Calvin Synod Herald, 1980 (80. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1980-05-01 / 5-6. szám
4 CALVIN SYNOD HERALD 1. When Paul and Barnabas and the others arrived in Jerusalem “they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders and they declared all that God had done with them.” It is eminently important that church meetings should show that God is working in the church. Through these signs all those who take part in the meeting are filled with the importance of God, his Holy Spirit, and strengthened by the knowledge that God is with us and working in our midst. 2. It was a grave controversy that brought together this first Church meeting. There were believers of the party of the Pharisees who insisted that it is necessary that the Gentiles should also be circumcised. And there was much debate! I am certain that if the question had come to vote the party of the Pharisees would have carried the day. It was Peter — a Jew himself — who stood up and gave the question the right perspective, by emphasizing that “God bore witness to them (the Gentile Christians), giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us;” and “that we shall be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.” The Antioch church could have acted separately, and could have insisted that they were right, but they sent representatives, that the church may grow together. It required sacrifice on the part of the Antioch congregation and on the part of those who went to Jerusalem, just as today it requires sacrifice on the part of the congregation and the individual to attend the Synodical meeting. Through church meetings we grow together as Christians, and as Christians of the Calvinistic Reformed conviction. Without church meetings we grow apart in our Christian convictions. 3. We usually overlook that at the Jerusalem meeting it was also important that the representatives of the Antioch congregation met the people of the Jerusalem congregation and they strengthened the ties that they belong together because they are brothers in Christ. Those who attend the Synodical and other church meetings develop a sense of brotherhood that ties them together. Often they look forward to the meetings to renew their Christian friendship and strengthen the ties that bind them together in Christian work and friendship. 4. At the close of a meeting the question who won often becomes important. At the close of the Jerusalem meeting there was no vote to mark the winner. It was Jesus Christ and his Church who won — the future! It is always the crowning glory of every church meeting if those who attended the meeting will be witnesses that Jesus Christ won — the future. Desmond D. Parragh, bishop THE CHURCH IN THE 80'S Workshop Introduction at the Annual Meeting of The Calvin Synod, held at Pittsburgh, Pa. on April 22,1980 Our theme is “The Church in the 80’s,” and I ask you to consider the text which is written in Revelation 21:1 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” On the basis of this text let us examine (a) the world in which we live; (b) the church in which we serve; (c) the Gospel as the central issue for both world and church; (d) some practical imperatives for us as we face a new decade. 1. Many people feel that we live in a runaway world. The symptoms give validity to this conclusion. OPEC oil price have jumped nearly tenfold since 1973. Whereas in the 1950’s and early 1960’s the inflation rate reached \% a year, it now jumps \% a month. Unemployment is predicted to reach great proportions. Add to this the horror of atomic warfare; 11 third world nations will achieve technological know how to produce nuclear weapons by 1985. No wonder that ours is an age of anxiety, an “experience of nothingness” with feelings of powerlessness and (Continued from page 3) As science sees it, the whole universe is essentially a huge storehouse of power — just waiting to be released. The main task of science is to set that power free. Science does not create power, it just finds out the conditions to release it, fulfills them and liberates the fathomless energy forces of the universe. This is what prayer means in the spiritual realm. In the Scriptures, the promsies of the energy and power of the Holy Spirit are contingent on prayer. As electrical energy is harnessed to bombard the atom in order to release its power, so prayer is the spiritual energy which releases the power of the Holy Spirit into our lives. In other words, prayer is the inward way of fulfilling conditions so that God’s Holy Spirit of power can enter our mortal body. “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.” (Luke 11:13) How to Use the Power of the Holy Spirit? The supernatural power of God’s Spirit is released into our lives because we have supernatural work to do. “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses . .(Acts 1:8) If we want to get out of our personal spiritual energy-crisis and bankruptcy and take God’s power, we have to take God’s program as well: we have to bear witness about the crucified, risen and glorified Lord. God’s Spirit of power is free for the asking, but receiving Him is a package deal, we must not spend God’s most precious Gift on our selfish purposes (James 4:3). (Continued on page 6)
