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Prove All Things

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When another God-ordered period of discipline for the Israelites was accomplished, God desired Gideon to deliver His people from their Midianite oppressors (Judges 6:1-12).  A stranger appeared to Gideon while he was threshing wheat by a winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites, who would likely confiscate his crop (Judges 6:4-6, 11; cf. Genesis 18:1-2; Hebrews 13:2).  When the stranger expressed that God was with Gideon, he replied with his doubts whether the Lord was still with Israel (Judges 6:12-13).  When told he would deliver Israel, Gideon also had doubts as to his own fitness as a leader (Judges 6:15).  Gideon then asked for a sign by which he would know that God would use him to deliver Israel; God granted this request  (Judges 6:17-24).

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God has always given signs to accompany a new message from Him (Heb. 2:3-4).  God does not expect us to listen to a stranger without proof (1 John 4:1).  Instead, He gives signs that provide evidence in order that we might believe (John 14:11; 20:30-31).

After rallying a group of 32,000 men to meet the vast army (135,000 men) of Midianites and their allies who were gathered in the valley of Jezreel, Gideon asked for more signs.  Placing a piece of wool fleece on the ground, he asked the Lord to make it wet with dew while the ground remained dry (Judges 6:36).  The next morning, God granted this sign as well (Judges 6:38).  Then Gideon pleaded that the Lord would not grow angry with him, and he asked for another sign: the reverse of the previous sign – that the fleece be dry and the ground wet (Judges 6:39).  God granted this request that night (Judges 6:40).  It seems that the men gathered with Gideon would have seen the wet fleece wrung out in the morning and then the dry fleece when the ground was wet with due after the next night.  These signs gave them faith to follow Gideon as their commander, for if God could make a difference between the fleece and the floor, He could make a difference between them and the Midianites.

There is nothing wrong with making an investigation and wanting proof in order to have a sure faith.  True followers of God are not without their doubts.  We may have questions regarding scientific research in our day, why we suffer, the accuracy of the Bible, or many other topics that challenge our faith.  We should be free to ask them and to help one another find answers and continue to be faithful when we do not have all the answers.  Certainly when proof is provided, we need to accept it; we do not want to be “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” 2 Timothy 3:7.  However, we should remember the charge of 1 Thessalonians 5:21, “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”  If we are lovers of the truth, we should not be afraid of thorough investigation.

May the Flatwoods church of Christ be a congregation where honest questions are welcomed and truth is pursued, obtained, and held.

-Mark Day

I Was Afraid

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Jesus told a parable in Matthew 25:14-30 about a man travelling into a far country and delivering money into the hands of his servants to put to use while he was away.  One servant was given five talents and with them he gained five talents more by the time his lord returned.  Another man was given two talents, and, accordingly, had gained two more when the master had returned.  But the one-talent man was afraid and hid his talent in the earth (Matthew 25:18).  When the Lord returned, the man made the excuse, “Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine” (Matthew 25:24-25).  But fear of taking a risk was not acceptable to the master.  In Matthew 25:26-30 he replied:

Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Some perceive the church as an entity which spreads fear.  No doubt there are fearful things awaiting the disobedient and we should fear what God can do to us (Matthew 10:28).  But fear can also have a crippling effect.  Some of those in the lake of fire will be the fearful (Revelation 21:8). Fear is a motivation (2 Corinthians 5:11). But fear cannot be my only motivating factor in the Christian life. Remember it is the love of Christ that compels us (2 Corinthians 5:14), and perfect love casts out fear so that we have boldness in the day of judgment (1 John 4:17-18).

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I can be so afraid of the world that I never try to engage the world to spread the message of Jesus Christ.  We should not love the world’s ideals, which are antagonistic to God (1 John 2:15).  However, God loves the world in the sense that He loves every individual enough to give His Son for them (John 3:16).  There are harmful pollutants of the soul out there in the world that I want to avoid (2 Peter 2:20).  However, let’s not get the idea that the church should be an over-protective institution that demonizes the people of the world to the point that the members of the Lord’s church are too afraid to interact with the people of the world.  Let’s not be afraid to turn the world upside down (Acts 17:6).  Let’s not be afraid to go out into all the world with the message of Jesus (Mark 16:15-16).  Let’s not be afraid to sit with sinners, not to engage in their sin, but as our Savior did, to provide them spiritual healing (Mark 2:16-17).  “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).

 

-Mark Day

Be Not Wise in Your Own Conceits

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In a practical exhortation based on the great theme of God offering salvation to all men through the gospel of Jesus Christ, Paul instructs, “Be not wise in your own conceits” (Rom. 12:16).  Christ’s church at Rome had some Jews and some Gentiles.  Because of their background, the Jews had a tendency to look down on the Gentiles, as Paul describes in Romans 2:17-20:

Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.

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In reaction to this attitude, the Gentiles in the church were tempted to boast that they were chosen to be part of God’s people while many Jews, who did not believe Jesus, were rejected.  To these, Paul wrote, “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in” (Rom. 11:25).  Also many Greeks, filled with their own wisdom, patronized those not acquainted with Greek culture, (called Barbarians), but Paul wrote, “I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise (Rom. 1:14).

In summary, there were many temptations for the brethren at Rome to be lifted up with pride against one another.  The letter to the Romans has as one of its main aims to halt this pride by showing that all glory belongs to God.  Everyone has sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (Rom. 3:23); therefore we have no grounds to boast in ourselves as faultless (Rom. 3:27).  It is on the basis of obedient faith in Christ that we may stand before God (Rom. 5:1-2). God’s love, not our own accomplishments, is the basis of our hope of salvation (Rom. 5:6-9; 8:31-32).  When we consider how God had this plan of redemption in His mind all along and worked it out through human history, all we can do is marvel at His wisdom and give all glory to Him (Rom. 11:33-36).

Christ’s church at Flatwoods needs the exhortation of Romans 12:16 as well.  I need to remember that I have no room nor need to boast in my own abilities.  God loves me though I have sinned.  He has given me forgiveness in Christ.  Pride is the greatest enemy to peace in the church.  Recognizing our dependence on God and being thankful for His forgiveness is the path to humility and peace among His people.

 

–Mark Day

The Path to Citizenship

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Philippians 3:20 says, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (NKJV).  Whatever our earthly situation, Christians can rejoice in the fact that we are citizens of heaven.  Before we were in Christ, we were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, but contact with His blood changed all that (Eph. 2:12-13).  Now God has gathered people of all nationalities into His Son and made a holy nation (1 Pet. 2:9), Christ’s church, the true Israel of God (Gal. 6:16).

How do people become citizens of heaven, so that their names are written there (Heb. 12:23)?  Well, by birth.  Citizenship has always had a connection with birth.  Birth was how the apostle Paul became a Roman citizen, “Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea. And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born” (Acts 22:27-28).

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While the path to becoming a citizen of an earthly nation can be by birth or through naturalization (which may involve applications, waiting lists, and various other prerequisites) the uniqueness of citizenship in heaven is that everyone today must be naturalized by birth.  Nicodemus was born an Israelite, and through hard work had become not only a Pharisee, but also a ruler of the Jews (John 3:1); thus, he probably thought he would certainly be a citizen of heaven because he was a descendant of Abraham (cf. Mt. 3:7-9).  However, when Nicodemus approached Jesus one evening, he heard the truth, which radically challenged his beliefs.  Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).  This new birth was not a second physical birth, as Nicodemus obtusely queried (John 3:4), but is a spiritual birth of water and Spirit (John 3:5).

When one is ready to submit to the Savior, water baptism brings new life (Rom. 6:4), makes one a child of God (Gal. 3:26-27), washes away sins (Acts 2:38; 22:16) and saves (1 Pet. 3:21).  Truly baptism is this new birth, the washing of regeneration, and renewal of the Holy Spirit (Tit. 3:5), at which point one becomes a citizen of the kingdom of heaven.  Jesus is the one and only path to the Father (John 14:6), and baptism puts one into Christ (Rom. 6:3-4; Gal. 3:26-27); thus, the one path to heavenly citizenship is defined.

While many may give most of their time and effort to the affairs of earthly commonwealths, trying to make their government the best it can be according to their views, the Christian must always place citizenship in heaven first.  Are we working to help people become citizens of heaven?  Christ is our loving monarch, who rules in righteousness as Isaiah 32:1 prophesied.  His is the only perfect kingdom, and the only one that will matter in the end (1 Cor. 15:22-24).

 

-Mark Day

 

 

Responding to Individuals Within the Congregation

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Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:14, “Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.”  Christians are to be concerned about how they respond to various members of their local congregation.  The exhortations of this verse are not solely given to elders, but to all members.  While elders play an important role in caring for the local congregation (v. 12), the burden of maintaining spiritual health in the local community of Christians is a shared responsibility of all; every member of the church ought to help other members to be built up in the faith (v. 11).

 

To do this the congregation must extend help to meet particular needs of each member.  Within a congregation there are a variety of dispositions and we must respond in kind.  Wisdom dictates that we not “warn the weak” nor “encourage the unruly.”

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Instead we must “warn the unruly.”  These are those who are literally “out of step,” or insubordinate to the commands of Christ.  All too often congregations remain passive in the face of disorderly members who repeatedly flout the commands of Christ.  The Scriptures teach the proper response to their conduct is admonition (cf. Rom. 15:14; 2 Thess. 3:15; Tit. 3:10).

A second group needing a particular response is the “feebleminded.”  These are the timid and faint of heart.  They may be discouraged and are in danger of giving up the Christian faith because they have suffered some sort of adversity.  These individuals need a different response from the congregation than the first group.  Rather than being warned, they must be persuaded not to give up.  The response the congregation must make to these is to “comfort” or encourage them.  Encouraging a brother or sister in Christ can go a long way toward helping them not to lose heart in the midst of worries.

Thirdly, Paul instructs the congregation to “support the weak.”  These may be those who are weak physically.  The sick among us are to be cared for (Matt. 25:43-44) and prayed for (James 5:14-16).  The weak could also be those who are spiritually weak.  The distinction from the second group would be that these are those who have scruples in regard to some externals.  There were those weaker brethren in the first-century church who had hang ups about eating certain foods or keeping certain days (Rom. 14:1-12; 1 Cor. 8:7-13).  The church’s response should be to help such people by taking an interest in them rather than walking all over them.

Finally, we are to “be patient toward all.”  This call to be longsuffering would transform many congregations of the Lord’s church if it were practiced.  Longsuffering is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22).  We have already mentioned that within the church there are a variety of people with a variety of dispositions and a variety of needs.  Instead of responding curtly towards others, each of us can develop and exercise patience.  Patience is needed with all these groups: the unruly, the feebleminded, and the weak.  Whatever the situation or problem, patience is to be used at all times toward all people.

May each member of the Flatwoods congregation improve in responding to the spiritual needs of others.

 

-Mark Day