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Time to register
It's time for free registration to the Seattle (Kirkland) seminar on "In Christ, Christ In". Full details are online at http://seminars.peterwade.com/ . For an efficient seminar, we need to know how many will be attending. You can register by email -- simply put "Register" in the Subject line, and send your name, address and contact phone number. You will get an email confirming your registration.
Kirkland (Seattle) WA -- August 26-28
-- email to register.seattle@peterwade.com
Tipp City (Dayton) OH -- September 17-19
-- email to register.tippcity@peterwade.com
He Gives Us God's "Yes"
"For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us -- by me, Silvanus, and Timothy -- was not Yes and No, but in Him was Yes. For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us." (I Corinthians 1:19-20 NKJV).
What a powerful, positive, delightful verse. Its fulness and possibilities was first brought to my attention in the devotional writings of E. Stanley Jones, and he quoted Moffat's translation: "... The divine 'yes' has at last sounded in him, for in him is the 'yes' that affirms all the promises of God." Since Christ is the divine "Yes", then everything outside of Him is the "No".
Christianity is not a negative way of life but an affirmative way of life. That is why our ministry is called "Positive Word Ministries", because our emphasis is on God's positives, particularly as expressed through the Pauline revelation. As Jones, a missionary to India for many years, points out, the greatest "No" was Buddha. Existence and suffering are one, and after life is Nirvana, the state literally of the snuffed-out candle. "Buddha would get rid of our life problems by getting rid of life itself -- get rid of your headaches by getting rid of your heads." That is the ultimate No! And surprisingly, you never hear anyone say "Oh Buddha" when they are surprised by something; its always "Oh God" or "Oh Jesus".
We live in an age of secular humanism, of materialism, and cynicism -- an age of "No". Atheism abounds; an atheist is a person with no invisible means of support! Agnosticism abounds; agnostics sit on the fence, they just don't know whether there is a God or not. This is the "Yes and No" of verse 19, a blur as the mind switches from one to another. As Jones wrote in 1961, "This age has three sneers for everything and three cheers for nothing." No wonder our world is "turning out badly and sadly, for you can't live by a No. You have to live by a Yes."
And to be brutally honest with you, most of the visible expression of Christianity we see today is not exactly inviting. I've been watching Christian satellite television closely for the past 18 months, and have seen the good and the bad, the ugly and the ostentatious, and the downright demonic -- all on Christian channels. I've watched the very dubious fund-raising methods, and wondered why they do not use the expensive air time for faith-raising. And then there is the preaching. Christianity is either portrayed as a rose garden life -- where every problem will be solved the moment you take Jesus as Lord, or a set of legalistic scruples imposed on the framework of life -- you can't do this, and you must speak out against that. Thank God for the occasional program where the "light of Christ" shines through the haze of religion.
Fortunately, we don't have "to take this any more" -- we can go back to the Book, and to the "simplicity that is in Christ" (II Corinthians 11:3)! Jesus said, "I am the way", Paul said God will "gather together in one all things in Christ" (Ephesians 1:10), and "Christ is all, and in all [who believe]" (Colossians 3:11). The all-inclusiveness of Christ! In Him the divine "Yes" has at last sounded, and thank God for that! It's not in this church or that denomination, however big they may be, and it's not in our ministry or any other ministry, however prominent they may be. In Christ is the "Yes" to health, wealth and happiness, in Christ is the "Yes" to human creativity and development, in Christ is the "Yes" to life itself.
Perhaps you are starting to see why I teach the seminar on "In Christ, Christ In". It's time to get our emphasis off the personality and crowds of current religion, and get it again on Christ. "On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other rocks are shamrocks", as a preacher once said. Let's share the good news of us being "in Christ" and Christ being "in us". Start by applying Philemon 6 to your life: "That the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus". And if you feel a desire to explore these truths more deeply, I'll see you at the seminar! -- Peter Wade
Insights From Every Chapter Of The Bible
G. Campbell Morgan was a well-known preacher and writer of over 60 books from the first half of the 20th century. In each issue of this newsletter he gives a comment from one verse in every chapter of the Bible. We continue with Paul's first letter to the Corinthians.
"Is it so that there cannot be found among you one wise man?"
(I Corinthians 6:5).
There was in this question a note of definite, if gentle, sarcasm. Some members of the church in Corinth were engaged in litigation, and taking their cases before the courts of the city. This, according to the mind of the Apostle, was wrong. All such disputes among the saints should be settled before a court of saints. Where it was not so, there was cause for shame. "Is it so" said the Apostle, "that there cannot be found among you one wise man?" Much is involved in this question, and the view of the Church which it postulates.
It is questionable whether the Church has ever risen to the height of this conception in actual practice. The Church is here viewed as being a society, a household, self-contained; having the power and right to deal with all matters arising within itself; having no need to seek guidance or direction from those beyond its own borders; and consequently lowering the standard of her life, and weakening the power of her testimony, when she allows any interference with the affairs of her own members from those outside her fellowship. In cases in which the principles and practices of righteousness have to be maintained as between members of the Church, and those who are outside its borders, it is right and necessary to appeal to civil courts, as Paul himself did more than once. But the relationship between Christians in Christ is so
close, so wide, that there can be no dispute or difficulty that cannot be adjusted by the Church itself in His wisdom and in His grace.
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(c)2004 Peter Wade
http://www.peterwade.com
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"IN CHRIST" QUOTE FOR TODAY
