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Birdwell Lane Church of Christ Big Spring, TX |
Weekly Thoughts - February 2007
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04 - "LET'S STUDY 2" 11 - "THE WORLD" 18 - "THE LAW" 25 - "WHY ISN'T THE CHURCH GROWING?" |
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"LET'S STUDY 2" Matthew 5:10 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. NKJV Bigger is not always better. The introduction of the transistor in the middle 1950s proved this, as has the computer chip since then. Until that time, radios were bulky, requiring large vacuum tubes; hearing aids were difficult to conceal; pacemakers were unknown; and computers filled large rooms. With the coming of the transistor, which required no vacuum to insulate its various elements from each other and needed no warm-up time, radios became small boxes in pockets and hearing aids could be put into the ear pieces of eyeglasses. The beatitudes of the Lord's Sermon on the Mount are transistorized wisdom, powerful advice in small packages. As the writer of the annual lesson commentary, the Companion, has observed, while the first four beatitudes deal primarily with attitudes that are necessary to come back to a relationship with God, the last four concern the way one relates to those around him.
See ya Sunday, Ralph |
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"THE WORLD" Your body contains approximately eight ounces of salt. Without it you could not live. It is vital for muscle contractions, for nerve impulses, for the exchange of water between the body's cells and the fluid surrounding them, and for the digestion of protein. Salt is essential not only for life's continuance but for its commerce as well. It leads the five major materials utilized by industry. It is an essential component for the manufacturing of products from glass to gargles and from pharmaceuticals to fuels. Through the centuries men have recognized the value of salt in various ways. In Israel covenants were sealed with the exchange of it (Lev. 2:13; Num. 18:19). In the Roman empire soldiers were paid with it. This is the origin of the word salary. To the superstitious in old Europe, spilled salt brought bad luck. In some cultures of the Far East a newborn is rubbed with salt to bring them good fortune. The value of salt, nevertheless, depends upon its ability to influence something else. If salt were to lose its unique influence, it would los its value. Is it any wonder then that Jesus compared His followers to salt in order to urge them to keep their distinctive influence in society? Salt in the time of Jesus was not highly refined but usually came to the markets in form of rough slabs dug from the bottom of some salt pan where saline water had evaporated. Each slab contained other matter, which was left as residue after moisture of the rainy season had leached the salt from the chunk lying on the cottage floor. The remainder was "good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men" (Matt. 5:13). In this world, there is much that we must neither salute nor sample; but there are many whom we could salt and save (James 5:20). Matthew 5:13 13 Believers Are Salt and Light (Mark 9:50; Luke 14:34,35) 13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. NKJV See ya Sunday, Ralph |
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"THE LAW" In the fall of 1982 cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules killed seven people in the Chicago area. As a result, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued regulations requiring drug manufacturers to package their products in tamper-proof containers. Bottles are now protected with airtight foil seals over the neck and cap and outer boxes are glued shut. Some boxes now come encased in plastic sheeting so tough that a consumer can get a headache trying to open one. In Matthew 5:21-48 Jesus gave six contrasts between what the Pharisees were doing and teaching and what the law and the prophets really said. Lest His hearers misunderstand His position by perceiving His assault on some current Pharisee doctrines to be, instead, an attack on God’s law, Jesus first moves to establish His credibility by fine-tuning the perceptions of His hearers. In three ways He shows He believes God’s law should be tamper-proof.
Matthew 5:20 “[U]nless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven”. See ya Sunday, Ralph |
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"WHY ISN'T THE CHURCH GROWING?" If you keep up with current events and discussions within the Lord’s church you know that the above question is on the lips and minds of a lot of church leaders today. In fact the Christian Chronicle is devoting a series of articles examining the current state of church growth, or lack thereof, in the country today. Maybe its because I’m a born cynic, or because I have a sarcastic streak a mile wide running up my back, or just because I’m getting old and crotchety and I don’t like beating my head up against a brick wall; but all I want to do is scream. “Because we quit being the evangelistic church a long time ago!” I know that statement is way too cynical, and far too sarcastic to do any good. Still, in my weaker moments it's what I want to say, not what I would say. One problem related to asking about church growth is that it invariably invites comparison: that is, why isn’t the church growing like it was back in the good old days? Always quoted along with that statement is the declaration that in the post war years the churches of Christ were the fastest growing religious group in the United States. The claim is repeated, and repeated and repeated. I should know. For years I was one who repeated the claim myself. I believe it was Flavil Yeakley Jr. who has presented the argument that is an “urban myth” among our brotherhood, and that there is no statistical evidence to prove the claim. His presentation sure convinced me, and made me re-think the whole concept of “church growth” altogether. Another comparison inevitably made is to some group that is ‘experiencing growth in numbers: i.e.’ the Mormon church, the community church, that congregational group. This ultimately leads to a questioning of tactics and strategy (what are they doing that we could do) or finger pointing (well, the only reason they are growing is because they pay their members to come every Sunday). Neither process has proven to be very effective in solving any long-term problems, however. I have no doubts that the Lord’s church experiences periods of growth and then periods of stability, and along with those might be periods of actual loss of numbers. This is in keeping with the New Testament church as a body or an organism. Also inherent in the new Testament description of the church is the fact that God reserves the right to trim, to prune, or to thin out the church as He, and only He, sees fit. Paul told the Corinthian Christians that as horrible as division was, some division was none-the-less necessary so that it could be known who was truly approved (that is to say, those who held to the teachings of Christ vs. those who were immoral or disobedient) (1 Cor. 11:19). Which brings me, in a very long and bumpy circle, back to the question that heads this article, and to the Sermon on the Mount that we have been studying the past four weeks. If we try to fix the “church growth” question completely by ourselves we are doomed to utter failure. If, on the other hand, we daily become a community that lives out those eight characteristics we call the “beatitudes,” then we truly will be the salt of the earth, and we will be incredible beacons in a dark and dreary world. In other words, we need to be the church that Jesus created. Anything less and we are just not being faithful to the blood that cleansed us, the Spirit that leads us, or the God that redeemed us. We are children of the King! It is our very nature to imitate the King and to bring glory to the kingdom. Let’s get out there and be the Kings children! See ya Sunday, Ralph |
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