BB Xtra: The Didache Part 2

Discover the fascinating world of the Didache, an ancient church manual dating back to Christianity's earliest days. This remarkable document served as a practical guidebook for new believers at a time when apostolic letters were still being circulated and the faith was rapidly spreading across the Roman world.

The Didache (pronounced did-ah-kay), meaning simply "the teaching," offers us a unique glimpse into how the first generations of Christians understood and applied Jesus' teachings. Though not scripture, this document synthesizes apostolic wisdom on everything from baptism and fasting to prayer and ethical living. Think of it as an early church playbook, answering the pressing "how-to" questions of communities learning to live out their newfound faith.

Dive into chapters 4-6 with us as we explore the Didache's refreshingly straightforward approach to following Jesus. Chapter 4 emphasizes honoring God's word, making peace, practicing generosity, and teaching children. Chapter 5 presents "the way of death" – a comprehensive catalog of sins early Christians were told to avoid. Perhaps most encouraging is Chapter 6's gracious acknowledgment that spiritual growth is a process: "If thou canst bear the whole yoke of the Lord, thou shalt be perfect; but if thou canst not, do what thou canst."

This ancient wisdom reminds us that Christianity has always been a practical way of life, not just a set of theological beliefs. Sometimes the greatest act of faith is simply faithfulness – remaining on the potter's wheel as God shapes us into who we're meant to become. As one church father might say, "It's okay not to be okay, but God loves you too much to let you stay that way."

Join our Bible Breakdown Extras as we uncover this treasure from our spiritual heritage and discover how its timeless insights can transform our walk with God today. Subscribe and share your thoughts on how these ancient teachings speak to your modern faith journey!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, hello everybody , welcome back to one of our
Bible Breakdown Extras.
I love these so very muchbecause what we do is we take
some time out once a month andwe just get creative.
We just work on it, not in it.
And we take some of these timesand we talk about spiritual
disciplines and we walk throughbooks together that teach us
about apologetics and stuff likethat.

(00:21):
And last time we talked aboutone of these books that not many
people know about and it's ashame because it's so very
interesting and it's called theDidache, which means the
teaching, and we're going tojump into the next three
chapters about this and it'sreally it's really cool, really,
really fun, really awesome, andI hope you enjoyed the first

(00:42):
one, and we're going to jumpinto the second half, our second
part of it today, and so, ifyou're ready, we're going to
jump in, and I want to kind ofremind us what we're talking
about and then we'll jump infrom there.
And so, remember, it's calledthe Didache and it's the
teaching of the Lord to thedisciples through or, excuse me,
it's the teaching of the Lordto the Gentiles through the 12

(01:03):
disciples, and so the backgroundof this is is this was written
around the same time.
The Bible was being inspired bythe Holy Spirit and the letters
of Paul being written.
You know there are right afterthe fact and all these things
are happening, but we don't knowwho wrote it.
The goal was not to havesomebody to write this and and
for everyone, just to celebratethem.
That's not why it was writtenfor.

(01:24):
The goal was to be a churchmanual for the early church,
because at this point, you know,christianity is brand new and
the letters are still beingwritten or and they're still
being passed around.
I mean, as a matter of fact, itis in the late first century,
that's the that's you know,right about the time when, when
john was probably possibly stillalive to the early 100s or the

(01:45):
second century.
And so what was happening is,as these letters are passing
around, there were some of thesechurches all over the place and
they needed kind of a manual onhow to do the different things,
and so this was put togetherlike a playbook for how to be
part of a church community.
So some interesting facts is itmay have been written during

(02:05):
the time the New Testament wasbeing written and it is one of
the oldest Christian documentsoutside of the New Testament.
Now it's important to realize Iwant to make sure I do this
again, I'll make this big oldcircle here it's important to
realize this is not consideredto be inspired by God.
So no one is going aroundsaying that we should put the
Didache into the New Testament.
It's not like that at all.

(02:30):
That's not what this was for.
It was a synthesis or like abottom line of the practical
teachings of the New Testamentthat was being passed around
through the apostles.
So, as the apostles wereteaching, people were saying,
okay, this is what they said andwe're putting it together.
So, in other words, it's aboutChristian ethics, about baptism
and fasting, about how to doprayer in the Lord's Supper, how
to treat others and how to livetheir life in the light of
Jesus' return.
So then, why should we read this, like Pastor, if this is not in

(02:50):
the New Testament, why do weeven care?
Well, first of all, we want tolook at and see okay, how did
the early church live?
Like what was it that they weredoing?
Number two is I love thesimplicity of following Jesus,
how they just keep it reallysimple and they just this is how
we do this and we just don'tget up in the weeds about it.

(03:10):
It's not scripture, but it'sfull of biblical truth and
wisdom and it connects us to theroots of the church.
And so in the first threechapters we saw this amazing
synthesis if I can say that wordof the different things that
the early church believed, aboutthings like baptism and

(03:30):
abortion and stuff like that.
Well, in the next one we'regoing to go even further, and
these chapters are really reallyshort, so we're going to read
these and just enjoy.
The idea of this is how theearly church thought about some
of the practical and pressingthings going on in their world.
So, if you're ready, chapter 4says this my son, night and day

(03:51):
shalt thou remember him thatspeaketh unto thee the word of
God, and thou shalt honor him asGod.
For where the power of the Lordis proclaimed, there is the
Lord, and thou shalt seek out,day by day, the faces of the

(04:16):
saints, that thou mayest restupon their words Verse 4.
For transgressions, in otherwords, what they just said was
is seek to honor God.
Try to make peace among people.
Verse four thou shalt not waverin spirit, whether thou shalt be
yes or no, but not onestretches forth his hands to

(04:37):
receive, but whereso holdeth noone uses that word anymore them
forgiving if thou hast it in thyhand.
Thou shalt give a ransom forthy sins, for thou shalt not
hesitate to give.
Neither when thou givest, shaltthou murmur, for thou shalt
know who is the fair recompenserof the reward.

(04:58):
Thou shalt not turn away fromhim that is in need, but thou
shalt share all things with thybrother, and thou shalt call
anything.
Thou shalt not call anythingthy own, for if ye are sharers
in which is incorruptible, howmuch more the things that are
corruptible?
Thou shalt not take away thyhand from thy son or from thy

(05:22):
daughter, but from their youthup until y'all shall teach them
to fear the Lord.
In other words, what he justsaid there was is they said be
generous to all, don't be stingyand teach your children the
ways of the Lord.
Verse 10,.
Thou shalt not, in thybitterness, lay commands upon
thy bondsmen and thy maidservant, of whom is the same God, lest

(05:43):
at any time they may cease tofear him.
Who is God over both, for hecometh not to call men according
to his outward appearance, butto those whose spirit he hath
made ready for him.
And ye servants be subject untoyour masters.
He says this is the way of life.
So, in other words, long beforethe Mandalorian, the early

(06:32):
Christians said this is the way.
Now I know that this is in likethe Elizabethan English, but
there's not a lot of moderntranslations, so we got to do
the best we can.
So what he's also saying, orwhat they are also saying, is
hey, early church, hate allhypocrisy.
Like be true to who you'resupposed to be and don't forsake
the commandments of god.
And hey, listen, if you sin,confess it in the congregation.

(06:55):
We don't do that anymore, butmaybe we should.
Because number one is when youconfess your sins, other people
realize okay, I'm not the onlyone.
But then also, for what it'sworth, there's something to be
said about man.
I don't want to sin because Iain't gonna tell everybody I'll
be sinning, right.
So there, there's something tothat.
All right, all right, chapterfive.
But the way of death is this.
First, all of it is evil andfull of cursing murders,

(07:19):
adulteries, covet, desires,fornications, theft, idolatries,
witchcraft, sorceries,plunderings, false witnessing,
hypocrisies, duplicity, guile,arrogance, malice, stubbornness,
greed, foulness of speech, envy, insolence, pride and boasting.
Persecutors of the good, hatingtruth, loving falsehood, not

(07:43):
acknowledging the reward ofrighteousness, not cleaving to
that which is good, neither tothe righteous judgment.
Watchful not toward good buttoward evil, from whom meekness
and patience are far removed.
Loving vain things, seekingafter recompense, not pitying
the poor, not sorrowing with thesorrow laden, not acknowledging

(08:04):
their maker, murderers ofchildren, destroyers of the
image of God, turning away fromthe needy, grieving the
afflicted, advocates of the rich.
So what they just did was theysaid you want to know what a
list of sins are?

(08:24):
Because the way of death, letme give them to you, and he just
lays it out.
So if you want to know what theearly church considered from
the teaching of the apostles,what sins were, you just got
them.
And we can get all of thesefrom the New Testament, from
different places, but here theyare and basically what it is is
you really get down to love Godwith all your heart, love your
neighbor as yourself, and youlook at those.

(08:46):
There they are, but theyactually give you a list of what
they are, and there are some ofthese that even talk about the
idea of turning away from thosewho are in need, grieving those
who are in pain.
You know, when it saysadvocating for the rich, that
means playing favorites.
These, all these things destroypeople, so don't do that.
All right, one more chapter.
Chapter 6, very, very shortchapter, says see that no man

(09:07):
lead the astray from this way ofthe teaching since he teacheth
thee, apart from God.
If thou canst bear any yoke ofthe Lord, thou shalt be perfect
or mature, but if thou canst notdo that which thou can Now
concerning food, bear what thoucan, but refrain utterly from

(09:30):
meat offered to idols, for it isa service of dead gods.
So in other words, that goesall the way back to Romans 12,
that there was this problem ofwhat do we do with meat offered
to idols.
And Paul was like hey, look,you and I both know those are
dead gods.
So offer a word of thanks andyou're good to go.
But if it bothers your neighbor, don't do that, because we

(09:52):
don't want to be a stumblingblock for your neighbor.
Well, I love the simplicity ofthat last chapter.
I'm going to go back to it realquick.
If you're watching the video,it says this see that no man
leads you astray from the way ofthe teaching, in other words
the teaching of the apostles.
That's what they had.
The letters and the gospelswould have been passed around at
this point.
See that no one leads you astrayfrom the word of God, since

(10:16):
they teach something that isapart from God.
For if you can bear all of theyoke of God like you can do what
God has called you to do.
You can bear it.
Then do it.
That's what maturity looks like.
If you can't do as much as youcan, that's awesome.
In other words, he's sayingyou'll get there If you keep
going, just don't give up.
And what a wonderful lesson forus that the people in the early

(10:39):
church this was what they weresaying to one another hey man,
listen, there's a lot of thingsin that Bible that is very
different than the way I wasraised, very different than the
10 unwritten rules of myfamily's past.
It's very different from what Iwant to do, and I'm working on

(11:00):
it, but I'm not there yet.
So does that mean we hide in acorner until we get it right?
No, the didache says do thebest you can with what you have
and just keep getting better.
What would happen in our livesif we live that way?
What would it look like in ourlives if we gave other people
the grace to do that?
Hey, do the best you can withwhat you have.
Trust God, god with the rest, Ithink there'd be a peace that
come over people.
I don't think I heard someonesay one time that they they

(11:22):
struggled to tell people thatbecause they were afraid if they
did, people wouldn't try tolive holy.
I think it's quite the opposite.
I think if we take the pressureoff of people and say hey, man,
god loves you just the way youare, he just loves you too much
to let you stay that way.
And so God's got a growth planfor you, and everyone's at a
different stage of growth intheir life.
So your job is to stay on thepotter's wheel and let him get

(11:42):
rid of those rough edges.
Do the best you can, andsometimes the greatest act of
faith is faithfulness.
I'm just gonna stay here.
I'm gonna stay and I'm gonnagrow where I'm planted and watch
what God will do.
What a powerful lesson for allof us.
And so, as we end these nextchapters, I think that that's
the number one takeaway.
In the first chapter, chapterfour, he was talking about how

(12:04):
make peace as best as you canand be careful to honor others
and choose the way of life.
Chapter six was all about, or,excuse me.
Chapter five was all about hey,listen, there's a list of sins,
do none of life.
Chapter 6 was all about, or,excuse me.
Chapter 5 was all about hey,listen, there's a list of sins,
do none of them.
But then it follows up with thenext one of do the best you can
Get the ones right that you canand keep working on the rest of

(12:26):
them and you'll get there.
Man, what a wonderful thing forus.
So can I encourage you Kind of?
Set you free a little bit.
It's okay to not be okay, butGod does not want you to stay
that way.
He's going to keep working inyour life and slowly mature you
and slowly untie all the knotswe find ourselves tied into
until we're completely whole,completely forgiven and

(12:47):
completely free.
That's God's promise for all ofus.
All right, okay, I love you,I'll see you tomorrow.
We jump back into God's word.