01-08-22 ALL IN - tied to an anchor!

Hebrews 11:32-12:3

ALL IN people were not only in the Bible but existed in Church History as well.

The Apostolic Fathers (AD 35 – 150)

The apostolic church fathers were Christian leaders who were contemporaries of the apostles and were taught by them.

1. Clement of Rome (AD 35 – 99)

Clement of Rome (not to be confused with Clement of Alexandria) was a bishop of the church in Rome after the death of Peter and Paul. Many scholars even believe he was the Clement Paul mentioned in Philippians 4:3.

Clement is mainly known for a letter he wrote to the church of Corinth around AD 96. He wrote this epistle to address divisions among the Corinthians regarding leadership and called them to humility, repentance, and peace. He said in 1 Clement 49, “love admits no schisms: love gives rise to no seditions: love does all things in harmony.”¹  His epistle might be the earliest document written after the New Testament, and it was widely read throughout the ancient Roman Empire for several years.

In AD 101, Emperor Trajan banished Clement from Rome to work in a stone quarry where he was martyred by being thrown into the Black Sea tied to an anchor.

Clement lived by following the example of those who came before him and died for Christ.

2. Ignatius of Antioch (AD 35- 110)

Although Ignatius was one of the most significant figures in the early Church, little is known of his life. We know that he was from the city of Ephesus, a disciple of John, the apostle, and was a bishop in Antioch.

AD 110, Emperor Trajan sentenced Ignatius to die in Rome. And on his way there, the soldiers allowed Ignatius to visit several churches and even write them letters. In his letters, he warned believers against the false teachings of Gnosticism and Docetism— the belief that Jesus didn’t come in the flesh.

Like his teacher John, Ignatius fought for the truth. He said in one of his letters to “stop your ears when you hear these false teachers”.

It was crucial to Ignatius that Jesus came in the flesh because, as a human, Jesus identified with our sufferings. He died holding fast to that truth and to His savior.

3. Athanasius of Alexandria (AD 298-373)

Athanasius was the twentieth bishop of Alexandria, Egypt. He is well known for contending for the faith and fighting heresy in the fourth century.

During his time, a man named Arius started teaching that Jesus was a created being and was not the eternal God. When Athanasius caught wind of this false teaching, called Arianism, he condemned the theology and affirmed the deity of Jesus and his eternal relationship with the Father.

Despite Athanasius’s valiant efforts, Arianism continued to spread in the church and caused division. Consequently, Emperor Constantine sought to end the debate and convened a council of bishops in Nicaea to decide on the matter. Athanasius attended that council and was one of the lead speakers. He became the principal author of the Nicene Creed, which declared the Son to be “begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father.”

Arianism still continued as more bishops accepted it. Not Athanasius! He vigorously affirmed the deity of Christ fought against the Arians. His stance on the truth cost him five exiles from his city and church. It led to an expression Athanasius contra Mundum, or “Athanasius against the world.” He died 8 years before the Council of Constantinople confirmed the Nicene Creed.

Athanasius is also known for being the very first person to list all 27 books of the New Testament that we have today.

4.       Perpetua (AD 181–203)

Perpetua, one of the first female African martyrs of the early Church, was born in Carthage, North Africa (Tunisia). She lived during a time when Rome had been persecuting Christians all over the Empire, and accepting Jesus was punishable by death. Nonetheless, Perpetua (who at the time had a young child) was baptized. She was eventually arrested for her faith, refusing to be called anything other than a Christian.

On the day of her trial, her father showed up with her infant son, pleading with her to recant her faith in Jesus for the sake of the child. She refused and was thrown in the arena to the wild animals. When the crowd grew impatient for her death, Perpetua and the other prisoners with her were lined up and killed by the sword.

Agents of the Protestant Reformation (AD 1300 – 1600)

The Roman Catholic Church was teaching new doctrines like the transubstantiation of Christ, purgatory, justification by works, and indulgences. They believed their authority was on par with the Holy Scriptures because of the apostolic succession—

However, many people protested the authority of the Roman Catholic Church and its teachings which eventually led to the reformation in 1517.

5. John Wycliffe (1330 – 1384)

John Wycliffe was an English theologian, Oxford professor, and scholar. Although he lived and died a hundred years before the official start of the protestant reformation, he played a significant role, and he is one of its forerunners.

Wycliffe was a student of the Word and believed many teachings of the Roman Catholic Church did not align with Scriptures. He was especially against the Church’s monopoly of Scriptures and thought all Christians should have a copy of the sacred text in their mother tongue. (At the time, The Roman Catholic Church only authorized texts in Latin, and very few people could read it.)

Although the Roman Catholic Church vehemently opposed it, Wycliffe decided to translate the Bible in English. With the help of his followers called the Lollards, he began translating the Latin Vulgate into English. However, Wycliffe died before it was complete. The Council of Constance posthumously charged him with heresy. They dug out his bones from the holy ground, burned them, and scattered the ashes in a river.

One of Wycliffe’s followers named John Hus continued promoting Wycliffe’s idea of making the Bible accessible to everyone. He even encouraged people to rebel against the tyranny of the Roman Catholic Church. Consequently, the Church burned Hus at the stake, and they used Wycliffe’s manuscript Bibles to kindle the fire.

According to tradition, Hus last words were “in 100 years; God will raise up a man whose calls for reform cannot be suppressed.” ¹

Almost a hundred years later, Martin Luther began the Protestant reformation.

6. Corrie ten Boom (1892–1983)

Born in Holland to a Christian family, Corrie ten Boom lived a quiet life until World War II broke out, and the ten Boom family became involved in resistance efforts. Her family’s home in Haarlem, the Netherlands, became a hiding place for six Jews—Corrie using her job as a watchmaker in her father’s shop as a cover.

Nazi’s raided the house on February 28, 1944, and Corrie, her father, and her sister, Betsie, were arrested and taken to concentration camps. Despite her deplorable living situation, Corrie held Bible studies in Barracks 28, which “became known throughout the camp as ‘the crazy place, where they hope.’”

Corrie survived the Holocaust, and her story and Christian witness resulted in a prolific writing and speaking ministry. Her book The Hiding Place told of her family’s wartime activities and became a bestseller. Before death in 1983, she had carried the gospel to more than sixty countries.

7. Conrad Grebel  (1498-1526)

          Born 1498. He came to Zurich, Switzerland with his family around 1513. Worked as a proofreader in Basel, married in 2-6-1522 (460 before Kim & I), Conrad became a Christian minister around 1523.

Previously, in Paris Grebel engaged in a loose lifestyle, and was involved in several fights with other students. When Grebel's father received word of his son's demeanor, he cut off Conrad's funds and demanded that he return to Zurich. Conrad Grebel spent about six years in three universities, but without finishing his education or receiving a degree.

In 1521 Grebel joined a group gathered to study with Huldrych Zwingli. With him they studied the Greek classics, the Latin Bible, the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament. They became a group of young radicals and in 1525 the group met together for counsel on January 21^st in the home of Felix Manz. This meeting was illegal according to the new decision of the council. George Blaurock asked Grebel to baptize him upon a confession of faith. Afterward, Blaurock baptized the others who were present. As a group they pledged to hold the faith of the New Testament and live as fellow disciples separated from the world. They left the little gathering full of zeal to encourage all men to follow their example.

Grebel and others took their new message to others and Grebel was arrested. He was scheduled to be executed but escaped and lived in hiding at his sisters and died from ill health at age 30. When he was scheduled to be executed, it was going to be by drowning = "Those who dunk shall be dunked." No where is that method recorded but it would be something like tying him to an anchor and throwing him into a body of water - exactly like Clement of Rome over a thousand years earlier.

8.   Jesus (0-33 AD-ish / also from Eternity to Eternity) (tell his story)

Jesus was killed the same as some of these others -- tied to an anchor and thrown into the sea to drown. NO? Metaphorically it is the same and certainly has the same result. What makes you die if you are drowned in the sea? You can't breathe. What makes you die if you are crucified on a cross with nails through your hands and feet so that the pain is unbearable to push yourself up? You can't breathe. In the water tied to an anchor or on a cross nailed through hands and feet - the result is the same - DEATH!

In Jesus death, he flips the script on the image of death. On how we view the cross and what the anchor now symbolizes for us. It has gone from a symbol of death to a symbol of hope. The anchor - Christ's death and resurrection is what gives us HOPE when the storms of life threaten to drown us. He becomes the anchor that holds us secure in the storm.

Hope is the anchor of the soul, the stimulus to action, and the incentive to achievement.

Hebrews 11:32 - 12:3

And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about those who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Hebrews 6:19-20

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf.

 

 

EXTRA MATERIAL:

Written by Conrad Grebel against infant baptism  (In answer to the charge that faith is required of all who are to be saved, we exclude children and on the basis of the above texts accept that they will be saved without faith and that they do not believe; and we conclude from the description of baptism and from Acts (according to which no child was baptized) and also from the above texts, which are the only ones which deal with the subject of children, and all other Scriptures which do not concern children, that infant baptism is a senseless, blasphemous abomination contrary to all Scripture and even contrary to the papacy, for we learn through Cyprian and Augustine that for many years after the time of the apostles, for six hundred years, believers and unbelievers were baptized together, etc. Since you know this ten times better than we, and have published your protestation against infant baptism, we hope that you will not act contrary to God's eternal Word, wisdom, and command, according to which only believers should be baptized and will not baptize children. If you or Carlstadt do not adequately write against infant baptism and all that pertains to it, how and why one is to baptize, etc., I (Conrad Grebel) will try my hand at it)