by Kris Emerson
Only one way… by going back to Jerusalem! Going to the source, straight to God, to the Temple, to the Pattern, to the Law. If they had gone back to where they knew God approved, they would always be God approved. But they didn’t. They took a chance instead of a trip, and they failed.
With this, our modern religious climate has MUCH in common. Any time a new denomination was started, or some culturally supported new age movement, there is always a story.
1) Maybe the men at the previous church were sinning, so we started something new.
2) Maybe new ideas prevailed that would draw more people.
3) Maybe, and so often, a combination of Humanism (idolatry) and God was demanded.
Regardless, the questions must be asked: “How do I know if I am right here? How do I know if this church is right before God? How do I know if what we teach and are about is holy and accepted?”
After every explanation has been given. After every reason exhausted. After every defense has been stated and heard, the answer will always be the same: “We Must Go Back To Jerusalem!” It is NEVER too much or too far or out of reach to go Back to Jerusalem, back to the beginning, back to God and faith and Truth, to find out if we are living and worshipping in a way that is pleasing to God! (Back to the Text to prove an argument is RARE anymore)
Church leaders will tell you it is too much (not necessary). Religious friends will tell you things are fine as they are (culturally accepted). Your own conscience may even approve the choices (pride). But you can never know if you are right until you return to where it all began, where it was right: Jerusalem.
For the Israelites, that meant the city of Jerusalem. The Law of Moses found there. The Temple of God where the LORD connected with Israel. And the activities in that city that God demanded from 500 years before.
For us it means going back to Acts 1-15. The place, Jerusalem, where the Church (the Temple Christ built) began. The teachings upon which that church have been built. It is not too much to go back to Jerusalem.
And what do we find there?
Many wonderful, timeless, absolute truths. Here are a few the world’s forgotten
1) Inspiration must be Miraculously Proven! (Acts 1)
a. Power: Mark 16:16-20; Acts 1:4-8; 2:1-8; 2:43; 3:6-8; 5:12; 6:6-8; 8:14-19
b. Message: Acts 2; Acts 3; 5:27-32; 7:1-60
c. The Gospel, the Pattern, that saves souls started in Jerusalem. It extended outwardly by the Apostles and those who had miraculous power by their hands. Unique to all men, all churches, all organizations to come after, they stated the irrefutable Truth.
d. So not life, no conversion, no doctrine, no church, no idea is Christ-Centered Doctrinal Truth, unless we find it taught to us beginning in Jerusalem.
2) Salvation is through Repentance and Baptism! (Acts 2)
a. Truth: Mark 16:15-16; Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 2:36-38; 8:35-38 (Philip from Jerusalem); Acts 22:16 (now outside of Jerusalem the Truth remains); I Peter 3:21
b. To say that salvation is found in God’s grace is correct! God’s mercy is found in the beginning of the church. But to say that our actions don’t access that grace, or that repentance and baptism are not essential to unite with Christ… well, you are believing men and modern ideas and maybe even what feels right, but you must go all the way back to Jerusalem!
3) We can know the One Truth on Any Matter of Faith! (Acts 15)
a. The Problem: Acts 15:1 – The Solution: Acts 15:2-6
b. The Method: 15:7-19 – Collect all data and make that the Pattern!
c. They first employed this approach, even in a case where God never shared a direct command. This harmony and study started with the Apostles in Jerusalem and must continue. The topic doesn’t matter: music, funds, work of the church, grace and works – when we go back to Jerusalem we learn to harmonize Scripture and let God give the answers and to unite in them.
Who you are / How you live / How you worship / What united you with Jesus – where did you find the Truth on those topics? If inside yourself, you’ve not gone far enough. If in a group or a man or in this culture, you’ve not gone far enough. Today, go back to the beginning, the Inspired Truth of the Apostles, the unchanging Pattern of right that is not affected by time or distance. Go back to Jerusalem and find Jesus there.