The Well CC (BGVA‪)‬ The Well Community Church (BGVA)

This is the brief message and baby dedication for the Sodergren, Robertson, and Stanley families held on May 26, 2024!

Heresies were everywhere during the time of the early church. There were all kinds of odd ideas about the mechanics of salvation. While we've worked through a lot of the "brain work" of theology today, there are still widely differing perspectives on the scriptures. This makes sense when you consider the infinite nature of God and the finite nature of our minds. The importance in recognizing heretical differences between different believers is in understanding how easy we, too, can fall into "bad theology". At the least, this can lead to us having twisted views of our relationship with God. At worst, it can lead to a dark judgmentalism where we start doubting the "theological purity" of those around us. The lesson for us, today, is to guard our hearts against blindly following the philosophies of men, but also to be slow to judge the theologies of others. We may find out that our own beliefs are just as divergent from the truth as other believers that we would call "heretic".

The early church was considered weird by many of their contemporaries. They were seen as being somewhat atheistic (ironically), cannibalistic, and even incestuous. These accusations were unfounded, but a brief glance at scripture will provide some explanation for their misjudgment. We tend to do the same to our fellow Christians today when we see customs and practices different from our own. Like the early Christians, some of these "weird" religious behaviors are rooted in scripture. They can become a problem when they overshadow the God they are designed to reflect, but by themselves they can be powerful ways of helping us express our faith.

What actually is "normal" in context of religion? Is any Christian practice "normal" in the broader context of Christianity's history? Even the most ancient denominations and Christian traditions have been tweaked and updated with the times. It can be easy for us to think that what we do is something "more appropriate" than others, but we all have our quirks. The real question is whether our religious practices are supporting the ultimate goal of a church experience: the building up of one another.

What happens when we remove faith from our sense of "calling"? Insecurities, doubts, and self-imposed limitations. This is exactly what you see in the calling of Moses who went through a gamut of self-doubt when he was being called to lead God's chosen people out of bondage in Egypt. In each instance, we can see God repeating over and over again that it is not through Moses' capabilities or limitations that greatness will be achieved, but through the providence and power of God.

The way we act as a community has a direct impact on our ability to spread the Gospel. That is the picture we see in Acts 4 when Luke sandwiches the idea of "community" around a verse talking about the apostles spreading the good news (verse 33). It's easy to see involvement with your church as little more than volunteering, similar to what you'd do for little league baseball or a community organizations, but in the church it's something more profound. By the testimony of our actions, we can demonstrate to a lost world the selflessness that Christ first showed us.