’t want to.

What is the solution to the sins that so easily beset us? Bring back the law? No! “If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law” (verse 18). Our approach to life is different. We look to the Spirit, and the Spirit will develop in us the desire and the strength to walk according to the commands of Christ.

Looking to Jesus
We look to Jesus first, and we see his commands as a way to express loyalty to him, not as rules “that have to be kept or else we’ll be punished.” We have not come to Mt. Sinai, where punishment is prominent. Rather, we have come to the heavenly Jerusalem, where joy and salvation are prominent, where the blood of Jesus speaks forgiveness (Hebrews 12:18-24).

It is a different approach to worship, a different outlook on salvation. The commands of Christ are commands, but they are not like the old covenant laws that brought punishments. The Spirit is leading us to become more like Jesus Christ.

“The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Galatians 5:6). In Galatians 5, Paul lists a variety of sins: “sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like” (verse 19-21). Some of these are behaviors, some are attitudes, but all of them are self-centered.

Paul warns us: “Those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God” (verse 21). This is not God’s way of life; this is not the way we want to be; this is not the way we want the church to be.

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All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

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This article was written by Michael Morrison in 2000 and updated in 2014. Copyright Grace Communion International. All rights reserved. If you'd like to learn more about the Bible, check out Grace Communion Seminary. It's accredited, affordable, and all online. www.gcs.edu.
Forgiveness is available for each of these (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). The church should be a place where grace and forgiveness is expressed and extended, not a place where sin is given permission to abound unchecked. The church preaches against such sins, as well as preaching forgiveness for those same sins.

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). This is the product of a heart devoted to God. “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires” (verse 24).

With the Holy Spirit living and working in us, we grow in the desire and the habit of rejecting the works of the flesh. We bear the fruit of God’s work in us.

Paul’s message is clear: We are not under the law — but we are not lawless. We are under the authority of Christ, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Our lives are based on faith, motivated by love, characterized by joy and peace and growth. “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (verse 25).