By O.S. Hawkins
Matthew 16:13-16
It seems that every epoch of Christian church history has a question from the lips of our Lord for which it could be particularly intended. For example, of the scores of questions asked in the gospels by our Lord, the first generational church was faced with the question of John 13:38 — "Will you lay down your life for my sake?" How many of our spiritual forefathers went to their martyr's deaths after facing that question from Christ? The apostolic fathers dealt personally with this . . . James, Peter, Paul . . . these were followed by the likes of Ignatius of Antioch and Polycarp of Smyrna. Then came the Nicene fathers and another question emerged. For them it was the question of Matthew 22:42 — "What do you think of the Christ, whose son is He?" It was this question that brought them to Nicea in 325 A.D. Arius of Alexandria was preaching that the Son was not eternal with the Father but was created by the Father. Out of this Council of Nicea came the Nicene Creed which settled and affirmed for the church that the Son was of the same nature as the Father. In those days with this question on his heart Athanasius stood tall as a defender of the Faith.
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As the church entered its dark period held in the clutches of the Roman popes, the Reformers broke through into the dawn of a new day when they were confronted with the question of John 11:40 — "Did I not say if you believe you would see the glory of God?" And so, armed with the truth of Romans, Martin Luther nailed his thesis to the door of the church at Wittenburg and the glory of God filled Europe working through the likes of Calvin, Zwingli, Hubmaier, Manz, Knox, and all the others. As the years of church history continued to unfold and the great missionary movement advanced, they did so with the question of Luke 18:8 on their hearts and minds — "When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" And so, William Carey and Hudson Taylor and David Livingstone and so many others left the confines and comforts of their homes for places like India and China and Africa with the question of their time — "When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" — burning in their hearts. Then came the 20th century and prosperity filled the western church. The church gained influence and buildings and very subtly the emphasis of Godly power changed to worldly influence. And consequently, there came the question of John 21:5 — "Do you love me more than these?" Next liberalism with its twin children of pluralism and inclusivism infiltrated the church and from the lips of our Lord came the question of John 6:67 — "Will you also go away?" And unfortunately, many denominations and churches that once had evangelism and missions at their forefront and held to a high view of Scripture went away from the doctrinal truth their forefathers had held for generations.