Meeting

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1 Timothy 1:15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-of whom I am the worst. (NIV)

I’m meeting with the care team sub-committee of the Presbytery’s Committee on Ministry this morning to have a discussion with them about what happened at the last Presbytery meeting. If you read these devotionals on a daily basis, you may remember that I asked several questions of a candidate for ministry, whose answers revealed that she would not be bound by the scriptures, nor would she confirm that Jesus is the only way to salvation.

Both of those answers perplexed me, for what is the point in being a Christian pastor if you don’t believe fully in Christ, nor do you fully trust the scriptures about Him? I feel as though that seminaries are beginning to universalize faith, and that the current theologians who teach our ministerial candidates are so far off the orthodox mark that we should seriously begin to question who is teaching what to our future pastors.

Now already I can hear some people saying, “That would be a witch hunt. You want to condemn those who have given their lives, intellect, and academic skills to theology and make them conform to your standards, John.”

No, I don’t, because like Paul before me, I am one of the worst sinners in the world. I don’t want people to follow the Gospel according to John Stuart, I want them to follow the Gospel according to Christ, as written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Not one of the Gospel writers believed that Jesus was any less than He declared Himself to be. Not one of them would have glibly cast Christ aside in favor of appeasing other faiths, other deities, other gods. If that was the case, they would never have spread the Gospel and the Jesus stories would just have been circulated locally. Christ would just have been another Palestinian prophet, a religious rabble-rouser who was squashed by the politico-religious system of His day.

Like the present Pope, Benedict XVI, I can say this: I trust the Gospels.* To me, there is no other legitimate source of my faith other than Bible. I may not be able to live up to the demands of the Scriptures (who can?), but my faith is bound up in them. The Christ of the Gospels is the One I worship, proclaim and follow. He is the only source of salvation. He is the only source of truth and meaning.

Whatever the outcome of the meeting this morning, I thank God for the opportunity of witnessing to Christ with my peers. I may not be the best pastor in the world, and I fall short of God’s expectations, but that will not disbar me from declaring that Christ is the most perfect, holy, and sacred Savior that the world has known, knows today, and will ever know. In Christ, I stand. I can do no other.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, give our people hearts that are loyal to You, and faith that witnesses to Your True Power. We admit that we are all sinners, in need of forgiveness, and in need of salvation. Help us to give up our proud and stubborn ways. Grant us the courage to declare Your Uniqueness, Sovereignty, and Authority over all religions, over all creation. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen

* as written in his new book, “Jesus of Nazareth” – Joseph Ratzinger –we’ll be studying this at Erin later this year.