Back to basics

ο ποιμήν ο καλός

(oh pee-MEEN oh ka-LOSS)

‘the Good Shepherd’

‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
Matthew 25:44

Notice that both the rewarded and the condemned refer to Christ as ‘Lord,’ clearly acknowledging His divinity, but as Christ asserts in the gospel according to Luke, ‘Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and not do the things which I say?’ (Luke 6:46) Both the ikon above and the text cited below it come from the weekly bulletin of my church, Aghía Triás, Portland, Oregon. The ikon is rustic in style, like the simple faith it represents, the simple trust in the Good Shepherd, who is the Word of God and Who says, ‘The sheep that belong to Me listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.’ (John 10:27)

Here in America, but also in other ‘Christian’ lands, we find ourselves living inside the ruins of a great and ancient civilisation, one which bequeathed us not only spiritual values but cultural and material benefits as well. This civilisation is patronisingly called ‘Judæo-Christian’ and the sacred name of it is pulled out of safekeeping whenever anyone wants to press their point of view.

An example of this that everyone knows, is when someone who calls himself a Christian pulls out of context a bible verse or passage to legitimize his personal opinion. This is the downside of ‘proof texting.’ That doesn't mean that every quoting of scripture is invalid; it just means that there are two ways of using the written Word of God: either you submit your ideas to what the Word declares and let your mind be formed by Christ (that is, having the ‘mind of Christ’); or you develop a personal philosophy and then go fetch bible verses that seem to bolster your thoughts, in case you want to appear to have the mind of Christ.

If the Son of God, the Word of the Father through whom all things were made, is the Light of the world which that world cannot overcome,
if He emptied Himself to assume the conditions of a slave, suffering for our sake, and dying to pay the debt of each and every one of us, on the Cross,
if He went down to She‘ol to yank Adam and Eve by their wrists out of their deathly misery along with everyone else from righteous Abel to John the Baptist, and place them in paradise with Abraham and the good thief,
if He rose from the dead, taking death captive, and after establishing the saints on earth as His Bride, ascended to the right hand of the Father to intercede for us,
if He did all that, and we spend ourselves in entertainment and call it ‘worship,’ take Bible cruises, listen to self-improvement and ‘God wants you to be prosperous’ talking books, and if there's anything left over, help the convenient needy of our choice, is it any small wonder that the world which Christ came to save plays with our leftovers and says, ‘oh, nothing special, just a gospel message!’

The good news drew crowds in the days of the Apostles. Why do we now have to run after the unsaved and shove tracts in their faces?

The preaching of John Chrysostom and Basil (the Great) drew crowds in the days of the Christian Roman Empire, no matter what the time of day or the season. Why do we try to fill our empty assembly halls with ‘spiritual’ bread and circuses?

The signs and wonders of our Christian ancestors were changed lives, which in turn changed society. Instead, we have people standing around downtown holding signs that say ‘Portland, you need to change!’ and their followup is such things as a program of praise music!

Now, there's nothing wrong with worship and praise, except when we deceive ourselves into believing that worship and praise happens between the hours of church services or Christian concerts. In the heavenlies, the worship is unceasing, according to the will of God. And don't we pray, ‘Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven’?
Jesus told Photiní (the woman at the well), ‘…true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and Truth: That is the kind of worshipper the Father wants’ (John 4:23).

What is this ‘worship in Spirit and Truth’?

Holy apostle Paul's answer is, in part, ‘I worship spiritually by preaching the Good News…’ (Romans 1:8).

Speaking more directly to us, Paul also writes, ‘Think of God's mercy, my brothers, and worship Him, I beg you, in a way that is worthy of thinking beings, by offering your living bodies as a holy sacrifice, truly pleasing to God. Do not model yourselves on the behavior of the world around you, but let your behavior change, modeled by your new mind. This is the only way to discover the will of God and know what is good, what it is that God wants, what is the perfect thing to do’ (Romans 12:1-2).

Where am I going with all this?

By our willingness to read the Word of God publicly outside of church, we are being taught many things. Christ wants to gather His lost sheep. It's too late—‘the time is close’ (Revelation 1:3)—to deliberate and develop programs. We waste valuable time. The Word of God, the Holy Scripture, is already everything we need to accomplish what He sent us forth to do: ‘Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations…’ (Matthew 28:19).

Churches are, by and large, pitifully asleep, enmeshed in the cares of the world.

Why do I think this?
Ask any Christian, where his/her bible is right now. Ask what book, passage or verse did he/she read this morning. Ask how long did he/she spend praying yesterday. Ask how long since he/she had a one-on-one, deep, spiritual fellowship with another Christian.

Churches have produced the very things they say they are against, by the refusal of most ministers and people to put God first in their lives. Every pierced and tattooed ‘Goth’ has both a mother and a father who, in their turn, have a mother and a father. Was the youth I often see downtown, who has images of barbed wire tattooed all across his face, born that way?

Jesus Christ has already won the victory over sin, hell and death. About His Bride, the Church, the ‘Christian people’ He says (speaking to His heavenly Father), ‘May they be one in us, as you are in me and I am in you, so that the world may believe it was you who sent me’ (John 18:21). How can we be one in God the Trinity as Jesus prays, and at the same time not live in His victory over sin, hell and death? Impossible.

The time is close. Now, if never before, read the book of Revelation.
Read it every day. It is like a ‘fifth gospel.’ Don't try to interpret it. It's a mystery to him who seeks to open its seals, but it is revealed to him who trusts the Lamb of God, the Only Worthy One, to open the seals.

Just read the book, and read it aloud, and read it to others, your family, your friends, whoever will listen. It is not a literary relic of the apostolic age. It is not just a source for Orthodox liturgica. It is exactly what it says about itself. It's the only book of the bible with this blessing attached: ‘Happy the man who reads this prophecy, and happy those who listen to him, for the time is close’ (Revelation 1:3).

Read it as personally addressed to you, and the Lord will reveal to you what His instructions are for you.
Will He do that the first time? Probably not, but by the tenth time you will begin to understand.

What! Do I have to read it over and over again? Yes. This is how we keep our lamps lit, we keep filling them with oil (see Matthew 25:1-13).

What else? Back to basics.

You really do have to put God first. You can't fake it. You can go to church all you want, but you cannot avoid the winnowing fork of the Lord. You can't hide forever what kind of seeds you've planted. Judgment begins now, but it takes a long time… maybe.

The pious Jews have a saying, ‘Repent one day before your death.’ God is being patient with all of us. He doesn't want us to lose any more of our children by drugs, sex and suicide.

What? You don't have any children? Think again, if you're a Christian reading these words. As Francesco of Assisi proclaimed, echoing Christ His Master,
‘There are no more fathers. There are no more sons. And everyone who has left fathers and mothers, children, lands for the sake of our heavenly Father will receive a hundred times more in the life to come…’

We are all His children, and all His children are ours. ‘You must call no one on earth your father, since you have only One Father, and He is in heaven’ (Matthew 23:9).

If your church has a lot of members, if they're enrolled in lots of classes, seminars, programs and groups, if they give lavishly, how many of them have made the Word of God their home? How many are stepping out, every day, in faith to the lost, calling them ‘brother’ and acting likewise?

It's hard to get the unsaved to trust us, because we have let them down. Now, we have to break through the protective walls, and show them Jesus. If we are following along behind Him, neither we nor they have anything to fear anymore.

There's no loss with Jesus.