Being Apostolic In The Modern World 11

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Being Apostolic In The Modern World

What does it mean to be an Apostolic in the modern world?  Being an
Apostolic in the modern world means taking the challenges of the
Enlightenment seriously and reexamining the foundation upon which the
Apostolic faith is built.  Apostolics do not build their faith upon the
shifting sands of modern thought but upon the Rock, Jesus Christ.  It is
amazing that at the turn of the century a small group of Pentecostals
chose to be known as Apostolics.  In the midst of the great
Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy these Christians proposed a
different criterion for judging what was truly Christian.  To be a
Christian was not to imbibe the latest in modern thought and give the
Christian faith a modern expression.  To be a Christian was also not to
affirm allegiance to a few "Fundamentals".  To be a Christian was to be
Apostolic, to pattern one's faith, life, and ministry after the first
followers of Jesus Christ, the apostles.  Be Apostolic!  This was the
answer  our fore-fathers gave to the challenges of the modern world. 
They looked beyond the raging religious debates to Holy Scripture and 
the Apostolic witness to Jesus Christ.  The Apostolic era was  the
standard and the norm by which they judged their faith.

Calling the Church to be Apostolic means affirming the humanity of the
Church. Jesus Christ is Christianity.  Jesus Christ created the Church.
The Church is the body of Christ, God's field and building, the dwelling
place of God through the Holy Spirit, and the household of God (Mt
16:18; Col 2:7; Eph 2:22; 1Tm 3:15; Heb 3:6; 1Co 3:9; 2Tm 2:19).   The
Church is the legacy of Jesus Christ upon the earth.  But in
establishing this legacy  the apostles were called and ordained by God
to play a significant role.

Jesus Christ established the Church through the ministry of the
apostles. The church is built on the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone (Eph 2:20).
Paul understands this building very realistically.  As a skilled master
builder Paul lays the foundation through the preaching of the Gospel.  
But the foundation he lays is Jesus Christ.  "By the grace God has given
me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is
building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds.   For no
one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is
Jesus Christ"  (1Co 3:10,11).

The Church in Corinth is Paul's "workmanship in the Lord" (1Co 9:1). 
Jesus Christ worked through Paul to establish the Church. Paul is very
careful to maintain his human work in proper perspective.  "And what is
Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe-as the Lord has
assigned to each his task.   I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but
God made it grow.  So neither he who plants nor he who waters is
anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and
the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according
to his own labor.    For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's
field, God's building"  (1Co 3:5-11).  Paul understood that his work as
an apostle obtained its significance from the grace and power of God who
confirmed his proclamation of the Gospel.   "When I came to you,
brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I
proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know
nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.  I
came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message
and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a
demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest
on men's wisdom, but on God's power"  (1Co 2:1-5).  Paul delighted in
his human weaknesses for he knew that God's "power is made  perfect in
weakness" (2 Co 12:9).

Paul did not see the "humanness", the weaknesses,  of his Apostolic
ministry, as a scandal to be overcome.  Rather, Paul saw the weaknesses
of his Apostolic ministry as an opportunity for God to demonstrate his
power and validate the Gospel.

Throughout this series of posts the "humanness" of Apostolic theology
has been emphasized.  Apostolics do not have a perfect theological
system to enthrall the theologian.  Apostolics do not have a  perfect
apologetic to appease the intellectual.  Apostolics proclaim the Gospel
in weakness knowing that God, and God alone will confirm his word and
validate their message and ministry.  This does not mean that Apostolics
cannot present a scholarly and intellectual defense of their faith.  It
means that Apostolics know that they are laborers together with God and
must depend upon God through the Holy Spirit to convict of sin, lead to
repentance, baptize in the Holy Spirit, and reveal Jesus Christ.  This 
dependency is not a scandal or a limitation but an opportunity for God
to be God and establish the truthfulness of the gospel which Apostolics
proclaim and the authority of his Word.  God's strength is made perfect
in the midst of Apostolic weakness.

Being Apostolic in the modern world means recognizing the normative
nature of the  life, faith, and ministry of the Apostles for the Church.
This is the life, faith, and ministry presented by the authors of the
New Testament.  This is the life, faith, and ministry which God has
ordained to be exemplary and authoritative for all generations of
Christians.  Apostolics willingly subject themselves to this norm.  In
the midst of the doctrinal  diversity of Christendom and the plurality
of world religions Apostolics guide their faith by the Apostolic witness
to Jesus Christ found in the New Testament.  The truthfulness of the
Apostolic faith is not judged by its correspondence to contemporary
science or history,  by its systematic presentation in a theological
system, by its continuity with Christian history, or by the validation
of human reason.  The truthfulness of the Apostolic faith is judged by
its correspondence to the Apostolic witness to Jesus Christ found in the
New Testament.  The Apostolic witness to Jesus Christ provides the
boundaries within which Apostolics understand, present, and defend their
faith.  The Church of Jesus Christ has twelve foundations and on them
are "the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb"  (Re 21:14).