Saturday, August 26

What did Jesus say and what he did not say

Alexander Campbell over at simplechurch.co.uk has posted two entries by India church planter Victor Choudhrie, both worth reading. The first entitled a passage from india - why mince words? deals with 15 essential steps for changing from traditional church to New Testament church. I found it very enlightening and encourage you to click on the link.

The second article by Choudhrie "What Did Jesus Say and What He Did Not Say" is reproduced below. As you read, you may disagree with Choudrie's interpretation of the various Scriptures quoted. I personally found it refreshing to read a non-western interpretation on the various Scriptures and points he brings out. At the very least, Choudhrie will get you to rethink these issues considered so "ordinary" and "common sense" in our Western church culture. While I would agree with his conclusions, I have personally found several of them very hard to implement in our own church planting due to the strong traditions that prevail. When planting New Testament churches does one go with one's traditions for these things, or do we really seek to practice what we find in the pages of Scripture? Let me know what you think--and actually practice!


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  • Jesus never asked you to worship only on Sundays. His disciples worshipped daily, broke bread from house to house and the Lord added to the church daily and the churches were planted daily. ( Acts 2: 46-47; 16: 5; Heb. 3: 13)

  • Jesus did not say that you appoint qualified professional pastors. He gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers to equip His church. (Eph. 4: 11-12)

  • Jesus never said that only the pastors can serve bread and wine. Jesus served roast lamb, bread, bitter herb and wine for the last supper. Whenever His disciples gathered they shared Agape meals together in His remembrance. (Exo. 12: 8; 1 Cor. 11: 20-26)

  • Jesus did not say that you should tithe. According to His teachings, the disciples opened their homes and shared their possessions with others so that no one lacked anything. (Acts 4: 32-34; Deut. 8: 17-18)

  • Jesus did not ask you to build a church building. He said God does not live in houses made with human hands because the heaven is His throne and the earth is His foot stool. Now we are the temple of the living God. (Acts 7: 48-49; 2 Cor. 6: 16; 1 Cor. 3: 9)

  • Jesus did not say that only the Pastors can baptize. Jesus said you go and make disciples and baptize them. (Matt. 28: 19)

  • Jesus did not ask the pastor to bury. He said let the dead bury the dead, you go and raise the dead. (Luke 9: 60; Matt. 10: 8)

  • Jesus did not ask you to follow the church program. He said follow me and I will make you fishers of men. He did not ask you to send believers to Sunday service or the Bible school. He said send the laborers to the harvest fields. He said he who gathers is with Me and he who scatters is against Me. (Matt. 4: 19, 9: 38, 12: 30)

  • Jesus did not ask you to organize crusades and conventions. He will not judge you on the basis of large crowds or the wonderful worship and beautiful music. He will judge on what you did for the little and the least of the world. (Matt. 25: 31-46,18: 3-6; Isa. 58: 6-9)

  • Jesus did not say that only men can talk in the church and the women should cover their head and keep quiet. He made them talk, even allowed them to argue with Him in public. (Luke 10: 40; Mark 7: 24-30)

  • Jesus did not say that you are just a layman. He bought you with His blood and ordained you priest and king. As royal priests, make disciples, baptize, equip fishers of men and rule on earth. (Rev. 5: 9-10; 1 Pet 2: 9)

Victor Choudhrie is a cancer surgeon by profession. He is a senior Fellow of the American and British colleges of surgeons. He quit his job as the Director (CEO) of the Christian Medical college, Ludhiana in Punjab, India in 1992 to take up full time Church planting ministry in central India. His wife Bindu is also in full time church planting ministry, equipping women to be house church leaders and trainers. God has blessed this ministry abundantly. Large numbers of grassroots level leaders have been trained who have planted thousands of house churches all over India as a result.

7 comments:

Darrell said...

Right on Bro.

I have never met Victor but he is one of my personal heroes! He was just a regular guy with a regular job then BOOM God zapped him and the IMPOSSIBLE happened! If you want to read more about Victor his story starts on page 37 of Church Planting Movements.

The whole women deal is a real head scratcher! It's one of those questions I can't wait for Jesus to answer!

I pray that things like this will wake the Church up and get it thinking about why we do what we do, and what is best for the Kingdom.

Keep up the great material!

TKB said...

Just because Jesus did not say or ask something, doesn't necessarily mean it is wrong or even unbiblical. That being said, I understand and agree with almost every underlying principle behind each statement. I pray that God will continue to use Victor to awaken the Body.

Don said...

As Barney Fife would say, "there you go, being perfectly obtuse again!" A good list that causes many to either say Amen or get really upset. I say Amen.

Don said...

Interesting comments on the tithe. This has been something that I have been studying on and off for nearly 20 years. I have read lots of different opinions of what is the tithe but would be interested in hearing some of your opinions. I started a post on this on my blog, http://klinebergklippings.blogspot.com/

Could you provide some comments? Thanks!

Tim Patterson said...

Guy,

Thanks for the provocative post. I met brother Victor and spent a few days with him. He is the real deal. Many may see him as an extremist. But the fact remains that God has used his ministry to plant over 14,000 house churches (as of last year) and they continue to multiply. They have every house church and every baptized believer's name, address, etc. documented. It is truly an amazing present-day book of Acts movement of God. If it takes extremists like brother Victor to reach the nations, then please God, make me one of those!

Gordon said...

Interesting post. Many of these points are good and very provacative.

I would point out that much of the NT doctrine concerning the church did not come from the words of Jesus (who did teach much on the Kingdom), but rather from the epistles. I think we should probably include them in our thinking towards church.

Still praying for you and your folks.

J. Guy Muse said...

Thanks guys for the comments.

Alexander Campbell shared with me the source of the two Choudhrie articles along with a lot more for those interested...

http://www.freewebs.com/housechurch/index1.html