Keep in mind that as an individual, a Presbyterian and a Protestant, my views of things may not line up exactly with other points of views. Any glaring errors in theology are mine, and if I misrepresent the views of any group, I apologize in advance and request corrections to be submitted to me.

This essay is an attempt to articulate my approach to Christian life; keeping the commandments given by Jesus to his followers and trying to heed the warnings Paul and the other disciples gave the early Christians they nurtured and supported. This is a well worn path, tread by wiser men than me, but every Christian is called to consider these questions for himself or herself. Please accept these words in that spirit.

34When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" 37He said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38This is the greatest and first commandment. 39And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
Matthew 22:34-40

Like many truly profound concepts, these commands seem both impossibly simple and impossibly hard. Being human and inclined to sin, we struggle to keep the love of God foremost in our lives and find it very hard to love all of our neighbors in the same way we love ourselves. On top of these foundational laws, Jesus asks even more of his followers through the Great Commission he gave to His apostles.

18And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
Matthew 28:18-20

Today's Christians are the beneficiaries of the salvation from our sins bought by Jesus on the cross and spread by His disciples. We study His words using the most authoritative source available, the Bible, and try to determine how we are to live, applying biblical principles to our sometimes confusing, modern lives.

Of all the things that Christians may possess that create distinctions from each other, there are five things that all Christians all called to do. They are the Sacrament of Baptism, the Sacrament of Communion, and our shared calling to prayer, worship and service to each other. These are how Christians identify each other, refresh each other, support each other and are joined together in the church universal.

We Are Called To Baptize

All Christians share the stories of Jesus' life and His message of salvation as told by His disciples. Even before the Bible was canonized into the book we read today, the message of salvation through Jesus Christ was told by His disciples to the members of the early churches. These stories were eventually written down or recorded in letters to those early churches and now make up much of what we read in the New Testament Gospels.

The story of Jesus' baptism marked both the fulfillment of prophecy concerning the messiah and the start of His ministry on earth. Jesus' cousin John the Baptist was the "voice crying out in the wilderness" that come to prepare the way of the Messiah. Even though John was a sinful man, his baptism of Jesus marked the true beginning of His ministry on earth. Here is how it is recorded in the book of Matthew.

1 In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, 2 "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." 3 This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.'" 4 Now John wore clothing of camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, 6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 7 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit worthy of repentance. 9 Do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 10 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 "I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." 13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" 15 But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
Matthew 3:1-17

When someone was moved by the testimony of a disciple and filled with the Holy Spirit to become a follower of Jesus, they were Baptized as Jesus instructed in the Great Commission, and just as He was. This is the first Sacrament that all Christians participate in, whether by symbolic sprinkling or by full immersion. It symbolizes the rebirth into a new life and salvation from sin through their faith in Jesus Christ.

The point of Baptism is to mark the passing from an unsaved, sinful state into the sanctified service of Jesus Christ. This is the single act that defines and identifies a Christian as a member of the universal Church.

We Are Called To Communion

Another story that early Christians integrated into their lives was the remembrance of the new covenant for our salvation. During the passover feast, Jesus gave the following instructions.

19Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." 20And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
Luke 22:19-20

Early descriptions of Christian traditions tell us that church members spent time together every day in prayer and in worship, and broke bread together at meals. This was in keeping with the request Jesus made to remember His new covenant with the breaking of bread and drinking of wine.

44All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, 47praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
Acts 2:44-47

When the early churches grew too large for the members to easily meet together for regular meals, the covenant meal became more symbolic and stylized. By the second century it had evolved into what modern Christians would recognize as the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper.

This Sacramental meal reminds us of the new covenant in Jesus, but also provides participants a powerful connection to the whole Christian community. It provides an opportunity for spiritual refreshment and can be a source of comfort and strengthened faith.

We Are Called To Pray

Jesus' disciples had some of the same confusions about what was expected of them as Christians do today. Jesus clearly expected His followers to pray and often exhorted them to prayer in the Gospels. There are two places where Jesus addresses the form to use in prayer which has become referred to as the Lord's Prayer.

6But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 7"When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9"Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11Give us this day our daily bread. 12And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.
Matthew 6:6-13
1He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." 2He said to them, "When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. 3Give us each day our daily bread. 4And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial."
Luke 11:1-4

These prayers represent a form that Jesus recommended we use to approach God in prayer. Their form can be seen in many formal prayers, creeds and litanies, as well as the order of worship in many churches.

In specifying how to pray, Jesus implied that there were ways of praying to avoid. Loud, demonstrative prayer was clearly wrong, as was using grand sounding, but essentially empty words and phrases. Care should be taken when praying to construct a sincere, reverent, and humble supplication to the Lord.

One fact to note is that the point of prayer is not to inform God of our needs, because He already knows them better than we do. Prayer is something that we need to do, and God knows our nature well enough to call us to do it. Jesus told a parable about praying persistently that illustrates this point.

1Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. 2He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. 3In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, 'Grant me justice against my opponent.' 4For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, 'Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, 5yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'" 6And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? 8I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"
Luke 18:1-8

This parable does not to instruct us that if we nag God He will give us our desires like some kind of a celestial vending machine. The point is that we sometimes need to demonstrate to God our faith and commitment to what we need before He will act on our behalf. It is in this spirit we are called to pray to God. It is not God that needs the prayer, but we who need to practice our faith in a way that benefits our own spiritual growth and draws us closer to Him.

We Are Called To Worship

We can find guidance for our personal worship of God through the words of Jesus to the woman at the well.

19The woman said to him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem." 21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. 24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."
John 4:19-24

John Wesley, one of the founders of the Methodist church, annotated this biblical passage saying:

"God is a Spirit - Not only remote from the body, and all the properties of it, but likewise full of all spiritual perfections, power, wisdom, love, holiness. And our worship should be suitable to his nature. We should worship him with the truly spiritual worship of faith, love, and holiness, animating all our tempers, thoughts, words, and actions."

The early Christian gentiles did not have the worship tradition that the Jewish Christians did. They did eventually set aside a portion of their time for the corporate worship of God, incorporating the Sacraments of Baptism and Communion into the worship meeting. Over time it became tradition to meet on the first day of the week in remembrance of Christ's resurrection.

Unlike prayer, no one recorded what Jesus thought about corporate worship. There are some passages, like the story above, that provide some guidance on personal worship, but very little guidance either from Jesus or the disciples on how to conduct corporate worship.

To achieve the high standard of worship described by Jesus, some groups like the Quakers have "quiet services" which is a room full of Christians sitting in silent supplication to God. There is a funny story about a quiet service that some unsuspecting Christian enters and sits down next to a Quaker. After some minutes of silence, the newcomer whispers to the Quaker, "When does the service start?" The Quaker responds, "After the meeting ends."

There are scriptures which point out some kinds of worship that are clearly not worthy in God's view. For example, Paul chastises the church in Athens for idolatry.

29Since we are God's offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. 30While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."
Acts 17:29-31

It also appears that worship can be sincere on the part of the worshiper, and still be unacceptable to God. Paul criticizes the church in Corinth for allowing itself to be mislead by false teachings.

1I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! 2I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 3But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by its cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you submit to it readily enough.
II Corinthians 11:1-4

It seems these kinds of subtle deceptions were common enough that the the Apostles warned Christians at least 11 times to be spiritually alert, watchful and vigilant.

Modern Christian worship meetings cover a broad spectrum of styles and some are composed of rituals and symbols that have developed over the history of the Church. Worship can include formal prayers, statements of faith and liturgies, music and hymns, and has been influenced by church architecture, stained glass and special worship imagery and icons. These trappings were inspired to help create a sense of holy reverence and demonstrate that the church was a place set apart from ordinary things.

The worship meetings have also become the most common time and place for modern members of the Church to perform the Sacrament of Baptism and the symbolic remembrance meal that is our Sacrament of Communion. This has increased the importance of the worship meeting in the minds of the worshipers.

The diverse style and composition of worship meetings has led to problems in the church's history. The protestant reformation was in part a response to the lavish and ornate formality of worship in the Roman Catholic church. In today's church, the conflict between "traditional" and "contemporary" worship meeting styles threatens to split congregations and even whole denominations.

We are called to worship together, in spirit and in truth. Regardless of the style, worship is about God, not us sinners. If worship only provides emotional fulfillment for the worshipers and, more importantly, does not increase their commitment to service in Christ, it is a pablum instead of a nourishing meal and an empty, clanging cymbal to God's ears. We simply cannot trust worship that is rooted in our fulfillment because we are sinners and our judgment is flawed. We must keep at least one sober eye on God to avoid the sinners path, no matter how rapt in praise we become during worship.

We Are Called To Service

Jesus was very clear that as Christians are to serve as he served. Our lives should be lived in response to His sacrifice for our salvation, as well as an example of our commitment to Him.

25 But Jesus called them to him and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. 26 It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; 28 just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many."
Matthew 20:25-28

He went on to explain that despite his exalted status as the Son of Man, he serves and so should we.

26 But not so with you; rather the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves. 27 For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.
Luke 22:26-27

In perhaps the most famous example of the principal of service to our neighbor, Jesus answers a lawyer attempting to test Him with the parable of the Good Samaritan.

25 Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he said, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 26 He said to him, "What is written in the law? What do you read there?" 27 He answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." 28 And he said to him, "You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live." 29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" 30 Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, 'Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.' 36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" 37 He said, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."
Luke 10:25-37

This parable is especially poignant when the context is explained. This parable follows an encounter with a Samaritan village that rejected Jesus and He rebuked them. (Luke 9:51-56) The disciples were witness to this rejection and rebuke, and then a short time later heard Jesus tell this parable where the example of a good neighbor is a Samaritan. The lawyer would have also been surprised with the parable, since the Samaritans followed what was considered a heretical form of Judaism and had little respect among his peers.

Over and over Jesus and the disciples repeat this command, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." They describe this love in terms of service. On the night He was betrayed, Jesus performed a ritual for His disciples to demonstrate and prepare them for their service after His death.

3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, 4 got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" 7 Jesus answered, "You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand." 8 Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me." 9 Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" 10 Jesus said to him, "One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you." 11 For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, "Not all of you are clean." 12 After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord--and you are right, for that is what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. 16 Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.
John 13:3-17

His life of service, and the sacrifice He made to secure our freedom from sin and death, is the model of service we are called to follow. We should be alert to the needs around us and to be responsive to those we can help.