Some modern Christian churches have developed the custom
to design their own study system around the Scriptures, that do not follow the
traditional denominational pattern of their organizations, or sometimes just because
they are independent; they follow their own topical themes, or do a chronological
reading of the Bible, but as an overall, the reading of the words of Jesus in
the four gospels are overlooked or rarely read on Sundays.
This custom is so extended, that it seems not to have risen
any further comments in the congregations, and happily, they all have settled
for this practice.
Even though all Scripture is God inspired and ‘useful for
instruction, conviction, correction and training in righteousness’, not all
Scripture enjoys the same degree of importance in the process of salvation.
Certainly, it is not the same to read the book of
Genesis, to read the one of the minor prophets, or the book of Psalms. They all
have different degrees of theology involved, and the lessons we learn from each
book, will be totally different in importance from one another. Genesis will
provide a rich degree of knowledge of God’s character, while the prophets will
provide a greater degree of messianic knowledge and a lesser level of the
Father’s personality; and so on.
In the same way, the New Testament will have a much
higher degree of current salvific knowledge than any book of the Old Testament,
since it deals straight with the Christian dispensation. And from the 27 books
that conform the NT, the four Gospels will have the golden words of Jesus of
Nazareth, the incarnation of God Himself, and therefore, they will have the
greatest value of them all.
If we consider that human life was organized by God in
blocks of seven days (Genesis 2:1-3); it is only logical that we should
organize our full worship on a weekly basis; not fortnightly, or monthly, or
semestral or yearly. That is why is so important to celebrate the Lord’s Supper
as a minimum, every seven days, and not monthly or otherwise as many do. That
goes against the Gospels principles and sickens the spiritual state of the
Church, depriving them from the benefits of the God given Sacrament.
For the same reason, we need to meditate on the words of Jesus,
our Saviour, every week at least, besides any other topical study or system of Bible
reading we may have standing. Even though we may be developing a methodical
study of a theme, no theme can be more important than the words of Jesus
Himself. No book of the Old Testament, neither of the New Testament, can replaced
or be superior than the four Gospels of our Lord.
One of the marvellous signs of Jesus’s all sufficient power
to save, it is that even if the whole Bible was lost, if we only had the four
Gospels of Jesus, we would have more than enough to attain salvation first hand
(John 20:30-31).
It is primarily important to provide first access to the
reading of the Gospels, the teachings of Jesus, and to preach about them. It is
Jesus and his own teachings that give sense to the rest of the Bible, and
without Jesus, the whole book loses purpose. And since our public worship is
offered to God as a minimum on a weekly basis, it is important that these
readings should be done every week on Sundays, over any other interests or
scheme of study we may have besides it.
There is absolutely nothing that we can learn from the
Bible, at the expense of the words of the Saviour. After all, systematic
studies of the Scripture is proper of Bible Study days, not Sunday worship; and
to which Church authorities need to organize better sometimes.
Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Sunday, and the Lord of
the Temple we worship in, and our Pastors are his Ministers, and the living
they collect, it is the Lord’s money; then, it is only fair, that the King of
the Realm should be given the centre place of the worship, and his personal teachings
taught to everyone, and from the house tops (Matthew 10:27).
Omar Flores.
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