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Birdwell Lane Church of Christ Big Spring, TX |
Weekly Thoughts - April 2007
| <---- March 2007 | -- | May 2007 ----> |
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01 - "CALVARY" 08 - "THE RESURRECTION" 15 - "THE ESSENTIALITY OF BAPTISM" 22 - "GLORY IN THE CHURCH" 29 - "DO YOU HAVE A LITTLE BOY?" |
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"CALVARY" The saddest story of God is Calvary. Taking its rise in God’s love, concerned in the councils of eternity, from age to age, receiving ever new fulfillment, Calvary’s history goes. A far cry it is from the Garden of Eden to Calvary, but they have very intimate relations. The tragedy of one is the reason for the tragedy of the other. In Eden, we see the beginning of the tragedy which is to end on Calvary, and the agony of atonement for sin which we see on Calvary has to do with the tragedy of sin which we learn in the Garden of Eden. Calvary casts its shadow and blessed radiance from Golgotha through the stormy chasms of human history to the foundation of the world! And from Golgotha, the place of the skull, to Pilate’s court, where, with scourge, they seamed His quivering flesh until it started up in red scars. And on to Gethsemane’s garden, where the roots of His divine emotion put forth their crimson tears. And on to the upper room, where He changed the fruit of the vine into the perpetual symbol of His blood. And on to the Mount of Transfiguration, where Moses and Elijah talked of His coming death (Matthew 17:3). Reaching to Nazareth, where by toil of His hands and sweat of His brow, in the carpenter’s shop, He sanctified all labor. Racing to Bethlehem, where heaven put out its brightest star to mark His birthplace, across four dumb centuries, and beyond, the cross throws its shadow and immortal radiance- to Solomon’s temple! And ever the victim, whether lamb or bullock, or turtle dove, on the alter of the Tabernacle. And over blood-stained lintels of the Passover night, where the keynote of the cross sounded forth in the depths of remote antiquity and foreshadowed a deliverance far greater. And beyond that to the withered garden where Despair pitched its pavilions upon the sterile and blasted fields of man’s lost estate. “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: he shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heal.” That promise, dropped as a sun into man’s sunless firmament, was the center, prospectively, of all these stars which were to succeed each other in the darkness and illuminate that long way unbroken from Eden to Calvary – Calvary, the abyss of the world’s greatest sorrow, the summit of the world’s highest hopes. See ya Sunday, Ralph |
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"THE RESURRECTION" All the pages of history contain no event more wonderfully interesting than the most tremendous and the most momentous fact of history - the resurrection of Jesus. His resurrection is the foundation and pivotal point of Christianity. His resurrection - the greatest evidence for Christianity, the greatest exhibition of God's power, the greatest truth of the gospel, the greatest reality of faith, the greatest assurance of coming glory, the greatest incentive to holiness - is marked with the fullest credibility. His resurrection - a fact thrillingly touching the human heart - a truth powerfully influencing human character and heart - a fact mentioned directly more than one hundred times in the New Testament - is as fully attested as any other historical fact, remote or recent. The resurrection of Jesus - the whole alphabet of human hope, the certificate of our Lord's mission from heaven, the heart of the gospel in all ages - completed Christ's substitutionary work on the cross. It was evidence that God accepted the sinless Substitute. Without Christ's resurrection, His crucifixion and death would have been in vain. These two fundamental facts cannot be separated. Jesus, born in denial of laws of life, raised from the dead in defiance of the laws of death - our living Christ. A living Christ - no mere shadow Christ of legend and myth. A living Christ - no hypothetical Christ of sentimental conjuring. A living Christ - no immanent Christ of nature. A living Christ - no pale Christ of historical imagination. A living Christ - no mere dream Christ of historical culture and romance. Our contemporary Christ - no mere heroic Christ of the poet's song. Our contemporary Christ - no fading, artistic Christ of the painters brush. Our contemporary Christ - no cold marble Christ of the sculptor's chisel. Our contemporary Christ - no ivory Christ on crucifix, giving expression of the worship of defeat. Our contemporary Christ - no mere spectator Christ, no longer able to say, "My Father works even until now, and I work. Our contemporary Christ - no dead-figure Christ protected by a creedal sarcophagus. Our contemporary Christ - no invalid Christ asking a man more than He is able to give to man. A living Christ - no mere eulogized Christ of the orator's rhetoric. A living Christ - no radiant apparition Christ of yesterday. A living Christ - no coffined Christ of the embalmer's art. No Christ remote. No Christ inaccessible, no longer active in the world. No such Christ will answer our needs. But our Christ is a mightily-acting Christ - eternal contemporary of humanity, the old Leader on all new roads - offering His abundant efficiency to our poor inadequacy. See ya Sunday, Ralph |
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"THE ESSENTIALITY OF BAPTISM" In the Galilee mountain from which He ascended into heaven, Jesus said to His apostles: "19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen (Matt. 28:18-20). In the Jewish dispensation, God made this promise unto Israel; " In every place where I record My name I will come to you, and I will bless you." (Ex. 20:24). In the gospel dispensation, "God has recorded His name in the ordinance of Christian baptism. No man can claim the approbation of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit until he is baptized" (Ashley S. Johnson). The Bible emphatically says that salvation is in the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12; 1 Cor. 6:11). The promise of salvation, therefore, is placed after faith, repentance, and baptism. Jesus says: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned."(Mark 16:16). Peter says, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto (for) the remission of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38). Ananias says: "And now why tarriest thou? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name" (Acts 22:16). In Jesus Christ, "We have our redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace" (Eph. 1:7); and "as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ" (Gal. 3:27). According to Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (p.382), the "washing of regeneration" referred to in the following passage is baptism: "But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life" (Titus 3:4-7). Seems to me that the above certainly flies directly in the face of the ministers of the new theology of baptism is the second step in salvation and necessary only as an after thought for an outward sign of salvation. The Bible which is the FINAL word in all things religious states quite clearly that baptism IS necessary for salvation. See ya Sunday, Ralph |
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"GLORY IN THE CHURCH" Ephesians 3:21 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. NKJV IN THE WORLD we often experience a fragmentation that leaves us lonely and separated from our fellow beings. But in the church we find a community, the family of God. 1 Corinthians 12:12-26 points out that we live in a relationship to every other member of the family. This is true koinonia or fellowship. I thought it would be interesting to look up the word fellowship in the dictionary. A brief meaning of the word is given: “A group of people with the same interests.” But look how differently the description reads in the Bible dictionary. “That heavenly love which fills or should fill the hearts of believers for one another, and for God.” In the Scriptures, we have a word that describes this fellowship. It is the Greek word agape which means “godly love.” This fellowship of love is deeper and more satisfying than any earthly love. Wherever Kay and I travel among the congregations of the church of Christ, one significant fact always stands out. There is a close knit bond of love and fellowship among true believers which exists in no other area. It is kinship of like precious faith which draws us together in close relationship. We all belong to the redeemed family of God. When a child of God meets another child of God, even though we may be complete strangers, we have much in common. We belong. The closeness we feel is not only because we have similar experiences but because the same Father, the same Holy Spirit, and the same Jesus indwells us all. We are spiritual relatives – brothers and sisters in the Lord. God is our Father, we are His children. This tie is far stronger than any human tie. It is a relationship that will last for eternity. Blessed be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love! See ya Sunday, Ralph |
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"DO YOU HAVE A LITTLE BOY?" It was King Solomon who said, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). Researchers tell us that our ability to greatly influence our children is limited up to about age nine, and that our greatest influence is during the first few years. If we wait until our children are troubled teenagers before we decide to become serious about faith in God, we probably will have waited too late to really have a positive impact on their lives. Along this line, several years a go I came across the following poem: But he never went to Bible school, cause Mary wouldn’t go. He missed the story of Christ that thrills the childish mind. While other children learned of God this child was left behind. And as he grew from babe to youth, she saw to her dismay. A soul that once was snowy white, had turned an ugly black. She even started back to church, and Bible study, too. She begged the preacher, “Isn’t there something you can do?” The preacher tried, and failed, and said, “We’re just too far behind. I tried to tell you years ago, but you would pay no mind.” And so another soul is lost, that once was white as snow, Bible study would have helped, but Mary wouldn’t go. What the Holy Spirit promised through Solomon as a rule of thumb, is so comforting, to know. If I as a mommy or daddy teach my little children to love God, teach them the Bible, and lead by example, as a general rule, they will not depart when they get older from what they have learned. Brent Smith Trenton Church of Christ Trenton, TN |
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