Easter (another part of church history)
APOSTASY IN ABOUT THE THIRD CENTURY A.D.:
1) Men wanted Christianity to have pomp, ceremony, and ritualism.
2) By about the third century, some wanted to turn the Lord’s Supper into a fancy event.
3) Gold and silver containers were being used.
4) The Lord’s Supper was the “Medicine of Immortality” for some.
5) In certain instances water replaced the fruit of the vine. Asceticism.
6) Desire for celebrations and special holy days to compete with pagans. Rom. 1:16.
THINGS HAVE NOT CHANGED!
1) God has never told His people to go out and figure out how to outdo the religious world.
2) Our job is to take God’s message into our world and do this to the best of our ability.
a) We see this in the parable of the sower (Mt. 13).
b) This fellow was not a competitor with others interested in farming.
c) This man went out and sowed to the best of his ability.
3) Our job is not to compete with other religious groups.
4) Mt. 13:3 says “the sower went forth to sow.”
5) 1 Cor. 3:6 speaks about the need for us to “plant and water” but “God gives the increase.”
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A RELATED PLOY BY THE DEVIL: WANTING TO BE LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.
a) First Samuel – the 8th chapter.
b) Samuel’s sons were unrighteous men.
c) Jewish elders (1 Sam. 8:4-5) came to Samuel and said things were not happy with Samuel’s sons.
d) These men said they wanted a new arrangement– 1 Sam. 8:5.
e) These men spoke of “all” the nations. Rejection of God (1 Sam. 8:7).
2) Verses 19-20 of 1 Sam. 8– READ
3) Like Samuel’s time, those in our day have this same temptation and this comes in many forms.
a) In Christian homes children often “want to be like everyone else.”
4) And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind (Rom. 12:2).
5) We see a desire to be like everyone else in the work place.
6) Our job is to live a transformed (changed life) instead of a “conformed to the world” life.
7) The desire to be like everyone else can also be found in the New Testament church.
8) More and more congregations are decided to incorporate instrumental music in their services.
9) Some seek to do this in small increments. Maybe it is offered outside of the Sunday assembly.
10) Christianity is not about competition and it is certainly not a faith which says “conform to others.”
11) Are we willing to go with the minority instead of the majority?
