Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Holiday (04/05/12)
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TITLE: Opportunities
By Doug Laird
04/10/12 -
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My friends “across the pond” refer to vacation as being on holiday.
When the event being celebrated is of a spiritual nature, the word becomes a phrase, “holy day.”
Catholicism denotes such days as being holy days of obligation.
Scripture endorses both the setting aside of certain days for commemorating of specific events and it endorses perceiving every day as a day in which God is to be glorified.
In Romans 14:5 we read, “One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.”
One is convinced when the focus of attention is on the meaning and purpose of the day, and not just another day to party.
Clearly the event that is to be “scheduled” most frequently is the celebration of the Lord’s Supper (1Cor. 11: 24, 25).
Compliance with the 1Cor. 11: 24, 25 command to bring into remembrance the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ, via the celebration of the Lord’s Supper (Communion) has been a key part of corporate worship in private homes since the very beginning of the Church Age (Acts 2: 46).
I favor the position that perceives every day to be a holy day, as discipleship is a 24-7 lifestyle.
Granted, the congregation as a group is limited to whatever group activities are made available by the local Church or ministry of their choosing.
At the same time, individually meditating on the spiritual significance of such things as the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the First Advent, the cross, Resurrection Sunday, Thanksgiving, and the Rapture can and should be a part of our daily lives. One does not have to attend corporate worship services in order to do this.
Every day is the day to take in, meditate upon, and apply the Word of God.
Every day is a day that each one of us continues to learn of God’s general plan for the Church Age and individual part that He has ordained for each one of us.
Discipleship is a 24-7 activity that is to be exercised no matter where we are or what we are otherwise doing.
Biblically structured, corporate worship services for the Church Age consist of the celebration of the Lord’s Supper and the development of discipleship through the teaching of the Word of God.
Other activity, such as music and prayer are legitimate elements, but the primary, internal function of the Church, revealed in the Great Commission, calls for the making of disciples.
A twenty-minute “commentary” concerning a passage of Scripture will not be sufficient to edify an advancing disciple.
A disciple, m-a-t-h-e-t-e-s in the Greek, is a technical student in a teacher-pupil environment.
Time is a resource that cannot be recycled.
Accordingly, we are not to spend time we have to glorify God by engaging in meaningless, “religious” activity.
In Galatians 4:10, 11 we read, “You observe days and months and seasons and years (10). I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored in vain (11).”
In context, the issue Paul was addressing involved the local believers in Galatia having turned or returned to practices outlined in the Old Testament that are non-relevant to the Church Age.
The Church Age application of this passage applies to any religious “requirement” that has been or will be added to faith and faith alone in the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ in order to be forever saved.
The Internet and other modern day communicating devices have provided edified and motivated Church Age believers with the individual means to evangelize unbelievers and to edify believers on a global level.
Such believers have at their fingertips, the means to fulfill their part in the completion of the Great Commission, as well as pursuing their own spiritual edification and spiritual maturity.
Keep in mind that, to whom much is given, much will be required (Luke 12:48).
The Ephesians 6:12 authors and forces of evil have seized the opportunity to use such means to promote all kinds of evil.
Regardless of what anyone else chooses to do, every born again believer has the ability to make a “holy day” out of any day if he/she has the discernment and desire to identify and to respond to the daily opportunities given to him/her to glorify God.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
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