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Birdwell Lane Church of Christ Big Spring, TX |
Weekly Thoughts - July 2007
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01 - JESUS, THE... 08 - FREEDOM 15 - REFLECTION 22 - LIFT UP YOUR HEAD! YOUR REDEMPTION DRAWETH NIGH! 29 - NON-NEGOTIABLE TRUTH |
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JESUS, THE... Jesus, the...
See ya Sunday, Ralph |
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FREEDOM We have heard the cry for freedom for many generations. The children of Israel cried out for deliverance from the Egyptians and all through history men have fought to be free. Many have given their lives to be free from the enslavement of other men. Our own nation has heard the rallying cry for freedom. We have fought war after war in which hundreds of thousands of young Americans have lost their lives in order to preserve our freedom from bondage inflicted by his fellow man, he was becoming enslaved to Satan. What is enslavement to Satan? Those who give in to the "lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, and the pride of life" (1 John 2:16) are under the power of Satan. It is heartbreaking for faithful Christians to see their friends and loved ones caught up in the works of the flesh: "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance. Emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings and such like..." (Galatians 5:19-21). We enjoy true freedom only in Christ when we obey the gospel plan of salvation: hear (Romans 10:17), believe (Mark 16:16), repent (Acts 17:30), confess (Romans 10:10), be baptized (Acts 2:38). When we obey from the heart God forgives us our sins and the blood of Christ continues to cleanse us as long as we abide in Him. As children of God, we have the privilege of going to Him daily in prayer, knowing He will forgive our sins and shortcomings. Freedom from the oppression of man is indeed a wonderful blessing but freedom of the soul from Satan's power is the most important freedom we will ever experience. Only in Christ can we know that joy. When we choose to follow Christ we are told to put away the works of the flesh and to embrace the fruit of the Spirit in our lives: "... the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law" (Galatians 5:22,23). Only when we quit living a life of sin can we break the hold that Satan has on us. Real freedom is found in Jesus Christ our Lord. "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). See ya Sunday, Ralph |
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REFLECTION Why did God make us? Perhaps the answer is analogous to why parents want to have children. Let's see. As parents we wanted children to be a little like us. God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…" (Gen. 1:26). We are a little like God, but less than God. In His image refers to the faculties and gifts of His character that distinguish man from animal. Nahum Sarna suggests that it refers to our intellect, free will, self awareness, conscience of existence of others, conscience, responsibility, and self control (Nahum M. Sarna, Understanding Genesis, p. 16). As parents we brought children into this world that they might have life. Not merely life (existence) but a quality of life that is characterized in the life of the parents. "Then the Lord God formed man…and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life…" (Gen. 2:7). The emphasis is upon the gift of life. The New Testament stresses life on a higher plane that has an ethical quality within it. The supernatural life belonging to God, which believers will receive in the future, but also enjoy in a measure now. It is the "life from above" and timelessness isn't its important feature. As parents we seek a lifelong intimate relationship with our children. This relationship is dependent upon goodness and trust. "For he did good, and gave you from heaven rains and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts, with food and gladness…" (Acts 14:17). The child's response to this is trust, and this allows a relationship to exist. As parents we wanted children to love. We have pets but can't love them because they are not in our image. God is love and we love Him because He first loved us. The word for love (agape) originally meant "to treat as beloved kinsman." Love reproduces itself and is directed by the will of man. Uniquely, love springs from trust. As parents we subconsciously desire children for our glory. We take great pride in listening to others praise our children's accomplishments. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and give glory to your Father…" (Matt. 5:16). All praise to the Father for He has done great things through us by His power. As parents we had children so that they could become our heirs. Most of us do not have a large amount of material goods but we intend to give it to the ones who are like us, who shared lifelong relationship, who loved us, and honored us by their activities in life. "…And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ…" (Rom. 8:17). Sonship leads to receiving the inheritance. Our adoption to sonship was accomplished by the death of Christ and in Him we have hope of inheritance. Being a parent is a risky challenge and makes us vulnerable. Imagine what it means to be God in the same perspective. See ya Sunday, Ralph |
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LIFT UP YOUR HEAD! YOUR REDEMPTION DRAWETH NIGH! "Most men," said Thomas Erskine of Linlathen, "are so possessed by themselves that they have no vacuum into which God's deep water may rise." The whole of life is evidence of that. Man is intellectual, and trusts his science to redeem the world and build the New Jerusalem. He is philanthropic, and trusts his humanistic ideals to permeate the lump of social life till the whole is leavened. He is religious, and trusts his righteousness to organize a new kingdom into existence. He is moral, and trusts his personal virtues to justify him in the sight of God. "Have I not been a man of my word?" Have I not lived a disciplined life, and loved the brotherhood, and obeyed the king?" These are the things we carry in our hands right to the throne of grace, as if they gave us a claim upon God, and earned us His favorable consideration, and merited salvation. "See, Lord," we exclaim, "all this can go down to the credit side of my account!" What we so tragically fail to realize is that by that instinctive attitude, that native trust in our own virtues and achievements, we are automatically excluding ourselves from the very blessings which we hoped to reach. Our very spirituality, if you will understand me, is robbing us of God's Spirit. It is not in the way this way that the redemption draws nigh! The sacrifices of God are not an imposing array if creditable achievements. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a contrite heart. If something really breaks you down, so that virtues and good works count no longer, and you cry with Job "I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes"; if some day of storm and darkness leaves you stripped of every shed of satisfied self-trust, and every vestige of conscious claim upon God - then look up, for your redemption will be coming over the horizon. But not before! You have to experience the darkness that descends when all the flickering candles of personal merit have gone out, before you can discern, rising out of the gloom to meet you, the light that never was on sea or land. You have to feel the foundations shake beneath your feet, before you can sing "Rock of Ages" as it should be sung. You have to "faint for the flaming of Christ's feet," and cry "Watchman, what of the night?" before you can know the thrill of the birth of Christ and the glory of the Word made flesh, and the sheer irrepressible excitement of the ringing, tumultuous shout - "Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord!" You have to have looked into the horrible abyss of doubt and despair before you can really believe. You have to see everything falling from your grasp, and cry "Nothing in my hands I bring," before Christ's strong pierced hands can grip and hold you. You have to suffer crucifixion in the region of self, before you can rise from the dead with the new life of God throbbing in your heart. So when these things come to pass, these desolating things that leave all self-trust shattered and in ruins, look up, and lift up your head, knowing that your light is come, that the glory of the Lord is risen upon you, and your redemption draweth nigh! EVEN SO, COME, LORD JESUS! See ya Sunday, Ralph |
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NON-NEGOTIABLE TRUTH Change may not be all bad, but each Christian must realize that basic biblical doctrine cannot be compromised. Today's buzz word in religious circles is change. Our brotherhood is filled with calls for change. "Horse and buggy" methods are ineffective in our Space Age world, we are told. Depression-era terminology will not get it in our computer-age nomenclature. "Change or die" is the cry. One of the tributes to the God-given nature of the Christian faith is its adaptability. Paul expressed it well, when he said, "I have become all things to all men that I by all means might save some" (I Cor. 9:22). Many of our methods and customs are indeed traditional and cultural. We must never be married to methods, customs and human traditions. There is always the danger that we will begin to canonize them as a part of the "faith." However, there are basic biblical doctrines that are non-negotiable. They remain unchanged, for all people in every culture and age. Study and leavening will not alter them. There will never be the discovery of some "new truth" to change them. What arte are they? Consider these truths that are non-negotiable.
See ya Sunday, Ralph |
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