| JOHN WADDEY, EDITOR
Published by the Church of Christ, 12213 West Bell Road, Surprise, AZ 85374 Volume 1, Number 3
November 1, 2001 |
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Table of Contents: 1. BE YE THANKFUL As you express thanks for your turkey dinner on Thanksgiving Day, be sure to remember to thank God for items far more important than your dinner? For example:
For the Bible? Many people live where Bibles are not allowed to legally circulate, or are not available in their language. We, of all people, are the most blest when it comes to access to the Bible. Your Bible is more precious than thousands of gold and silver (Ps. 119:72).
For the church. In American, with churches on every hand, it is hard for us to imagine having to live where the church is nonexistent. Many live where the Lord’s church has never been planted. In most Muslim lands it is actually forbidden. Someone invested a great deal of their life making it possible for you to have the church of Christ in your community. Are you grateful? For your home congregation. If you have traveled much, you are surely aware that not all congregations have the same spiritual qualities. To be part of a sound, loving and caring congregation is a great blessing. All the good things that flow from membership in a faithful, loving congregation are rich blessings not everyone enjoys.
For preaching. Are you aware that there are hundreds of small struggling congregation in this country and especially overseas that have no minister to work with them. Other have regular preaching but their preacher’s lack of training and skill leaves a great deal to be desired. For faithful and capable preachers we should give thanks. They teach us God’s word; they counsel and advise and lead in the congregation and community.
For the hope of heaven. This wonderful hope is offered to all men (John 3:16). Yet relatively few know and understand it. Consider the large number of suicides in our land. These folks felt there was no hope. Look at the huge number of depressed and emotionally ill people who suffer because they have no hope for a better day. Think of the 5 billion pagan people of the world. The Hindu hopes and prays for nonexistence. Equally tragic are those who say, “Lord, Lord” in hope of going to heaven, but their false system or religion hinders them from obeying the will of God (Matt. 7:21).
Let us give thanks to the Lord for his manifold gifts (Ps. 136:1).  |
2. IN GOD WE TRUST Anti-Christian groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and other secularist organizations are maintaining a perpetual assault against the Christian roots and heritage of our nation. They are determined not only to chisel away any public recognition of God from our public institutions, they want to silence those of us who believe. In Psalm 107:2, God says, “Let the redeemed of Jehovah say so.” We owe it to our God, our forefathers and those who will come after us to keep alive the honor of Jehovah in our society.
To publicly declare our loyalty to God and the need for our fellow-Americans to do the same is our duty. Those hardy and courageous souls who risked their all to come to this land and establish a new civilization were by and large devoted believers in Jehovah. While we do not wish to establish a state religion, nor to fund church activities with tax dollars, we do have the right to publicly and unashamedly proclaim and practice our faith, to propagate it among our neighbors and to remind all of Jehovah’s power and authority over all. If the atheists are offended, I suggest that they go to China or Cuba where they can live without the influence of Christianity. It is noteworthy that those nations that have chosen to eliminate Christianity and exalt the religion of atheism, have all proven to be moral, spiritual and social disasters. They have inflicted untold pain, misery and suffering on their citizens and neighbors. On the other hand the most beneficial and benign of all nations have been those who embraced the teachings of the Nazarene. David wrote, “Blessed is the nation whose God is Jehovah” (Ps. 33:12). We who are Christians must believe this, practice it and tell others about it. Without God’s blessings, provision and protection our nation will sink into oblivion like hundreds of others before us. JHW 3. A GENERATION THAT KNOWS NOT Following the successful invasion and occupation of Canaan, and the death of Joshua, a generation of Hebrews arose, “that knew not Jehovah, nor yet the work which he had wrought for Israel” (Judg. 2:10). Sad to say, they were not the last generation who knew not their past spiritual history. Today, among our brethren, there is a generation which knows not. I. Some don’t know, understand or appreciate the plea to restore New Testament Christianity. They know little or nothing of those noble patriarchs of the 19th century, who abandoned sectarianism and human doctrines and struggled to find their way back to the faith and practice of the apostolic church. They cannot visualize nondenominational, Biblical Christianity. II. Some do not know or understand the apostasy that occurred in our ranks following the Civil War. A generation arose then that no longer felt the need for Bible authority in matters of faith and practice. They surrendered congregational autonomy for a national organization that began with the American Christian Missionary Society and later blossomed into the denominational machinery of the Disciples of Christ. They adopted open membership. They ignored the apostolic restrictions on women preachers and elders (I Tim. 2:11-12). Their preachers evolved into pastors. They rushed to embrace denominational churches in fellowship. Most of our generation doesn’t know that 80 percent of our congregations and all of our schools were lost in that apostasy. They evidently don’t know of the hardships and struggles of our forefathers to rebuild the shattered walls of Zion and to reestablish congregations that had been lost to apostasy. They know nothing of the insults, taunts and ridicule heaped upon them as they struggled to hold on and survive. III. A generation has arisen that does not know or care about the battles
fought to plant the Lord’s church in every state and hundreds of foreign fields. They do not appreciate the courage of those who labored to clear the ground, or the grueling work and sacrifices of those who labored to win lost souls and lead churches to maturity. IV. They know not the roll call of heroes of the past; men who were not ashamed to proclaim the gospel (Rom. 1:16) without apology and with no uncertain sound (I Cor. 14:8). They know little or nothing about such men such as David Lipscomb, James A. Harding; H. Leo Boles, N. B. Hardeman, A. G.
Freed, R. L. Whiteside, Austin McGary, C. R. Nichol, Gus Nichols, Otis Gatewood, Roy Lanier, Sr., Guy N. Woods, B. C. Goodpasture, Batsell B. Baxter, to name just a handful.. V. A generation of preachers now exists who enjoy well-paying jobs in numerically strong churches that others established and nourished to strength and stability. They preach in fine meeting houses built by those who sacrificed for a cause they loved. These who have made no sacrifices and fought no battles are now inclined to surrender all the ground others have won. Now we see men who preach a different gospel. They poke fun at the preaching of those who went before them. Their preaching is hard to distinguish from that of our Protestant neighbors. Baptism for remission of sins is almost an embarrassment to them. They want a different kind of worship. To sing psalms hymns and spiritual songs does not satisfy their spiritual appetites. Their hearts incline toward the use of instrumental music. They resent those who ask for scriptural authority for such things.
They wish for a choir and see just how close they can get to having one. They crave entertainment. They look with longing admiration at those who use showmanship and entertainment to attract large crowds. They crave to be recognized and accepted by their clergy peers in their communities. They yearn for others to think we really aren’t so different from them. Some wish to be seen as thoroughly modern on “women’s issues” and are willing to move ladies into leadership roles in the church. Much of our preaching has lost its distinctiveness. There was a time when a gospel preacher of the Church of Christ could easily be identified by his knowledge of Scripture, his citing of verses to establish his points, his boldness in proclaiming the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:28). But now a generation exists whose concept of preaching is a vague and generic. One must be told that he is employed by a Church of Christ. In ancient Israel that generation that knew not Jehovah and what he had done for the Hebrew soon drifted away into idolatry and moral wickedness. They were swallowed up by their heathen enemies. Those who are younger will live to see many of our current congregations and preachers abandon the Christianity of the Bible and slip into the apostasy of denominationalism. We can only pity those of this generation who know not. As in days past, the faithful remnant will cling to the precious Word of God and pass the faith of Jesus on to future generations. JHW 4. MEMORIALS All men in every age have built their memorials to commemorate great people and great events in their history. Because we are short of memory and tend to forget what God has done for us, he has instituted memorials to help us remember.
The ancient Hebrews observed the annual Passover feast to remember that God passed over their firstborn when he punished Egypt (Ex. 12:14-17). Their weekly Sabbath observance memorialized their deliverance from servitude (Deut. 5:12,15). A stone monument was set up to commemorate their crossing the Jordan River by the power of God (Jos. 4:1-3,6-7). The feast of Purim memorialized the salvation of their nation by Queen Esther when Haman the Persian would have exterminated them (Esther 9:26-28).
We Christians have our memorials. The Lord’s Supper commemorates Christ’s death on the cross (I Cor. 11:23-25). It reminds us to look back to what He did for us; forward to his return; inward, as we examine ourselves; outward, as we proclaim his death to the world and upward, as we lift our hearts to heaven in worship.
The Lord’s Day commemorates his resurrection. The disciples found his tomb empty on the first day (John 20:1-9). On the first day of the week they gathered to worship by breaking the holy bread of communion (Acts 20:7). It was also on the first day of the week that the church had its beginning in Jerusalem, following his resurrection (Acts 2). It began on the day of Pentecost which always occurred on a first day (Lev. 23:15-21).
Baptism memorializes Christ’s sacrifice for our salvation. As he died, was buried and resurrected, so every one who becomes a Christian goes through a symbolic death, burial and resurrection. We must die to sin, be buried with Christ in baptism and raised to walk a new life (Rom. 6:2-5). Immersion in water properly symbolizes the burial of Christ. As we witness the admission of each new convert into the faith, we see the memorial acted out before our eyes.
By giving us these memorials, God intended that his people never forget the day of their baptism into Christ; never forget that Jesus was resurrected on the first day, and never forget the suffering he endured for us. All people are invited to observe these memorials with us. |
5. THE OLD COUNTRY CHURCH In an old country song, the writer reminiscences about days past when with family and friends he worshiped at the old country church. In the old country church there was simplicity of worship and preaching, nothing was fancy. There was warmth and friendliness as friends, family and neighbors joined their hearts together in genuine worship to God. There was no pretentiousness in the country church. Everyone alike shared the hardships and financial limitations of rural farm life. In the country church children earned about God, and friendships were established that lasted a lifetime.
There romance blossomed and sweethearts became mates. There joys and sorrows were shared in weddings and funerals. When death or disaster struck members of the country church pulled together to help the survivors make it through.
Folks not only gave their contributions to God, they dug into their reserves to help each other when someone was in trouble. We don’t live in the country. But we want our congregation to have that same wonderful spirit that made the old country church so precious to folks. We can have it, but each one of us will have to do our part by molding and shaping our hearts and lives after the above description. If we can do that, in years to come, we too will remember with fondness our days in the Lord’s church in Surprise. JHW |
6. A COMMUNION MEDITATION The Lord Jesus said, “therefore doth the Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one taketh it away from me, but I lay it down of myself” (John 10:18).Jesus’ death was no accident. Nor was he the unwilling victim of violent men. When he left the portals of heaven he knew he was coming to die for the sins of lost humanity. He voluntarily laid down his life for us. When Peter drew his sword to protect him from the mob that came to arrest him, Jesus rebuke him saying, “thinkest thou that I cannot beseech my Father, and he shall even now, send me more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matt. 26:53).
With the same power that he used to create the world (John 1:3), he could have, by a spoken word, destroyed not only his Jewish adversaries but the entire race of sinners or even the universe. That he did not do so is the proof of his love for us. He surrendered his life to be extinguished on the old rugged cross that we might not perish but have everlasting life. As we partake of these holy elements let this grand thought always be before your eyes. JHW
For additional Biblical studies and answers to Bible questions, check our
website @ www.firstcenturychristian.com. “Search for the truth is the noblest
occupation of man...”
7. A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR We hope you find this journal helpful to you as you serve the Master. Please share the extra copy with another leader of the church. Your comments are solicited. Write me at the address below or send e-mail to johnwaddey@aol.com. Christianity: Then and Now
Church of Christ
12213 W. Bell Rd. Ste. 211
Surprise, AZ 85374 |
