The continuation of church leaders from a church’s apostolic origin helped indicate that a church was continuing to teach the original doctrines that were taught by the apostles.
Apostolic succession loses its purpose when a leader teaches or practices error.
Designed to preserve church doctrine, not create new doctrine!
How did we get the Bible?
How writings were evaluated
Was it written by an apostle or non-apostle?
Was it read aloud in weekly assemblies?
Is it consistent and contradiction-free?
Did it reinforce the consensus of belief?
Was it written during the apostolic age?
Books that are not in the New Testament
How do we ensure Scripture is interpreted correctly?
We have always had this problem.
II Timothy 4:3-4 – Men will turn to teachings that appealed to them.
Galatians 2:2-5 – Even apostles faced the issue of false doctrine.
Only later did men change how the church was lead.
Takeaways
All authority stems from God.
God made scripture evident through the Holy Spirit rather than men with authority.
Local church elders and our fellow Christians must work to stop false doctrine instead of a centralized authority.
Do we pray at pivotal moments in our life? Do we ask for guidance with decisions? Do we ask for help during our storms?
Do we make prayer a priority?
When we make the effort to establish the habit of prayer, our faith grows, and we begin to feel the instinct, the impulse to go to God in prayer. We feel a NEED to have a one-one-one relationship with God through faith and prayer.
Note that in Luke 11:1, the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray.
12 “Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
13 and to keep the Lord’s commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?
But I want to take a little different look at this idea tonight and look at it from the perspective of why did God put us here on earth? Why would He go to all the trouble to create this amazing universe, give us these incredible bodies, and put us here? He could certainly just create us in Heaven with Him.
Certainly, the full wisdom of this rests in God alone. But tonight, I’d like to look at some scriptures and do some reasoning from what we find there to get some hints about why God might have done what He has done. From that, hopefully we can make some applications in our lives.
I’m hoping for this to be an interactive class. If you have questions or comments, please ask and I will happily tell you I don’t know!
First, let’s get started with some logical axioms.
31 God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Whatever else comes afterwards, we know that what God created in this universe was good. I suspect God meant much more by the phrase “very good” here than maybe we realize. Whatever else it entails, we know that God’s creation was good for His purposes.
God gave man free will.
From the very beginning in the garden of Eden, God set man up with everything he needed and then gave him the freedom to choose what to do with those blessings.
15 “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Joshua was pointing out that it was in their power to make the choice whether to serve God or not. God was not making that choice for them and Joshua wasn’t either – he was just trying to be the best example he could be in leading his own family towards God.
God loves us and desires our love in return.
Certainly, God loves us. If nothing else about Creation tells us this, God sending Jesus to be the sacrifice for our sins tells us this.
5 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
God does not in any way need our service or our love. Surely, He will be disappointed in us if we do not obey, serve, and love him, but it’s not the case that we can somehow harm God by not doing so.
24 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;
25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;
26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,
27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;
28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’
So, given all this, why would God put us here on Earth?
Can you really love if you cannot choose not to?
For your consideration: Is it possible to love someone if you have no choice in the matter?
I would suggest to you that true love is not possible unless it is also possible to not love.
One possibility
Here is a take on it that I have heard that I offer for your consideration. Let me lay this out for you for a minute and then I’d be glad to hear your comments before we move on:
Is it possible that God allows us an opportunity to live on earth so that we will learn His way is best and learn to love Him “from afar”?
The idea is that if we simply existed in Heaven with Him, His love would be so abundantly apparent that we would have no real choice but to love Him. But by blessing us with life on earth, God gives us the opportunity to “go off to college” in a way and see for ourselves that His way is best.
Is it possible that God put us here to help us grow?
2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
God clearly allows us to be tested here on earth. We have already established that God loves us, so this testing must be something that works out to the best for us.
1 For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2 For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven,
3 inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked.
4 For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.
5 Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.
6 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord—
7 for we walk by faith, not by sight—
8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
9 Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
Notice especially verse 5 – we were prepared for a purpose.
Note also verse 6, which states that while we are “at home in the body” we are “absent from the Lord.” What does that mean?
God is everywhere. There is not any place on Earth we can go and be away from God. Jonah could certainly attest to this after trying to escape God’s command to preach to the Ninevites.
I would suggest this could mean a couple of different things:
Metaphorical: If we are too at home in earthly pursuits, we are not serving God properly.
More literal: We are not in Heaven, the abode of God, so in that sense we are away from God.
I personally prefer the second option because of verse 8 because it says we prefer to be absent from the body and at home with God, which sounds more like Paul is saying we’d all prefer to be in Heaven if we could.
Also note verse 10, which says that whatever happens here on Earth, we must stand and answer for what we’ve done.
So then, how should we live on earth?
Remember that we are spiritual beings having a temporary earthly experience.
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
4 What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him?
5 Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty!
We are created in the image of God. We are spiritual beings, first and foremost. We are temporarily inhabiting a physical body. James makes this especially clear:
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.”
14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
It is easy to be so involved in this life that we think of ourselves as physical beings first, but that is not the truth of the matter.
See our earthly lives as a blessing from a loving Father.
Even the grass under our feet is a testament to the glory of God!
Take time to look at the sky, the clouds, the trees, the plants, the animals, the stars in the night sky. Marvel at the amazing bodies we all inhabit. See all that God has created and be in awe at His handiwork. His wisdom and His glory is far beyond our understanding! Blessed be the name of the Lord!
11 “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”
Let us never forget that the simple fact that we exist in this amazing universe is an incredible blessing from God.
16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
17 By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.
19 We love, because He first loved us.
20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.
21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
44 “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
46 “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
47 “If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
48 “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Love even your enemies! Remember that your inner thoughts have a way of working out into the world. Work to rid yourself of bitterness and spite, even if you think you are not showing it outwardly.
Our love for others does not depend on how they behave toward us.
Think about how terrible our situation would be if God took that approach with us! Instead, God loved us even in our sin, sending Jesus to die for our sins.
Whatever the situation and no matter the cost, always seek to show love first. Let God sort out the rest.
Take a positive view of strife, suffering, and pain.
When we have difficulties, instead of being angry with God (who initially created the universe and called it good), let us make an effort to try to see what we should learn from the experience:
7 Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains.
8 You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.
9 Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door.
10 As an example, brethren, of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
11 We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.
Try to see your situation from God’s perspective.
If you were reviewing a playback of your situation with Jesus sitting beside you, how would you feel about your actions? What would you change?
Many people who have near-death experiences report having some kind of a “life review” with Jesus. Regardless of what you think about these stories, it is helpful to think about our life from this perspective. One day we will have to give account for ourselves!
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises.
14 Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;
15 and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.
16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.
18 Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.
I have certainly seen many examples in my own life of answered prayers. I have also had opportunities in the last year or so to see examples of people who really prayed hard and God’s blessings coming swiftly afterwards.
To be honest, this convicted me because I realized that for most of my life, I have not really prayed properly. Perhaps you are in the same position, treating prayer as throwing wishes into the wind and believing intellectually that prayers go to God’s ears, but not really believing they would be answered in any substantial way.
That sort of prayer is not what the writer is talking about here. We are to pray fervently and give our troubles to God, then trust fully that He will see us through whatever difficulty we may be having. Perhaps one day God will allow us to see how He answered our prayers in so many ways, whether subtle or not, that we did not see at the time.
Think about a small child coming to you with a problem that matters to them greatly (being hungry, being in pain, etc.). Seeing their earnestness, would you not do everything you could in their best interest, even if doing so was not exactly what they asked for? How much more so must God be doing for us!
