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Evidence for God’s Existence

No doctrine or aspect of theology is more basic than the doctrine of God, sometimes referred to as Theology Proper. Since the term theology (the study of God) is often used of the study of other biblical subjects like the Bible, angels, man, salvation, and so on, Theology Proper is the designation sometimes used for just the study of God Himself. Rather than an exhaustive treatment, the study which follows is designed to be a general overview of the key features of what the Bible teaches about God, His existence, Persons, and attributes of the Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Here is an essential part of the foundation needed for solid spiritual growth and insight into life in general and into the Christian life in particular.

Jeremiah 9:23-24 Thus says the Lord, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; 24 but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord.

This study will be helpful for the new Christian or anyone who needs to get a handle on the essential elements of the doctrine of God. It will also benefit those looking for a review of these essentials, perhaps for Sunday school teachers in the preparation of material for their classes, or for those training disciples.

The Possibility of the Knowledge of God

The Bible gives witness to two facts regarding the knowledge God. First, it teaches us that God is incomprehensible, and but then it also declares that God is knowable. Both are true, but not in an absolute sense. To say that God is incomprehensible simply means that finite man cannot know everything there is to know about God who is an infinite being. To say that God is knowable means that, though incomprehensible, God can be known and man can grow in the knowledge of God, at least in a limited sense and to the degree that is needed for man to trust God and have a personal and growing relationship with Him.

God’s incomprehensibility is declared in passages like Job 11:7 and Isaiah 40:18:

Job 11:7 Can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty?

Isaiah 40:18 To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him?

The fact that God is knowable is evidenced by the very gift of the Bible as God’s revelation of Himself to man, but note also the following passages:

John 14:7 If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.

John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.

1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding, in order that we might know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

The Importance of This Study

Unfortunately, many are turned off by the term “doctrine” or “theology.” For many people these two terms mean something boring, impractical, and useless, but nothing could be more removed from the truth. Bible doctrine, the teaching of the Bible as God’s supernatural revelation to man, is the necessary foundation for knowing and understanding God, His creation (including man himself), and His plan for mankind. People, whether they realize it or not, have a set of presuppositions which form their doctrinal viewpoint or theological perspective about God, the world, and man himself. And this viewpoint, whether picked up through formal instruction or simply by the process of osmosis from their culture, is not without serious repercussions on the way people think and act. People eventually become like whatever god they worship. Concerning idols, the Psalmist wrote, “Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them” (Ps. 115:8 NIV).

The late Francis Schaeffer wrote of the significance of one’s world view, which, in the final analysis, represents one’s doctrinal perspective about God and life:

There is a flow to history and culture. This flow is rooted and has its wellspring in the thoughts of people. People are unique in the inner life of the mind—what they are in their thought world determines how they act. This is true of their value systems and it is true of their creativity …

People have presuppositions, and they will live more consistently on the basis of these presuppositions than even they themselves may realize. By presuppositions we mean the basic way an individual looks at life, his basic world view, the grid through which he sees the world. Presuppositions rest upon that which a person considers to be the truth of what exists. People’s presuppositions lay a grid for all they bring forth into the external world. Their presuppositions also provide the basis for their values and their basis for their decisions.

“As a man thinketh, so is he,” is really most profound. An individual is not just the product of the forces around him. He has a mind, an inner world …

Most people catch their presuppositions from their family and surrounding society the way a child catches measles. But people with more understanding realize that their presuppositions should be chosen after a careful consideration of what world view is true …

It is important to realize what a difference a people’s world view makes in their strength as they are exposed to the pressure of life. That it was the Christians who were able to resist religious mixtures, syncretism, and the effects of the weakness of Roman culture speaks of the strength of the Christian world view. This strength rested on God’s being an infinite-personal God and his speaking in the Old Testament, in the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, and in the gradually growing New Testament. He had spoken in ways people could understand. Thus the Christians not only had knowledge about the universe and mankind that people cannot find out by themselves, but they had absolute, universal values by which to live and by which to judge the society and the political state in which they lived …[1]

The many references in the New Testament to doctrine or teaching (83 times these words are found in the NASB New Testament) make it clear that doctrine or theology is not a cold and impotent force, but a vital element to the spiritual, moral, and social being of mankind (1 Tim. 1:3; 4:6, 16; 2 Tim. 3:10, 16; 4:2-3). Indeed, it is the difference between life and death, a sense of significance and happiness, and joy and peace. It is the doctrines of the Bible which bring people into a factual knowledge of the “true and living God” which must form the basis for knowing God personally. Only then can people turn from all the false gods of the world to the one true and living God (1 Thess. 1:9).

A healthy relationship with God must begin with an intellectual knowledge of who He is, which then matures into a deeper personal experience of knowing God in life. God manifests Himself to us on the mountain peaks, in the valleys, in the swamps—in all aspects of our lives.[2]

The study of the knowledge of God, just one of the many doctrinal themes in Scripture, is the greatest theme that can engage the mind of man. Nothing can even begin to parallel it in its impact on a man’s life. Undoubtedly, for this very reason, the very first words of the Bible introduce us to the reality of God as the source of the universe, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1).

These, the very first words of the Bible, are most basic to the understanding of the whole. No more important words have ever been uttered or written. Compton, the physicist, calls them the most wonderful words ever written. All else in the Bible stands or falls upon the validity and truthfulness of these words. Study of the person and work of God is of inestimable importance and value for all who would know the truth. Without a proper understanding of Him and His plan, everything else in the Bible and in life becomes hazy and meaningless.[3]

In his book Knowing God, J. I. Packer writes:

The world becomes a strange, mad, and painful place and life in it is a disappointing and unpleasant business for those who do not know about God. Disregard the study of God, and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfold as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you. This way you can waste your life and lose your soul.[4]

In John 17:3 Christ prayed these instructive words, “And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.” Here was Christ’s own definition of salvation and life. Christ who was sent to be both the revelation of God to man and the reconciliation of man to God declares that knowing God is the essence of eternal life. But by eternal life Christ was not simply speaking of gaining an entrance into heaven, but of knowing and experiencing an eternal quality of life now, a life of meaning, purpose, and usefulness to God and mankind with peace and joy. All the real issues and questions of life ultimately find their answer in the knowledge of God which comes to man through Jesus Christ and the Scripture, Genesis through Revelation.

Before moving into the specifics of the doctrine of God, a few things should be said about theology as a whole.

Definition of Theology

The term theology is a compound of two Greek words, theos, meaning “God,” and logos, meaning “word, speech, expression, discourse.” Both Jesus Christ as the Living Word and the Bible as the written word are the Logos of God. That which the living and written Word reveals is theology—a discourse on the specific subject of God. Though the word theology is never found in Scripture, it is Scriptural in character. In Romans 3:2 we have the words, ta logia tou theou, “the oracles of God,” meaning the discourses or utterances of and about God. In 1 Peter 4:11 we find logia theou, meaning “the utterances of God,” and in Luke 8:21 we find, ton logon tou theou, “the Word of God.”

Distinctions in the Types of Theology

In the use of the term theology several types develop depending on how the Word is used.

(1) A theological system: The word theology may be used of an exponent of a theological system as Augustinian, Calvinistic, Arminian, Covenant, or Dispensational theology.

(2) A method, source, or content of theology: It may be used of the source or content of the theology or the method of theology as:

Natural theology—Facts concerning God and His universe derived from nature or creation.
Revealed theology—Facts concerning God and His universe derived from Scripture as a whole.

(3) Biblical theology: Facts concerning God and His universe as set forth in the various books of the Bible from whence we derive other classifications as Pauline, Johannine and Petrine theologies.

(4) Historical theology: The study of the historical development of doctrine as well as its variations and heretical departures.

(5) Theology proper: This is theology in its true and proper sense. Theology proper contemplates only the Person of God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit, existence and attributes without reference to the works of each person of the trinity. This is a part of systematic theology.

(6) Systematic theology: This is the collecting, scientifically arranging, and categorizing, comparing, exhibiting, and defending all facts from all sources concerning God and His works.

For our knowledge of God to be accurate, the primary source must be the Bible, the special revelation of God, and the primary method must be the literal inductive method which is founded on a careful study of Scripture especially in the original languages in which it was written, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.

A true and accurate systematic theology must also be an exegetical theology and a revealed or scriptural theology. This is primary. Too often the study of theology is man-centered, i.e., centered around what the so-called great theologians have said, historical theology, rather than centered in the Bible. This does not mean we ignore the writings of these men as they have sought to represent what the Scripture teaches, but our final conclusions need to be based on Scripture itself as much as is humanly possible.

Divisions of Theology

These are the categories which should form a part of any system of systematic theology:

Bibliology: From biblos + logos. This is the study of the Bible, i.e., revelation, inspiration, preservation, canonization and illumination.

Theology Proper: From theos + logos. This is the study of the essence, being, and trinity of God.

Angelology: From angelos + logos. This is the study of angels, fallen and unfallen.

Anthropology: From anthropos + logos. This is the study of man, his creation, make-up, innocence and fall.

Hamartiology: From hamartia + logos. This is the study of sin, its nature, derivation and classifications.

Soteriology: From soterios + logos. This is the study of God’s plan and work of salvation for mankind.

Ecclesiology: From ekklesia + logos. This is the study of the church, universal and local.

Eschatology: From eschatos + logos. This is the study of prophecy and last things. Dispensations may also be included.

Christology: From Christos + logos. This involves the study of the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-Man.

Pneumatology: From pneuma + logos. This involves the study of the Person of the Holy Spirit.

Systems of Perception Used in Theology

Rationalism:

In rationalism reason becomes the sole guide in discovering and learning about God whether in Scripture or in nature. Here the supernatural is generally explained away by human reason and its bias against the supernatural, i.e., the supernatural is irrational to the human mind and must be rejected.

Empiricism:

This is the system of pursuing knowledge through observation and experiment. In the empirical system, everything must be checked out through the senses. One must be able to smell, see, touch, hear, or taste in order to know or come to a bonafide conclusion. The empirical method or the empiricist is one who depends on experience or observation alone, without regard to theory or faith.

Faith:

This is complete confidence in someone or something expressed in a non-meritorious way. Faith is the primary and Biblical means of perception (Heb. 11:3 “by faith we understand”).

Faith is the means by which we understand spiritual phenomenon. Spiritual phenomenon is an infinite subject beyond the experience and reason of man. But faith is an infinite means of perception which alone is able to grasp the infinite. By the faith means of perception, a person reads the Bible, sees a fact of spiritual phenomenon and accepts it by faith. This becomes spiritual fact or truth by which an individual operates and has confidence. But is this rational? Does one have to put his brain in neutral with the faith means of perception?

(1) In Matthew 18:3 Christ said, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (NIV). Children humbly accept a lot of things as true by faith, but always because they have confidence in a person, parent, or teacher. So with faith all biblical facts are accepted because of an underlying faith in God’s person and then in God’s Word. Faith begins with someone higher and greater than ourselves where rationalism and empiricism do not. They begin and end with man.

(2) Faith as a means of perception is not irrational, nor unreasonable, nor without evidence. So we read in Scripture that nature sings out the fact of God, giving constant evidence not only for the reality of God, but for something of the nature of God (Ps. 19:1-6; Rom. 1:19-20). The Bible holds fantastic evidence that its source is in God and that God has given us this book without error. For evidence of this, see the book, Evidence Demands a Verdict, by Josh McDowell, Campus Crusade.

(3) John came to the tomb in unbelief, saw the evidence within, reasoned, and went away in faith; but behind this were the previous words of Christ along with the evidence in the empty tomb (John 20:30-31). However, reason alone or rationalism, because of its bias, would say this cannot be true because it is supernatural, and this is unreasonable. Or empiricism alone would say—I have not observed it so it cannot be true, or unless I observe it, it cannot be true. Thomas, who doubted at first, may have been an empiricist (John 20:1-10, 26-31).

Illustration: The statement “the cow jumped over the moon” is irrational and cannot be believed because of what we have observed about cows and their limitations. But the statement “So the sun stood still and the moon stopped” (Josh. 10:13), though it defies our understanding, is not irrational because of what we know and believe about God. This is perception by faith.

False Views About God

The following are a few of the false views about God. These are either a product of rationalization or the failure of men to accept the Word of God by faith or both. They are the gropings of the human mind that operate on negative volition and as unaided by faith and God’s revelation (cf. Rom. 1:18-20). These systems reveal the truth of 1 Corinthians 2:14.

But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.

Atheism:

Atheism is open and positive denial of the existence of God (Ps. 14:1). The word atheism comes from a + theos which means no God. It does not refer to a mere ignorance of God, but applies to one who considers himself informed on the claims and evidence for the existence of God and who emphatically denies them.

There are three types of atheist, practically speaking:

(1) The Absolute Atheist. This is one who denies the absolute existence of God. Here is the person who argues and says “I have examined all the facts as to the existence of God and I deny them as proving His existence.”

(2) The Providential Atheist. This is the person who simply doubts the existence of God, but firmly denies His providential dealings and the care of God for the things of this world. However, this person in effect denies the being of God for he strips Him of His omnipotence, wisdom, mercy, justice and righteousness. Why? Because of their desire to be uncontrolled in their lust patterns. This kind of atheist is sometimes called a Deist. In every atheist there is a moral twist (see Ps. 14:1f). He denies God because he wants freedom from any responsibility for his sin. He is like the person who does not want to come to the light because his deeds are evil (John 3:19-20).

(3) The Practical Atheist. By this we refer to a secret or partial atheism which is present in the majority of the world. These do not actually deny the being of God, but by their actions and lifestyle, by their evil and neglect of God, or by the denial of certain aspects and rights of His divine and sovereign Being over them, they deny Him and act as though there were no God.

Titus 1:16 They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient, and worthless for any good deed.

Agnosticism:

This word comes from a + gnosis which means “not knowing.” This school of thought does not deny the existence of God, only that there are no sufficient grounds (i.e., rational proof or empirical proof) that God exists—or that if God does exist He can be known. In reality it is an unwillingness to accept any of the sources of the knowledge of God (innate, tradition, nature, revelation), and an unwillingness to act in faith. Instead, it says I cannot know.

Materialism:

This is the system which tries to explain everything by physical causes which can be observed and understood. It denies and excludes any spiritual causes. Materialism is closely related to empiricism.

Polytheism:

Polytheism is a system of theology which believes in many gods. It has been claimed by unbelievers and by many evolutionists that all men were first polytheists and then evolved to monotheism. But the Bible shows that polytheism is a product not of evolution but devolution and degeneration. The idea found in evolution that monotheism, or the belief in one God, is a refinement of polytheism is contrary to the record of the Bible and even recent discoveries archaeologically. Scripture shows that polytheism is the product of man turning away from God and is specifically related to the deceptions of Satan as it is found in the false religions of the world. Polytheism is in no way similar to the biblical doctrine of the trinity which teaches that God is three in personality, but one in essence.

Pantheism:

This is the belief that God is in everything and that everything is God. This system confuses God with nature, matter with Spirit, and the creation with the Creator. Also, pantheism must not be confused with the omnipresence of God. The Bible teaches that God is everywhere, but not in everything. God as Creator is independent of, distinct, and separate from the creation.

Deism:

The term “deism” is from the Latin word deus, meaning God, and is closely allied to the Greek word theos. This system acknowledges that there is a God, that He is personal, infinite, holy, and the Creator of all things, but denies that He sustains the universe. The Deist says that God just put things into motion. He is the Creator but not the Sustainer. Deism rejects the Scriptures, anything supernatural, and the idea that God is providentially working in this world.

Tritheism:

This is the doctrine that the Godhead consists of three independent Gods. This is a false view of the doctrine of the trinity, or better, triunity. Tritheism misses the oneness of the triunity of God.

There are many other false systems such as Positivism, Monism, Dualism, and Pluralism, but the plethora of these false systems simply show the futility of what the soulish mind can come up with when it tries to operate apart from the divine revelation of God. It is inconceivable, then, that God would leave man without a revelation of Himself.

Conclusion

The naturalistic arguments which debate the existence of God engender various philosophies. From these inconclusive and questionable theories the spiritual mind turns with relief to the complete, satisfying, and authoritative revelation of God set forth in the Bible.[5]

The Revelation of the Existence of God
(Opposed to Atheism)

Can a person prove that God exists? No, not really, but if we believe in the existence of God, we should be able to give reasonable evidences for why we believe what we believe. This section is designed to help us do that as well as aid in thinking about some of the ramifications of believing in the existence of God.

The message of the Bible, or the gospel, is always equated with truth and it is presented as the opposite of error. Further, the Bible teaches us that man can know the truth and that God holds man responsible to know it. God plainly holds men responsible for not receiving and believing the truth (Rom. 1:18; 2:8; 2 Thess 2:10-12). Such verses would be meaningless unless there was some kind of clear and objective evidence by which men could come to a knowledge and conviction of the truth. If such were not the case, God would not hold man responsible for there would be no way to tell truth from error.

Many like to make the claim there is no absolute truth or that you cannot know the truth. They claim you really cannot know truth unless it can be verified by observable scientific testing and data. Morally, philosophically, and theologically, everything is simply relative. This is agnosticism, but the agnostic’s position is really unsupported by the evidence.

Pilate’s reaction to Jesus’ statement when He was on trial may be an illustration of this not just because of what Pilate said, but because of what Christ first said to Pilate. Christ said, “everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.” Pilate then replied, “What is truth?” (John 18:37-38) Like all atheists, practical, intellectual, or philosophical, or like an agnostic, Pilate thought he could excuse himself from moral responsibility to God and humanity, or to truth itself by claiming truth cannot be known.

But in this statement, Christ shows us that knowing truth is ultimately a moral issue. Those who are of the truth, those who really want to know, can and will listen to the evidence that God has given us so that men may know the truth. The apostle Paul teaches us the exact same thing in Romans 1:18f. The fact is there is tremendous and bonafide evidence that there is a God out there, He exists. The problem is not one of evidence, but of rebellion and negative volition to God (Ps. 14:1; Rom. 1:21, 23, 25, 28; 3:9-18). It is a moral problem. The moral issue always overshadows the intellectual or evidential issues. As Paul Little writes,

It is not that man cannot believe—it is that he “will not believe.” Jesus pointed the Pharisees to this as the root of the problem. “You refuse to come to me,” he told them, “that you may have life” (John 5:40). He makes it abundantly clear that moral commitment leads to a solution of the intellectual problem. “If any man’s will is to do his will, he shall know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority” (John 7:17). Alleged intellectual problems are often a smoke screen covering moral rebellion.

A student once told me I had satisfactorily answered all his questions, “Are you going to become a Christian?” I asked. “No,” he replied. Puzzled, I asked, “Why not?” He admitted, “Frankly, because it would mess up the way I’m living.” He realized that the real issue for him was not intellectual but moral.

The question is often asked, “If Christianity is rational and true, why is it that most educated people don’t believe it?” The answer is simple. They don’t believe it for the very same reason that most uneducated don’t believe it. They don’t want to believe it. It’s not a matter of brain power, for there are outstanding Christians in every field of the arts and sciences. It is primarily a matter of will.[6]

Then why do we bother with giving answers and evidence for the existence of God or any other area that is questioned? First, because the Bible tells us to be “ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence” (1 Pet. 3:15). The reason for this is because people do have genuine doubts and questions and they deserve solid evidence.

John Stott struck a balance when he said, “We cannot pander to a man’s intellectual arrogance, but we must cater to his intellectual integrity.”[7]

Can we prove, then, that God exists? No! Not in the same way that you can prove something by scientific method in the laboratory by observable and repeatable experiments. However, observable data for the existence of God does exist. It exists in such degree and clarity that to deny it, one must deny his rational processes because of a bias against the supernatural and the issue of the moral twist spoken of earlier.

We must be clear from the outset that it is not possible to “prove” God in the scientific method sense of the word. But it can be said with equal emphasis that you can’t “prove” Napoleon by the scientific method. The reason lies in the nature of history itself and in the limitations of the scientific method, it must be repeatable … But history in its very nature is non-repeatable. No one can “rerun” the beginning of the universe or bring Napoleon back or repeat the assassination of Lincoln or the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. But the fact that these events can’t be “proved” by repetition does not disprove their reality as events.

There are many real things outside the scope of the scientific method as a means of verification … To insist that God be “proved” by the scientific method is like insisting that a telephone be used to measure radioactivity. It simply wasn’t made for that.[8]

So what is the evidence for the existence of God? The evidence falls into two categories: (1) General or naturalistic evidence—reasonable evidence from the world around us, and (2) special or revealed evidence—the evidence from the Bible. Though the evidence for the supernatural character of the Bible is a subject that comes under the doctrine of bibliology (the study of the Bible), there is tremendous evidence that the Bible is truly unique and the inerrant and infallible Word of God. It is not a book that man would write if he could or could write if he would (Lewis Sperry Chafer). Ryrie writes:

General revelation includes all that God has revealed in the world around us, including man, while special revelation includes various means He used to communicate His message in what was codified in the Bible. General revelation is sometimes called natural theology and special revelation is called revealed theology. But, of course, what is revealed in nature is also revealed in theology. Some writers use the labels prelapsarian for general revelation and postlapsarian or soteric for special revelation. However, both general and special revelation are (a) from God and (b) about God.[9]

Characteristics of General (Naturalistic) Revelation

As Ryrie points out, General Revelation, as the title suggests, is simply general and broad in the following ways:[10]

(1) It is general in its scope in that it witnesses to all people as the following passages suggest:

Matthew 5:45 in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Acts 14:17 and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.

It is general geographically in that it encompasses the entire globe.

Psalm 19:1-4 The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. 2 Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard. 4 Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their utterances to the end of the world. In them He has placed a tent for the sun. (Emphasis mine.)

(3) It is general in its methodology since it uses a universal means, the varied elements of God’s creation like the heat of the sun and the human conscience, to declare the reality and glory of God (Ps. 19:1-6; Rom. 2:14-15).

Simply because it is a revelation that thus affects all people wherever they are and whenever they have lived it can bring light and truth to all, or, if rejected, brings condemnation.[11]

General or Naturalistic Arguments

The following arguments are drawn from natural revelation, from the world around us, in contrast to the revealed or supernatural revelation of the Scripture. This is bonafide evidence for God-consciousness as the Apostle Paul shows in Romans 1:19-20. The basic idea of these arguments is that as we study the world in which we live one can reasonably conclude that there must be a God. In the final analysis, however, one only comes to this conclusion by the perception of faith. Why? Because in spite of the evidence, one does not see God; one sees only the evidence of God, but not God Himself.

Illustration: When a man walking through the woods finds the tracks of a deer that has passed there only hours before, he knows that a deer was there because of the evidence of the tracks even though he does not see the deer. So (as with the tracks of the deer) we may know that God exists by the tracks He has left everywhere in the world.

The Moral Argument

Man has an intellectual and moral nature which demands God as his Creator. Man’s conscience, which is a law to man, necessitates a Law-Giver. Man’s free will implies a Great Will. Without God as the basis for right and wrong, no government would be possible except on the principle, “might makes right.”

Though it becomes defiled and seared by sin (1 Tim. 4:2; Tit. 1:15), to some degree all men have that faculty called conscience with its constant impulse to choose the right and leave the wrong. Society and government are based on this recognition of virtue and truth, but where does that come from? The only logical explanation is the existence of a God whose ways are holy, just, and good. A material universe without God as Supreme Governor would of necessity lack moral values and distinctions.

The Argument From Design (Teleological, telos, “end”)

The universe is a cosmos not a chaos. “Adaptation of means to an end imply a Designer.” Paley, the philosopher, used the illustration of a man finding a watch in the woods. If you found a watch and then found it also kept good time, you are forced to conclude that it had a designer (Isa. 45:18). How much more is this not true with the universe and its infinite complexity.

The earth itself is evidence of design. “If it were much smaller an atmosphere would be impossible (e.g. Mercury and the moon); if much larger the atmosphere would contain free hydrogen (e.g. Jupiter and Saturn). Its distance from the sun is correct—even a small change would make it too hot or too cold. Our moon, probably responsible for the continents and ocean basins, is unique in our solar system and seems to have originated in a way quite different from the other relatively much smaller moons. The tilt of the [earth’s] axis insures the seasons, and so on.”[12]

Another illustration is a stone wall. Rocks falling in a landslide never form a properly placed, neat, uniform stone wall. Rather, such a stone wall proves design and a designer. So the world, in all its perfection and design, must have had a Designer. Stated in the form of syllogism the argument is as follows:

Major Premise: Design presupposes an intelligent architect.
Minor Premise: The world shows evidence of design in every part.
Therefore: The world has a designer or intelligent architect, who is God.

The Cosmological Argument

The Greek word cosmos means “an orderly arrangement.” Every effect must have its adequate cause. The universe is an adequate cause, and the only sufficient cause is God. Where did the universe come from if not from God the Creator? Reason and probability are on the side of creation, not chance or mere force (Rom. 1:20; Acts 17:28-29). Stated in the form of syllogism the argument is as follows:

Major Premise: Every effect has an adequate cause.
Minor Premise: The world is an effect.
Therefore: The world has an adequate cause outside itself which produced it, namely God.

The Esthetic Argument

There is beauty in the universe and human beings have a unique ability to appreciate it. From whence comes this correspondence between the beauty in creation and the ability of man to appreciate it? This indicates design, intelligence, personality, and so, God.

The Ontological Argument (The idea of a supreme being)

Man not only has an idea of a God, but he pictures that God is a supreme being, one who is perfect, independent, and infinite. Where does this idea come from if there is no such being?

This argument is generally considered the most profound and Keyser in his book, A System of Christian Evidences, has an excellent statement:

We can not think of the relative without also thinking of an absolute. We can not think of the derived without also thinking of the underived. We can not think of the dependent without also thinking of the independent. We can not think of the imperfect without also thinking of the perfect. We can not think of the finite without also thinking of the infinite.

Now, if these concepts are not true, and there is no perfect, absolute, infinite Being, then man’s thinking, in its deepest constitution is null and void. If that were true, all our thinking would be insane and futile. Can we believe that?[13]

Sometimes this argument is called, The Religious or General Argument with the argument going something like this: Since the belief in God and supernatural beings is universal even among the most backward tribes, it must therefore come from within man, it is something innate. The question is, could it have come from civilization or even from education when people all over the world possess it whether they are civilized and educated or not? The logical answer is no.

Then, where could such an idea come from if there is no God? There is always something to satisfy the desires which are common to the whole human race. There is food for the hungry, water for the thirsty, and a God for the thirsty soul. Stated in the form of a syllogism the argument is as follows:

Major Premise: An intuitive and universal belief among men must be true.
Minor Premise: The belief that there is a God is universal and intuitive among men.
Therefore: The belief that there is a God is true.

There are some very interesting facts regarding the universal belief in God.

(1) More than 90 percent of the religions of the world acknowledge the existence of one supreme being and some even anticipate God’s redeeming concern.

(2) In every case, this monotheistic belief predated other forms of worship or beliefs and heathenistic practices. This is true the world over on every continent.

(3) These other forms of heathenistic and polytheistic practices were invariably the result of failing to pursue the knowledge of God. Failure to pursue belief in the one Supreme Being created a vacuum into which false and demonic beliefs quickly rushed. As an illustration, ancient Chinese and Koreans had believed in a Supreme God who created all things. In China his name was Shang Ti and in Korea it was Hananim, The Great One. This belief predated Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. It goes back 2600 years before Christ and worshippers throughout China and Korea seem to have understood from the beginning that Shang Ti/Hananim must never be represented by idols.[14]

Little writes:

It is very significant that recent anthropological research has indicated that among the farthest and most remote primitive peoples, today, there is a universal belief in God. And in the earliest histories and legends of peoples all around the world the original concept was of one God, who was the Creator. An original high God seems once to have been in their consciousness even in those societies which are today polytheistic. This research, in the last fifty years, has challenged the evolutionary concept of the development of religion, which had suggested that monotheism—the concept of one God—was the apex of a gradual development that began with polytheistic concepts. It is increasingly clear that the oldest traditions everywhere were of one supreme God.[15]

Biblical Evidence for the Existence of God

The Existence of God Is Assumed by Scripture

Perhaps because it is so evident everywhere, no writer of Scripture, Old or New Testament, attempts to set down arguments for the existence of God. It is a fact taken for granted. The Bible simply begins with “In the beginning God” (Gen. 1:1), and nowhere is His existence argued. Why? Because of the abundant evidence in the universe for the existence of God (Psalm 19:1-4), and because they that come to God must believe that He is. God is perceived primarily by faith as a result of positive volition (see John 18:37; 7:17; Jer. 29:13).

Heb. 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

Biblical Theism

Biblical theism refers to what the Bible has to say about the reality, essence, and works of God, and it draws upon the marvelous revelation of God as it is found in the Holy Bible.

Biblical theism confirms the legitimate conclusions of naturalistic theism and also adds to it so much that is revealed only in the Bible. Though reason and revelation combine in any systematic theology, in approaching biblical theism certain assumptions are necessary.

Problems of interpretation of the Bible are recognized in systematic theology, but within orthodoxy there is no problem of the trustworthiness of Scripture … The Bible clearly reveals the existence of God who has all the attributes properly recognized in Deity.[16]

Regarding biblical theism Robert Lightner writes:

Since God did not seek to prove and defend His existence in His own Word, perhaps that is not man’s task either. We have been given the Bible which, while it does not seek to defend God’s existence before the skeptic or the unbeliever, does assume God’s existence and presents irrefutable evidence that He is, that He has worked in the past and is working today. In the Old Testament, for example, God’s existence and presence in the world is established by appeal to historical evidence (i.e., Ex. 4:1ff; 14:30f; Num. 14:11; Josh. 2:8-11, etc.). Also, in the Word of God we are told of His Son who came to reveal God to men (John 1:18). Surely, no one can read God’s Word with any degree of seriousness and go on denying the reality of God’s existence. Either God is all that Scripture makes Him out to be or the Bible is the biggest and most deceptive hoax ever compiled …

No doubt the strongest evidence for God’s existence in the Bible comes from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Let it be stated clearly again here by way of introduction, to deny the existence of the God of the Bible is to repudiate the Christ of Scripture.

The Son of God was the great Revealer of God. God also revealed Himself in the words of Scripture and in the miraculous deeds recorded there. Added to these evidences of His revelation it must also be said He reveals Himself to the believing heart through the personal experience of the Holy Spirit who “beareth witness with our spirits” (Rom. 8:16).

The revelation of God in the Bible reveals His infinite love and grace. But like His revelation in nature, apart from the illuminating ministry of the Holy Spirit the message will not be believed or understood.[17]

Conclusion

The big question is what does the fact of the existence of God means to us as human beings?

First, the knowledge of the existence of God means that man is put here by design. It means that while all God’s creatures have purpose, due to man’s particular uniqueness among the creatures of God, man has special purpose and meaning. We are not merely the product of time plus chance or some impersonal force. We are each the result of a personal God who created us for Himself with meaning and purpose. But the details of this purpose are found only in the Bible, God’s special revelation of Himself. Creation of course cannot and does not reveal this. Creation’s primary role is to give man the evidence and basis for God-consciousness (Ps. 19:1-6; Rom. 1:18-20).

Second, the knowledge of God means responsibility. The fact that there is a supreme and perfect being, a divine sovereign who created us for His purposes, means that we are each responsible to Him for the way we live and for what we do with the life He has given us.

Third, the knowledge of God’s existence means that we have the responsibility to search and seek to know God personally and intimately, to be thankful, and to worship Him accordingly (Rom. 1:18-23). The facts are, however, that man in his fallen state does not search for God, at least not on his own (Rom. 3:11). But in His grace, God constantly works to draw men to Himself (see John 1:9; 6:44; 7:17; 12:32; Acts 17:27-28; Rom. 2:4; Jer. 29:13; 2 Chron. 15:2, 4).

Sadly, most people, even with the conviction that God exists, live like practical atheists, as though God does not exist or as though He is indifferent to man. One of the reasons for this is the principle found in two passages: the principle of God’s patience and slowness to act against man’s sin.

Psalm 50:21 These things you have done, and I kept silence; You thought that I was just like you; I will reprove you, and state the case in order before your eyes.

Ecclesiastes 8:11-12 Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil. 12 Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and may lengthen his life, still I know that it will be well for those who fear God, who fear Him openly.

People think they are getting by or that God is just an old man sitting in the heavens who smiles on the indiscretions of His children. This can be illustrated by the hymns we so often sing. We sing hymns indicating our faith, but then live so differently.

We sing Sweet Hour of Prayer, but are content with 5 or 10 minutes a day.
We sing Onward Christian Soldiers, but a lot of Christians are AWOL.
We sing O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing, but often use the one we have in complaining.
We sing There Shall Be Showers of Blessings, but are ready to miss church when it rains.
We sing Blest Be the Tie the Binds, and let the least little thing sever it.
We sing Serve the Lord with Gladness, and gripe, gripe, gripe.
We sing I Love to Tell the Story, but are often embarrassed to mention it.

May we live and serve the Lord knowing that He truly is and lives as the sovereign and loving God of the universe.
[1] Frances A. Schaeffer, How Should We Then Live? Fleming H. Revell, Old Tappan, NJ, 1976, pp. 19-22.

[2] Gary E. Vincelette, Basic Theology: Applied, Wesley & Elaine Willis, John & Janet Masters, editors, Victor Books, Wheaton, IL, p. 15.

[3] Robert P. Lightner, The God of the Bible, An Introduction to the Doctrine of God, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, 1973, p. 9.

[4] J. I. Packer, Knowing God, InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL, 1973, pp. 14-15.

[5] Lewis Sperry Chafer Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, Abridged Edition, John F. Walvoord, Editor, Donald K. Campbell, Roy B. Zuck, Consulting Editors, Victor Books, Wheaton, IL, 1988, p. 131.

[6] Paul Little, Know Why You Believe, InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL, revised edition 1968, p. 4.

[7] Ibid., p. 5.

[8] Ibid., p. 8.

[9] Charles C. Ryrie, Basic Theology, Victor Books, Wheaton, IL, 1987, p. 28.

[10] Ibid., p. 28

[11] Ibid., p. 28.

[12] Little, p. 11, quoting R.E.D. Clark, Creation, London: Tyndale Press, p. 10.

[13] Keyser, A System of Christian Evidences, pp. 196-197.

[14] Richardson, Eternity In Their Hearts, Regal Books, pp. 63f.

[15] Little, p. 8, citing Samuel Zwemer, The Origin of Religion, New York, Loizeaux Brothers as the source of this information.

[16] Chafer, p. 135.

[17] Lightner, pp. 23-24.

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Posted by Gary Davenport on October 1, 2014 in Article, God

Finding Friendships…A faithful friend is an image of God, one of life’s greatest assets

30 Sep

Men’s Life magazine surprised itself with a survey – asking its readers “What’s the most important thing in your life?” And no, it was not sex, it was not career, it was neither fame nor fortune. The most important things to 63 percent of the men were their wives and ninety percent of married men called their wives their best friend.[1]

I am one fortunate guy. I married the ‘love of my life’ and get to spend every day with her, soon to be our 34th year. She is my best friend! Perhaps the only one who could stand me for 42 years, 10 months, 19 days, 56 hours and 36 minutes (exact at the moment this is being written)…and counting!

She was in my parent’s prayers since before our births, and in my deepest, most private utterances to God since the early teen years.

It’s tempting to suggest that I am one lucky guy, except that it was more than luck that we found each other when we did. Too many things simply had to be worked out by God!

Norman Douglas said “to find a friend one must close one eye; to keep him, two.” That might be one way TJ looks at me?

It is true that a friend is one who knows all about you and likes you just the same. Terry is my friend, one who knows me as I am, understands where I’ve been, accepts who I’ve become, and still, gently invites me to grow. She one who makes me be my best.

She has a special quotation: “A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.”

Our marriage is a series of successive surprises. Happily married couples appreciate what they each bring to the relationship. Their union is more than just the process of addition. One plus one now equals a deep sense of valuing and being valued.

We’re working every day on our friendship. Our friendship depends on mutual care and a sense of trust. We’ve come to know that old friends are as comfortable as our favorite pair of shoes. New ones are as exciting as the best of life’s adventures. And best of all, having friends gives us the privilege of being a friend.

I wish we knew the author who wrote:

There are those who pass like ships in the night. Who meet for a moment, then sail out of sight

With never a backward glance of regret; Folks we know briefly then quickly forget.

Then there are friends who sail together Through quiet waters and stormy weather

Helping each other through joy and through strife. And they are the kind who give meaning to life.

One man summarized what he had learned during a Dale Carnegie course: If you want to keep friends and have people like you, there are three things you must never do. Each one of these begins with a “C”. The first one is, “Never complain”; the second, “Never condemn;” and the last one, “Never criticize.”

I especially find C. S. Lewis’ words delightful: ‘Eros will have naked bodies; friendship naked personalities.” I suppose anything you can do together as a couple helps strengthen your marriage.

I heard Dr. Dobson on a radio station describe a problem I‘ve seen several times in marriages. The bride expects her new husband to always be romantic and to carry her emotionally. The groom expects to be able to go out to conquer the world and come home at night to his “help meet” who will stroke his male ego, bragging on him for the way he provides for the family. Dr. Dobson called both of these two selfish. He says that each partner in a marriage should look for ways to take care of the other. My job is to love my wife, not to evaluate her support of me. I believe that sounds like Paul in Ephesians 5:25. He writes, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”

The Bible says iron sharpens iron–butter doesn’t sharpen iron. A man must be strong in who he is and a woman must be strong in who she is, like two pieces of iron. Sure, they’ll rub together and it won’t always be pleasant. But it will be beneficial. Working through their differences is what makes couples strong.

I love the poem that describes what I enjoy: O, the comfort — the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, Having neither to weigh thoughts, Nor measure words — but pouring them right out — just as they are — Chaff and grain together, Certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them — Keep what is worth keeping — And with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.[2]

Real friends don’t care if your socks don’t match. Real friends have a great time doing absolutely nothing together. A real friend warms you by her presence, trusts you with her secrets, and remembers you in her prayers.

Our friends are the people whom we choose; usually friends are the same sort of people as ourselves. My neighbor is the man whom I do not choose; he is the man whom God gives to me. He is the man who happens to live in the house next to mine; he is the man who happens to sit opposite to me in the train; he is the clerk who works at the desk next to mine. I have no right to say that he is no concern of mine, because, if I am a Christian, I know that he is the man whom God has given to me.

A friend is one who warns you. A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you today just the way you are.

Are you cultivating such friends? Are you being a friend? Are there a few folks who will stand near you, sheltering you with their branches?

Jay Kesler has said that one of his great hopes in life is to wind up with at least eight people who will attend his funeral without once checking their watches. I love it! Do you have eight people who’ll do that? [3]

“Two boys in the last war were devoted pals and friends. After a bitter battle one day, one of the boys found that his pal was missing and knew that he was somewhere out there in No-man’s Land. He asked for permission to go out after his friend but the commander said it was no use for no one was alive out there after the withering fire of many hours. After great insistence, he was finally given permission to go. Some time later he came back with the limp body of his friend over his shoulder. The commander said, “Didn’t I tell you it was no use to go?” to which the boy replied with radiance in his eyes, “But it was. I got there in time to hear him whisper, ‘I knew you’d come.'”

We don’t know the source of these words, but they speak to all of us who have that ‘special person’ in our life: A friend is: a push when you’ve stopped, a word when you’re lonely, a guide when you’re searching, a smile when you’re sad, a song when you’re glad.

A friend will joyfully sing with you when you are on the mountaintop, and silently walk beside you through the valley.

Our model for friendship is that of the Christian and Jesus Christ, who said to His disciples, “You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:14-15). Out of this passage we can compile a list of things for which we are chosen and to which we are called:

We are chosen for joy. However, hard the Christian way is, it is, both in the travelling and in the goal, the way of joy. There is always a joy in doing the right thing. The Christian is the man of joy, the laughing cavalier of Christ. A gloomy Christian is a contradiction in terms, and nothing in all religious history has done Christianity more harm than its connection with black clothes and long faces. It is true that the Christian is a sinner, but he is a redeemed sinner; and therein lies his joy. How can any man fail to be happy when he walks the ways of life with Jesus?

We are chosen for love. We are sent out into the world to love one another. Sometimes we live as if we were sent into the world to compete with one another, or to dispute with one another, or even to quarrel with one another. But the Christian is to live in such a way that he shows what is meant by loving his fellow men. It is here that Jesus makes another of his great claims. If we ask him: What right have you to demand that we love one another? His answer is: “No man can show greater love than to lay down his life for his friends-and I did that.” Many a man tells men to love each other, when his whole life is a demonstration that that is the last thing he does himself. Jesus gave men a commandment which he had himself first fulfilled.

Jesus called us to be his friends. He tells his men that he does not call them slaves any more; he calls them friends. Now that is a saying which would be even greater to those who heard it for the first time than it is to us. Doulos, the slave, the servant of God was no title of shame; it was a title of the highest honour. Moses was the doulos of God (Deuteronomy 34:5); so was Joshua (Joshua 24:29); so was David (Psalm 89:20). It is a title which Paul counted it an honour to use (Titus 1:1); and so did James (James 1:1).

The greatest men in the past had been proud to be called the douloi, the slaves of God. And Jesus says: “I have something greater for you yet, you are no longer slaves; you are friends.” Christ offers an intimacy with God which not even the greatest men knew before he came into the world.

The idea of being the friend of God has also a background. Abraham was the friend of God (Isaiah 41:8). In Wisdom 7:27, wisdom is said to make men the friends of God. But this phrase is lit up by a custom which obtained both at the courts of the Roman Emperors and of the eastern kings. At these courts there was a very select group of men called the friends of the king, or the friends of the Emperor. At all times they had access to the king: they had even the right to come to his bedchamber at the beginning of the day. He talked to them before he talked to his generals, his rulers, and his statemen. The friends of the king were those who had the closest and the most intimate connection with him.

Jesus called us to be his friends and the friends of God. That is a tremendous offer. It means that no longer do we need to gaze longingly at God from afar off; we are not like slaves who have no right whatever to enter into the presence of the master; we are not like a crowd whose only glimpse of the king is in the passing on some state occasion. Jesus gave us this intimacy with God, so that he is no longer a distant stranger, but our close friend.

Jesus did not only choose us for a series of tremendous privileges. He called us to be his partners. The slave could never be a partner. He was defined in Greek law as a living tool. His master never opened his mind to him; the slave simply had to do what he was told without reason and without explanation. But Jesus said: “You are not my slaves; you are my partners. I have told you everything; I have told you what I am trying to do, and why I am trying to do it. I have told you everything which God told me.” Jesus has given us the honour of making us partners in his task. He has shared his mind with us, and opened his heart to us. The tremendous choice laid before us is that we can accept or refuse partnership with Christ in the work of leading the world to God.

Jesus chose to be ambassadors. “I have chose you,” he said, “to send you out.” He did not choose us to live a life retired from the world, but to represent him in the world. When a knight came to the court of King Arthur, he did not come to spend the rest of his days in knightly feasting and in knightly fellowship there. He came to the king saying: “Send me out on some great task which I can do for chivalry and for you.” Jesus chose us, first to come in to him, and then to go out to the world. And that must be the daily pattern and rhythm of our lives.

Jesus chose us to be advertisements. He chose us to go out to bear fruit, and to bear fruit which will stand the test of time. The way to spread Christianity is to be Christian. The way to bring others into the Christian faith is to show them the fruit of the Christian life. Jesus sends us out, not to argue men into Christianity, still less to threaten them into it, but to attract them into it; so to live that its fruits may be so wonderful that others will desire them for themselves. [4]

Believers form a bond of “friends,” a spiritual bond founded by Christ Himself. Being a “friend” of Jesus is conditional. A person has to know and do His commandments in order to be a friend. The implication is clear: there is no way to be His friend apart from knowing what He says. It is His Word that tells men about Him. Therefore, a person has to diligently seek to learn His Word and to do what He says in order to know Him and to become His friend.

The point is clear: friends relate and commune with each other, share and respond to the word of each other, rejoicing when the word or conversation is that of joy; and helping when the word or request is that of needing help. They come to each other’s assistance, in both good and bad occasions.

Two men were traveling together, when a bear suddenly met them on their path. One of them climbed up quickly into a tree and concealed himself in the branches. The other, seeing that he must be attacked, fell flat on the ground, and when the bear came up and felt him with his snout, and smelt him all over, he held his breath, and feigned the appearance of death as much as he could.

The bear soon left him, for it is said he will not touch a dead body. When he was quite gone, the other traveler descended from the tree, and jocularly inquired of his friend what it was the bear had whispered in his ear. “He gave me this advice,” his companion replied. “Never travel with a friend who deserts you at the approach of danger.”

Jesus Christ revealed and made known exactly what God told Him. It is the Word of God that gives birth and structure to the bond of “friends.” Our relationship with Him brings substance and purpose. It provides focus as we seek to “work out our salvation” (bring it to maturity) in our daily endeavors. And what is done is for God’s glory, not ours!

When the first World War ended, the King and Queen of Belgium wanted to honor President Herbert Hoover for the aid they had received during the war from the United States. After considering the various honors, the monarch offered Hoover his choice of three decorations. President rejected all of the honors stating: “You have stood at the gateway of civilization and held back the tide of aggression, while we have only shared with you what we had to give. For that one does not ask for honors.” The King and Queen responded, “He is our very great friend.” Desiring to adequately express their appreciation for his efforts, they created a new order to which Hoover alone belonged, “Friend of the Belgian people.”

We need to complete the apostle John’s instruction, because being a ‘friend of Christ’ has obligation and brings opportunity: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit–fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.” (John 15:16)

The supreme purpose of believers is to go and bear fruit. Believers are the chosen and ordained of Christ, and they have been given the very same purpose of Christ Himself: to go into all the world and bear fruit among men. This is one of the great verses of Scripture.

Most of us have many acquaintances but very few friends, and even some of our friends may prove unfriendly or even unfaithful. What about Judas? “Yes, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me” (Ps. 41:9). Even a devoted friend may fail us when we need him most. Peter, James, and John went to sleep in the Garden when they should have been praying; and Peter even denied the Lord three times. Our friendship to each other and to the Lord is not perfect, but His friendship to us is perfect.

One day while he was a fugitive, David was near Bethlehem, his home city, and he longed for a drink of water from the well by the gate. Three of his mighty men were close enough to David to hear his sigh, and they risked their lives to bring their king the water that he wanted (2 Sam. 23:15-17). That is what it means to be a friend of the king.

Believers are not called to be an exclusive club of retirees who have it made and who can go about doing what they want, knowing they are eternally secure. Believers are the ambassadors of Christ in the world. Once they have been saved, their duty—their sole reason for being appointed and left in this world—is to deliver the message of their King.

Loneliness is a growing problem in our society. A study by the American Council of Life Insurance reported that the most lonely group in America are college students. That’s surprising! Next on the list are divorced people, welfare recipients, single mothers, rural students, housewives, and the elderly. To point out how lonely people can be, Charles Swindoll mentioned an ad in a Kansas newspaper. It read, “I will listen to you talk for 30 minutes without comment for $5.00.” Swindoll said, “Sounds like a hoax, doesn’t it? But the person was serious. Did anybody call? You bet. It wasn’t long before this individual was receiving 10 to 20 calls a day. The pain of loneliness was so sharp that some were willing to try anything for a half hour of companionship.”

Vance Packard called us “a nation of strangers.” Louise Bernikow calls loneliness “an American epidemic.” A T & T urges us to “reach out and touch someone.” The television, computer, and bank-teller machine eliminate the need for others. It doesn’t have to be that way!

Paul Simon of Simon & Garfunkle wrote the following lyrics:

Don’t talk of love, I’ve heard the word before; It’s sleeping in my memory of feelings that have died.

I have no need of friendship, friendship causes pain. If I never loved, I never would have cried.

I am a rock; I am an island. I have my books and my poetry to protect me.

Shielded in my armor, Hiding in my room, Deep within my womb,

I touch no one and no one touches me. I am a rock; I am an island.

Maybe Paul’s trouble can be summed up in the little word I.

Unless and until we can live with ourselves, we cannot live with other people. But equally, unless and until we have learnt to live fully and creatively with others we cannot hope to live with ourselves. [5]

An English publication offered a prize for the best definition of a friend. Among the thousands of entries received were the following: “One who multiplies joys, divides grief”; “One who understands our silence”; “A volume of sympathy bound in cloth”; and “A watch which beats true for all time and never runs down.” But the entry which won the prize said, “A friend–the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out.”

Often the most loving thing we can do when a friend is in pain is to share the pain–to be there even when we have nothing to offer except our presence and even when being there is painful to ourselves.

This was pointed out in a poignant way due to funeral recently. A relative of a close friend had passed away suddenly and it was difficult on the family. I wanted to be of comfort but didn’t really know what to say.

I went to the side of the casket with my friend and just stood in silence; words simply were not there. After a few minutes, we moved away and hug, again in silence.

Later, at home, I ‘kicked myself’ for not ‘doing more…saying more, wanting to be a strong support.’

A few days later, a letter came in the mail: “Thanks for being there. I couldn’t have made it without you,” my friend wrote. Sometimes just our caring presence makes the difference!

Mr. Alter’s fifth-grade class at Lake Elementary School in Oceanside, California, included fourteen boys who had no hair. Only one, however, had no choice in the matter. Ian O’Gorman, undergoing chemotherapy for lymphoma, faced the prospect of having his hair fall out in clumps. So he had his head shaved. But then 13 of his classmates shaved their heads, so Ian wouldn’t feel out of place.

“If everybody has his head shaved, sometimes people don’t know who’s who,” said 11-year-old Scott Sebelius in an Associated Press story (March 1994). “They don’t know who has cancer, and who just shaved their head.” Ten-year-old Kyle Hanslik started it all. He talked to some other boys, and before long they all trekked to the barber shop.

“The last thing he would want is to not fit in,” said Kyle. “We just wanted to make him feel better.” Ian’s father, Shawn, choked back tears as he talked about what the boys had done. He said simply, “It’s hard to put words to.” [6]

“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2).

Across the grasslands of East Africa, live some of nature’s most fascinating animals. The rhinoceros, a two-horned terror of tremendous speed, size and agility, is feared by most of the creatures in the wild. Being one of the most dangerous animals in the world, the rhino is avoided by most animals, that is, except the buffalo bird. Watching the rhinoceros in his natural habitat, you would see these birds perched on his back. From time to time, some would be pecking into his back much as a woodpecker would work away at an old tree. Others would be flying about the head of the rhino and still others lighting on his ears and pecking away.

The most amazing thing is that the rhino does not attack, for the two have an understanding. From birth, the rhino has poor eyesight. In addition, his body is covered with parasites which he cannot control. The flock of birds on his back do him a great service by eating these parasites, which are the whole of their diet. If there is any danger in the area, these birds let out a shrill call warning the rhino of what he cannot see.

In return for this service, they are protected from their natural predators by one of Africa’s largest mammals. In a real sense, these two totally different animals of the world kingdom are fulfilling the responsibilities of mutual friendship.

Helen Keller once said, “With the death of every friend I love — a part of me has been buried — but their contribution to my being of happiness, strength and understanding remains to sustain me in an altered world.”

Sam Davis was a Confederate spy executed at Pulaski, Tennessee, for his crime. When captured by the Union army, he had in his possession some papers of vital importance. After examining the case closely, the officers in charge knew he must have had an accomplice in securing the papers. He was court-martialed, led out before the firing squad and blindfolded. Then the officer in charge put forward a proposition: “If you will give us the name of the man who furnished you this information, you may go free.” Sam Davis did not hesitate in his reply, “If I had a thousand lives I would give them all before I would betray a friend.” “Loyalty thou are indeed a gem, seldom found in the hearts of men.” Most of us would be better off if we had a friend like Sam Davis.

It was an unusual occasion in Dallas. The men ranged from early 30’s to 45. Before the price of oil plummeted, a number of them had been making more than $1 million a year. Now they were meeting in a hotel on a retreat. They were discussing perseverance. . . how to survive. . . how to make it. Some were unemployed. Some had lost their homes. Some had lost their businesses. As I recall, one or two had lost their wives. Some were still shocked that a Texas oil economy could plummet. They were talking about what it takes to persevere under such adverse circumstances. One book that came into great discussion by Jim Smith, the leader of the group, was The Friendless American Male. You see, women build a friendship primarily by sharing. But American males primarily build a friendship through activities. When you’re hard pressed, when you begin to doubt your own ability, when you realize that what comes up can also come down, when you’re hurt and on the inside bleeding. . . you need a friend. A SAFE friend. A friend with whom you can share not just the bright side of your life. . . but the dark side of your life. Not just the ups . . . but also the downs. That’s why each man present at this retreat was urged: “If you don’t have one friend, by all means, get one! Try out how safe you are with him. Share a confidence with him. . . see if it gets back to you be repetition. Gradually see how much you can trust him. . . so that you can at least bare your soul with one human being on the face of the earth. Because everyone needs such a friend.”

The king of the comics, as far as I’m concerned, is still Peanuts by Charles Schulz. I love Linus, Lucy, Schroeder, Pigpen, the Little Red-Haired Girl, and Charlie Brown. There’s a ring of reality to their relationships.

One sequence comes to mind. Linus has just written a comic strip of his own, and he wants Lucy’s opinion. In the first frame, he tentatively hands Lucy his comic strip and says, “Lucy, would you read this and tell me if you think it is funny?”

In the next frame, you see Lucy patting her foot, and a little bit of a grin comes across her face. She looks at Linus and says, “Well, Linus, who wrote this?”

Linus with his chest heaved out and a great big grin says, “Lucy, I wrote that.”

In the next frame, you see Lucy wadding it up, throwing it to the side, and saying, “Well, then, I don’t think it’s very funny.”

In the final frame, you see Linus picking up his comic strip, throwing his blanket over his shoulder, looking at Lucy and saying, “Big sisters are the crab grass in the lawn of life.”

We find that humorous. I dare say if you and I thought long and hard enough, we’d remember being the crab grass in the lawn of somebody else’s life. None of us wants to be a loser. None of us wants to be a source of discouragement. And yet, if we’re not careful, we can find ourselves being more pessimistic than optimistic, more discouraging than encouraging. [7]

Insomuch as anyone pushes you nearer to God, he or she is your friend. When Justin Armour was a rookie wide receiver with the Buffalo Bills, some veteran teammates invited him to a preseason party. Justin went, and couldn’t believe what he saw: Gorgeous women everywhere, offering free sex to any of the guys who wanted it.

“It was the most eye-opening experience I’ve ever had,” Justin says. “I had heard about things like this, but I was so naive. I got out of there as fast as I could!”

As a single Christian guy, Justin had committed to saving sex for marriage. To do so, he knows he’s got to run from temptation.

“I’d rather not have my mind polluted by those things. Once you’ve been in a couple situations where’s there’s temptation, you learn how to avoid them and you don’t go back.” Justin also calls his best friend and accountability partner, Steve Stenstrom.

“You need someone to hold you accountable for walking with Christ,” says Justin. “Steve does that for me. He knows everything about my life, good and bad, and there’s nothing he won’t hold me accountable for.” [8]

Henson Towne wrote: Around the corner I have a friend, In this great city that has no end. Yet days go by and weeks rush on, And before I know it a year is gone, And I never see my old friend’s face; For life is a swift and terrible race. He knows I like him just as well as in the days when I rang his bell and he rang mine.

“We were younger then…and now we are busy, tired men…tired with playing a foolish game; tired with trying to make a name. “Tomorrow,” I say, “I will call on Jim, just to show that I’m thinking of him. But tomorrow comes — and tomorrow goes; and the distance between us grows and grows. Around the corner! — yet miles away… “here’s a telegram, sir.” “Jim died today.” And that’s what we get — and deserve in the end — around the corner; a vanished friend.”

As the movie Brian’s Song poignantly depicted, the friendship between Gale Sayers and Brian Piccolo deepened into one of the best relationships in the history of sports.

Then, during the 1969 season, Piccolo was cut down with cancer. He fought to play the season out, but he was in hospitals more than he was in the games. Gale Sayers flew to be beside him as often as possible.

They had planned, with their wives, to sit together at the Professional Football Writers annual dinner in New York, where Sayers was to be given the George S. Halas Award as the most courageous player in pro football. But instead Pick was confined to his bed at home. As he stood to receive the award, tears sprang to Sayer’s eyes. The ordinarily laconic black athlete had this to say as he took the trophy:

“You flatter me by giving me this award, but I tell you here and now that I accept it for Brian Piccolo. Brian Piccolo is the man of courage who should receive the George S. Halas Award. I love Brian Piccolo and I’d like you to love him. Tonight, when you hit your knees, please ask God to love him too.”

“I love Brian Piccolo.” How often do we hear men say words such as those? But how much more enriched our lives could be if we dared to declare our affection as Sayers did that night in New York.

Alan Loy McGinnis relates the following: “In my hometown an obscure nurseryman died recently. His name was Hubert Bales, and he was the shyest man I ever met. When he talked, he squirmed, blinked his eyes rapidly, and smiled nervously. Hubert never ran in influential circles. He grew shrubs and trees, working with his hands the plot of land left by his father. He was anything but an extrovert.

“Yet when Hubert died, his funeral was the largest in the history of our little town. There were so many people that they filled even the balcony of the church. Why did such a shy man win the hearts of so many people? Simply because, for all his shyness, Hubert knew how to make friends. He had mastered the principles of caring, and for more than 60 years he had put people first. Perhaps because they recognized that his generosity of spirit was an extra effort for someone so retiring, people loved him back. By the hundreds.”

Henry Penn, former president of the Society of American Florists, tells what he calls one of the most memorable incidents of his life as a florist. One day two boys and a girl about ten years of age made a visit to his store. They wore ragged clothes, but had clean faces and hands. The boys took off their caps when they entered the shop. One of them stepped forward and said solemnly, “We’re the committee and we’d like some very nice yellow flowers.”

Penn showed them some inexpensive spring flowers but the boy said, “I think we’d like something better than that.”

“Do they have to be yellow?” asked Penn.

“Yes, sir,” was the reply.

“Mickey would like even better if they were yellow because he had a yellow sweater.”

“Are these for a funeral?” the florist asked quietly.

The boy nodded. The girl turned to keep back the tears.

“She’s his sister,” the boy explained. “he was a good kid — a truck — yesterday — he was playing in the street. We saw it happen.”

Then the other boy added, “Us kids took up a collection. We got eighteen cents. Would roses cost an awful lot, Mister? Yellow roses?”

Touched by the story of the tragedy and the loyalty and love of these youngsters, Penn replied, “I have some nice yellow roses here that I’m selling for eighteen cents a dozen.”

“Gee, those would be swell!” exclaimed one of the boys.

“Mickey would like those,” the other one confirmed.

“I’ll make up a nice spray,” promised the sympathetic florist, “with ferns and a ribbon. Where shall I send them?”

“Would it be all right, Mister, if we took ’em now?” asked one of the boys.

“We’d kinda like to take ’em over and give ’em to Mickey ourselves. He’d like it better that way.”

Penn accepted the eighteen cents. The “committee” carrying the kind of flowers “Mickey would like” walked out of the shop. Said Penn, “I felt uplifted for days. Unbeknownst to them, I had a part in their tribute to their friend.”

As Terry says often, “the best vitamin for making friends: B1.”

ten commandments of friendship

1. Speak to people — there is nothing as nice as a cheerful word of greeting.

2. Smile at people — it takes 72 muscles to frown, but only 14 to smile!

3. Call people by name — the sweetest music to anyone’s ear is the sound of their own name.

4. Be friendly and helpful — if you would have friends, be friendly.

5. Be cordial — speak and act as if everything you do were a real pleasure.

6. Be genuinely interested in people — you can like everyone IF YOU TRY.

7. Be generous with praise; cautious with criticism.

8. Be considerate of the feelings of others — it will be appreciated.

9. Be thoughtful of the opinions of others.

10. Be alert to give service — what counts most in life is what we do for others!

David Letterman’s Top 10 Signs You Have No Friends

1. No calls from salespeople pushing MCI’s “Friends and Family” plan.

2. You go to a video store and say out loud to yourself, “Well, what do you want to rent tonight?”

3. You send birthday cards to members of “The McLaughlin Group.”

4. You are one of the five best solitaire players in the world.

5. Your initials are G.S., and you own a Major League baseball team in the Bronx.

6. At your funeral, the entire eulogy is, “Yep, he’s dead.”

7. Having a Super Bowl party means dressing up your dogs and tying then to the furniture.

8. James Taylor sings the first bars of “You’ve Got a Friend,” notices you in the audience and stops.

9. You’re still drinking from the same keg you bought on New Year’s Eve 1987.

10. All your phone calls start with “900.” [9]

—————————————————————-

[1] Associated Press, 9/4/90

[2] The English poet and novelist, Dinah Craik

[3] Charles R. Swindoll, Hope Again, (Word, 1996), p. 121.

[4] Ibid, William Barclay.

[5] Esther de Waal in Living with Contradiction: Reflections on The Rule of St. Benedict. Christianity Today, Vol. 40, no. 8.

[6] Sherman L. Burford, Fairmont, West Virginia. Leadership, Vol. 15, no. 3.

[7] Rod Cooper, “The Kiss of Encouragement,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 141.

[8] Mark Moring; Men of Integrity, Vol. 1, no. 1.

[9] Late Show With David Letterman,” CBS, Reader’s Digest, January 1996, p. 82.

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Posted by Gary Davenport on September 30, 2014 in Family

Errors of Hierarchical Discipleship

27 Sep

A study of Crossroadism, the Boston Movement, and the ‘International Church of Christ’

The doctrines and practices under discussion did not originate among churches of Christ. The Boston/Crossroads movement is merely a spin-off of a larger movement in the denominational world, based on a doctrine of discipleship which results in an authoritarian pyramid form of leadership.

Historically, the hierarchical discipleship movement may be the most revolutionary religious development of the twentieth century. This
dynamic movement is influencing denominations and religious bodies around the world.

It is comparable to the Methodist Movement of the eighteenth century.
Points in common are an emphasis on methodic routine in personal
devotion, militant evangelistic zeal, authoritarian hierarchical
organization, the forming of close-knit cells, and the direct involvement
of all members in evangelism.

Hierarchical discipleship is extremely versatile. It can be applied in
virtually any church or evangelistic organization. Being based on private
personal relationships, it can be introduced by stealth.

Although the movement began among denominational churches, it has spread
to churches of Christ in various forms. The Boston/Crossroads Movement is
not the only form this movement takes in our brotherhood. Some of the
same errors are also being promoted through ‘church growth’ and ‘soul
winning’ workshops and seminars.

The following questions will be discussed:
A. Why does God allow false teachers in the church?
B. What is the doctrinal foundation of this movement?
C. How were these ideas introduced among churches of Christ?
D. May we have a hierarchy?
E. What are the basic fallacies of pyramid discipleship?
F. How should we treat people in this movement?

WHY DOES GOD ALLOW FALSE TEACHERS IN THE CHURCH?
Jesus said many false prophets would arise and lead many astray (Matt.
24:11). He also told us how to recognize them. Here are some
characteristics of false teachers mentioned in the New Testament.

Matthew 7:15-23
They appear righteous outwardly but bear evil fruits.
They say ‘Lord, Lord’ but do not do the will of God.
They think their ‘mighty works’ in the name of Christ prove that they are
acceptable to God, but in reality they are evildoers.

Matthew 20:25-28
They lord it over others and exercise authority over them like the rulers
of the Gentiles.

Matthew 23:1-10
They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders.
They do their deeds to be seen by men.
They love being called Rabbi by men.
They set themselves up as masters and fathers.

Matthew 24:24
They try to deceive the elect.

Romans 16:17,18
They cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which has been
taught.
They do not serve the Lord, but their own appetites.
They use fair and flattering words to deceive the hearts of the
simple-minded.

2 Corinthians 11:3,4,13-15
They preach another Jesus and have a different spirit.
They preach a different gospel.
They are deceitful workmen disguising themselves as apostles of Christ
and as servants of righteousness.

Galatians 1:6-9
They pervert the gospel of Christ and preach a gospel which is different
than the original gospel.

Galatians 2:3,4
They are false brethren who would take away our freedom and bring us into
bondage.

Colossians 2:4,8,16-22
They deceive people with persuasive words.
They cheat people through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human
tradition, according to the basic principles of the world.
They try to bind the old law on Christians.
They delight in false humility.
They are puffed up by their carnal thinking.
The regulations they make, according to commandments and doctrines of
men, have an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-centred religion,
false humility and neglect of the body, but actually are worthless.

2 Thessalonians 2:5-12
They use wicked deception.
They do not love the truth.

1 Timothy 1:3-11
They teach a different doctrine.
They desire to be teachers of the law without understanding either what
they are saying or the things about which they make assertions.

1 Timothy 4:1-4
They are hypocritical liars whose consciences are seared.

1 Timothy 6:3-5
They teach things which do not agree with the sound words of our Lord
Jesus Christ and the teaching which accords with godliness.
They are puffed up with conceit.
They are depraved in mind and destitute of the truth.

2 Timothy 4:3,4
They teach myths contrary to sound doctrine.

Titus 1:10-14
They are insubordinate men, empty talkers, and deceivers.
They teach myths and commands of men.

Hebrews 13:9
They bring diverse and strange teachings.

2 Peter 3:16,17
They twist the Scriptures to their own destruction.

2 John 7-11
They are deceivers.
They go ahead and do not abide in the doctrine of Christ.
They bring a different doctrine.

3 John 9,10
They like to have the preeminence.
They resist apostolic authority.

Jude 3,4
They do not proclaim the faith which was once for all delivered to the
saints.

Paul wrote that false teachers would arise both from without and from
within: “For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come
in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will
rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after
themselves” (Acts 20:29,30).

Peter gave the same warning: “But there were also false prophets among
the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will
secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought
them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow
their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be
blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words”
(2 Peter 2:1-3).

Jesus said it would happen. Paul said it would happen. Peter said it
would happen. So it shouldn’t surprise us when it does!

Actually, God uses false teachers to test us: “If there arises among you
a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder,
and the sign or the wonder of which he spoke to you comes to pass,
saying, ‘Let us go after other gods which you have not known, and let us
serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that
dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether
you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul”
(Deut. 13:1-3).

Do you really love God? If you don’t, some false teacher will lead you
astray. Do you love the truth? If you don’t, God will send you a delusion
that you might believe a lie (2 Thes. 2:11).

People who love God are people who seek God and heed the Word of God
rather than the word of man: “And when they say to you, ‘Seek those who
are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,’ should not a people
seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? To the
law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it
is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:19,20). In the New
Testament Peter gives the same charge: “If anyone speaks, let him speak
as the oracles of God” (1 Peter 4:11).

THESE TWO VERSES ARE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. WRITE THEM DOWN (Isaiah
8:19,20; 1 Peter 4:11). WRITE THEM ON YOUR HEART. LET YOUR MOUTH BE
GUIDED BY THEM. “If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God.”
“To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this
word, it is because there is no light in them.”

Not only do these verses tell us to SPEAK according to the Word of God,
but also to KEEP QUIET otherwise.

This world is full of teachers who darken counsel by words without
knowledge because there is no light in them.

Listen carefully to the following quotation. A series of articles
entitled ‘Progressive Revelation’ appeared in the bulletin of the ‘Boston
Church of Christ’ from May 1st through June 5th, 1988. This is from Part
II which was published on May 8th. I quote: “Any religious group which
strongly emphasizes doctrinal accuracy runs a risk of losing perspective
and losing God. Historically, the churches of Christ have been noted for
such an emphasis. One of the mottos in the early Restoration Movement
was, ‘We speak where the Bible speaks and are silent where the Bible is
silent.’ If the Bible did not specifically authorize a given practice, it
was viewed with suspicion.

“This approach has led to a type of blind traditionalism because it has
essentially ruled out the idea that God will progressively lead His
church by granting new insights and applications. An insistence that we
must have ‘book, chapter and verse’ for anything new has virtually
guaranteed that we will have nothing new, even if the old is a failure.
Without a strong conviction that God is ACTIVELY leading His people both
individually and collectively, we are doomed to a stale, dying religion.

“A better motto for disciples who are ‘progressive’ (into making
progress) would be the following: ‘Where the Bible speaks, we are silent;
where the Bible is silent, we speak.’ Thus, if God has specified
something, we shut up and submit. But if He has not, then we have the
freedom to discover the most effective way to carry out His principles.
Success is of God. If He is truly leading us, we will not be
unsuccessful. PERIOD!” End of quotation.

Now what do you think of that? Where the Bible speaks, they are silent.
Where the Bible is silent, they speak. I rather prefer Peter’s motto:
“If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God” (1 Peter 4:11).
Or, as God said through Jeremiah: “He who has My word, let him speak My
word faithfully” (Jeremiah 23:28). God’s word is like a hammer that
breaks the rock in pieces (Jer. 23:29). Let us put this movement under
the hammer of God’s word. If they do not speak according to this word, it
is because there is no light in them.

I wish to make clear that my main purpose is not to be AGAINST certain
false teachers. My main purpose is to be FOR God and His Son, Jesus
Christ. Because I am FOR the truth, however, I must be AGAINST error.
Yet, it’s not enough to be against some error. I know brethren who are
strongly opposed to Crossroadism, who themselves do and teach things
which are just as bad, if not worse! The world is full of false teachers
and the church has its fair share. We must be able to recognize and avoid
ALL of them. The only way we can do this is to really KNOW THE TRUTH.

Search the Scriptures daily (Acts 17:11). Buy the truth and do not sell
it (Proverbs 23:23). “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not
on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). I plead with you. Your eternal
salvation depends upon it.

Jesus tells us: “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.
And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John
8:31,32). If we don’t ‘strongly emphasize doctrinal accuracy’ we cannot
be disciples of Christ. PERIOD.

We have already learned that false teachers are to be expected among us,
that God allows this to test us to see if we love Him, and that false
teachers can be recognized because they do not speak according to the
Word of God.

WHAT IS THE DOCTRINAL FOUNDATION OF THIS MOVEMENT?
This movement is based on the thesis that Christ’s master/disciple
relationship with the twelve apostles is a pattern to be followed in
making, training and leading disciples today. According to this doctrine,
a true disciple of Christ will make other disciples who learn to follow
Christ by following him in an authoritarian teacher/student relationship.
This training includes teaching new disciples how to make other
disciples, and how to train and lead them in the same way. A chain of
these master/disciple relationships results in a pyramid.

Fundamental Error of the Movement
The fundamental error of the master/disciple movement is that Jesus
TRAINING HIS APOSTLES is used as a pattern for MAKING DISCIPLES, whereas
these are entirely different matters. Jesus made many disciples, not
just twelve. In Luke 6:17 we read of “a crowd of His disciples.”
According to Luke 19:37 “the whole multitude of the disciples began to
rejoice and praise God.”

From among His many disciples, Jesus chose twelve to commission and train
as APOSTLES: “And when it was day, He called His disciples to Him; and
from them He chose twelve, whom He also named apostles” (Luke 6:13). The
apostles occupy a unique position in the foundation of the church (Eph.
2:20; Rev. 21:14). The example of their being chosen, trained and
commissioned had no other equivalent in the first century and has no
equivalent in the church today.

What is a Disciple?
A disciple is a learner and a follower of the teachings of a master. The
word is used in various contexts in the New Testament. Not only Jesus,
but also John the Baptist and the Pharisees had disciples (Mark 2:18).

In a more restricted sense, the word is used as a designation for the
twelve apostles (Matt. 10:1,2). To avoid misapplication one must
determine from the context whether reference is being made to the twelve,
or to Jesus’ disciples in general. (For example, compare Matthew 19:23
with 19:28; Mark 6:35,45 with 6:7,30 and Mark 11:14 with 11:11.) Many of
the doctrinal errors of the authoritarian discipleship movement result
from a failure to observe this distinction.

In Acts 6:1,2 the church is spoken of as the multitude of the disciples.
At Antioch the disciples were for the first time called Christians (Acts
11:26). In other words, a Christian is a disciple of Christ.

In a more general sense, some people are called disciples in Acts 19:1-3
when they knew only the baptism of John and had not yet been baptized in
the name of Christ.

Incorrect Definition
Advocates of pyramid discipleship use an incorrect definition for the
word ‘disciple.’ They define a disciple as a Christian who is trained
through a subordinate relationship with another Christian. This
unscriptural definition results from an incorrect concept of how one
becomes a disciple of Christ.

‘Disciple’ as a Verb
Most advocates of hierarchical discipleship like to use the word
‘disciple’ as a verb. When they speak of ‘discipling someone to Christ’
they don’t refer to preaching the gospel so someone can become a
disciple. They refer to a period of training under the leadership of one
person.

Kip McKean of the Boston Church of Christ believes that a Christian
should ‘get discipled’ by some more mature Christian. In a lesson
entitled: ‘The Saints in the Kingdom of Light’ presented in England at
the 1984 ‘United Kingdom Missions Conference’ of the Central London
Church of Christ he indicated that it takes at least three years to
disciple a Christian to Christ. He also said the following: “Get
discipled by men. Most of you have discipling relationships. Some of you
don’t. You need to find them. It’s Biblically commanded. How could you
not have them? If you have them, get open. Like Moab say, ‘I’m just here
to learn.’ Get humble. Get submissive. Get loyal and learn. You’ve got
great people to learn from.”

“And I make it clear with the people I’m discipleship partners with, that
that’s the purpose of our relationship. I verbally say that: ‘I’m going
to disciple you to Christ,’ so the relationship is defined just like
Jesus defined it when He said, ‘Come follow me, and I’ll make you fishers
of men.’ They know what relationship they’re getting themselves into. And
if Jesus had to say it, don’t you think we have to say it? I think so.”

“You must have a discipling relationship with another man who is older in
the Lord to be able to help you become a strong Christian.” (These
quotations are from a cassette recording distributed by the Crossroads
Tape Ministry, Gainesville, Florida).

This idea of discipling a Christian to Christ is foreign to the New
Testament. In Greek there is a verb form of the word ‘disciple’ which is
found four times in the New Testament (Matt. 13:52; 27:57; 28:19; Acts
14:21). In the first two passages it is intransitive and means to be or
to become a disciple. In Matthew 28:19 and in Acts 14:21 the word is
transitive and means to make disciples.

On what do they base their definition of ‘discipling’ as one Christian
shepherding another Christian to maturity? Sometimes an appeal is made
to Ephesians 4:11-13 which teaches that a Christian is to grow to
maturity in the body of Christ. But that process is not called
‘discipling’ and nothing is said about a master/disciple relationship.
Another passage used is Luke 6:40. “A disciple is not above his teacher,
but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.”
Actually, this passage proves their definition to be incorrect. Must one
be perfectly taught before he is ‘discipled’ to Christ? Is being
perfectly taught something one can attain during a three-year crash
course under some other disciple? Or is this a goal for a lifetime of
learning from Christ? And WHO is the ‘teacher’ in this verse? Some other
disciple or Christ?
Their wrong definition changes the goal into the prerequisite. There are
hundreds of disciples of Christ for whom I have great respect. But I have
yet to meet one who is already ‘fully taught.’ Becoming fully taught to
be like Christ is the goal of discipleship, not the prerequisite.
How Does One Become a Disciple of Christ?
People became disciples of John the Baptist and of Christ during His
earthly ministry by repenting and being baptized. At that time the
message of both was: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”
(Matt. 3:2; 4:17). They who refused to be baptized “rejected the counsel
of God” (Luke 7:30). Jesus left Judea when the Pharisees heard that He
“made and baptized more disciples than John” (John 4:1).
Before returning to the Father He commanded His followers: “Go into all
the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is
baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:15,16). In the wording of Matthew
28:19,20 they were told: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have
commanded you.”

It has been argued that since ‘make disciples’ (second person plural
aorist imperative active) is the main verb of the sentence and ‘going,’
‘baptizing’ and ‘teaching’ are participles, discipling includes both
baptizing and teaching to observe all things.

Whom are we to disciple? All the nations. Nations (accusative) is the
direct object of the verb ‘disciple.’ If ‘disciple’ as a verb means what
advocates of authoritarian discipleship claim, is it possible to disciple
a nation? Of course not. In most versions this verb is correctly
translated ‘to make disciples of.’ Then it makes sense. ‘Make disciples
of all the nations.’ That is possible.
Whom are we to baptize and teach to observe all things? Is it possible to
baptize a nation? Greek pronouns usually agree in gender with their
antecedent. ‘Nations’ is neuter; ‘them’ in verses 19 and 20 is masculine.
It is to be understood — as is stated in Mark — that only those who
believe are to be baptized. “He who believes and is baptized will be
saved” (Mark 16:16). And whom are you going to teach to observe all
things? One who doesn’t believe? One who refuses to be baptized? Or one
who has believed, has been baptized, and has been made a disciple? You
are not going to make much progress teaching someone to observe all
things until AFTER he has become a disciple!

Disciples ARE to be taught to observe all that their Master has
commanded. They ARE to grow to maturity in Christ. But this is not called
‘discipling’ in the New Testament. And the above passages certainly say
nothing about becoming the disciple of someone OTHER THAN CHRIST.
The way to make disciples is to preach the gospel. “When they had
preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned
to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples”
(Acts 14:21,22). A subordinate relationship with some other disciple is
not required in ‘making disciples’ or ‘discipling’ (the verb form is used
in this passage).

“And the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied
greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to
the faith” (Acts 6:7). When someone believes the gospel and is obedient
to the faith by repenting and being baptized he becomes a disciple of
Christ (Mark 16:16; Matt. 28:19; Acts 2:38; 6:7).

What were the results of Peter’s sermon on Pentecost? “Then those who
gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand
souls were added to them” (Acts 2:41).

In the New Testament, people became disciples by being obedient to the
faith, not by being trained in a subordinate relationship with some other
disciple.
Disciples were called Christians (Acts 11:26). One becomes a disciple of
Christ in exactly the same way one becomes a Christian. As a disciple
(learner) he will continue to grow and become more like Christ (Eph.
4:11-16).

According to the hierarchical discipleship movement one becomes a
disciple through authoritarian training under some more mature disciple.
According to the Scriptures one becomes a disciple by being baptized into
Christ. As a disciple, he grows to maturity in the body of Christ.

One Error Leads to Another
The fundamental error made by advocates of pyramid discipleship is to use
the example of Christ training His APOSTLES as a pattern for MAKING
DISCIPLES, whereas these are different matters entirely. This results not
only in a wrong idea as to how one becomes a disciple, but also in an
incorrect definition of a disciple. Other errors branch out from these
roots.

May Christians Have Disciples?
May we follow Christ’s example and train others by means of a
teacher/disciple relationship patterned after the relationship Jesus had
with His apostles?

We may not follow Christ’s example in everything. Christ is the Head of
the church. May we follow His example in this? (The Pope does!)
Adventists say we should follow Christ’s example and keep the Sabbath.

Neither may we follow the example of the apostles in everything. They
imparted the Holy Spirit by the laying-on of hands (Acts 8:18). May we
follow this example? (Catholic bishops and Pentecostals do!)

May we follow Christ’s example and teach others the same way He taught
His apostles? No, Jesus has EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN IT. “But you, do not be
called, ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all
brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your
Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called teachers, for One is
your Teacher, the Christ” (Matt. 23:8-10).

Both Jesus and John the Baptist were called Rabbi by their disciples
(John 9:2; 3:26). A Rabbi was a teacher who had a master/disciple
relationship with his students. According to the usual practice,
disciples might eventually become Rabbis themselves and have disciples of
their own.
Jesus tells His disciples, however, that they are not to be called Rabbi.
They would always remain disciples. He is the only Rabbi and His
disciples are all brethren.

When Jesus says we have but ONE teacher, it is the same word used in
other places to describe Christian teachers (Acts 13:1; 1 Cor. 12:28-30;
Eph. 4:11-16). What is the difference between what is allowed and what is
not allowed?

The word ‘Rabbi’ qualifies the meaning of the word ‘teacher’ in Matthew
23:8. We may have teachers in the church, but not Rabbis. In other words,
Christian teachers may not have disciples. WHAT JESUS FORBIDS IS AN
ORGANIZATIONAL TEACHER/STUDENT RELATIONSHIP AMONG HIS FOLLOWERS. And this
is exactly what is advocated in the authoritarian discipleship movement!

Jesus is our only Master Teacher. Teachers in the church may not have an
organizational position ABOVE the ones they teach. We are all brethren.

The word used in Matthew 23:10 for ‘teachers’ (also translated ‘masters’
or ‘leaders’) is not the usual word for ‘teacher,’ ‘master’ or ‘leader’
but is a word which is found only in this verse. It means a ‘guide
teacher.’

Members of the Orthodox Church are encouraged to find a ‘spiritual
director’ to help them grow. The concept is similar. Christ, however, has
provided evangelists, pastors and teachers to build up the body (Eph.
4:11). We are not to accept one certain person as our ‘guide teacher’ or
‘spiritual director’ to help us grow. Christ is our spiritual director,
no one else!

We may have teachers in the church, but not Rabbis or spiritual
directors. Teacher/disciple relationships have been forbidden by Christ.

May We Call a Brother ‘My Disciple’?
It is common in the authoritarian discipleship movement for one person to
refer to those he is training as ‘my disciples.’ Kip McKean stated at the
1984 ‘United Kingdom Missions Conference’ in London: “You must fall in
love with your disciple, that you are discipling to Christ.”

Jesus refers to His followers as ‘My disciples.’ In the New Testament no
Christian ever calls another Christian ‘my disciple.’

With reference to Paul we read in Acts 9:25, “Then the disciples took him
by night and let him down through the wall in a large basket.” One finds
‘his disciples’ instead of ‘the disciples’ in many modern translations.
These versions are based on certain manuscripts from the 4th and 5th
centuries which differ greatly from the majority of manuscripts. Not only
in the Received Text, but also in the ancient translations (Vulgate,
Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopic and Armenian) one finds ‘the disciples.’

It is beyond the scope of this lecture to discuss the relative merits of
manuscripts. We might ask however: Is it safe to base a practice on a
reading not found in most manuscripts? If ‘his disciples’ is correct,
then this is the only place in the New Testament where the word
‘disciple’ is used to describe a relationship between two Christians.

Even then we would have to bear in mind that Paul was an INSPIRED APOSTLE
(Acts 22:15; 26:16-18; 1 Tim. 2:7; 2 Tim. 1:11). Because we continue in
the apostles’ doctrine (Acts 2:42) there is a limited sense in which we
also might be called disciples of Paul. (See John 9:28 where the Jews
refer to themselves as disciples of Moses.) Since we are NOT inspired
apostles, however, even if Paul did have disciples, that would not
authorize us to have disciples.
As mentioned above, a common error of sectarians is to apply passages to
themselves which refer to the exclusive office of Christ or His apostles.

Paul warned against those who would try to make CHRIST’S disciples into
THEIR disciples: “For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves
will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves
men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples
after themselves” (Acts 20:29,30).

May One Christian Exalt Himself Above Another?
Jesus said, “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his
master. It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a
servant like his master” (Matt. 10:24,25).

According to Philippians 2:3 we are to be humble and to esteem others
better than ourselves. If you call a fellow Christian ‘my disciple’ you
are exalting yourself above your brother. If he is YOUR disciple then you
are HIS TEACHER in a way which violates Matthew 23:8-10.
Jesus also said, “It is enough for a disciple that he be like his
teacher” (Matt. 10:25). Is it enough for you to be like some other
Christian? Certainly not. That would be coming far short of being like
Christ. We have but one Teacher and we are all brethren. When we make
disciples, we are to make disciples of Christ, not disciples of men.

The Meaning of ‘My Son in the Faith’
It is argued that the biblical expression ‘my son in the faith’ is
equivalent to ‘my disciple.’ What Paul means when he refers to Timothy as
‘my true son in the faith’ (1 Tim. 1:2) is clarified in 1 Corinthians
4:15-17. “For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ,
yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you
through the gospel. Therefore I urge you, imitate me. For this reason I
have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord,
who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every
church.” (See also Philemon 10 where Paul speaks of Onesimus as his son,
begotten during his imprisonment.)

The Corinthians were Paul’s children in the faith because he had begotten
them through his PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL. Others had helped them grow
after they became Christians. They had MANY INSTRUCTORS (not just one).
Paul’s expression ‘son in the Lord’ does not involve a Rabbi/disciple
relationship.

When someone responds to our preaching and becomes a child of God we are
in a sense that person’s “father” in the faith and he is our “child.” It
is also true that those who become Christians learn much by imitating the
faith of their teachers. But nothing indicates that a Christian is the
disciple of the one who taught him.

These passages must be understood in the light of the command of Christ:
“But you, do not be called, ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ,
and you are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for
One is your Father, He who is in heaven” (Matt. 23:8,9).

What then is the difference between calling someone ‘my son in the faith’
and calling him ‘my disciple’? Simply this: The first expression, if
understood correctly, is Biblical and the second is not. I say ‘if
understood correctly’ because one could easily use these Biblical words
with a meaning different than Paul’s meaning. In the Catholic and the
Orthodox Church this passage is quoted to justify calling a priest
‘Father’! If you ‘beget’ someone by sowing the seed of the gospel (the
Word of God) in his heart then he is your child in the faith. But that
does not make you his master teacher. If he became YOUR disciple,
something was sown other than the Word of God. The Word of God produces
disciples of Christ.

Paul and Timothy
Some have argued that the training of Christians in a teacher/disciple
relationship is no different than the situation where young evangelists
work with more experienced preachers as Timothy and others worked with
Paul.

There is a great difference, however, between being the disciple of
someone and working with someone.

Timothy was already a disciple and was “well spoken of by the brethren”
before Paul invited him to accompany him (Acts 16:1-3). Paul’s purpose
was NOT to ‘disciple him to Christ.’ He refers to Timothy as his fellow
worker (Rom. 16:21) and his helper (Acts 19:22). He also calls him “our
brother and minister of God, and our fellow labourer in the gospel of
Christ” (1 Thes. 3:2). Timothy was Paul’s fellow worker, not his
disciple.

Paul uses similar terms for others who accompanied him. He calls Titus
his partner and fellow worker (2 Cor. 8:23). He refers to Philemon (whom
he had taught the gospel) as his fellow labourer (Philemon 1). Clement,
Aristarchus, John Mark, Justus, Demas, and Luke are all called fellow
workers (Phil. 4:3; Col. 4:10,11; Philemon 24).

A close personal tie developed between Paul and Timothy during their many
years of service together. Of him Paul wrote: “You know his proven
character, that as a son with his father he served with me in the gospel”
(Phil. 2:22). This resulted from their personal association, not from a
hierarchical form of leadership.

If a master/disciple relationship developed between an experienced
preacher and a young evangelist, that would be wrong. Some have also
tried to justify a teacher/disciple relationship by the example of Paul’s
letters to Timothy and Titus. But these are inspired letters from an
apostle! Expressions of Paul’s apostolic authority cannot serve as
examples for US to follow!

Was Paul a Disciple of Barnabas?
In an attempt to fabricate a hierarchical chain of discipleship in the
New Testament, many writers in this movement state that Paul was a
disciple of Barnabas.

This has no Biblical basis whatever. Paul was NOT a disciple of Barnabas.
The passages which tell of Paul’s associations with Barnabas do not
indicate that there was a master/disciple relationship between them. In
the early years of Paul’s ministry he was with Barnabas no more than two
weeks! (See Galatians 1:11-24 and Acts 9:26-30.) What Paul writes in the
first two chapters of Galatians indicates that he was a disciple of
Christ and of no one else!

Who is Your Spiritual Father?
“You are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One
is your Father, He who is in heaven” (Matt. 23:8,9).

In London, Kip McKean spoke about ‘spiritual fathers.’
“Yes, we need to be brothers. But sometimes we’re afraid of adopting the
pattern of the Bible and being a father in the gospel to someone, because
being a father is so much responsibility.”
“You know, I think that one of the things that I saw falling short as an
earthly parent that I see falling short with a lot of brothers as
spiritual fathers is that they don’t urge their brothers. There’s not a
hard-line discipline. And you can be buddy-buddy all you want, but being
buddy-buddy doesn’t change people’s lives. When you lay it out, when
you’re hard-line, then things change.”
“And when that man, that father in the faith, is hard-line it makes a
difference in their lives.”
(Cassette recording: ‘Saints in the Kingdom of Light.’)

In this lesson Kip McKean teaches that each Christian should have a more
mature brother as his spiritual father to disciple him to Christ using
hard-line discipline. Can we be true disciples of Christ while accepting
someone other than God as our spiritual father and someone other than
Christ as our teacher?

Certainly not. We would be trampling under foot the words of our Lord:
“But you, do not be called, ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ,
and you are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for
One is your Father, He who is in heaven” (Matt. 23:8,9).

May We Be Followers of Men?
Although not affiliated with Boston, Milton Jones wrote a book entitled
‘Discipling: the Multiplying Ministry’ (1982, Star Bible & Tract Corp.,
Ft. Worth, Texas) which advocates these same ideas. In it he complains
that most Christians today would be hesitant to say, ‘Be followers of
me.’ He admits that some would even consider such to be blasphemy (Page
34).

It sounds like blasphemy to me. In an attempt to justify his statement he
quotes two verses in which Paul says, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate
Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1; 4:16). He also quotes from Hebrews where it is
stated that we are to imitate the faith of our leaders (Heb. 13:7). I try
to imitate the faith of fellow Christians. I think of J.C.Bailey (who
first went to India to preach when he was 59 and who after almost 30
years is still doing what he can) as one who has a great faith worthy of
imitation. But we may not be disciples of J.C.Bailey! That is a
completely different matter. Following men has been the cause of apostacy
down through the ages.

Man-Made Rules and Regulations
In the authoritarian discipleship movement rules and regulations are
enforced which admittedly are not found in the Scriptures. It is argued
that extra-Biblical rules and regulations are necessary to keep
inexperienced Christians from going astray.

Robert Nelson in his book ‘Understanding the Crossroads Controversy’
(1981, Robert Nelson, Gainesville, Florida) gives these man-made rules
the strange name of ‘Bible principle rules’ (page 84). In the appendix he
compares them to the rules and regulations of Christian colleges (Ap
I-1). In so doing he reveals the error of his thinking.

A Christian college is a human institution and as such may have human
regulations. No one is obligated to attend a certain school. If he
doesn’t like its regulations, he may chose a school with rules more to
his liking.

The church of Christ, however, is a divine institution and no one but God
may make rules for its members. The question is not whether certain rules
are good or bad, but whether men have the right to make rules for God’s
church.

One of the first doctrinal problems in the church was an attempt by
Jewish false teachers to bind things which God had not bound. The saints
at Colossae had allowed false teachers who used “philosophy and empty
deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic
principles of the world, and not according to Christ” (Col. 2:8) to
persuade them to follow man-made rules and regulations. Paul rebuked
them: “If you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world,
why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to
regulations — ‘Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,’ which all
concern things which perish with the using — according to the
commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance
of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the
body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh” (Col.
2:20-23).

Human rules and regulations may have an APPEARANCE OF WISDOM, but
actually they are worthless. They are not an expression of spirituality,
but of worldliness!

This form of worldliness has been a popular heresy in every age. The
world is run on the basis of human authority and outward regulations. It
HAS to be, because an outward rule is the only thing men can ENFORCE. But
the kingdom of God is different. It is not based on law enforcement.
The New Covenant is written on the heart.

I recently had the privilege of baptizing a man who left the Jehovah’s
Witnesses 12 years ago. He said he knew something was wrong with them
because he didn’t have the liberty Jesus promised those who know the
truth.

Christian leaders violate the liberty of Christ when they impose man-make
regulations on the flock, rather than teaching them to observe the things
which CHRIST has commanded.
A rule-maker always tries to justify his little regulations on the basis
of the principles they are SUPPOSED to advance.

Bible study and prayer are necessary for growth in Christ. Instead of
teaching and exhorting the brethren to study the Word and to pray without
ceasing, the rule-maker comes up with a neat little package called ‘quiet
time.’ Someone who has had his ‘quite time’ every day can feel really
religious. But shame on you if you missed a couple of days this week. The
sons of God are treated like children in a kindergarten who are told to
lay their heads on their desks for five minutes. Instead of encouraging
fellowship, the rule-maker comes up with “brother’s keepers.”
Neo-methodism is extremely influential in current religious thought, no
doubt as a reaction to indifference. When you beg people to do what is
right and they won’t listen, it is tempting to try to MAKE them do what
is right. This tendency is affecting the church adversely, not only in
the Crossroads/Boston apostasy, but also in the name of Mission Methods,
Church Growth Methods, Church Organization Methods and Devotional
Methods.

Methodism always goes hand in hand with authoritarianism. When you start
making rules, someone must ENFORCE them. Otherwise they don’t work. This
approach appeals to worldly people because it makes them feel so
righteous and it gets fast visible (though superficial) results. Also,
interestingly enough, it is especially appealing to young intellectuals.

John Wesley’s methodistic movement started as a devotional group at
Oxford. Their purpose in meeting was to deepen their spiritual life by
prayer and study of the Scriptures. They were first called ‘methodists’
by others because they were unusually precise and ‘methodic’ in their
religious observances. Sound familiar?

In the hierarchical organization Wesley set up, he was a real tyrant.
When one of their groups in Glasgow decided to be led by a “Session” (a
Presbyterian term referring to leadership by a group composed of the
elders and the preacher), Wesley wrote the following letter to his
evangelist in charge: “Cork, May 10, 1789. My Dear Brother, –‘Sessions’!
‘elders’! We Methodists have no such custom, neither any of the Churches
of God that are under our care. I require you, Jonathan Crowther,
immediately to dissolve that session (so called) at Glasgow. Discharge
them from meeting any more. And if they will leave the Society, let them
leave it. We acknowledge only preachers, stewards, and leaders among us,
over which the assistant in each circuit presides. You ought to have kept
to the Methodist plan from the beginning. Who had my authority to vary
from it? If the people of Glasgow, or any other place, are weary of us,
we will leave them to themselves. But we are willing to be still their
servants, for Christ’s sake, according to our own discipline, but no
other. John Wesley.” (This quotation is from a METHODIST book: “Church
Organisations” James H. Rigg, Third Edition, Publ. Charles H. Kelly,
London, 1897, page 261). Sound familiar? And the Methodists really grew!
Wow! What success!

One preacher, who is not in the Boston/Crossroads movement, said he had
become tired of pleading with people to do what they are obligated to do.
He suggested an authoritarian approach of just telling people what to do.

Especially in times of apathy, it is tempting to try to MAKE people do
what is right, but that is not God’s way. Jesus is not a door-crasher.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and
opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me”
(Rev. 3:20). To whom did Jesus say that? To Christians whom he had just
called to repentance: “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore
be zealous and repent” (Rev. 3:19).
Even though we do sometimes get tired, we must keep on pleading with
people, beseeching them to do what is right, exhorting them. But let us
never rob them of their responsibility by coercing them.

Jeremiah said to Zedekiah: “Please, obey the voice of the LORD which I
speak to you. So it shall be well with you, and your soul shall live”
(Jer. 38:20).

A beautiful word which is used many times in the N.T. is PARAKALEO which
can mean variously: exhort, beseech, plead, beg, encourage, comfort.
Examine the following passages in which it is used: Luke 3:18; Acts 2:40;
11:23; 14:22; 15:32; Rom. 12:1,8; 15:30; 16:17; 1 Cor. 1:10; 4:13,16;
14:31; 16:15; 2 Cor. 2:8; 5:20; 6:1; 10:1; Eph. 4:1; Phil. 4:2; 1 Thes.
2:11,12; 4:1,10; 5:14; 2 Thes. 3:12; 1 Tim. 2:1; 5:1; 6:2; 2 Tim. 4:2;
Titus 1:9; 2:6,15; Philemon 9,10; Heb. 3:13; 10:25; 13:19,22; 1 Peter
2:11; 5:1,12; Jude 3. See also Gal. 4:12 and 2 John 5 where similar words
are used (beg and request).

We should not try to force man-made rites and regulations on others, nor
should we allow others to bind them on us.

Submission
In the hierarchical discipleship movement much emphasis is placed on
submission and loyalty to the ‘discipler’ who is above one.

We are indeed told to submit to our leaders (1 Cor. 16:16; Heb. 13:17; 1
Peter 5:5). Wives are also to submit to their husbands. But this may not
be twisted into: Elders, boss the flock! Husbands, boss your wives! I
don’t know about your wife, but mine — although she does a fairly good
job of being submissive — will not be bossed! Sometimes you can make
people do things, but that is not submission.

An example of the authoritarian approach was given by the preacher
mentioned above. He was pleased that one of their elders had announced on
Sunday morning: “You are expected to be here tonight and you are expected
to have your sheets filled in.”

Before I explain what is wrong with this, let me give a good example in
comparison. I recently saw the following in a bulletin: “Tonight our
brother will be bringing a lesson to us at the 6.30 hour. Your shepherds
want to provide ‘food for thought’ for the spiritual strength you will
need for the coming week, so don’t neglect the opportunity for your
nourishment.”

Isn’t that beautiful? A command is given. One may give a command IF IT IS
BACKED BY THE WORD OF GOD, and this one is (Heb. 10:25). Contrary to what
some believe, it is not necessarily wrong to be absent from a second
meeting on the Lord’s day … unless it is because of NEGLECT, unless one
is “forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.”

To say to a whole congregation: “You are expected to be here this
evening” is wrong because there may be people present whom God DOES NOT
EXPECT to be there. It is presumptuous for elders to expect something God
does not expect. The Lord may have a task for some that evening which is
more important than being at the meeting. Would that be “forsaking the
assembly”? Remember the widow’s mite? There may be some who because of
age or infirmity show much more dedication to God by coming ONCE each
week, than someone else who is in good health shows by being there every
time the door is open. Would they necessarily be “forsaking the assembly”
if they stayed home? What about a couple who must travel a great distance
to attend services? Would they be “forsaking the assembly” if they
studied the Scriptures and praised God in their own home on Sunday night?
There are many, many things about our service to God which can only be
decided by ourselves, and we shall each have to be responsible for our
decisions on the last day.

This elder was being presumptuous, self-willed and unjust. He was trying
to lord it over the flock. If that is his customary behaviour, he is not
qualified to be an elder (Titus 1:7,8).

The second part of his command was: “And you are expected to have your
sheets filled in.” That is about as childish as one can get. A
commandment of man is being forced upon the people of God.

It seems to be one of the current fads in the U.S. to have question
sheets to fill in. We were given lots of sheets to fill in on our last
trip to America. Most were of such a nature that I am SURE God didn’t
mind at all when we didn’t fill them in! They were often passed out at
what was called a ‘Bible study.’ Usually, one could get along quite well
without a Bible. Once when my parents complained that there had not been
a single verse from the Bible read during a ‘Bible study,’ they heard the
reply: “Oh, but you were five minutes late. You missed the Bible verse!”

But let’s assume that some question sheets have been prepared which are
excellent means of increasing ones knowledge of Christ and His word. Do
the elders have a right to ‘expect’ that everyone fill them in? To offer
them as a help, even to encourage brethren to use them, would be fine,
but to ‘expect’ that everyone fill them in is binding something which God
has not bound.
When someone does not speak according to the word of God it is because
there is no light in him. Man-made rules and regulations are an
expression of worldliness.

Cross-Examination and Coercion
Cross-examination is used as a means of ‘training’ Christians in the
authoritarian discipleship movement. Members are encouraged to have
so-called ‘spiritual’ discussions after services asking each other
questions such as: “Did you read your Bible and have quiet time every day
this week? Did you invite someone to Bible study every day?”

Once a week, in a private prayer session with some more ‘mature’
disciple, the cross-examination is extended to the area of specific sins:
“Did you commit sin A, B, C or D this week?”

Is this according to Scripture? Paul wrote: “Examine yourselves as to
whether you are in the faith. Prove yourselves. Do you not know
yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you are
disqualified” (2 Cor. 13:5).

A slip of paper was given to me many years ago by a former Jehovah’s
Witness I baptized. It is the sheet all Jehovah’s Witnesses must hand in
each week showing how much literature they sold, how many Bible studies
they conducted, and the number of hours they ‘witnessed.’ A sister who
was formerly a J.W. told me she wrote across her sheet once: “Did Paul
have to do this?”

The Jehovah’s Witnesses deny they coerce their members, claiming the
report is only for planning. It is obvious, however, that it places them
under compulsion to work an ‘acceptable’ number of hours. Instead of
‘examining themselves’ they are being coerced by their leaders.

The use of compulsion to get Christians to do even something good is
contrary to the doctrine of Christ. Christians are to be taught and
admonished to do what is right, but they are never to be coerced.

No compulsion is to be used, for example, with regard to giving: “So let
each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of
necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7).
At a Catholic mass I once attended the priest walked up and down every
row looking each person straight in the eye as he passed the collection
basket! Most, of course, felt compelled to contribute. I smiled and said:
“No thank you.”

I have also heard of elders in the church who violated this principle.
They visited Christians in their homes and intimidated them by asking how
much they were giving. They claimed they had a right to know. In some
cases they even told people how much to give! Paul said ‘Examine
yourselves’ not ‘Cross-examine each other.’ He told the Corinthians:
“With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a
human court. … He who judges me is the Lord” (1 Cor. 4:3,4). The Greek
word for ‘judge’ in this verse means to ‘examine’ as in a court of law.
Paul used the same word two chapters earlier when he wrote: “He who is
spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is [rightly] judged by no
one” (1 Cor. 2:15).

The principle of self-examination also applies to the Lord’s supper: “Let
a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that
cup” (1 Cor. 11:28).

Paul wrote to Philemon about Onesimus, his run-away slave, whom Paul had
taught the gospel: “whom I wished to keep with me, that on your behalf he
might minister to me in my chains for the gospel. But without your
consent I wanted to do nothing, that your good deed might not be by
compulsion, as it were, but voluntary” (Philemon 13,14).

Christians are to serve voluntarily. Compulsion robs them of the
opportunity. The elders of one congregation which had been influenced by
the Boston/Crossroads movement told a couple who lived more than a hour’s
drive away from the meeting place that they would be disfellowshipped if
they didn’t attend certain mid-week meetings regularly.

We are told to confess our sins to one another and to pray for one
another (James 5:16). We are not told to cross-examine one another! A
cross-examination, whether by a priest in a confessional, or by some
presumptuous ‘more mature’ disciple, is a slap in the face of Christ.
“Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or
falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him
stand” (Rom. 14:4).

Does this mean that we may never reprimand a brother for sin? Certainly
not. There is a great difference, however, between helping a brother who
has sinned, and cross-examining a brother!
Moreover, not all Christians are qualified: “Brethren, if a man is
overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a
spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear
one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone
thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in
himself alone, and not in another. For each one shall bear his own load”
(Gal. 6:1-5).

Coercion is common in politics and business. False religions also use
compulsion effectively to manipulate their members.

Followers of Christ, however, do not coerce one another. They obey
Christ: “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and
those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so
among you” (Matt. 20:25,26).

“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Cor. 3:17). We may
not misuse our liberty as a cloak for evil (Gal. 5:13; 1 Peter 2:16). But
neither may we submit to someone who would bring us into bondage: “But
this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in
by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that
they might bring us into bondage), to whom we did not yield submission
even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you”
(Gal. 2:4,5). “You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men”
(1 Cor. 7:23).

How Serious Are These Errors?
Extremely so! When brethren usurp the authority of Christ and advocate
unscriptural church government it is not just a ‘matter of opinion’ or a
‘method of evangelism.’

Heartrending divisions have already occurred in many places where false
teachers have infiltrated congregations and built up a following. When
called to order by the elders they refused to repent, took ‘their
disciples’ and left. In other cases they gained control of the
congregation and those who did not agree with them had to leave.

Smooth-talking men of influence are doing all they can to champion these
ideas. In private discussions and in long letters brethren have lovingly
shown them from the Scriptures the errors they are making, but most of
them refuse to listen and repent. They are leading many astray.

HOW SHOULD WE TREAT PEOPLE IN THIS MOVEMENT?
What should our attitude be toward people from churches practising
hierarchical discipleship? There is no reason to doubt that these
congregations include people who believe in Christ and have been baptized
into His body. If such persons wish to worship with us and are willing to
respect Biblical leadership they should be received in love. As the need
arises, the way of God can be explained to them more accurately (Acts
18:26).

Beware of the Wolves
False teachers, however, must be rejected: “I urge you, brethren, note
those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which
you learned, and avoid them” (Rom. 16:17). Advocates of pyramid
discipleship HAVE caused division through the introduction of a
hierarchical form of church government which conflicts with Biblical
principles of leadership.
How we treat them is not an optional matter. God has COMMANDED us to note
false teachers and to avoid them! “For those who are such do not serve
our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and
flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple” (Rom. 16:18).
Paul warned that certain brethren would draw away disciples after
themselves. May we never be among them. “For I know this, that after my
departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.
Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to
draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch” (Acts
20:29-31).

False Pleas for Unity
Keep in mind that wolves are always in favour of unity between wolves and
sheep. But what they have in mind is not conducive to the well-being of
the sheep!

We all need to pray for peace and unity among God’s people. At the same
time we must remember that there can be no unity between truth and
falsehood. Among Christians there are always some who do not love the
truth. They do not study the word, or they study the word but do not
accept what it says. Such people are extremely susceptible to being
misled by false teachers. That is why divisions have always taken place
down through the ages and always will. Actually, they purify the church
(1 Cor. 11:18,19).

Those who added musical instruments to the worship a century ago
emphasized unity. They wanted to be accepted, unscriptural practices and
all. Understandably, for that would allow them to spread their false
teachings further. They emphasized unity and divided the church.

Advocates of the ‘Missionary Society’ also emphasized unity as they
divided the church over their sectarian ‘method of evangelism.’ Actually,
the Society was a flop. But that did not deter its champions. What if it
had been a ‘success’? Would it have been less unscriptural? It would have
been more dangerous, especially in a country like America where ‘success’
is a national god.
Those who now worship with instruments still want us to ACCEPT them. They
claim they want unity. But THEY CAUSE DIVISION. As they caused division a
century ago, so they cause division now by their agitations. Their plea
for unity is hypocritical. Their desire for unity is not great, or they
would be willing to put aside unscriptural worship for the sake of unity.
They are more dedicated to mechanical music than to unity on the basis of
God’s Word. Their goal is unity on their own terms, not unity in Christ.

Division has ALREADY COME as a result of the authoritarian discipleship
movement. Many people have already accepted these false teachings and
practices, who show no signs of repenting.
Those who follow Christ, refuse to follow men, and a parting of the ways
is inevitable between those who walk straight ahead on the narrow road
and those who turn aside. Division is always sad, but it is better than
apostasy.

The Corinthians
The argument has been made by some who are in favour of amoebic unity
that the Boston/Crossroads type churches are “every bit as faithful to
the word of God as the Corinthians.”

The Corinthians had serious problems, but they also had an excellent
characteristic: when Paul wrote to them they REPENTED (2 Cor. 7:7-15)!

Those who reject Christ’s authority by advocating teacher/disciple
relationships among Christians (contrary to Matt. 23:8-10) and by setting
up a hierarchy with men over tens, fifties, hundreds and thousands
(contrary to Mark 10:42,43) have been warned clearly and repeatedly about
the errors of their ways, but they REFUSE to repent.

What would Paul have done if the Corinthians had refused to repent? He
said that anyone who rejected what he wrote was to be rejected (1 Cor.
14:38)! He also said he was ready to punish every disobedience (2 Cor.
10:6).

And what did Paul say about those who had led the Corinthians astray?
“For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising
themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises
himself as an angel of light. So it is not strange if his servants also
disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will
correspond to their deeds” (2 Cor. 11:13-15).

Do not dishonour the Corinthians by comparing them with advocates of
authoritarian discipleship. The Corinthians repented of their many sins.
The ‘disciplers’ have not repented and most of them probably never will.
As one of their evangelists said: “It’s going to be something you’ll have
to deal with for a long time, probably from now on.”

Avoid Them
No, we may not unite with people who cause dissensions in the body of
Christ. If Romans 16:17,18 ever applied to anyone, it applies to leaders
in the ‘get discipled by men’ movement: “Now I urge you, brethren, note
those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which
you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord
Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering
speech deceive the hearts of the simple.”

Love
Be sure to maintain the spirit of Christ in your dealings with those who
are misled or confused. Resistance to error can do more harm than good if
it is not Christlike.

Love must be our motive in opposing the doctrines of these men. We love
them and hope they will repent. We also love the souls they are deceiving
and the church they are dividing.

A Blessing or a Curse?
For those who know and love the Word of God, this ‘discipleship’ movement
will be a blessing. When the subject is discussed they will test all
things and retain that which is good. They will be forced to restudy
discipleship and this will deepen their commitment as followers of
Christ.

People who become Christians through this movement, if they love the
truth, will continue to grow in knowledge. Eventually they will cast off
human domination and will find their way to congregations which submit to
the authority of Christ, as has already occurred in many cases.
Certain people, however, are in danger of being deceived and led astray;
for example, those for whom numerical ‘success’ is more important than
truth, those who are intrigued by human theories and doctrines, those who
prefer being told what to do rather than accepting their own
responsibility, and those who like to exercise authority over others.

Statistics can be Deceiving
Fidelity to New Testament principles and practice is the ONLY valid
measure of success. Numerical ‘success’ on an unscriptural foundation is
not true success. An impressive house can be built on sand, but only the
house on the Rock will stand. A child can count the seeds in an apple,
but only God knows how many apples are in a seed.

Watch Out!
Total commitment is Biblical, regimentation is not. New Testament
teaching on discipleship and personal commitment to Christ certainly
needs to be stressed. But after someone presents a stirring plea for you
to follow Christ, be careful that he doesn’t trick you into following HIM
instead.

Let us follow the old paths and not be led astray by human precepts and
practices even if they do have “an appearance of wisdom” (Col. 2:23).
Only if we continue in the word of Christ are we truly His disciples
(John 8:31).

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Posted by Gary Davenport on September 27, 2014 in Article, Church

The Anatomy of a Backslider: Learning From One Who Knows By Experience

25 Sep

In 2 Peter 2:20-22 we read of the real possibility and serious
consequences of backsliding:
“If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are
worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. {21} It would have
been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to
have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was
passed on to them. {22} Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to
its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the
mud.””

It is interesting that we find this passage coming from the inspired pen
of Peter…for if anyone knew “firsthand” the reality and dangers of
backsliding, it was Peter! He discovered these truths the night he denied
Jesus!

The process of backsliding is a gradual one, often overtaking a person by
surprise; and lest we fall from our own steadfastness…we shall
carefully examine the process that led to Peter’s denial of Christ.
Notice how Peter’s own words in his epistles are designed to prevent the
same from happening to us!

THE ANATOMY OF A BACKSLIDER
A. PRIDE – Mark 14:27-31: “You will all fall away,” Jesus told them, “for
it is written: “‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be
scattered.’ {28} But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into
Galilee.” {29} Peter declared, “Even if all fall away, I will not.” {30}
“I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “today–yes, tonight–before the
rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times.” {31} But
Peter insisted emphatically, “Even if I have to die with you, I will
never disown you.” And all the others said the same.”

1. In a boastful manner, Peter claims he will not fall away or deny
Christ!
2. In doing so, Peter takes the first step in backsliding: “pride”!
– cf. _Pr 16:18
3. Why is this the “first” step?
a. Because the first step in entering the kingdom is humility –
Mt 18:3-4
b. So if we lose “humility”, we take that first step backward
4. Paul’s advice to the Corinthians is very apropos in this regard
– cf. _1 Co 10:11

B. LAZINESS – Mark 14:32-42: “They went to a place called Gethsemane, and
Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” {33} He took Peter,
James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and
troubled. {34} “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of
death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.” {35} Going a little
farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might
pass from him. {36} “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for
you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” {37}
Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Simon,” he
said to Peter, “are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour?
{38} Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit
is willing, but the body is weak.” {39} Once more he went away and prayed
the same thing. {40} When he came back, he again found them sleeping,
because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him. {41}
Returning the third time, he said to them, “Are you still sleeping and
resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is betrayed into
the hands of sinners. {42} Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!””

1. Told to keep watch, Peter kept falling asleep
2. It was therefore lack of diligent preparation which caused him
to be caught off guard for what was to follow
3. The same thing can happen to us!
a. Without diligence, we too can be found unprepared – Lk
21:34-36
b. More often than not, it is a “gradual drifting” that catches
us off guard – Heb. 2:1-3
c. But when we are proud of ourselves, we become lazy, and
that easily leads to the next step…

C. COWARDICE – Mark 14:54: “Peter followed him at a distance, right into
the courtyard of the high priest. There he sat with the guards and warmed
himself at the fire.”

1. Note that it says “…Peter followed Him at a distance”
2. Now that Jesus had become unpopular…
a. Peter stays far enough away so as not to be identified with
Him
b. Peter was unprepared for the challenge of facing ridicule and
persecution
3. Without diligent preparation, we too can become guilty of
cowardice!
a. Ashamed to be seen carrying a Bible
b. Ashamed to be seen giving thanks
c. Ashamed to be seen with other Christians
d. Perhaps even ashamed to let others know that we are
Christians!
4. And yet, Jesus has made it clear what He thinks of “cowardice”
Mark 8:38; Rev. 21:8
5. When we are ashamed of Christ, it is natural for to fall into
the next step of backsliding…

D. WORLDLINESS – Mark 14:54: “Peter followed him at a distance, right
into the courtyard of the high priest. There he sat with the guards and
warmed himself at the fire.”

1. We now find Peter sitting with the servants of the High Priest
and warming himself by the fire
2. Ashamed to be seen with Christ, it becomes easy to mingle with
those of the world and enjoy their comforts
3. But one cannot be “comforted by the fire” of the world, and not
be “burned”!
a. Close contact with that which can harm has its effects! –
Prov. 6:27-29
b. So it is we cannot “flirt with the world” and walk away
untouched! – 1 Cor. 15:33
4. By the time we become “friends with the world”, it is only a
short time before we take the next and final step of backsliding…

E. DENIAL – Mark 14:66-71: “While Peter was below in the courtyard, one
of the servant girls of the high priest came by. {67} When she saw Peter
warming himself, she looked closely at him. “You also were with that
Nazarene, Jesus,” she said. {68} But he denied it. “I don’t know or
understand what you’re talking about,” he said, and went out into the
entryway. {69} When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to
those standing around, “This fellow is one of them.” {70} Again he denied
it. After a little while, those standing near said to Peter, “Surely you
are one of them, for you are a Galilean.” {71} He began to call down
curses on himself, and he swore to them, “I don’t know this man you’re
talking about.””

1. Away from Christ, at comfort with those in the world, Peter
finds himself denying His Lord and Savior!
2. In so doing, he has put himself in grave danger – Matt. 10:32-33
3. Though we may never actually deny Jesus in “words”, we can
easily backslide to the point of denying Him in “action”…
a. We are called to worship Him…but make excuses why we cannot
b. We are called to serve Him…but render little or no service
c. We are called to stand by His side and suffer for His
name…but stand afar off in the safety of the world’s comfort

[When we deny the Lord, our backsliding is complete; unless we repent,
the only thing left is to one day face the Lord, where we will fully
realize the error of our ways!

For Peter, he fully realized his sin when the Lord turned and looked at
him there in the courtyard:
Luke 22:60-62: “Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking
about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. {61} The Lord turned
and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had
spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three
times.” {62} And he went outside and wept bitterly.”

Imagine the feeling in Peter’s heart as those eyes of His Savior pierced
his soul! Like
Judas, Peter wept bitterly over his sin.

Unlike Judas, Peter had “godly sorrow” that results in true repentance (2
Cor. 7:10-11). And years later, we find Peter writing the sort of things
that would prevent us from making the same mistake he did…]

ADVICE FROM ONE WHO LEARNED THE HARD WAY
A. TO GUARD AGAINST “PRIDE”…
1. Peter enjoins “humility” – 1 Peter 5:5-6
2. Indeed, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble”

B. TO WARD AGAINST “LAZINESS”…
1. Peter commands “diligence” – 1 Peter 5:8-9
2. Note especially his words in his second epistle – 2 Peter
1:5,10; 3:14

C. INSTEAD OF “COWARDICE”…
1. Peter charges us to “glorify God” – 1 Peter 4:16
2. Think not of what it means to you, but what it means to God!

D. INSTEAD OF “WORLDLINESS”…
1. Peter tells us to “abstain” – 1 Peter 2:11-12
2. Remember that we are “sojourners and pilgrims”, destined for a
better place than the things of this world have to offer!

E. INSTEAD OF “DENIAL”…
1. Peter exhorts us to ever be ready to “give a defense” – 1 Peter
3:15
2. By careful preparation, we will “defend” Christ, and not “deny”
Christ!

CONCLUSION
1. From one who learned by the hard road of experience, let’s heed his
advice lest we one day backslide ourselves, and in so doing deny the
Lord! – 2 Peter 3:17-18

2. Remember too that when Peter saw the eyes of his Lord, he realized the
error of his way…
a. Fortunately for him, there was still time to repent
b. But for us, when we see Jesus “face to face”, the time to repent
will be gone…it will be the time for judgment!

3. If we realize that we are guilty of backsliding…
a. Repent now, do not wait until you stand before Jesus
b. Do it now, so that your “face to face” encounter with Jesus will be
terrific, not terrifying!

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Posted by Gary Davenport on September 25, 2014 in Article

Hungering for Hope…He that lives in hope dances without a fiddle

22 Sep

Sometimes in spite of all the positive thinking we can generate, life is really terrible. Simple optimism will not do. Genuine hope (“confident expectation”) must go beyond positive thinking. Genuine hope is not “Wishing for something you know isn’t going to happen.” It is not an idle wish at all.

Hope is a vigorous principle; it sets the head and heart to work and animates a man to do his utmost. [1]

I like the story about the boy and his father who were planning a fishing trip for the next day. That evening as the father was putting his son to bed, the boy hugged his father’s neck and said, “Daddy, thank you for tomorrow.”

If there are two words that should be said in the same breath and said regularly to ventilate our hope, that should be flamed together, branded as a signature of our faith, they are the words “faith” and “courage.” It takes courage to believe, and in order to have that courage, we must believe. [2]

This nation was built by the power of hope. No painter ever set brush to canvas, no writer ever set pen to paper, no builder ever set brick on brick, no enterpriser ever built an enterprise without having hope that he or she could do what they were dreaming of doing. We have not begun to fathom the power of hope in creating better lives for ourselves and our children. [3]

We benefit from the foresight of those who have gone before, who lived as if they realized that vision is merely hope with a blueprint.

Hope prevents us from clinging to what we have and frees us to move away from the safe place and enter unknown and fearful territory. [4]

It’s the wise individual who can hope for the best, get ready for the worst, and take what God chooses to send.

Hope is also a powerful concept. Without hope in the future, we have no power in the present. Hope may keep us alive. Without hope there is no reason to live. It has been said, “Life without Christ is a hopeless end, but life with Christ is an endless hope.”

“As long as I actively attack a problem, I am confident that the situation can be improved,” says TV puppeteer Shari Lewis.

“About a decade ago I was told I had breast cancer and would need radical surgery. Hopeful there was another path, I sought other opinions, keeping hope alive long enough to find another surgeon and other treatments that enabled me to avoid radical procedures. And I’ve been totally healthy for lo these many years!

“I find that it works both ways. If you are hopeful, of course you can take action. The miracle occurs when you don’t feel much hope, yet you push yourself into action anyway. Perhaps it is the brain, stimulated by the action, that brings you back to hope. I don’t know why it works. I just know that it does.”

It seems reasonable to hope in the Lord, but exert ourselves to accomplish that which is possible. We usually promise according to our hopes and perform according to our fears. God wants it to be lived in reverse!

I like the example of the hospice nurse, who had ministered to many as they faced death, trying to ease the transition. A minister asked her, “Do Christians die differently from others?” “Most definitely, yes,” she replied, “Christians really do die better.” Why do Christians die better? “They know it isn’t over.”

Hope is grief’s best music. [5] Hope is like the clouds: some pass by, others bring rain. Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.[6]

During World War I, a British commander was preparing to lead his soldiers back to battle. They’d been on furlough, and it was a cold, rainy, muddy day. Their shoulders sagged because they knew what lay ahead of them: mud, blood, possible death. Nobody talked, nobody sang. It was a heavy time.

As they marched along, the commander looked into a bombed-out church. Back in the church he saw the figure of Christ on the cross. At that moment, something happened to the commander. He remembered the One who suffered, died, and rose again. There was victory, and there was triumph.

As the troops marched along, he shouted out, “Eyes right, march!” Every eye turned to the right, and as the soldiers marched by, they saw Christ on the cross. Something happened to that company of men. Suddenly they saw triumph after suffering, and they took courage. With shoulders straightened, they began to smile as they went. You see, anything worthwhile in life will be a risk that demands courage. [7]

Our lives take a definite turn toward optimism when we live our lives this way! Hope looks for the good in people instead of harping on the worst in them. Hope opens doors where despair closes them. Hope discovers what can be done instead of grumbling about what cannot be done. Hope draws its power from a deep trust in God and the basic goodness of mankind. Hope “lights a candle” instead of “cursing the darkness.” Hope regards problems, small or large, as opportunities. Hope cherishes no illusions, nor does it yield to cynicism.

The apostle Peter offered this counsel: “So, then, gird up the loins of your mind; be sober; come to a final decision to place your hope on the grace which is going to be brought to you at the revealing of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:13).

Peter has been talking about the greatness and the glory to which the Christian may look forward; but the Christian can never be lost in dreams of the future; he must always be virile in the battle of the present. So Peter sends out three challenges to his people.

He tells them to gird up the loins of their mind. This is a deliberately vivid phrase. In the east men wore long flowing robes which hindered fast progress or strenuous action. Round the waist they wore a broad belt or girdle; and when strenuous action was necessary they shortened the long robe by pulling it up within the belt in order to give them freedom of movement. The English equivalent of the phrase would be to roll up one’s sleeves or to take off one’s jacket.

Peter is telling his people that they must be ready for the most strenuous mental endeavor. They must never be content with a flabby and unexamined faith; they must set to and think things out and think them through. It may be that they will have to discard some things. It may be that they will make mistakes. But what they are left with will be theirs in such a way that nothing and nobody can ever take it away from them.

He tells them to be sober. Peter is appealing to them to maintain the essential steadiness of the man who knows what he believes.

He tells them to set their hope on the grace which is going to be given to them when Jesus Christ comes. It is the great characteristic of the Christian that he lives in hope; and because he lives in hope he can endure the trials of the present. Any man can endure struggle and effort and toil, if he is certain that it is all leading somewhere. That is why the athlete accepts his training and the student his study.

For the Christian the best is always still to come. He can live with gratitude for all the mercies of the past, with resolution to meet the challenge of the present and with the certain hope that in Christ the best is yet to be.[8]

We might be like the student athlete, who was contemplating the difficult height of the bar on the high jump. “I don’t think I can make it,” he said. “Think positive!” said a friend. “All right,” the athlete said boldly, “I’m positive I can’t make it.”

Many of us think fondly of that dismal, old grey donkey Eeyore in the Winnie-the-Pooh children’s books by A.A. Milne. While lovable and secretly goodhearted, he is usually gloomy and negative, always expecting the worst.

During my years as a minister, I’ve met many people like that. They never accept responsibility because they’re certain they’ll fail. Or, they serve “faithfully” in the church, but gloomily imagine critics in every pew and corner.

Picture for a moment the person who “never receives enough attention,” never initiates friendships, and assumes the church is really run by an inner circle where he or she will never be welcomed. Would you agree that person often sounds like Eeyore in this conversation with Rabbit?

“Nobody tells me,” said Eeyore, “nobody keeps me Informed. I make it seventeen days come Friday since anybody spoke to me.”

“It certainly isn’t seventeen days–“

“Come Friday,” explained Eeyore.

“And today’s Saturday,” said Rabbit. “So that would make it eleven days. And I was here myself a week ago.”

“Not conversing,” said Eeyore. “Not first one and then the other. You said ‘Hallo’ and Flashed Past. I saw your tail in the distance as I was meditating my reply. I had thought of saying ‘What?’–but, of course, it was then too late.”

“Well, I was in a hurry.”

“No Give and Take,” Eeyore went on. “No Exchange of Thought: ‘Hallo–What’–I mean, it gets you nowhere, particularly if the other person’s tail is only in sight for the second half of the conversation.”

“It’s your fault, Eeyore. You’ve never been to see any of us. You just stay here in this corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. Why don’t you go to them sometimes?”

Eeyore was silent for a little while, thinking. “There may be something in what you say, Rabbit,” he said at last. “I must move more. I must come and go.”

“That’s right, Eeyore. Drop in on any of us at any time, when you feel like it.”

“Thank-you, Rabbit. And if anybody says in a Loud Voice, ‘Bother, it’s Eeyore,’ I can drop out again.”

We’ve all known other Eeyores. But as I chuckled over this conversation, another thought stabbed me. How much like Eeyore am I? How often to I expect the worst?

Do I anticipate defeat? Do I let that Eeyore-ish gloom dominate my spiritual life or my expectations of my family? Am I prone to suspect there’s a hidden conspiracy in the church to “do things” without me?

In my little corner of God’s forest, have I forgotten Paul’s prayer? “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).

How can I tolerate gloomy expectations when my Lord is Jesus, the God of creation? When my family is in his faithful care? When my church is his church, under his sovereign direction? And when every Eeyore I know in God’s congregation is his Eeyore–including me! [9]

My brother works with inner-city kids in Atlanta, and the society hasn’t beaten them down yet. They still believe in the future. Ask them, “What are you going to do? What are you going to be?” They say, “I’m going to be an astronaut” or “I’m going to be a surgeon.” They say, “I’m going to be a musician” or “I’m going to be a pro basketball player.” They believe in the future.

As they grow older, ugly realism might set in. Did you see the movie The Autobiography of Malcolm X? In one of the most painful scenes Malcolm X realizes the system will not allow him to be a lawyer, and his dream is shattered.

It is not the way we deal with our human situation that is the basis for hope–hope is the basis for how we deal with our human situation.

If ever you have the chance to visit the catacombs in Rome, those tunnels under the ancient city, where many of the early Christians were buried, you can see the symbols of faith on their tombs. Three common symbols appear: the dove, the fish, and the anchor. The dove symbolizes the Holy Spirit. The letters of the Greek word for “fish,” ichthus, stand for the words Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior. The anchor came from the idea that as Christians were going through difficult, insecure times, their hope anchored their souls. [10]

In all things it is better to hope than to despair. In his book, A Gift of Hope, author Robert Veninga describes this transforming experience, which took place in the life of a 41-year-old man after he prayed: I left work early after hearing that I would lose my job. I got in my car and and went to my church. Unfortunately the minister was not there. But the chapel was open. I went in and stared at the cross. I started to cry. I told God that I didn’t have the strength to get through this mess. And I asked for help. I must have sat there for a couple of hours. I brushed away my tears. Suddenly a whole load went off my shoulders. I can’t explain it, but I went into that chapel crushed and I came out feeling strong. I actually felt that I could make it.

In a recent sermon, Bill Hybels shared this story: “A friend of mine has a brain-damaged daughter. Sometimes the sadness she feels over her daughter’s condition overwhelms her, as it did recently. She wrote me this letter and gave me permission to quote from it: ” ‘… I can hardly bear it sometimes. My most recent wave of grief came just last year before her sixteenth birthday. As the day approached, I found myself brooding over all the things that she would never be able to do. What did I do? What I’ve learned to do again and again: I did what I believe is the only thing to do to conquer grief, and that is to embrace it. … I cried and cried and cried, and faced the truth of my grief head on.’

“People who face their feelings and express them freely begin the journey toward hope.”[11]

Here’s the good news of the gospel: we have a Jesus who creates dreams and visions for us. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is our hope today. It is our assurance that we have a living Savior to help us live as we should now, and that when, in the end, we set forth on that last great jourrney, we shall not travel an uncharted course, but rather we shall go on a planned voyage—life to death to eternal living.[12]

Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, believers have been “begotten again” to a living hope, and that hope includes the glory of God. But, what do we mean by “the glory of God”?

The glory of God means the sum total of all that God is and does. “Glory” is not a separate attribute or characteristic of God, such as His holiness, wisdom, or mercy. Everything that God is and does is characterized by glory. He is glorious in wisdom and power, so that everything He thinks and does is marked by glory. He reveals His glory in creation (Ps. 19), in His dealings with the people of Israel, and especially in His plan of salvation for lost sinners.[13]

I must insist that we take a few steps alongside the men on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35) to make certain we see the other side of this difficult coin. The whole situation seemed to these two men to have no explanation. Their hopes and dreams were shattered. There is all the poignant, wistful, bewildered regret in the world in their sorrowing words, “We were hoping that he was the one who was going to rescue Israel.”

They were the words of men whose hopes were dead and buried. Then Jesus came and talked with them, and the meaning of life became clear and the darkness became light.

Life with Christ is an endless hope, without him a hopeless end.

A story-teller makes one of his characters say to the one with whom he has fallen in love, “I never knew what life meant until I saw it in your eyes.” It is only in Jesus that, even in the bewildering times, we learn what life means.[14]

Do not look forward to the changes and chances of this life in fear; rather look to them with full hope that, as they arise, God, whose you are, will deliver you out of them. He is your Keeper. He has kept you hitherto. Hold fast to his dear hand, and he will lead you safely through all things; and, when you cannot stand, he will bear you in his arms. Do not look forward to what may happen tomorrow. Our Father will either shield you from suffering, or he will give you strength to bear it. [15]

In his book Dare to Believe, Dan Baumann illustrates the unique experience of knowing that something is ours, yet longing to enjoy it more fully. He explained that at Christmas time he would always do a lot of snooping, trying to find the gift –wrapped presents and figure out what was in them. One year he discovered a package with his name on it that was easy to identify. There was no way to disguise the golf clubs inside. Baumann then made this observation: “When Mom wasn’t around, I would go and feel the package, shake it, and pretend that I was on the golf course. The point is, I was already enjoying the pleasures of a future event; namely, the unveiling. It had my name on it. I knew what it was.” But only “Christmas would reveal it in its fullness.”

The glories that await the Christian defy our comprehension. What we can grasp about them, however, fills us with great anticipation. We look longingly to that day when we shall enjoy heaven in all its fullness.

Fay Inchfawn wrote,

“Sometimes, when everything goes wrong; When days are short and nights are long;

When wash-day brings so dull a sky That not a single thing will dry.

And when the kitchen chimney smokes, And when there’s naught so ‘queer’ as folks!

When friends deplore my faded youth, And when the baby cuts a tooth.

While John, the baby last but one, Clings round my skirts till day is done;

And fat, good-tempered Jane is glum, And butcher’s man forgets to come.

Sometimes I say on days like these, I get a sudden gleam of bliss.

Not on some sunny day of ease, He’ll come . . . but on a day like this!”

The Christian lives always and everywhere in a Christ-filled world.

Going down some old cement steps, I noticed an ant carrying a leaf on its back. The leaf was many times bigger than the ant. Then the ant came to a big crack in the cement that it couldn’t cross. The ant stopped a moment. I wondered if the ant would turn back or proceed into the crack without the leaf. Instead, the ant put the leaf across the crack and then crossed the crack by walking across the leaf. On the other side, the ant picked up the leaf and continued on its journey.

It made me think that the burdens of today will be the bridges by which we will be able to cross the hard places in life in the future.[16]

Do not look forward to the changes and chances of this life in fear; rather look to them with full hope that, as they arise, God, whose you are, will deliver you out of them. He is your keeper. He has kept you hitherto. Do you but hold fast to His dear hand, and He will lead you safely through all things; and, when you cannot stand, He will bear you in His arms. Do not look forward to what may happen tomorrow. Our Father will either shield you from suffering, or He will give you strength to bear it. [17]

Two hundred years ago, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote out nine prerequisites for contented living. Whether you’re the eighth wonder of the world or not, these are the things that really matter.

1. Health enough to make work a pleasure

2. Wealth enough to support your needs

3. Strength to battle with difficulties and overcome them

4. Grace enough to confess your sins and forsake them

5. Patience enough to toil until some good is accomplished

6. Charity enough to see some good in your neighbor

7. Love enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others

8. Faith enough to make real the things of God

9. Hope enough to remove all anxious fears concerning the future

A woman diagnosed with a terminal illness called on her minister to plan her funeral. She had some ideas about what she hoped would happen, but she was insistent about one thing: “I want to be buried with a fork in my hand.”

Her incredulous minister demanded an explanation. “Oh, it’s quite simple,” the woman said. “In all my years of attending church socials and potlucks, I always remember that, when they clear the dishes, someone will say, ‘Keep your fork.’ It’s my favorite part, because I know something better is coming. So I want people to see me there in that coffin with a fork in my hand and know: ‘Her best is still to come.’ ” [18]

For the Christian, the dark shadow of death will be illuminated by the shining face of Jesus. Phoebe Cary wrote these words of hope:

One sweetly solemn thought comes to me o’er and o’er; I’m nearer to my home today than I’ve ever been before;

nearer my Father’s house, where the many mansions be; nearer the great white throne, nearer the jasper sea;

nearer the bound of life, where I lay my burden down; nearer leaving my cross; nearer wearing my crown!

——————————————————-

[1] Jeremy Collier (1650–1726)

[2] Fay Angus in Running Around in Spiritual Circles. Christianity Today, Vol. 36, no. 5.

[3] Lewis Smedes, “Keep Hope Alive,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 139.

[4] Henri J. Nouwen in The Wounded Healer. Christianity Today, Vol. 40, no. 13.

[5] Henry George Bohn (1796–1884)

[6] Samuel Smiles (1812–1904)

[7] Gordon Johnson, “Finding Significance in Obscurity,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 82.

[8] The First Letter of Peter, The Daily Study Bible Series Revised Edition by William Barclay.

[9] Robert W. Harvey, Pastor, Bethel Presbyterian Church. Leadership, Vol. 1, no. 4.

[10] Stuart Briscoe, “Handling Your Insecurities,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 119.

[11] Preaching Today. Leadership, Vol. 19, no. 1.

[12] Raymond MacKendree

[13] Warren Wiersbe, BE Series – Be Hopeful, 1 Peter

[14] Ibid, William Barclay.

[15] Saint Francis of Sales (1567–1622)

[16] Bernabe Spivey. Leadership, Vol. 20, no. 23.

[17] St. Francis of Sales, Virtue, Vol. 20, no. 7.

[18] Peachey, J. Lorne. The Mennonite, quoted in Christianity Today, “Reflections,” April 3, 2000, Vol. 44, No. 4, p. 72.

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Posted by Gary Davenport on September 22, 2014 in Encouragement

God Loves To Give Gifts

20 Sep

Long before we took our first breath, our Creator showed Himself to be a great giver of everything a man or woman could ask for. Today, He still wants to give us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4). As the Father of heaven, He is behind “every good gift and every perfect gift” (James 1:17). When we say that “the best things in life are free,” it’s a way of acknowledging that when God gives life, and friendship, and laughter, He is showing that no one can give a better gift than He can. Yet His best offer is so priceless and so perfectly suited to our needs and happiness, many think it’s too good to be true.

It’s Described In The Bible

The most quoted of all books describes a wonderfully mysterious gift that goes far beyond anything we have ever received. When unwrapped, it includes peace of mind, acceptance, forgiveness, adoption into the family of heaven, and everlasting life. But does God offer to give us the desires of our heart as a reward for good living? Not according to the Bible. It refers to this spiritual package as salvation and calls it “the gift of God” (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9).

It Cannot Be Earned

In most areas of life we work hard to earn respect and the right to be trusted and promoted. But God’s perfect gift of salvation is different. It comes not by merit but by mercy, not by trying but by trusting, and not by working but by resting. In the words of the apostle Paul, “By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). In another of his New Testament letters, Paul added, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us” (Titus 3:5).

God Paid For It Himself

Long before wise men brought gifts to a Bethlehem manger, our Creator gave us the gift of choice. Knowing that love must be voluntary to be meaningful, He gave us the freedom to accept or reject Him. From the beginning, however, our first parents chose to walk away from Him. Instead of leaving them in their rebellion, He revealed a plan of rescue whereby an innocent victim would die on behalf of the guilty. An elaborate system of symbolic Temple ritual anticipated what God Himself would do for us on the center page of human history. At the time of God’s own choosing and in a moment of infinite and eternal significance, He did what can only be explained by love—He sacrificed His Son to pay for our sin (John 1:29; Hebrews 10:5-10).

It Comes With A Proof Of Purchase

The receipt we hold for His payment is the record of history. Jewish prophets predicted a Messiah who would deliver His people from their sin (Isaiah 53; Daniel 9:26). When He arrived, the Gospel writers tell us that He healed the sick, raised the dead, and gave hope to the oppressed. Then He did what no one expected Him to do. Instead of riding to power on the shoulders of adoring crowds, He silently bore the slander of critics, and voluntarily died at the hands of Roman executioners. Three days later, He walked out of a guarded tomb (Luke 24:1-7). Eyewitnesses of the resurrected Christ died at the hands of enemies rather than deny that they had seen Him alive.

It Was Wrapped With Care

God packaged His perfect gift in thousands of years of fulfilled predictions, widely observed miracles, and breathtaking rescues. Then after centuries of anticipation, the Lord of heaven visited a young Jewish woman named Mary and, in the greatest of all miracles, wrapped Himself in her womb. In the years that followed, He surrounded the gift in the irony of obscurity, the affection of unlikely followers, the envy of religious leaders, and the crushing disappointment of death. When all seemed lost, God wrapped His gift in the excited reports of witnesses who announced an unexpected resurrection from the dead. For a final touch, the Creator gave His gift of salvation a colorful bow of diversity—people from every nation on earth whose hearts and lives have been changed by His love (Revelation 5:9).

God Offers It By Grace

To those who had already accepted the offer of God’s mercy, the apostle Paul wrote, “By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Paul had once tried to earn his own way into God’s favor (Philippians 3:3-9). Now he wanted his readers to know what he himself had discovered—that it is only by the grace of God that the angels of heaven welcome fallen and broken rebels into the eternal family and presence of God. In another letter, Paul described the difference between Adam, who spread sin and death to all his descendants, and Christ, who brought grace and life to all who trust Him. So he wrote, “But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense [Adam’s sin] many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many” (Romans 5:15).

It Can Be Received Only Through Faith and Baptism (by immersion) for remission of sins (Acts 2:38)

Paul’s carefully chosen words to the Ephesians were, “By grace you have been saved through faith.” In this qualifying phrase, we are reminded that God comes only where He is invited. The One who wants us to share the happiness of His eternal family knocks gently at the door of our hearts, waiting for us to welcome Him into our lives (John 1:12). So the gospel says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). The first Christians responded in Acts 2:38 with repentance and baptism for remission of sins, to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

It’s Available To Anyone Willing To Receive It

Most of Jesus’ best friends were fishermen, not scholars. One was a tax collector. One had been possessed by demons. One sold her body for a living. What they had in common was their willingness to accept the gift of God. Together they were the kind of men and women Jesus loved to bring to His Father. Even in His dying hour, while hanging on a cross between two dying criminals, Jesus gave the gift of eternal life. One of the two mocked Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.” The other criminal rebuked the first and said, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” Only because salvation is a gift of grace could Jesus say to him, “Today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:39-43).

It Inspires Gratitude

Those who avoid asking for help often take pride in being obligated to no one. But those who are willing to admit their spiritual need discover something more meaningful than self-sufficiency. They join those grateful people who know they owe their lives to someone else. Those who have been saved from a burning car or building by a courageous firefighter or bystander know what it means to live the rest of their lives with a deep sense of gratitude. In a similar way, those who know they have been rescued by God’s grace from the fires of judgment have reason to live the rest of their lives out of the overflow of their gratefulness to God (Ephesians 2:10). Nothing puts a smile on a face or love in a heart like the overwhelming awareness that all we could ever ask for has been given to us in the perfect gift of God

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Posted by Gary Davenport on September 20, 2014 in Article

Being a blessing…There is no plant in the ground but is full of his virtue. There is no form in the strand but is full of his blessing

15 Sep

“A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God.”

Solomon made it clear that not only were the blessings from God, but even the enjoyment of the blessings was God’s gift to us (v. 24). He considered it “evil” if a person had all the blessings of life from God but could not enjoy them (6:1-5).

This is the first of six “conclusions” in Ecclesiastes, each of which emphasizes the importance of accepting life as God’s gift…enjoying it in God’s will. Solomon is not advocating “Eat, drink and be merry, for to-morrow we die!” That is the philosophy of fatalism not faith. Rather, he is saying, “Thank God for what you do have, and enjoy it to the glory of God.”

Paul gave his approval to this attitude when he exhorted us to trust “in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Tim. 6:17, nkjv).

It is easy to see why the Jewish people read Ecclesiastes at the Feast of Tabernacles, for Tabernacles is their great time of thanksgiving and rejoicing for God’s abundant provision of their needs.

The important thing is that we seek to please the Lord (v. 26) and trust Him to meet every need. God wants to give us wisdom, knowledge, and joy; these three gifts enable us to appreciate God’s blessings and take pleasure in them.

It is not enough to possess “things”; we must also possess the kind of character that enables us to use “things” wisely and enjoy them properly.

It is related that during the Civil War a Confederate soldier who was placed far out in a lonely wood to watch suddenly felt a strange dread and fear come over him. The moon was shining dimly in the deeply wooded place. And while it seemed strange and unwise, he felt constrained to sing softly the old song, “Jesus, Lover of my soul let me to Thy bosom fly,” and the stanza, “Other refuge have I none.” This he did, and immediately felt relieved of his fear.

A few years later, when the war was over, he was at a meeting and sang the same song. After the song, a stranger came up to him and said, “I never saw you before, but I have heard that voice before.” Then he asked him if he sang that song one night during the war. Then he related to him how he and some of his men, who were Union soldiers, were hidden behind trees and had their guns turned on him and were ready to fire! “But,” said he, “as we heard that song, ‘Jesus, Lover of my soul,’ and, ‘Other refuge have I none,’ I said to my men, Don’t shoot that man,’ and we slipped away and left you. I shall never forget the voice I heard that night.”

There is only one refuge and that is Jesus, and we need Him at the end of the way.

Allen Redpath wrote that you never lighten the load unless you first have felt the pressure in your own soul. You are never used of God to bring blessing until God has opened your eyes and made you see things as they really are.

All that is required to make men unmindful of what they owe to God for any blessing is that they should receive that blessing often and regularly.

The story is told of an only survivor of a wreck who was thrown on an uninhabited island. After a while he managed to build himself a hut, in which he placed the little all that he had saved from the ship. He prayed to God for deliverance and anxiously scanned the horizon each day to hail any passing ship. One day on returning from a hunt for food, he was horrified to find his hut in flames. All he had was going up in smoke! The worst had happened, it appeared; but that which seemed to have happened for the worst was in reality for the best. To the man’s limited vision it was the worst. To God’s infinite wisdom it was the best, for which he had prayed. The next day a ship arrived. “We saw your smoke signal,” the captain said.

That hardship can actually be a blessing–or “a severe mercy,” to recall Sheldon Vanauken’s book of that title–is a profoundly Christian insight seldom heard these days, even from the clergy, who so often seem preoccupied with being “pastoral” or superficially popular.

I’ve seen numerous ‘pictures’ of the pilgrims at the first American Thanksgiving. While their circumstances were alluded to slightly, it is often not realized the depth of their supposed despair.
Do you know half of their number died the first year they were here? They had a hard time, and it was a cold winter. Dangers lurked everywhere, but those pilgrims didn’t think of the death of their loved ones and the dangers and the cold weather. They didn’t let that obscure the blessings of God. They went together, and they thanked the Lord for the blessings they had received. Sometimes we need to put down our assets alongside our losses. Everyone of us is more blessed than we are hurt.

I remember reading a story not long ago about the “elevated” in Chicago–a train that when it comes into the downtown, it’s on a high track. A young man was riding that train day after day as a commuter. And as the train slowed up for the station where he got off, he could look through an open curtain into a room of a building and see a woman lying in a bed.

She was there day after day, for a long time, obviously quite ill. He began to get interested in her since he saw her every day. Finally he determined to find out her name. He discovered her address, and he wrote her a card, assuring her that he was praying for her recovery. He signed it: “The young man on the elevated.”

A few weeks later, he pulled into the station, and he looked through that window and the bed was empty. Instead there was a great huge sign: GOD BLESS YOU, MY FRIEND ON THE ELEVATED!
It sounds rather trite to say it, but it is a fact that the everyday blessings of life are so basic that we often take them for granted.

The late Dr. Paul Rees tells the true story of a man whose job was to transport people who had been committed to a mental hospital. After delivering a patient one day, he was walking back to his car when he heard a voice call out, “Hey you!” It came from one of the upper floors. Looking up, the man called back, “Are you speaking to me?” “Yes, I am,” came the reply, “I want to ask you a question. Have you ever thanked God that you have a healthy mind?” To say the least, the driver was stunned. He said, “I suddenly realized that I had been bringing people to this facility for some fifteen years. Yet I had never once thanked God for a good mind!”

When spring came to England after the devastating bombing raids of 1941 by Nazi Germany, a strange thing occurred. It brought a beautiful, botanical resurrection. The explosions brought to the surface seeds of plants which were thought to be extinct. Some 95 different flowers and shrubs were found suddenly growing and blooming in the bomb-pocked landscape of England. Likewise, adversity, in life often turns up unexpected and undeveloped parts of our lives. The bombs of adversity and suffering often resurrect long-dormant flowers.

It doesn’t say enough , but what it does say is good. I’m referring to Ralph Waldo Emerson’s reflection on success.

How do you measure success? To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty; To find the best in others
To leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a redeemed social condition, or a job well done;
To know even one other life has breathed because you lived, this is to have succeeded.

We had better bear our troubles bravely than try to escape them. Indeed, sometimes God will place certain obstacles in the life of a Christian to prevent sin or harm. However, if we try to remove these obstacles, we will ultimately come to regret it.

We must remember that no matter how difficult our tribulations may seem to us, there are always others who are in a worse situation than us!

A certified public accountant did something that maybe all of us should do. He decided to open a journal with God. He wanted to write everything that God gave him and everything that he gave to God. He started keeping a debit and credit book with God.

If someone did him a favor, he put it down as God’s gift to him. He credited God with the sun, his food, his health, his friends and relatives, and a thousand other benefits he received. On the other hand, he put down what he did for God. Finally he gave up saying, “It is impossible for me to balance the books. I find that God is indeed my creditor and what I have done for Him is next to nothing.”

Dr. James J. Walsh said, “Few people realize that their health actually varies due to this factor. Happy individuals recover from disease much more quickly than sad, complaining patients; and statistics show that those who laugh live longer.”

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Posted by Gary Davenport on September 15, 2014 in Encouragement

10 Reasons to Believe that God Became a Man

12 Sep

If you still have doubts that Jesus is the Son of God, you can lay them to rest with this convincing list.

A virgin conceived.
If Mary was telling the truth, her baby had no human father. She claimed an angel appeared to her and told her she would conceive a son by God’s Spirit and said that this child, whom she was to name Jesus, would be the Son of God (Luke 2:26-35). If Mary was lying, the night of Jesus’ birth was not holy, and the only
thing that was silent was the truth. But how can we know? How can we take seriously the kind of story that usually deserves laughs of disbelief? The answer is in what followed. If there were no witnesses and no evidence, we could ignore Mary’s claims. If her son’s life were the same as any other life, her claim of a virgin birth would be the easiest of all stories to dismiss.

An Old Testament prophet predicted a God-man.
What we do know is that in the seventh century B.C., the prophet Isaiah made predictions about a servant of the Lord who would rule the earth in the last days. He described a day in which all of the earth would be at peace and all the nations would go up to Jerusalem to worship God (Isaiah 2). Isaiah announced: “Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (9:6, NKJV). Isaiah also gave a mysterious prophecy that was only partially fulfilled in his lifetime. It began, “The Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (7:14). Immanuel means “God with us.”

Angels announced the birth.
In the shepherds’ fields outside of Bethlehem, a group of witnesses formed a bridge between Isaiah and Mary. According to New Testament records (Luke 2:8-14), terrified Jewish shepherds were visited by an angel who announced the birth of Israel’s long-awaited Messiah. The angel said: “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger” (v. 10-12). As the shepherds told it, a multitude of angels appeared, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men” (v. 14).

A sign appeared in the sky.
According to the New Testament, a light in the sky gave additional credibility to Mary. A group of Magi from the East followed a star-like sign to the Jewish town of Bethlehem. What they found was a child they believed to be the long-awaited Jewish Messiah. For hundreds of years Old Testament prophets had been speaking of “a Star” and “a Scepter” that would come out of Israel (Numbers 24:17). The Old Testament also predicted a ruler of Israel who would come out of Bethlehem, a ruler “whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2).

The time was right.
Many believe that the Magi who worshiped Jesus after His birth came from the region of Babylon. If so, they could have had access to the prophecy of a Jewish prophet named Daniel. While in exile in Babylon 400 years earlier, Daniel had a vision that allows for the calculation of the arrival of the Jewish Messiah. According to Daniel’s vision, from the command to rebuild the temple (458 B.C. or 444 B.C.), 69 “sevens” would be followed by the arrival and death of Messiah (Daniel 7:13-14; 9:24-27). Some believe this prophecy predicted the exact number of days until Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

Jesus claimed to be equal with God.
Some have suggested that Jesus never claimed for Himself what His followers claimed for Him. Yet the commotion that surrounded His life can be best explained by His repeated claim to be one with God. John, one of the Gospel writers, quoted Jesus as saying, “Before Abraham was, I AM” (8:58). (In Exodus 3:14, the name I AM was used by God to identify Himself to Moses.) John also quoted Jesus as saying, “I and My Father are One” (10:30) and “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him” (14:7). According to the Gospels, Jesus said that to love or hate Him, or to receive or reject Him, was to love or hate and receive or reject His Father in heaven.

His friends worshiped Him.
When Thomas, one of Jesus’ disciples, saw the resurrected Christ, he declared, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). Years later, Jesus’ close friend and follower John wrote, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made … And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1-3,14). Another friend, Peter, in one of his letters to the early church, addressed his readers as“those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:1).

Jesus’ enemies accused him of blasphemy.
Jesus’ friends may have wanted to believe He was more than a man, but His enemies did not. The religious leaders of Israel were outraged to think that the same man who accused them of being hypocritical, blind leaders of the blind, would also claim to forgive sins, would speak of God as His Father and would even say that He was one with God. On more than one occasion the leaders of Israel picked up stones to kill Jesus, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You being a Man, make Yourself God” (John 10:33).

Jesus’ miracles supported His claims.
Jesus’ miracles recorded in the New Testament were more than wonders. They were signs. He did them to encourage men and women to believe in Him for everlasting life. He healed a crippled man to affirm His right to forgive sins. He fed thousands of people with a little boy’s lunch, setting the stage for His claim to be the “bread of life.” He walked on water, stilled angry seas, healed the sick, restored paralyzed limbs, gave sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf, and even raised from the dead an embalmed man by the name of Lazarus. One reason Jesus performed miracles was to support His claim to be God. The apostle John wrote, “Truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:30-31).

His departure was greater than His arrival.
Many people down through history have claimed to be gods. Yet only one man has been willing to die for the sins of others. Only one has risen from the dead to prove that He is the Son of God. According to the New Testament, after Jesus voluntarily gave His life on an executioner’s cross, He appeared to His closest disciples and more than 500 other followers for a period of 40 days (1 Corinthians 15:5-8). The eyewitnesses were so convinced of His resurrection that they were willing to suffer and die for their claims. His disciples said that He showed them His scarred hands and feet, walked and talked with them, and even ate with them. Then while they met with Him on the Mount of Olives, He gave them His last words and ascended into the clouds. With a departure more spectacular than His arrival, Jesus left us with a better understanding of the announcement of the angel who said, “There is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).

You’re not alone if you have mixed feelings when you think about the evidence surrounding the life of Jesus. You may feel compelled to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, but you’re not sure of your relationship to Him. If that’s the case, be assured of this: If you accept Him, He will accept you. If you will receive His offer of forgiveness, everlasting life and adoption into the family of God, He will become your Savior, teacher and Lord.

If you’ve never received Jesus in this way, we encourage you to carefully read the New Testament verses of Romans 3:23 (which says that all have sinned), Romans 6:23 (which says that the wages of sin is spiritual death, separation from God) and Romans 10:13 (which assures us that all who call on the name of the Lord Jesus will be saved). Study Acts 2:38 and look at baptism from the book of Acts to see its need in your life as a part of salvation.

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Posted by Gary Davenport on September 12, 2014 in Article

10 Reasons to Believe in the Existence of God

07 Sep

You don’t have to believe in God. But here are 10 compelling reasons for the existence of God. The choice to believe is up to you.

The Inevitability of Faith.
Everyone believes in something. No one can endure the stress and cares of life without faith in something that cannot ultimately be proven. Atheists cannot prove there is no God. Pantheists cannot prove that everything is God. Pragmatists cannot prove that what will count for them in the future is what works for them now. Nor can agnostics prove that it is impossible to know one way or the other. Faith is unavoidable, even if we choose to believe only in ourselves. What is to be decided is what evidence we think is pertinent, how we are going to interpret that evidence, and who or what we are willing to believe in (Luke 16:16).

The Limitations of Science.
Scientific method is limited to a process defined by that which is measurable and repeatable. By definition, it cannot speak to issues of ultimate origin, meaning or morality. For such answers, science is dependent on the values and personal beliefs of those who use it. Science, therefore, has great potential for both good and evil. It can be used to make vaccines or poisons, nuclear power plants or nuclear weapons. It can be used to clean up the environment or to pollute it. It can be used to argue for God or against Him. Science by itself offers no moral guidance or values to govern our lives. All science can do is show us how natural law works, while telling us nothing about its origins.

The Problems of Evolution.
Some have assumed that an evolutionary explanation of life would make God unnecessary. This overlooks some problems. Even if we assume that scientists will someday find enough “missing links” to confirm that life appeared and developed gradually over great periods of time, laws of probability would still show the need for a Creator. As a result, many scientists who believe in evolution believe also that the universe in all of its immensity and complexity did not “just happen.” Many feel compelled to acknowledge the possibility or even likelihood of an intelligent designer who provided the ingredients for life and set in motion the laws by which it developed.

The Habits of the Heart.
Mankind has been described as incurably religious. In unguarded moments of trouble or surprise, in prayer or in profanity, references to deity persist. Those who would dismiss such thoughts as bad habits or social vices are left with unanswerable questions. Denying the existence of God does not dispel the mysteries of life. Attempts to exclude God from the language of civil life does not eliminate the persistent longing for more than this life has to offer (Ecclesiastes 3:11). There is something about truth, beauty and love that makes our hearts ache. Even in our anger with a God who would permit injustice and pain, we draw upon a moral conscience to argue that life is not as it ought to be (Romans 2:14-15). Even unwillingly, we are drawn to something that is more rather than less than ourselves.

The Background of Genesis.
On first reading, the opening words of the Bible seem to assume the existence of God. Genesis, however, was written at a point of time in history. Moses wrote, “In the beginning God” after Israel’s exodus from Egypt. He wrote after miraculous events that were said to have been witnessed by millions of Jews and Egyptians. From the Exodus to the coming of Messiah, the God of the Bible rests His case on events witnessed in real time and locations. Anyone who doubted the claims could visit real places and people to check out the evidence for themselves.

The Nation of Israel.
Israel is often used as an argument against God. Many find it difficult to believe in a God who would be partial to a “chosen people.” Others find it even harder to believe in a God who would not protect His “chosen nation” from the boxcars, gas chambers, and ovens of Auschwitz and Dachau. Yet from the beginning of Old Testament history, Israel’s future was prewritten. Together with other prophets, Moses predicted not only Israel’s possession of the land but also her unparalleled suffering and dispersion throughout the whole earth, her opportunity for repentance and the saving of a ‘remnant.’

The Claims of Christ.
Many who doubt the existence of God have reassured themselves with the thought, “If God wanted us to believe in Him, He would appear to us.” According to the Bible, that is what God has done. Writing in the 7th century B.C., the prophet Isaiah said that God would give His people a sign. A virgin would bear a son who would be called “God with us” (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23). Isaiah said this Son would be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6, NIV). The prophet also said that this child would die for His people’s sins before seeing His life prolonged and honored by God (Isaiah 53). According to the New Testament, Jesus claimed to be that Messiah. Under the oversight of a Roman governor named Pontius Pilate, He was crucified on charges that He claimed to be the king of Israel and that He had represented Himself as being equal with God (John 5:18).

The Evidence of Miracles.
The reports of the first followers of Jesus agree that He did more than just claim to be the long-awaited Messiah. These witnesses said He won their trust by healing paralytics, walking on water and voluntarily dying a painful, undeserved death before rising from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:1-8). Most compelling was their claim that many witnesses had seen and talked to Christ after finding His tomb empty and before watching Him ascend visibly into the clouds. These witnesses didn’t have anything on earth to gain by their claims. They had no hopes of material wealth or power. Many became martyrs, claiming to the end that the long-awaited Messiah of Israel had lived among them, that He had become a sacrifice for sin and that he had risen from the dead to assure them of His ability to bring them to God.

The Details of Nature.
Some who believe in God do not take His existence seriously. They reason that a God great enough to create the universe would be too big to be concerned about us. Jesus, however, confirmed what the design and detail of the natural world suggest. He showed that God is great enough to care about the smallest details of our lives. He spoke of One who not only knows every move we make but also the motives and thoughts of our heart. Jesus taught that God knows the number of hairs on our head, the concerns of our heart and even the condition of a fallen sparrow (Psalm 139; Matthew 6).

The Voice of Experience.
The Bible says that God designs the circumstances of our lives in a way that will prompt us to look for Him (Acts 17:26). For those who do reach out for Him, the Scriptures also say that He is close enough to be found (v. 27). According to the apostle Paul, God is a Spirit in whom “we live and move and have our being” (v. 28). The Bible makes it just as clear, however, that we must reach out for God on His terms rather than our own. He promises to be found, not by just anyone but by those who admit their own need and are willing to trust Him rather than themselves.

You’re not alone if you are open to the existence of God but aren’t sure you can accept Jesus’ claim to be “God in the flesh.” The teacher from Nazareth promised help to those who are concerned about doing the will of God. He said, “If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own” (John 7:17).

If you do see the evidence for the God who revealed Himself to us through His Son, keep in mind that the Bible says Christ died to pay the price for our sins, and that all who believe in Him and are baptized into Christ will receive the gifts of forgiveness and everlasting life. The salvation Christ offers is not a reward for effort but a gift to all who in light of the evidence put their trust in Him (John 5:24; Romans 4:5; Ephesians 2:8-10).

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Posted by Gary Davenport on September 7, 2014 in Article

Gaining the victory…the first step on the way to a victory is to recognize the enemy

05 Sep

——————————————–

About the only time I play golf is when I play with one of my two sons, Eric or Gregory (and it’s been way-y-y-y too long, now that I think about it).

On one occasion, we were walking to the club house just before we were to tee off. Knowing I had not played for some time, Eric offered me a good word of advice: “Dad, until you build up your confidence, why don’t you drive with an iron at first?”

“Eric,” I responded, “I have all the confidence in the world. What I lack is ability.”

1 Corinthians 15:57 (27 kb) Confidence can be a very good thing. It can also be a mill stone around one’s neck. Being confident simply is not enough. The crucial issue is in whom, or in what, is our confidence. Ill-founded confidence is deadly. Well-founded confidence is proper and good.

Paul speaks to such issues when he tells us that we have an “overwhelming victory” available in Christ: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”[1]

The original language of scripture is strong here. This “over-whelming victory” is not something small at all. By comparison, in football it is not willing 10-7 on a late field goal, but being ahead 100-0 at the half! It’s claiming the laurel in the 100-meter dash by 50 meters!

It’s overwhelming! It’s a victory! It’s all possible because of God’s acts toward us!

Just imagine: God is for us! God is not against us!

This statement, “God is for us,” cannot be interpreted or applied apart from His purpose (8:28). God is not “for us” in some nebulous, undefined way. We do not have the promise that God will deal with us in any way that we ask or desire.

The prosperity gospelizers promise a God who is a kind of magic genie, as though we need but inform Him how He can serve us. God is “for us” in a way that produces the “good” He has purposed and prepared for us in eternity past. It is God’s prerogative to define “good,” not ours.

Romans 8 is the Christian’s “Declaration of Freedom,” for in it Paul declares the spiritual freedoms we enjoy because of our union with Jesus Christ.

Although the Bible is a book offering the good news of salvation from sin, it is also a book that presents the bad news of condemnation for sin. No single book or collection of writings on earth proclaims so completely and vividly the totally desperate situation of man apart from God.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul declared, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Because of that sinfulness, all unbelievers are under God’s condemnation and are “by nature children of wrath” (Eph. 2:3).

Sin places men under the power of Satan, the ruler of the present world system (John 12:31). They are under the control of “the prince of the power of the air” and “of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2).

But remember: the believer is to be judged for his faithfulness to Christ. He will be judged for how responsible he is—for how well he uses his “spiritual gifts” for Christ—for how diligently he serves Christ in the work of God. The judgment of the believer will take place at the great judgment seat of Christ.

The key to every aspect of salvation is in the simple but infinitely profound phrase in Christ Jesus. A Christian is a person who is in Christ Jesus. Paul has already declared that “all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death,” and that “therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection” (Rom. 6:3-5).

Our being in Christ is one of the profoundest of mysteries, which we will not fully understand until we meet Him face-to-face in heaven. But Scripture does shed light on that marvelous truth. We know that we are in Christ spiritually, in a divine and permanent union. “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive,” Paul explains (1 Cor. 15:22).

Believers are also in Christ in a living, participatory sense. “Now you are Christ’s body,” Paul declares in that same epistle, “and individually members of it” (12:27).

We are actually a part of Him and, in ways that are unfathomable to us now we work when He works, grieve when He grieves, and rejoice when He rejoices. “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body,” Paul assures us, “whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:13). Christ’s own divine life pulses through us.

Many people are concerned about their family heritage, about who their ancestors were, where they lived, and what they did. For better or worse, we are all life—linked physically, intellectually, and culturally to our ancestors. In a similar, but infinitely more important way, we are linked to the family of God because of our relationship to His Son, Jesus Christ. It is for that reason that every Christian can say, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me” (Gal. 2:20).

Since God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up to benefit us all, we may be certain, after such a gift, that he will not refuse anything he can give

The Son willingly endured the agony of the cross in order to do the will of His Father and to bring glory to Him. The Father willingly gave up His Son so that by means of His sacrifice the Son might be glorified (see John 17:1-5; Philippians 2:5-11). Imagine the heart of the Father as He heard the plea of His Son in the Garden of Gethsemene. Amazing love, how can it be, that Thou, My God, should die for me?

If God gave up His beloved Son, His precious Son, then it is not difficult to believe that He will “freely” give us “all things.” The “all things” must, however, be limited to all those things which are essential to bring about the “good” He has purposed for us. And these things are freely given “with Him.”

Some have great confidence but in the wrong thing. The lyrics of a popular “Christian” song say something like: “I have determined … to be invincible …” This song writer has far too much confidence—in himself.

Paul gives us every reason to be confident, not in ourselves but in our salvation and in the sovereign God who is accomplishing it.

Heed well Paul’s words here. They offer hope and confidence in the midst of a fallen world. To everyone who is in Christ by faith, they are words of comfort and reassurance.

The story is told of a man who operated a drawbridge. At a certain time each afternoon, he had to raise the bridge for a ferry boat and then lower it quickly for a passenger train that crossed at high speed a few minutes later.

One day the man’s young son was visiting his father at work and decided to go down below to get a better look at the ferry as it passed. Fascinated by the sight, he did not watch carefully where he was going and fell into the giant gears. One foot became caught and the boy was helpless to free himself.

The father saw what happened but knew that if he took time to extricate his son, the train would plunge into to the river before the bridge could be lowered. But if he lowered the bridge to save the hundreds of passengers and crew members on the train, his son would be crushed to death.

When he heard the train’s whistle, indicating it would soon reach the river; he knew what he had to do. His son was very dear to him, whereas all the people on the train were total strangers. The sacrifice of his son for the sake of the other people was an act of pure grace and mercy.

That story portrays something of the infinitely greater sacrifice God the Father made when He sent His only beloved Son to earth to die for the sins of mankind—to whom He owed nothing but condemnation.

Knowing this fact and living based upon its certainty is difficult. Paul tells us that God understands that and “the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”

The Holy Spirit is the connecting link of our relationship with God. God has given us the Spirit as a guarantee that we are saved, the children of God (2 Cor. 5:5).

We can call God, “Abba! Father!” because we are identified as God’s children by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children and heirs of God (Rom. 8:16-17). This does not come about because of direct intervention of God in some intuitive, experiential way. We can only be children of God by being obedient to His will (1 John 4:1-3; 5:1-3; 2 John 7-9).

John says the Spirit dwells in those who obey God (1 John 2:3-4; 3:24). “The basis of our assurance of being children of God is not subjective emotionalism. It is rather the objective criteria of keeping the commandments of the Lord. When this is done, the Holy Spirit bears witness with the spirit of man.” [2]

This directs us to another statement of Paul: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

The story is told of an airliner which began to develop trouble in mid-air. One engine began to smoke. Over the speaker came the pilot’s reassuring voice informing the passengers of a small problem. One engine had caught fire, but it had been extinguished. With three remaining engines, the plane would easily reach its destination. Then a second engine failed. Once again, the pilot calmly assured the passengers there was no danger; two engines would suffice. A third engine failed. Now the pilot informed the passengers that it would be necessary to land short of their destination. Finally, the fourth engine failed, and from their windows the passengers saw the plane’s crew in parachutes descending to the earth.

The pilot’s calm and reassuring voice again came over the speaker: “Ladies and gentlemen, we are having a problem with the airplane. We will need to make an emergency landing. The pilot and crew have abandoned the plane and are parachuting to safety. There is no need to panic. The plane is operating on automatic pilot, and everything is under control … control … control …”

There are times in life when things seem to be out of control. At those times atheists and agnostics are quite convinced, following our analogy, that the plane has no pilot. If ever there was a pilot, he has bailed out, leaving them to themselves to face threatening dangers.

We who are Christians believe there is a God. When life goes smoothly for us and God’s blessings are evident, we are tempted to believe we are in control. We may even think we do not need God.

When the bottom falls out and the trials of life seem to be swallowing us up so that we seem to lose control, we may still believe that God is in the cockpit. But we may begin to question whether God is really in control. We may be tempted to think God’s control over creation might be limited and fallible.

Whatever the Christian sees happening, we may be assured that it is not only under God’s control, but its purpose is to produce what is for God’s glory and for our good.

When life’s trials cause some to wonder if God even exists, and others to wonder whether He is in control, the Christian may be assured that God is there. He is in charge of bringing about His purpose for His glory and our good. Let us savor the truth of God’s sovereignty. While His sovereignty brings terror to the hearts of unbelievers, it is music to the Christian’s ears.

In the center of main street in Enterprise, Alabama, stands one of the strangest monuments in the world. It’s a memorial to an insect! Handsomely carved in stone is the likeness of a boll weevil. Many believe that divine providence was involved in the circumstances that led to the erection of this unusual statue.

In early plantation days almost everyone in the community raised cotton. But as the years rolled on, a serious pestilence infested the area in the form of a small beetle that punctured the boll of the plant. As a result, it became almost impossible to bring a season’s growth to maturity.

George Washington Carver, along with several other scientists, became deeply concerned about the situation and began intensive studies to see if any substitute crop could be grown in that part of the country. Raising peanuts was the answer, for they could be planted and harvested with very little loss.

In time, cotton gins were forgotten in that region, and it became known as an outstanding peanut center of the world. Soon the farmers’ profits far exceeded what they had earned from their best cotton yield. In the end, they realized that the destructive insect they had feared had actually triggered the research that brought them prosperity.

The Lord often allows trials to unsettle our lives for a blessed purpose. Perhaps we are trying to “grow cotton” when we should be “raising peanuts.” If so, the delays and disappointments we experience are just the gracious “boll weevils” sent to redirect us so that we will plant the crop of God’s choosing!

In his book Forever Triumphant, F. J. Huegel told a story that came out of World War II. After General Jonathan Wainwright was captured by the Japanese, he was held prisoner in a Manchurian concentration camp. Cruelly treated, he became “a broken, crushed, hopeless, starving man.”

Finally the Japanese surrendered and the war ended. A United States army colonel was sent to the camp to announce personally to the general that Japan had been defeated and that he was free and in command. After Wainwright heard the news, he returned to his quarters and was confronted by some guards who began to mistreat him as they had done in the past.

Wainwright, however, with the news of the allied victory still fresh in his mind, declared with authority, “No, I am in command here! These are my orders.” Huegel observed that from that moment on, General Wainwright was in control.

Huegel made this application: “Have you been informed of the victory of your Savior in the greatest conflict of the ages? Then rise up to assert your rights. Never again go under when the enemy comes to oppress. Claim the victory in Jesus’ Name.”

Huegel observed, “We must learn to stand on resurrection ground, reckoning dead the old-creation life over which Satan has power, and living in the new creation over which Satan has no power whatever.”

“O death, where is thy sting? 0 grave, where is thy victory? This is so true that even Satan cannot deny it. Christ’s resurrection and victory over sin, death and hell is greater than all heaven and earth. You can never imagine his resurrection and victory so great but that in actuality it is far, far greater.

Some will tell you that triumph will come by the development of human beings–the gradual evolution of their potentialities. We should just give it time, wait and see. Everything’s coming up roses. World War I dealt that theory the cutting blow. World War II broke its spirit. Vietnam laid it in its grave. The takeovers of Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan shoveled the dirt of interment on it. Will human progress stop people and nations from sinning? Will human progress and achievement ever wipe away all tears from our eyes or heal our broken hearts? To ask these questions is to answer them.

No, the final victory will not come through some natural progress of human development, nor through the religious forces that are operative in the world right now. The victory will come not by an improvement of the present order but through its complete overthrow and supercession.

The high point of human history will be the sudden appearance on the field of battle of the captain of our salvation. And he will come in glory, and it will be comparable to what John beheld: Look, I see a great white horse. And there is a rider on that horse whose name is Faithful and True, and there are many crowns upon his head. [3]

Retired football coach Gene Stallings tells of an incident when he was defensive backfield coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Two All-Pro players, Charlie Walters and Cliff Harris, were sitting in front of their lockers after playing a tough game against the Washington Redskins. They were still in their uniforms, and their heads were bowed in exhaustion. Walters said to Harris, “By the way Cliff, what was the final score?” In our competitive society, we sometimes fail to remember that excellence isn’t determined by comparing our score to someone else’s. Excellence comes from giving one’s best, no matter the score.

Having studied our text of Romans 8:31-39, let me leave you with some avenues for future thought, study, prayer, and application.

First, the sovereignty of God is the basis for our security.We dare not be confident in ourselves. We dare not doubt that we shall be more than conquerors. This would be to deny His Word and to distrust God. We, like Paul, should be absolutely convinced concerning these things, based upon the Word of God. Our security is rooted in God, in His sovereignty, and in His unfailing love.

Second, our security and confidence in God is the basis for our service. It is not doubt, nor fear, nor guilt which should motivate our service, but a confidence in God mixed with deep and abiding gratitude. Because we are secure in Christ, we may serve. We need not focus on ourselves but on Him. Since He is the “author and finisher of our faith,” we must “fix our eyes on Him” (Hebrews 12:1-2)

Third, our security is never an excuse for sloppiness.Some would abuse the doctrine of God’s sovereignty and the believer’s security. They would sinfully suggest that since God is in control, it matters not what we do. This is just the opposite of the truth. God’s sovereignty is the basis for our diligence and obedience. If we trust in ourselves, this would be folly, because we will fail. But when we trust in God, we know that we ultimately cannot fail and that our efforts are not in vain.

Fourth, the Scriptures never raise any doubt that God will finish what He started at salvation. The question raised in Scripture is not, “Will the saints endure to the end?” The question is rather, “Are we sure that we are in Christ?” The security of the believer is never brought into question in the Scriptures. Whether or not we are a believer is a question which is raised, and rightly so. The Bible gives us the examples to follow (Acts 2:38; 8:4-29; 9:1-20; 22:1-16; 10:1-48; 16:12-15, 22-34; 18:8; 19:1-6).

Fifth, the basis for our salvation and our security is found in the work of Christ on the cross of Calvary. Did you notice that every fear, every dread, in this text is the result of sin? And did you notice as well that every cure goes back to the cross of Calvary?

Here is God’s means of redemption. Here is the measure of His love. Here is the assurance and confidence that God’s purposes and promises will never fail. No wonder we must continually go back to the cross.

We should never grow weary of going back to the cross. Here is where our salvation began. Here is where it was finished. That God sent Jesus to the cross is the measure of His love for us. That God would raise Jesus from the dead is the measure of His power. When such love and power meet, we, as sons of God, have every reason to be confident.

Finally, the security of the believer requires a response. Paul’s conclusion reminds us that biblical revelation requires a response. The security of the believer in the sovereign love of God should produce humility, gratitude, dependence, confidence, and praise.

Let us ponder these closing words of Romans 8, especially in contrast to the agonizing cry at the end of chapter 7. Let us savor our security, and let us stand fast, knowing that our labor in the Lord is not in vain.

[1] Romans 8:35-37

[2] “Alive In The Spirit”, Jimmy Jividen, p140

[3] R. Geoffrey Brown, “Look! A Great White Horse!,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 111.

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Posted by Gary Davenport on September 5, 2014 in Encouragement

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The Possibility of the Knowledge of God

The Importance of This Study

Definition of Theology

Distinctions in the Types of Theology

Divisions of Theology

Systems of Perception Used in Theology

Rationalism:

Empiricism:

Faith:

False Views About God

Atheism:

Agnosticism:

Materialism:

Polytheism:

Pantheism:

Deism:

Tritheism:

Conclusion

The Revelation of the Existence of God (Opposed to Atheism)

Characteristics of General (Naturalistic) Revelation

General or Naturalistic Arguments

The Moral Argument

The Argument From Design (Teleological, telos, “end”)

The Cosmological Argument

The Esthetic Argument

The Ontological Argument (The idea of a supreme being)

Biblical Evidence for the Existence of God

The Existence of God Is Assumed by Scripture

Biblical Theism

Conclusion

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David Letterman’s Top 10 Signs You Have No Friends

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A study of Crossroadism, the Boston Movement, and the ‘International Church of Christ’

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The Revelation of the Existence of God
(Opposed to Atheism)