Genesis 8

The first sentence of this passage is worthy of full remembrance. “Then God remembered Noah.” It’s so important, because this very remembrane is salvation. All throughout the Holy Scriptures, each time we see the word “remember” in reference to the Lord, it is in reference to salvation. In the Psalms, we read, “do not remember the sins of my youth or ignorance, but remember me according to your mercy” (Psalm 24:7). The thief on the cross says, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” (Luke 23:42). In our daily prayers on behalf of the departed, we interceed to the Lord, “remember, O Lord, and have mercy on your servants…” When we read the words of Scripture, we so often associate words with their contemporary meaning, but when Scripture says remember, it is not the opposite of “forget,” as though Jesus could forget His children, but rather it is fully in reference to the salvation of their souls; His mercy and grace.

And we see Noah send out a dove to test the waters to see if they had receeded. This dove itself is the very image of the Holy Spirit, about Whom it was written at Jesus’ baptism that He descended “as like a dove.” Consider the imagery here, in each setting, a dove flies above the water, foreshadowing the salvation of humanity. Allegorically speaking, the ark represents the Mother of God, our most holy lady Theotokos, carrying within her the future salvation of mankind; the dove represents the Holy Spirit foreshadowing the salvation of humanity; the entirety of the story of Noah and the ark prefigures the birth of Jesus and the new life, the new world which is to come. I say that statement in no way to question the historicity of the account of the flood, but merely to show that the Lord slowly unveils His mysteries to us as we are able to comprehend them to even the smallest degree.

And, this passage ends with a huge lesson for all of us. This is imperative that we understand. As it begins with the statement, “God remembers Noah,” so too it ends with the statement, “And Noah remembered God.” When Noah and his family exit the ark, the first thing that Noah does is set up an altar to God, to offer worship and praise for their salvation. There is no pride in him for being the “chosen of God,” no claims of superiority or self-righteousness; there is only thanksgiving and adoration for God’s mercy.

This humble approach is the approach that we all must take. We must recognize that in our own sinfulness we could never be worthy of this salvation that Jesus offers to each of us. In our own willpower we could never conquer the influences and temptations that the world throws at us. We have no right to judge others sins merely because their sins are different than ours. Rather, we must recognize our own sinfulness and set up an altar to the Lord of our own; offering up the aroma of thanksgiving and the sacrifice of praise. We must recognize our own sinfulness rather than seeing the sins of others, and remain eternally grateful to the Lord for His grace, praying that others would find the same grace and mercy that we ourselves seek. This is the beautiful example that we see here. Noah laid aside all other cares and concerns, worries and anxieties, even in the midst of all that had happened; and thanked the Lord for the grace that he had been granted. May we all do the same.

Christ is in our midst.

Genesis 7

Through Noah’s faith, he pleases God. St Paul writes in his letter to the Hebrews that “without faith it is impossible to please God.” (Hebrews 11:6). And so here, we see Noah, who having pleased God through his faith, receives the key to the knowledge of salvation. He is told to the very letter exactly what he must do to be saved; the very measurements that he must follow, even the materials he must use, to build the ark. And, as St Paul reiterates in this same letter, “By faith, Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household…” (Hebrews 11:7).

It’s this whole idea that Noah had faith in God, which was pleasing to God, and so God gave him the knowledge to the means of his salvation. The knowledge of salvation was given to him freely, but he had to obey God to actually attain this means of salvation. God told him tooth and nail exactly how to build the ark, but it required Noah’s willful obedience to God to actually build it. Noah understood something which is so often lacking in our culture; that faith leads to knowledge, but if that knowledge doesn’t lead to obedience, then it’s useless. Because of his faith, he was given very detailed instructions as to what was necessary for his salvation; but it was also because of his faith that he obeyed those instructions. See, Noah having the foreknowledge of what was coming would have been to no avail, had he not heeded the knowledge and obeyed God. His faith alone would never have saved him, but rather it was his faith working in synergy with his obedience.

Far too often, we are tempted to trust in just this knowledge, however. God has given us His holy Scripture, His Church, and through each of these He has given us these very detailed instructions on how we must be saved. He has explained to us as children exactly what our salvation is and how we are to acquire it, but it is not merely enough to have just this knowledge if we heed not the warnings that we are given. St John the Theologian teaches us to “no longer love in word or in thought, but in deed and in action,” and Jesus teaches us that “whoever loves Me will obey all that I have commanded.” Noah, like us, has received the revelation of God unto salvation, but unlike us, rather than arguing over the measurements, he obeyed exactly as he was instructed. Consider this when we consider the teachings of our Lord. “Deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow Me.” “Whoever forgives, His Father in heaven will forgive, but whoever does not forgive, neither will His Father in heaven forgive Him.” “Whatever you have done for the least of these, you have done for Me.” How often, having received His commands, do we choose debate and arguing over obedience to His teaching?

My brethern, may we always be instead like Noah; obedient, steadfast, convicted in the faith. We have the Holy Scriptures, we have the Church, we have all of these things which have made it far easier to obey than Noah had; and yet, so often, because of our pride, we have a harder time obeying the words of our God. Through each of these things, God has given us the instructions detailing what salvation is and by what means we may acquire it. May we not waste this valuable time that we have been given seeking to argue over finite details, but rather commend our lives unto Christ our God. Let us devote our lives to spiritual maturity; fasting, almsgiving, prayer, study of Holy Scripture, study of the Church Fathers; growing in maturity and drawing closer in our relationship with God. Let us never become knowledgeable atheists, but rather let us draw closer to the Lord, growing in our relationship with Him.

Christ is in our midst.

Genesis 6

Man had lost, through his disobedience, the grace of the Holy Spirit. Thus, the Lord states, “My Spirit shall not remain with them.” However, the grace of the Lord was available to them. He granted them a period of 120 years to repent. Lacking this grace, however, man can easily fall victim to the temptations of the enemy, for our sheer willpower alone can never overcome the devil’s temptations. Further, his will was weakened by his very disobedience.

This is so often a mistake that we repeat over and over again. We feel as though we can become holy and perfect through our own resolve, rather than relying on the grace of God to help us. We foolishly believe that we can accomplish whatever we “set our minds to” through our own strength. I’ve often jokingly stated that if willpower were enough, the gyms would be just as busy on March 20th as they are on January 1st. Even worse, we often feel as though our willpower alone will be enough while actively, consciously living in a state of disobedience to the teachers of the Lord. I think of this whenever the Church prescribes a fast and people take it upon themselves to violate, or worse, argue against the fast that the Church prescribes. When we train our minds and wills to give into whatever impulse it desires, we are training ourselves to maintain the same sense of pride that initially caused the fall. The Scripture teaches us to “Repent and turn back to the Lord,” and rather than living in obedience to this plain command, we argue what it means to repent. Jesus commands us to feed the poor, and rather than feeding the poor, we argue about the word feed, we argue about who is poor. The Lord tells us to love our neighbor and we question who is our neighbor. Again, I hearken back to fasting, the Church says to fast and we argue about the “traditions of men,” completely ignoring the multiple times in Scripture where we are told of the value of fasting. The Scripture says that if we forgive one who wrongs us, so will our Father in heaven forgive us, but that if we don’t forgive then neither will He forgive us, and we argue that to apply that to our theology is “works based salvation.”

In the surest sign of our fallen state, we embrace our disobedience and idolize our own willpower, our pride in our ability to do whatever we set our minds to; we worship at the altar of self and trust in our own wisdom. Jesus warns that “as it was in the days of Noah” and we say that we believe that statement, but we don’t seem to hearken to the warning. Our lives, instead, are characterized by St Paul’s warning to Timothy. We live our entire lives as lovers of self; as sons of disobedience. Of all of the commands that Jesus gave us, the only one that we even claim to obey is to “believe in Him,” and our very lives show that to be lacking.

Jesus tells us that He is with us always, but do our lives reflect that we believe that? Is there anything in our lives that we do, things that we would never consider doing in the presence of our parents; our children; our spouse; a police officer? If the answer to any of this is yes, then we must pay heed to St Paul’s warning that we test ourselves to see that we are in the faith. I so often hear concerning confession that we don’t need to confess to another person, that our sins are between us and God; but I ask, if you believe that God is always with you, then how were you able to perform anything that you would be embarrassed to tell to your priest? See, this isn’t a question of whether we will sin, we will. It’s a matter of seeking His guidance to cease from willfully sinning, and the most important part of doing that is to turn away from that willful disobedience and seek His grace in helping us to stop from sinning. There are steps in obedience that we must take to find in His grace the strength to turn to Him, and away from the Lord. I think of the alcoholic. Alcoholism is a disease, and no one can ever fully recover from it on their own. However, they can make the willful decision to not go to a bar. They can make the willful decision to maintain the thrice daily prayer rule of the Church. And, in doing so, they draw closer to the Lord, willing to make the sacrifices necessary; walking in obedience with the Lord, they are able to overcome these temptations through His grace.

The Lord will allow us to walk in sin so long as we, in our free will, choose to do so. However, the moment we show Him that we are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to walk in holiness instead, then He will grant us the grace to turn away from that willingness to sinful disobedience. And then, when we do stumble and fall, which we will, we repent and confess our sins, knock the dirt off, say Lord have mercy, and trust in His grace to help us resume.

Christ is in our midst.

Genesis 4

Cain and Abel are each called to offer a sacrifice unto the Lord, and each do so according to their call. Abel’s sacrifice is clearly received by the Lord, whilst Cain’s is rejected. While each of them offered gifts according to the command, the inward state of Cain’s heart was incorrect. Thus God rejected his sacrifice. We can see that it was the case of the inward state, when he is presented with this truth. God loved Cain and offered him the chance to repent in asking, “Did you not sin?” God also commended him for bringing the right gifts (brought it rightly), but commanded him to still his heart that was dominated by passions. Rather than giving himself over to these passions of sorrow and arrogance, He calls Cain to repent, to still his heart, to be the guardian of his brother.

The text doesn’t say what wickedness made his heart discontent as he offered up his sacrifice, and to interject speculation is something that I’d rather not do. However, what is given to us is that the state of his heart was incorrect, and when he was offered the chance to repent, he refused to acknowledge that he had done anything wrong. He rejected the peace and calm, the stillness of heart, offered to him by the Lord, and instead, using his abundant guilt as an excuse, rejected this offer and allowed his passions to blind him. These passions ultimately led to anger, to hatred, and to murder.

All too often, however, we choose the same path. We fall into some form of sin and allow the guilt of our sin to blind us to the peace of repentance, to the grace that the Lord offers abundantly every moment of our life. Thus, we continue to add sin to sin, letting these feelings of guilt, of anger, of sorrow, to continually multiply; with each transgression causing us to believe ourselves more and more unforgivable. And this is a trick of the enemy. He will whisper gently into our ears, “you can’t turn back from that,” or “you’ve sinned far too much now, it’s too late for you.” He tries to convince us that we can do it on the basis of our own willpower and then elevates our failures in front of our eyes so that eventually that’s all we can see.

But my brethern, there is so much more. It is only through the power of God that we are able to break this cycle. There is no way that we, in our own willpower will ever achieve the “righteousness of God,” but rather only through His grace. We can, nay, we must, stop this endless cycle. St Mark the Ascetic teaches us that “there is always a sin which is ‘unto death,’ the sin for which we do not repent.” No sin is too great for God to forgive aside from the sin from which we do not repent of. Let each of us humbly fall down before the Lord and repent of each of our sins, however great or small, and receive the grace, love, and mercy of our beloved Lord Jesus. Let us seek His counsel, and turn to Him, for in our weakness, we are made strong, but it is only once we admit that weakness that we receive His strength, it is only once we willfully commit to turning away from our sin and seeking His kingdom that we receive this grace. When climbing the ladder of divine ascent, we must remember that we can never climb it on our own, He comes to meet us, but we must at least begin by climbing the steps towards Him.

Christ is in our midst.

Genesis 3

Eve is deceived by the serpent. The serpent, who is Satan, tempts her by denying that death and decay are the result of disobedience. He tells her basically, “no, you can do whatever you want, there will be no suffering, there will be no penalty for following your own will.” He also tempts her by telling her that she can become like God, thereby appealing to the seed of pride which was in her. But, what she failed to understand is that we become like God by the very obedience that the enemy renounces. Consider in our own life, who is more like Jesus, the one who obeys Jesus’ commands to care for the poor, to heal the sick, to be willing to sacrifice their lives for others; or the one who walks following their own desires, the one who seeks to acquire great wealth while turning a blind eye to the plight of their brothers and sisters in need? To become like Jesus, we must look to the example that He sets for us and follow His commands, which He Himself obeyed during His life. Consider that Jesus never once told His followers to do one thing while He did something contrary. Thus, we can either learn His commands and obey them, or simply follow the example which He has given to us in His humanity.

See, this very free will which is given to us by God was the first thing that was damaged in the fall. Eve had the will to make the decision to obey or disobey, and, in exercising her freedom, she chose disobedience. And then she gave the fruit of the tree to Adam, who also chose to do that which was contrary to God’s command. Even this one smallest command, the only one that they had been given, they chose to disobey, and rather gave into the passions.

And to this day, so often we continue this cycle. We will proclaim that we are followers of God, and yet by our actions, we deny Him. We will argue that action and obedience aren’t necessary elements of our faith. We will choose our own will over the will of God, thinking that we are exercising our “God given freedom,” when in reality, we are handing ourselves over to the slavery of our passions. The world teaches us to “follow our hearts,” to do whatever brings us temporal happiness. We read the story of Adam and Eve and scoff at their inability to control their desires, and then the Church tells us to fast and we argue against it. Much like the serpent, we respond to the command to fast with statements like “it will never bring us closer to God if we fast. Jesus didn’t warn that we would perish if we eat whatever we wish.” Jesus, contrary to what the world, and even the world influenced Church, teaches us that “whoever would be His disciples must deny themselves, pick up their cross, and follow Him.”

We can never hope to bring the mind into obedience if we can not first learn to control the body; and the way that we do so is through surrender, through obedience to the Lord and to His Church. One of the reason that the Church has so many different disciplines, such as fast, prayer rules, etc, is that it help to free us from the slavery of our own passions. Attending a Saturday evening vigil while the rest of the world is indulging goes against what our bodies desire that we do. Awakening early on a Sunday means that we must rest earlier on a Saturday than we would normally seek to do so. I’ve met people who were able to break free of alcoholism merely by obediently keeping the prayer rule set forth by their spiritual father, because they couldn’t pray while intoxicated. And the ultimate obedience, especially in the West, is fasting. We base so much of our culture on indulgence, that every part of our culture is either fascinated or amused by our adherence to this discipline. When great Lent comes around, I’ve had people say, “I could never do that,” to which, by the grace of God, we can graciously say, “we can.”

It’s this idea that when we exercise our free will in disobedience to God, then we become slaves to other things. We become slaves to our hunger, to our possessions, to alcohol or sex, to whatever vice we give our hearts to. Adam’s free will was the first thing to become corrupted in the fall, and thus becomes the first thing that needs healing in man. To crucify ourselves and our passions, to die to the world and be alive to Christ, we must tame those passions through obedience to Christ and His commandments. To truly become like Christ, rather than seeking to distance ourselves from Him, we must humble ourselves in obedience to Him, understanding that each time we give ourselves over to the passions, we take another bite out of the fruit of the tree.

Adam and Eve, we see now with a fallen will, seek to hide themselves from God. See, it’s the natural tendency for the fallen will to seek to hide itself from God. We see this when people hide behind man made religions like science, either seeking to disregard the teachings of God completely, or, more often, to scoff at and openly mock them. But the grace of God is always able to heal the will of those who return to Him through repentance, through confession; so that they might freely pursue His will and His righteousness. And, through that grace, obtain it to some degree, always seeking to repent each time they miss the mark.

My brethern, let us all crucify these passions which hold us captive. Let us break free from the bonds of this iniquity and instead return to seeking after the Kingdom, not seeking instead to justify wickedness. Jude warns us against those who turn the grace of God into lewdness, and in so doing, deny our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us turn away from disobedience and seek rather the humility to truly deny ourselves of our own fleshly desires; abiding in His commandments and seeking His will in our lives.

Christ is in our midst

Genesis 2

Upon the completion of creation, God rests on the seventh day. This is an eternal lesson for each of us, as it was (obviously) not as though God was tired, or in any way needed to rest, but rather to serve as an example to each of us. God rested on the seventh day, blessing it, to teach us the necessity of just such a thing. So often we busy ourselves with work, we toil, we rush and stress six days a week, but there must be one day, one time, set aside that is holy and sacred, time that is set apart for blessed repose and worship. We see this in the gospel in the story of Mary and Martha. Martha is so busy doing such great things to entertain that she misses “the more important part,” to merely sit in silence and listen to the voice of our God speaking to us. To take the time to rest and focus on growing spiritually. We so often mistake busy-ness for productivity, and at the end of the day, what have we accomplished, and how important is it for us?

Further, we see in this passage that God forms Adam in the same manner as all of the rest of creation; the same manner as the beasts and animals of the land. He forms man out of the dust of the ground, but then does something different, unique to Adam that He never did with the rest of the animals. The account tells us that He “breathed in his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul.” See, this is where the divide comes between man and the rest of the animals on the earth. Each were living, breathing, functioning organisms prior to this, even Adam, however God breathed the grace of the Holy Spirit into man. In St John’s account of the resurrection, we see Jesus, speaking to His disciples, and we read, “He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit'” (John 20:22), who is the “Lord, the Giver of Life” (Nicene Creed).

See, there are so many who would claim that man is but another animal living in the world, that there is no difference between us and a random animal in any jungle or zoo; in fact, there are some who more highly covet the lives of those animals than they do human beings. But, those who make such claims discount the very thing which Scripture tells us separates us from them, that we are made in the very image and likeness of God, and that the Lord breathed into man this breath of life. He placed us in a position over His creation to steward it and defend it, but to rule over it; and then asks us to be good stewards, caring for His creation, not rampantly destroying it merely because we are capable of doing so. We have received this gift from God, and this gift is our very intellect and freedom, which is granted to us by Him, and has given us dominion over all of the animals of the earth. God formed Adam, thus he was a living body, but it wasn’t until He breathed into him this breath of life, the grace of the Holy Spirit, that Adam became a living soul, truly alive. God created this beautiful creation, and then created man and gave him dominion over His creation to care for it.

See, when we declare that man is nothing more than another animal, we blaspheme the grace of the Holy Spirit. In giving mankind this gift, God has, in fact, given each of us dominion over the earth, over the animals and the beasts. Man was made in the image and likeness of God and was given stewardship over His creation, not equality with it. And while we must, as good stewards, respect and care for all of creation, we must never place any part of it as higher than our fellow man. It pains me to see people buying gourmet food for their pets, clothing for their dogs and cats; all the while neglecting the plight of their brother or sister who lies naked and homeless, starving in the cold. People who would spend 300 dollars on medication for a cat, while refusing to offer a meal to a hungry man, a blanket to one who is homeless.

We’ve allowed this mentality to permeate our culture far too long. We must stop consider our brothers and sisters as merely another animal, and recognize that each person we meet is an icon of the living God, formed in His image and likeness, and remember that He commands us to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to visit the prisoner, to care for the orphans and widows, and that whatever we do to them, we do to Him; and likewise, whatever we don’t do for them, we neither do to Him. May we all see Christ in every human being that we encounter; whatever their ethnicity, their background, their economic status. Each person that we encounter is an icon of Christ, and however we treat them, we treat Him.

Christ is in our midst.

So, after studying the last few months through the Book of Acts, I determined to take a break from what unequivocally became a study on early Church politic, and a blueprint for the hierarchy and structure of the Church militant. So, I determined to begin anew, with a study on Genesis.

Genesis 1

Creation. We from the creation account, we see some very important characteristics of our God. We see the whole of the Trinity represented in this account. God the Father, as the council of Nicea decreed, created the Heavens and the Earth. “I believe, in One God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible.” And He created these things through the Son, and in the Holy Spirit, Whom Scripture says was “hovering over the waters.”

The Father. speaking to the Son, in reference to the creation of man, uses plural pronouns, “Us” and “Our,” thereby signifying the three distinct persons of the Trinity. However, the use of the word “image” is distinctly singular; denoting one undivided nature. Thus, in the declaration, “We (plural) shall make man in Our (plural) image (singular),” we see the very nature of the triune God.

Lastly, and most relevantly to our lives, we find that upon the completion of creation, God blesses all of creation. The Scripture says that “He looked down upon all of His creation and saw that it was good.” See, this bears such relevance to us, because all that God creates is good and nothing is inherently evil. This is so important because there are those who conceive that human beings are created wicked, that their very nature is wicked. There are those who teach that the flesh itself is flawed and that only the spirit matters. And yet, God Himself looked upon us and blessed us, stating that all of creation itself is good. Human nature itself is good. When God knits together a child in it’s mother’s womb, there is nothing wicked or sinful or evil in it. It is through our own free will that we can allow this wickedness into our hearts. And, this wickedness is contrary both to God’s will and to our own nature. The problem is that once we allow this wickedness into our lives, it is only through immense struggle coupled with the grace of God that we are ever able to break free from it’s grip. Our slavery to sin is so strong that often times, it seems to be our very nature. However, our God-given nature is not innately sinful, since God never creates anything wicked. Rather, we often give it such power that it seems that way. An alcoholic is never born an alcoholic, rather, they are born good and at a point allow alcohol to enter into their lives, making them a slave to alcoholism. A vain person is never born vain, however, once they allow the go gratification to enter into their lives, they become slaves to it, and their vanity becomes the means to achieve the gratification that they desire.

This becomes so important to us in our fight to achieve purity, because if we consider that we are fighting against our very nature, then it becomes exponentially more difficult to attain to the purity into which we were created. Again, hearkening to alcoholism, the alcoholic who believes that he was created as an alcoholic will have a much harder time defeating that demon than a man who recognizes that those demons only have the power over him that he allowed them to have. It was through his choices that he became enslaved to that desire, and those same choices coupled with the grace of the Holy Spirit can allow him to break free.

We do ourselves and others a grave disservice when we teach that we are wicked by nature. We do ourselves such a grave disservice, because when we teach that, we teach that it is no longer sinful desire or temptation that we are attempting to overcome, but rather our very nature. When we teach the truth, as revealed in Scripture, that we are born good and then allow these sinful passions quarter in our own lives; then and only then will we be able to seek the grace of the Lord to free us of them, and allow His guidance to guide us to make the right choices in our own lives.

We, my brothers and sisters, must make the conscious decision each day who we shall follow, who we shall look to for guidance, and then follow the guidance that we have received. Jesus, fully God, but also fully human, was tempted in the desert. And His decisions serve as the role model for our lives. We must never test God, neither doubt Him, nor give quarter to the devil in our own lives. No matter what earthly riches and rewards we are offered, we must never place those rewards over that which is most important, which is obedience to our Lord. And we must never allow ourselves the scapegoat of claiming, “well this is who I was born to be,” for to do so is to claim that God created something flawed and to shirk our own responsibility. God created us good, but through our own environment and mentality, we have allowed sin to root itself in our lives; and we must constantly seek His righteousness to be freed from those tethers.

Christ is in our midst.

Acts 18

Paul arrives in Ephesus and stays for a brief while. As was his custom, he began by entering into the synagogue and reasoning with the Jews. Once he felt secure in his departure, he bids farewell to Priscilla and Aquila. Though they ask him to remain, he declines stating that he must keep the coming feast in Jerusalem. While it doesn’t state exactly which feast he is referring to, it is worth noting that even this early in the Church history, there is already evidence of liturgal calendars and festal cycles.

Then the story shifts to something which we must pay careful attention to. Apollos comes to Ephesus. And the Scripture describes him as “an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures.” It tells us that he “had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord.”

Now, consider this. This man, who was not yet in the Church, comes in fervently proclaiming Christ, accurately teaching with full knowledge of the Scriptures. And yet, what happens when he arrives? He concedes to Aquila and Priscilla when they approach him. Rather than pridefully rejecting the teaching of these two tent-makers, one of whom is a woman (offensive to most educated men of the time in question), he acknowledges that there is much to learn from joining himself to the Church to receive their teaching.

This displays unequivocally the importance of the Church in our lives. Apollos was not an ignorant man, as could be said about others in Scripture. Here we see a man who could boldly rebuke the Jews using the Scriptures, thus he was highly educated. A well educated man who had been properly taught the ways of the Lord. And yet, for all of his education, for all of his knowledge, even he acquiesces to being joined with the Church, and humbly accepts her teachings, even though the vessels chosen by God are often “less-qualified” by cultural standards. The single wisest theologian of all time would be foolish compared to the wisdom that exists within the Church, with thousands of years of wise and studied men, anointed of the Holy Spirit, and he realizes that. Rather than seeking his own glory and causing division, he joins himself to the one true Church and adds to it’s strength.

Our generation too often does the exact opposite. In a post-reformation era, we would see reliance on the Church and the writings of the Fathers as weakness, relying solely on our own wisdom to understand the things of God. In our turning away from the traditional teachings of the Church, we have removed the very foundation upon which the truth of the Gospel is built. In proclaiming the Scriptures to be the one governing authority, we instead trust in our own wisdom, finding whatever we seek to find contained therein. The early Church sought unity and fought against division, the contemporary Church seems to thrive on that very division. The reason Peter warns us so strongly against personal interpretation is that he understands that you can find in the Scripture whatever you search for. Francis Chan once said, “look for any sin you want to justify and I can find a verse that will justify it for you.” And that’s true. Once we remove the foundation of the teachings of the Church, no one can ever say someone else is wrong, because it’s all a matter of interpretation. John Macarthur and Joel Osteen both quote the Scriptures, so if the Scripture is the sole authority, then no one could ever declare either of them to be wrong.

No, my beloved brethern, like Apollos, we must be educated in the Scripture, but we must cling to the foundation of the Truth the Church has handed down for nearly two thousand years to help us understand that Scripture. I can here only speak for myself, but I highly revere the words of Scripture. And, because of that, I consider my eternity to be far too important to trust to my own finite wisdom. If my car stops moving, I take it to a mechanic to find out why. If I have pains in my chest, I go to a doctor to seek treatment. In every are in my life, there are those who are experts whom I trust more than my own wisdom. Thus, when it comes to something as important as eternity, why would I trust in my own wisdom? I would rather go to the house of the Lord, the Church, to learn the words of the Lord and their meaning.

Christ is in our midst.

Acts 17

Here we see a glimpse into the method that the great Apostle Paul used to preach the gospel to the multitudes. To begin, it’s important to note that he never allows his discourse to become argumentative. Rather than approaching them confrontationally, he begins at a point familiar to them. In vs. 1-3, we find him speaking to Jews, and, as such, he begins his discourse with the Old Testament Scriptures. He reveals through the Scriptures the prophecies concerning the glorious coming of Christ. This is imperative, as he allows the Prophets themselves to bear witness to the Jews of Jesus as the Messiah. And we see, as we would today, groups who are more open to listen, and groups who are less inclined. The Jews in Thessalonica are thoroughly convinced that he is incorrect in his teaching, meanwhile the Jews in Berea are much more open to it, so much so that daily they search the Scriptures to see if what he was teaching was accurate. And even today, we find this same separation, those who are open minded and willing to research teachings which are new to them (the Bereans) and those who are very closed to receiving different teaching, those who say, “that’s not what I was taught,” in much the same manner as the Thessalonian Jews.

Similarly, we see him go to Athens to proclaim the same teaching. Athens however was not a Jewish city full of those who were familiar with the Prophets and the Law; rather these were Gentiles who had never heard neither believed such teachings. Therefore, rather than hammering those same teachings into them, he begins with a statue that he passed, dedicated to the “unknown god,” and to their own poets. Again, he approaches them from a position where they are comfortable and moves from there. And, yes, again to a mixed reception. Even amongst those few who believed, there was contention concerning the bodily resurrection, as they had been taught from the Platonic view that the spirit was inherently good, while the flesh was wicked and merely a prison for the soul; a view that continued on in Gnosticism for centuries, and is still held by some even today.

These lessons are so important for us, because so often, our “evangelism” is nothing more than pummeling someone with Scripture after Scripture, law after law; arguing every aspect of their existence from theology to mortality to history itself. We begin with what we believe, where we’re comfortable, and then try to lead them to be like us. We put them immediately on the defensive and then prove them right to be so as we continue to aggressively assault every thought and conviction that they have. What we fail to understand, or perhaps even fail to care about, is that for someone who doesn’t believe in the Scriptures, the Scriptures alone become a poor foundation for us to use to guide them to the Truth. Had St Paul arrived in Athens and immediately begun condemning the Gentiles based on the words of Amos, or Habakkuk; citing prophecies spoken by Isaiah, or the Wisdom of Solomon; they would have immediately turned away from him. Rather, he began with what was familiar to them, quoting from one of their poets, and referencing the statue of the “unknown god,” and said, “now, let me explain this God to you.”

We, dear brethern, must heed this warning strongly. To blatantly attack their convictions will not guide them on the right path, and offering as evidence the Scriptures that they don’t believe in will neither profit them nor you. Rather, our lives themselves should be interesting enough to evoke interest, our lives shouldn’t make sense outside of our faith. When we give alms to others even when our mortgage is due, when we fast even in the face of our favorite food, when we offer love, mercy, and compassion to those who curse us, it arouses the interest of those around us. And when the questions do come, allow us to put aside our own comforts and begin where they are comfortable; never callously assaulting their character or lives, but rather, speaking the truth in love. I, for one, constantly have people comment that “he wakes up in a great mood,” when I am at work, and that makes people question how I can remain so content in the face of the constant stress and insults that I encounter on a daily basis. And that fact alone leads them to question what it is that is different about me, that I am able to do that rather than taking out that animosity on those around me. Imagine the effect that you can have on those that you encounter if you were to truly live the life that we are called to live. St Paul, in writing to the Philipians, writes, “Do all things without complaining and disputing,” a point which is reiterated by St Seraphim of Sarov when he teaches us “Acquire the Spirit of Peace and a thousand souls around you will be saved.” When we are able to face adversity with contentment, it makes the rest of the world question how and why we are able to do so. Further, we must remember that the very term witness is a call to do exactly that, to bear witness, which means to speak to that which we have seen or experienced. I could never bear witness to the flood, I could never give a testimony about Sodom and Gomorrah; but I can be a witness to those things which I have experienced in my own life, and I can share those very experiences with any and all. And those experiences, spoken with sincerity, in love, will be the greatest witness we could ever offer to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Let us never allow “evangelism” be an excuse for argument or pride, confrontation or division. Rather, let us meet with those to whom we bear witness with love, sharing the grace of the Lord that we have been granted, and displaying that same grace to others, forsaking our own comfort for theirs; truly denying ourselves and bearing witness to that which we have intimately seen and experienced, not merely learned during a study or read about. Lastly, let us see ourselves as the greatest of sinners, focusing on our own flaws, so that rather than approaching another in judgment, we approach them solely in the love of the Lord.

Christ is in our midst.

Let us never forget St Paul’s admonition to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15), not using rebuke for the opportunity to insult or slander one another, but rather building one another up in the love of Christ. Paul warns us that “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-2).

When we correct one another, but do so without love, mercy, compassion; it is not the edification of one another we seek, but our own vainglory. Arguing with one another, tearing down one another, shows that we fail to believe Christ’s teaching that “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Christ tells us that if we forgive another’s sins then so shall our sins be forgiven us, but if we forgive not their transgressions then neither will our Father forgive ours.

Let us instead speak only that which is useful for building one another up. If we focus on our own sinfulness, then we will see our own sins so clearly that we will not focus on another’s transgressions and will only embrace them in love. We are all sinful… rather than tearing down another because of their sinfulness, let us seek after our own holiness and, speaking the truth in love, seek to build all others up, edifying them and praying for them; displaying the love, mercy, and grace of Christ that each of us hope that we ourselves will be granted.

Christ is in our midst.