Let us take an imaginary trip into the Gospel of Matthew. This time we will begin at the ending of his Gospel. Imagine that you are the eleven who have kept the appointment to meet Jesus on a mountain in Galilee. You see the crucified Jesus now risen from the dead. He confirms the news that he is alive.

When someone glances around our place of assembly, they see a lot of volunteers: volunteers to clean the building, bring food for the needy, pictures of work-days with many happy volunteers. What about Jesus and his church? Are they volunteer? I do not find the word “volunteer” in the Gospels but there are some answers to the question. Consider Matthew which we explored in class last Sunday.

For some time, I questioned the line from A. W. Dicus’ hymn, Our God, He is Alive, “in Him we live, and we survive.”  I was attracted to E. H. Ijams book, To Survive and to Surpass, especially when I took his course, Building Better Churches, at Harding Graduate School. Brother Ijams described the ministry of a store-front church in downtown Nashville which became the Central Church of Christ. In our ministry here in Storrs we learned from telling our story in ministry that we were a Servant-Survivor church. We resolved that we wanted to become more a Servant-Evangelist church in our ministry.

Two weeks ago, I wrote an article proposing that we change our identity goal of being a New Testament Christian and a New Testament church to being New Covenant Christians and a New Covenant church. You may say “What’s the difference? What’s the big deal?”. Permit me to ramble a little.

63 years ago, my good friend and colleague Neale Pryor recited to some of us at Harding Graduate School this nursery rhyme. “Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been? I’ve been to London to see the queen. Pussy cat, pussy cat, what did you there? I frightened a little mouse under her chair.” Aside from the political implications of this ditty at the installation of the Queen of England, there is the obvious incongruity of one’s actions at a very important event.

One day last week, I forgot the date, I went down stairs only to ask, “what am I here for?”. Then I remembered and returned upstairs with several items in hand. But now I have forgotten exactly what I remembered to get. This scenario illustrates our easy exchange of remembering and forgetting. But is it true to the biblical idea of remembering? There is a reason why the title of last weeks article, “A Covenant Remembering God Amidst His Not Remembering People” is not “forgetful people.” Let me explain.

I am amazed by the covenant theme throughout Scripture both in the Old Testament and the New Testament. There is covenant making, covenant keeping, covenant breaking, and covenant renewal. Above all, there is a covenant remembering God in a not remembering covenant community. In last Sunday’s excellent lesson, Patrick walked us through Psalm 107 with its emphasis on the steadfast love of our covenant making God (Ex. 34:6, 10).

I was caught by surprise last Sunday when I saw that I was to lead us into partaking of the Lord’s Supper. Since I had been thinking about the church as a covenant community, I shared some thoughts about covenant-making in the Old Testament, (Dt. 5 & 7) as basis for our thinking as we drink the cup of which Jesus said in the New Testament, “This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Mt. 26:28).

Yes, I am saved, I am being saved, I will be saved. I remember a Sunday in Clarendon, Arkansas 62 years ago when I preached a sermon that began with these words.

Last Sunday a visitor asked me what was my favorite verse in the Bible. I replied with Isa. 54:17: “This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD.” Perhaps in your reading of Isaiah 53 & 54 you might say Isa. 53:11: “The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.” I explained that my favorite verses are those which I am currently studying and praying about. After reading the startling chapter 53, the following chapter 54 is often minimized or detached. Rather than favorite verses, I propose that we ask about the relationship between Isaiah 53 and Isaiah 54.

Remembering Jim Durdan

I found two big “E” words while reading the latest issue of The Christian Chronicle. The ministry postings said that candidates must be Enthusiastic and Energetic. Of the 8 postings 3 were looking for enthusiastic persons and 2 for energetic ones. To be energetic and enthusiastic are admirable. A 5-minute glance at TV commercials highlights those E words. I thought of proposing at our recent evangelistic committee that a group of us attend the 3rd Thursdays on Main Street. We would jump up and down shouting “Storrs Road Church of Christ” and display our phone number at least 5 times.

“Finished” and “Finally;” closing words of Jesus in John’s Gospel and of Paul in 2 Corinthians. I tend to read the ending of a book before reading the entire document. Not just a lazy shortcut, it stimulates me to multiple readings of Scripture.

These were the last words of Jesus as he died. In John’s Gospel there is only one word, tetelestai – finished, accomplished, goal achieved. What will be my final word? Yours? Before answering we should note three things in the testimony of the beloved disciple (John 21:28-30). 1) Jesus’ final word fulfilled Scripture. 2) His hour had now come. 3) They were not his final words. A full understanding requires reading and re-reading John’s Gospel.

What is this “Fellowship of the Holy Spirit”? The Greek term, koinonia, refers to things shared together. In Acts 2:42 it is one of four formative things shared by the new community: apostolic teaching, prayers, meals, and possessions. More than “good feeling all around” fellowship was very practical; specific deeds of a shared life in a community where all have been given the Holy Spirit.

The Preacher in the book of Ecclesiastes lamented as he closed his investigation of all the things done under the sun, Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh (Eccl. 12:12). His investigation of life by wisdom began and ended with, Vanity of vanities, all is vanity (Eccl. 1:2; 12:8).

The evidence in Acts indicates that a praying church is primary.

In Luke’s narrative there are two worded prayers. When you pray say… (Luke 11:2-4) and Peter, John and friends lift their voices together to God and said… (Acts 4:24-30). There are remarkable parallels in the words of these two prayers and some differences also. Between these two worded prayers Jesus has been crucified, resurrected, and ascended to God and the Holy Spirit has been poured out. The first is prayed in anticipation of what the Father will do and the second prayer in fulfillment of what He has done with confidence of what He will do. Compare them.

A few years ago, our sign was taken down for a couple of months to be repainted. When I attended the meeting of local pastors during that interval some were surprised to see me. They assumed that the congregation had disbanded. The change at that repainting was from “Church of Christ, Undenominational” to “Storrs Road Church of Christ.” Suppose we had taken it down again and repainted it “Church of God in Storrs” only shortly later to repaint it as “Church of God in Christ in Mansfield Center.” Finally, we just put up the sign, “Assembly of Firstborn Ones.” What, do you suppose would be the reaction at that meeting of area preachers?

As I log into my computer, I delete several “pop-ups.” Dare I suggest an analogy to baptism which keeps popping up in some unexpected places in the NT? I see it in four texts: Acts 2, Gal. 3, Rom. 6 and Col. 2. Dare we delete them?