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Table of Contents:
When the Church Apes the World - - - - - - - 1 Counselor’s Corner - - - - - - - - - - - - 13
Rejecting Needless Pain - - - - - - - - - - - 3 The Story behind the Song - - - - - - - - - -14
The Rock That Is Higher Than I - - - - - - - - 3 Church Builders - - - - - - - - - - - - - 15
Exegetically Speaking- - - - - - - - - - - - 4 Advancing the Ministries of the Gospel - - - - 15
Words to Stand You on Your Feet - - - - - - - 6 Marks of the Master - - - - - - - - - - - - 16
Living out the Living Word- - - - - - - - - - 7 Book Reviews- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 18
Following God - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 9 News Update- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -18
Points to Ponder - - - - - - - - - - - - - 10 Sermon Helps - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 20
Jewels from Past Giants - - - - - - - - - - -11 Puzzles and ‘Toons - - - - - - - - - - - - 22
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When the Church Apes the World
By Joe McKeever
“Do not be conformed to this world but be
transformed by the renewing of your minds” (Rom.12:2a).
Years ago, in the recording room of a large radio
station in Charlotte, North Carolina, I was cutting 30 second
ad spots our church had purchased. A committee of our
sharpest young adults had put together a package of radio
ads on several stations hoping to get our message out and
make the community aware of First Baptist Church.
After our first cut, the young lady producing the
spots said, “Uh, pastor. I need you to hear something.” She
fiddled with a few dials and turned up the volume on the car
commercial running on the air at that moment. “That’s what
the ads on this station sound like.” The commercial was
fast-paced and loud, with a drum hammering a heavy
staccato beat in the background.
I said, “I’m well aware of what your station sounds
like.”
She said, “Well, you will want your ad to fit in with
that.”
I said, “No ma’am. That is precisely what I do not
want. I would like to stand out from all that.” She agreed to
do it my way—just my voice talking quietly, nothing in the
background—for the first round of ads.
A month later, at the next recording session, she
said, “You’re right. I was wrong. What you are doing is
working very well.” Judging by the response we were
receiving from the community, she was right.
Sometimes, when I see churches falling all over
themselves to look like the world and sound like the world
in order to speak to the world, I shake my head. What are
they thinking? What makes us think that the world will give
the church its attention and listen to our message if we look
just like it and sound like what it’s doing? The world is lost,
friend.
Let me say that again: The. World. Is. Lost. The
world is clueless about the important stuff. You and I are
supposed to know where the line between fantasy and
reality is drawn, the difference between trendy and
permanent, between ephemeral and eternal. The pagan
world around us can make its own music and hyped-up talk
and trendy fashions so much better than the Church can.
When God’s people attempt to copy the world in order to be
heard by the world, we concede that what the world has is
superior to what we have in Christ. We lose the first point
before the conversation has even begun.
Okay. At this point, readers are asking, “What are
you referring to, Joe? Jeans and sneakers in the pulpit?
Choruses and drums in the service? A pastor’s slang in
sermons? Spiky hair? The absence of neckties and threepiece suits? The retiring of the old hymnals to the basement
of the church, brought out once a month for the senior adult
retrospective? The cobwebs on the pipe organ? Garish
decorations in the youth department?” Yes. All of that,
none of that, and a thousand other things.
This week, I asked a friend from a large Southern
city where her family goes to church. They are professional
composers whose musical works are used in churches
everywhere. She named the church, one I’d never heard of,
then said, “We were going to the Church-on-the-Make”—
okay, not its real name; I just made that up!—“but got so
tired of all the trendy stuff, the pastor’s attempts to outslang the kids, the spiky hair and sneakers, and decided we
were ready for something more solid. The church we have
joined—Reality-on-the-Rock,” (ditto, made that one up,
too) “teaches the Word and feeds God’s people.”
Readers will think of a hundred objections to what
we’ve written here. And much of it will be true and right.
Some readers will be defensive, find what we’re said
offensive, and become more entrenched in sneakerdom and
spikiness.
My concern is not with the shoes or jeans, the
drums or the choruses, but with the entire concept of
patterning ourselves after the world. Everything about that
feels scary, as though God’s people do not know what’s
important and have to ask the people who spend their days
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writing copy for youth-oriented magazines and their nights
at clubs.
It’s not a new phenomenon. I can recall a
generation ago when pastors began picking up the lingo of
the drug culture. Everything was groovy, far out, crazy, and
blew our minds. It went downhill from there.
At this point, someone will announce for all us
Luddites that Isaac Watts used tunes from the barroom for
some of his great hymns. This only proves that the taverns
of his day must have turned out some pretty good stuff. A
friend in religious sales called on a large church in
Shreveport and later reported that that particular institution
had doubtless been the last on the planet to install a piano in
the sanctuary. “To them, only the pipe organ was good
enough for worship of the Almighty,” he smiled.
All of which proves, I suppose, that this is all
subjective; there are no hard and fast rules delivered on
Sinai for the rest of us to obey. Nothing in the Word
dictates the length of women’s skirts, the shape of men’s
beards, or the proper pace or decibel level for what is sung
in worship.
I’m simply urging the people of the Lord, and in
particular those entrusted with planning worship services
and overseeing the churches, to do this:
1) Be careful and be prayerful. Do not be too
impressed by the hottest trends, either in the youth culture
or in those new quirky congregations which were started
last year and are now running ten thousand. Perhaps they’re
doing something right, but the 10,000 people do not
guarantee it. We remember how Jesus literally ran off the
crowds who were following Him for the wrong reasons
(John 6:15, 66,etc).
2) Know what’s important and essential, and
hold to it. It is not only basic doctrines which are bedrock
necessities which we should not compromise or tamper
with. Other things such as the fellowship within a
congregation—cross-generational and welcoming to
newcomers—may not show up on anyone’s list of doctrinal
fundamentals, but are as essential to spreading the Gospel
as John 3:16.
Having a public invitation at the end of sermons in
which people are urged to “Come to Jesus” may not be one
of the essentials, but we must have ways for people to get
saved and confess Jesus as Savior and Lord. Nothing in the
Word says a pastor cannot preach what a friend of mine
calls “life management sermons” once in a while, but to
build a ministry on that kind of fluff is to abandon your
people to biblical ignorance and betray the uniqueness of
the Christian faith.
3) Always be alert to the temptation to cut
corners with the Word and shape our doctrine to make
it palatable to the world. It happens so subtly. An outsider
comes to your church which is meeting in the cinema, is
impressed by your pastor wearing his sneakers and jeans,
loves the music which is not unlike what he heard last night
at his club, and compliments you on not being a narrowminded fundamentalist. If you’re not careful, you will be
impressed that he was impressed.
The next week, that same cool guy returns to
church, seems to appreciate what you are doing, and then
introduces you to his (fill in the blank here: gay lover, livein girlfriend, guru, swami, colleague in his abortion clinic
or partner in his porn shop). And now you are torn. You
want to minister to these people who are being drawn to
what you are doing, but want to hold to the revealed truth—
make that The Truth!—which is in Christ. The moment
that guy slips you a check for thousands of dollars, you are
sunk. The temptation is to ease up on what Scripture says in
order to connect with these people. The footing is mighty
slippery here, my friend. Be careful.
Mark’s hunger for spiritual things drove him to
seek out a church in his Australian town. Ignorant of
religious things, he dropped in on a congregation where the
pastor read the Bible, made a few general comments, and
then fleshed out his sermon around the latest philosophical
findings. After the benediction, the young adults of the
church gathered in the basement for sandwiches and
discussion, so Mark went along. There he found a few
musicians playing the same stuff he had been hearing in the
bars although with religious words. The fellow who spoke
came across as a hybrid between a hard-drinking
womanizer and John the Baptist.
As Mark delved into the church a little more and
chatted with the pastor, he learned that churches have a
name for this. They call it “making religion a living thing of
the people.” As Mark left that church, he found himself
wondering if God’s people don’t know what they have to
offer, if they do not see that the world can do entertainment
so much better than the churches can, and if they do not
believe their Gospel of Jesus Christ is enough.
“Don’t they see if they pattern themselves after the
world, there’s nothing for them to be lifted to? Outsiders
want to be free of their culture, not to see it baptized.” Mark
Saber lived a half-century ago. His story was told by a
preacher from Down Under in an old book I read as a
beginning preacher. I’ve never forgotten the concerns Mark
felt and the questions he raised. That’s what I’m trying to
do here.
Joe McKeever is a retired Southern Baptist pastor from
New Orleans, Louisiana. He blogs regularly at
www.joemckeever.com.
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__________________________________________________________________________________________
Rejecting Needless Pain
By Shea Oakley
There is enough adversity in our earthly existence
without our adding unnecessary adversity on top of it.
Sometimes we sanctify our own emotional, psychological
and spiritual maladies and then assume the pain they
continue to cause is a normal part of the trials and
sufferings of the authentic Christian life.
Think of individuals who believe that God is an
angrily perfectionist Deity who will cut them off if they do
not always perform well because their earthly father was
just such a “deity” in their family. Persons with such a
history often spend much of their lives condemning
themselves every time they fail in something they believe
God wants them to do or not do. They think this human
perfectionism, and its resulting spirit of self-condemnation,
is somehow part of God’s will for their lives. They think it
is part of being a Christian. This is unspeakably tragic.
The life of every believer will contain the trials and
tribulations that Jesus spoke of and experienced Himself. It
is inevitable that we will all go through seasons of hardship
and difficulty; it is the nature of life in a fallen world. But
common adversity that is allowed by God is different from
pain we inflict on ourselves. Continuing with the example
of the son or daughter of a very flawed parent, it is God’s
desire to show this person a different kind of Parent, One
who loves them unconditionally and who will never
condemn them, no matter how many times they fall short of
the mark. This is the Father we gain when we put our faith
in the Son. He longs to set us free from the shackles of
conditional love that so many of us carry because our image
of the old parent has not yet given way to the truth of who
our new Father is.
One way we can discern the difference between
pain that comes from adversity and that which comes from
our own pathology is to look at the results, over time, the
pain produces in us. One of the reasons God does not
immediately take His children home once they become His
children is that He desires for us to develop character
through suffering. The Bible tells us that the Father Himself
is “long-suffering”, and this is borne out by the fact that it
also says His Son was taught obedience by suffering during
His time on Earth. For reasons that are admittedly hard for
human beings to understand, our Lord has chosen the
hardships produced by living in this cursed world to mold
us into His image.
When we choose to endure suffering which is in
His will for us to endure, we can allow that suffering to
make us both stronger and more compassionate people.
When this happens, it is evidence that we are growing into
the likeness of God. In contrast to this process, pain we
inflict on ourselves, which He never intended for us to
experience, almost always ends in bitterness if we do not
come to consciously see it for what it is and reject it. While
it is true that any pain we experience can result in
bitterness, if we chose to rebel against its presence in our
lives, self-inflicted suffering always does.
The key to being delivered from this “false
sanctification” of unnecessary pain is found above in the
use of the word “consciously”. We must come to
consciously see it for what it is, pointless and needless.
Once we know that God did not somehow ordain this
misery we can reject it and banish it from our lives.
Part of doing that involves healing, and part of it
involves repentance. We need healing from the damage
caused by others in our past, but we also need to repent of
the wrong ways we have responded to that damage. For this
second thing, as in so many aspects of the Christian life,
forgiveness is the key. When healing and repentance have
both done their work the result is a peace and consolation
that will make life here far more abundant than we ever
thought possible.
© Shea Oakley. All Rights Reserved.
Converted from atheism in 1990, Shea Oakley has written
over 350 articles for electronic and print publications since
2002, including Disciple Magazine (and Pulpit Helps
Magazine),The Christian Herald, The Christian Post,
Christian Network and Crosshome.com. In 2003 he
graduated from Alliance Theological Seminary with a
Certificate of Theological Studies. Shea and his wife
Kathleen make their home in West Milford, New Jersey.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
The Rock That Is Higher Than I
By Ken Barnes
“From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is
faint;
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I” (Ps. 61:3).
I. God Never Promised Us a Rose Garden
Many are told that when they come to faith in
Christ they will experience love, joy, and peace; which is so
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very true. But we fail to mention that these byproducts of
the Christian faith are often couched between hardship,
suffering, and struggle. God seems to be more concerned
with our character than our comfort. In the normal Christian
experience, struggle is the name of the game.
are healed and we feel pretty secure in our rocky refuge, we
turn and look up the mountain. We understand that we must
either continue up the mountain or descend back to the
lowlands. There is no such thing as the status quo in the
Kingdom of God. We are either moving toward Him or
away from Him. So we continue our ascent up the
mountain, experiencing one impregnable rock after another;
II. The Treacherous Terrain
In our scriptural reference, David finds himself
never being able to scale any cliff in our own strength, but
fainthearted and overwhelmed by the isolation and trials of only with God’s help.
his spiritual voyage. Like the Psalmist, our spiritual odyssey
As we go from one rocky crest to another, we
can be likened to our journey up a mountain with a rocky
discover that we get a clearer view of the glory of God. This
and uncertain terrain. With the length of the trek, and the
motivates us onward. We still get weary from time to time.
unsure footing, we become fatigued. We reach up for one
We ask the Lord, “How many rocks must I climb”? We
more rock above us, but our hands start to slip off the rock
answer our own question as we realize that it will be as
and we realize our strength is not sufficient to pull us up.
many as it takes to get to the top. It will be at the
One last time we call out, “help Lord”, as we extend our
mountaintop where we will fully experience the real Rock
hand. It seems as if an arm from heaven comes down from
(the Lord Jesus) who is higher than I.
behind the rock and latches on to our forearm and our hand
onto His, and He pulls us to the cleft of the rock. And one
Ken Barnes is a teacher and freelance writer from
more time we realize that when our strength has failed,
Mechanicsville, Virginia. He previously served with Youth
God’s grace has prevailed.
With A Mission (YWAM) for 17 years. He chronicles
observations and lessons from his time with YWAM in The
Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places (2011). He blogs at
III. The Ongoing Journey
We breathe a sigh of relief and for a time bask in
kensblog757.blogspot.com and gleanings757.blogspot.com.
His presence. About the time our wounds from the journey
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Exegetically Speaking—by Spiros Zodhiates
The Flower Falls: The Wearing out of the Rich
James 1:11
From Faith, Love & Hope: An Exposition of the Epistle of James, AMG Publishers, 1997.
“For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat,
but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth,
and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the
rich man fade away in his ways” (James 1:11).
We are studying the most practical book of the
whole Bible, the book of James, in the original Greek. How
wonderfully James touches on all the walks of life. He tells
us there is a great difference between the saved poor and the
unsaved poor, as well as between the saved rich and the
unsaved rich. Verse 10 of chapter 1 speaks of the saved
Christian whom God has blessed with riches, but who does
not glory in them, but rather in Jesus Christ. It is of this
same rich person that he speaks in verse 11, quoted above.
What a masterful illustration this is from nature. It
is given in the past tense or aorist indicative, but without the
real sense of the past. We call this “gnomic aorist,” that is, a
universal or timeless aorist used in maxims or general
sayings. This is something which happened in the past and
which is continuing to happen right along. It is not a mere
hypothesis, a mere supposition, but a certainty, and we shall
do well to heed it and the lesson that it wishes to convey.
Undoubtedly you have often stood before the green
grass and admired it. Your inherent sense of beauty has
been greatly satisfied as your eyes fell upon the multiple
colors of a flower. So the eyes of the world today are fixed
upon the rich. They are admired. They are envied, just like
the grass and the flower. But wait a while now, James says.
Here is the sun rising in its natural course. None of
us could live for a single moment if it were not for the lifegiving rays of the sun. If the sun were hotter than it is, as it
reaches the earth, we should all burn to a crisp, or if it were
less warm, we should freeze to death. God has made
everything with such perfection and delicate balance for the
maintenance of life. The ancient Greeks thought so much of
the sun that they made a god out of it. Now, how can it be
that the sun which is so necessary for the sustenance of life
also destroys life? Here is what our verse says from the
Greek, “For the sun arose together with the burning heat
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and dried the grass.” Yet the grass could never grow
without the heat of the sun. What, therefore, is the reason
for the drying up? The reason, as James will declare more
explicitly later in his epistle, is in the grass itself.
In the parable of the Master about the sower,
speaking of the seed which fell upon stony places, Jesus
says, “And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and
because they had no root, they withered away” (Matt. 13:6).
This, I believe, is significant in understanding the meaning
of our verse. It is as if James is declaring to those of us who
are dried up spiritually, “Do not blame God for it; the fault
lies within you; your roots are not deep enough. You need
the moisture of the earth as well as the scorching sun.
Riches can be a great blessing to you, but they can also be a
great curse. Their effect upon you will be determined by
your own state of mind and heart, will depend on how deep
your roots are and how refreshed you get day by day
through communion with your Maker.”
The word used for grass in the Greek is chórtos.
And while it means grass, another of its primary meanings
is “a feeding place, a farmyard primarily used for the
feeding of the cattle,” in other words, a pasture. It took a
rich man to have such a field in those days. But what did
this rich farmer do? He let the grass in the field grow until it
flowered so that it might reproduce itself. You know that if
grass is allowed to grow to its full maturity, it will have
flowers and then there will be a chance of more grass in the
days to come.
The picture here is most beautiful and instructive. It
is illustrative of many people. They have a field full of
beautiful grass, but they do not enjoy it themselves, nor
does anybody else. All they are thinking of is the days to
come, which may be rainy ones. Let us save, save, save, but
never spend. Thus, they miss the legitimate enjoyment of
life. And are there not many rich who do this? The other
day I read in the newspaper that the police on Long Island
discovered many suitcases and bags of dollar bills in a
tumble-down house in which two people lived in abject
poverty. My dear friend, enjoy the blessing of God and
share it with others who want to visit your pasture land.
This is the message of our verse and it is one that we must
pay much attention to. You know, a person who thinks
always of the dark days of the future can seldom enjoy the
bright moments of the present.
A businessman once overtook a man trudging
through the snow, humming to himself. He talked with him
and found that he was very poor. Finally he asked him if he
did not think he would be happier if he were rich. “No,
Boss, all the rich men I work for never laugh.” So, my rich
brethren, be careful lest you watch your pasture land too
closely, because that will take away your smile. “How
much did he leave?” asked one, referring to a millionaire
who had just died. “Every cent,” was the reply. How
wonderful it is to use what God entrusts to us, and still more
wonderful to give freely what we are given freely by Him.
And then we have the next phrase which has an
important lesson for us. It is, “And the flower thereof
falleth.” In the original Greek it is, “and the flower thereof
[referring to the grass that is allowed to reach its full
maturity] fell out of it.” The word exépese does not just
mean “falleth” or “fell,” as the King James Version has it.
Rather it means “fell out of it, “ for the second part of this
verb is the one which means “fall,” but there is a
preposition, ek, which comes before it which means “out
of.” Now if we examine the word translated “flower,” we
shall discover that, besides its primary meaning, which is
“flower,” its metaphorical meaning is “height, highest pitch,
brightness, brilliancy.” There you are; your riches have
grown so much that they have acquired great brilliancy,
they have reached their highest pitch, but they do not retain
that brilliancy for very long. And that is where the
metaphorical meaning of the word exépese, “fell out of it,”
comes in to help us understand the meaning of the whole
phrase. It is “to degenerate.”
Do you get the whole lesson now? James spoke of
the humbling of the rich man, his voluntary humbling. And
now he says, in beautiful illustrative language, that if he
does not humble himself voluntarily, it will happen anyway;
the brilliance of his riches will degenerate. That is no longer
humility, but humiliation. Choose the former by your own
free volition, lest the latter be imposed upon you. .
Let us go on to the next phrase: “And the grace of
the fashion of it perisheth.” A more exact translation of this
could be, “and the goodly appearance, the comeliness of his
face, perished.” That is what happens to the grass when its
flower falls; it is not beautiful to watch anymore. And
neither is the rich who shall “fade away in his ways.” The
illustration here again is most beautiful. In the Greek the
word here translated “in his ways” is not the same as in
verse 8 where James speaks of the double-minded man. The
word here is poreíais. It means, “walkings, marchings,
journeyings,” and it is indicative of the constant going
about of man for the acquisition of wealth. He is feverishly
traveling. There is no rest, no enjoyment of life. He has no
time for God, no time for the Word of God, no time for the
house of God.
What will happen to such a man? He will wither,
says James. One of the meanings of the word maranthēsetai
in the original Greek is “will be worn out.” In our constant
struggle to acquire things for the preservation of life we
wear out life itself. How wisely he has spoken who said:
“Worldly riches are like nuts: many clothes are torn in
getting them, many a tooth broken in cracking them; and
never a belly filled with eating them.” James gives us a very
excellent piece of advice which we shall do well to heed,
“Do not wear yourselves out for things which perish so
easily.”
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Spiros Zodhiates (1922-2009) served as president of AMG
International for over 40 years, was the founding editor
of Pulpit Helps Magazine (Disciple’s predecessor), and
authored dozens of exegetical books.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Words to Stand You on Your Feet—by Joe McKeever
The Strangeness of Church Hospitality
“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers…” (Heb.
despair of ever finding the combination for satisfying the
demands of visitors and end up doing nothing, even
Recently some fellow wrote to advice columnist
resenting the idea that they should do something. Show me
Judith Martin, aka Miss Manners, describing a strange
any part of this charade in Scripture, please.
situation: “My wife and I received three unusual invitations.
Now, the concept of hospitality is found throughout
In the first, we were invited to a cocktail get-together (not a the Bible and we’re all for that. “Be hospitable to one
formal party) where I was told that since I do not drink
another without complaint” (1 Pet. 4:9). A pastor is to be
alcohol, I should bring something for myself to drink.”
hospitable (1 Tim. 3:2). Among the loving traits of faithful
“The second was from a friend who insisted that he congregations is “contributing to the needs of the saints,
and his wife wanted to get together for dinner, but he did
practicing hospitality” (Rom. 12:13).
not want to have it at his house or at a restaurant. He went
The church dictator Diotrephes is slammed in the
on to say he did not care if our house was not in order for a little epistle of 3 John for shutting down his church’s
dinner party (construction is going on), but that it would be hospitality altogether. In those days, traveling missionaries
the best place for us to get together.”
and others needed God’s people to welcome them into their
“The third was from a man I have done outdoor
homes for a meal and a place to spread their bedroll. The
activities with who invited me to lunch, told me he would
church boss has forbidden this.
stop by my house, and we could make something for lunch
Hebrews 13:2 speaks to this matter: “Do not
there.”
neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some
Gotta love it. According to Miss Manners, such
have entertained angels without knowing it.” That phrase—
rudeness mocks the whole idea of hospitality. The couple
entertaining angels—may refer to Abraham’s hospitality to
should reply to these requests with, “I’m afraid that won’t
three men traveling through who turned out to be heavenly
be convenient,” and nothing more. She has never heard of
messengers with delightful news for Abraham and Sarah
such before, the columnist says, and hopes she won’t ever
and terrible news for Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18).
again. Ah, but we in the church get that all the time.
My favorite Old Testament passage about
Visitors (some, not all, thankfully!) come to church hospitality is Leviticus 19, a chapter loaded with various
expecting to be treated royally, often with a list of what
and sundry commands, some wonderfully compassionate
they require from churches lucky enough to have them in
and some rather harsh. Consider these instructions for the
their midst. And if those conditions aren’t met, they badLord’s people. It was from this chapter our Lord plucked
mouth you to their friends. These guests have specific ideas and elevated to great status “Thou shalt love thy neighbor
of what they will be expecting and can be harsh and
as thyself” (Lev. 19:18). Clearly, Jesus knew and loved this
judgmental toward churches failing to meet their standards. chapter also.
Compounding the problem is that no two visitors
“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall
agree on just what would be the best thing for the host
not reap to the very corners of your field, neither shall you
church to do in welcoming guests. Some want to be left
gather the gleanings of your harvest. Nor shall you glean
alone in order to decide for themselves when and if they
your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your
wish to go deeper into this church. Others expect to be
vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and the
smothered with attention, loaded with gifts, and given the
stranger. I am the Lord your God” (Lev. 19:9-10).
five dollar tour along with invitations to restaurants that day
“You shall not oppress your neighbor nor rob him.
and visits in their homes that week.
The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all
Many churches, not all, feel duty-bound to play this night until morning….You shall do no injustice in
little game and may go out of their way to find out what
judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to
visitors want (through polls and studies), what they would
the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly” (Lev.
respond to most, and what would leave them with great
19:13, 15).
feelings afterwards so they will return. Other churches
13:2).
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“When a stranger resides with you in your land,
you shall do him no wrong. The stranger who resides with
you shall be to you as a native among you; and you shall
love him as yourself; for you were aliens in the land of
Egypt. I am the Lord your God” (Lev. 19:33-34).
We’re all for hospitality, but not for going crazy
with it. We are not for letting visitors dictate how they will
be treated or welcomed. Church leaders should prayerfully
talk this thing out, remember how they were treated and
wish they had been treated when they were the newcomers,
and do their best to get this right, then stay with it. If
visitors walk away criticizing your church because you did
not wine them and dine them, so be it. You don’t
necessarily want to encourage everyone who walks through
your door to join your church. Let the Lord be the
Gatekeeper, the one who decides.
Whatever you do as a church, do not turn a blind
eye (or deaf ear?) to outsiders and newcomers. As I’ve said
before, have greeters—members with the sweetest smiles
and warmest handshakes—in place outside the doors on
Sunday mornings. You may wish to have a welcome center
with helpful material, the coffee urn, and friendly church
members in place. Make sure the center is clearly marked
so newcomers will find it easily.
When we stand before the Lord Jesus at judgment,
one question we will face is how we treated the strangers
and visitors. While that may seem a little odd to some of us,
the Lord left no question about it: “I was a stranger and you
took me in” (Matt. 25:35,43). Oh, my. Lord, help me (and
my church) to get this right!
Joe McKeever is a retired Southern Baptist pastor from
New Orleans, Louisiana. He blogs regularly at
www.joemckeever.com.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Living out the Living Word—by Justin Lonas
Grace Be with You
2 Timothy 4:15-22
The end of Paul’s second letter to Timothy contains
the apostle’s last known words—we do not have any of his
writings after this point, and he was executed shortly after
this. As he brings his epistle to a close, he expresses his
longing for Timothy to come to him one last time (4:9) and
offers a passing glimpse of what their fellow workers in
ministry of the Gospel are up to. In a sense, he is handing
off these relationships to Timothy, tying up loose ends to
ensure that the work continues on after his “departure”
(4:8).
Throughout both letters to Timothy, Paul warns
repeatedly against certain false teachers and their work.
Here, he sends one last warning, though this seems to
reference a more personal and more dangerous situation
than the others: “Alexander the coppersmith did me much
harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Be
on guard against him yourself, for he vigorously opposed
our teaching” (4:14-15). This could be the same Alexander
of 1 Timothy 1:20 or of Acts 19:33, but this was a common
name in the 1st century world, so that is not to be assumed.
In any case, this man was an aggressive persecutor and
opponent of truth, and Paul’s advice to Timothy is to steer
clear of him and let God deal with his sins.
Paul’s admonition here differs from most of his
other warnings or denunciations. He doesn’t give Timothy a
message for him, or provide teaching that counters
whatever influence Alexander had. He simply tells Timothy
to avoid him and watch out for him. This man has caused
enough trouble to the church already, and Paul wants
Timothy to be spared from the suffering he endured at
Alexander’s hands. If there is a lesson for us in this, it is
that, while we should vigorously oppose false teachers and
their influence, there is little use in quarreling with those
who are bent on publically damaging and defaming the
faith. Such boorish people are likely neither to sway
believers into error or reasonable unbelievers into
persecution, and fighting with them causes pain without
gain.
Reiterating his longing for fellowship and support
from Timothy, Paul shares his complete aloneness during
the first phase of his trial: “At my first defense no one
supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted
against them” (4:16). Of all his companions and the other
Christians in the nascent Roman church, not one came to
support Paul or speak on his behalf. Unlike Demas, who
“having loved this present world…deserted” him (4:10),
there is no similar condemnation for their behavior. He
forgives them, holding no grudge and prayerfully refusing
to speak ill of them. Likely, they remained silent out of fear
that appearing with Paul would implicate them in the
“subversion” of which he was accused and would expose
them to his fate of persecution and imprisonment. These
may also have been new believers, and so he is more
gracious toward them than toward a long-faithful man like
Demas who knew clearly what he was doing in walking
away.
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In a deeper sense, however, Paul was anything but
alone in the dock: “But the Lord stood with me and
strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation
might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might
hear; and I was rescued out of the lion’s mouth” (4:17). It
was for Paul just as Christ had prophesied to his disciples,
“you will even be brought before governors and kings for
My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles” (Matt.
10:18), and, as promised, the Spirit gave him the words to
say to ensure that the Gospel was fully preached. In
referencing “the lion’s mouth,” Paul calls to mind the
example of Daniel’s faithful witness in the midst of
persecution at the hands of the Persians. And, as Daniel was
miraculously delivered from the lion’s den, so Paul expects
and rejoices in his coming deliverance, though through the
veil of death: “The Lord will rescue me from every evil
deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom”
(4:18a).
Many of the greatest sermons we have recorded
from the early Church were delivered not in front of
believers in a church meeting, but in front of a court from
the place of the accused. Peter and John, were twice
arrested by the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem following Pentecost,
and twice they boldly proclaimed Christ, refusing to obey
the injunction against further preaching (Acts 4:1-22; 5:1742). Stephen, on the cusp of becoming the first martyr for
the faith, eloquently held forth, showing Christ’s centrality
to the whole of the Old Testament and shaming the Jewish
leaders for their failure to recognize the truth (Acts 7). Paul
himself had delivered his own testimony and the full
message of the Gospel while in shackles before a Jewish
mob (Acts 22), before the Sanhedrin (Acts 23), before Felix
(Acts 24), before Festus (Acts 25), before Agrippa (Acts
26), and doubtless before other officials and other courts
across the empire.
We would do well to learn from their examples, for
our faithfulness in the pulpit may soon be tested by our
faithfulness on the witness stand. This is why martyrs are
called “martyrs”—the Greek word martus means “witness”
—and it is in the moments of greatest persecution that the
Gospel shines brightest. Truly, as Tertullian wrote, “the
blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” The world
pays attention when believers refuse to sacrifice the truth
even for their own lives, bringing many to consider their
message and come to faith. In relating this to Timothy, Paul
recognizes that everything that has happened to him
throughout his ministry, culminating in his witness at
Rome, was part of God’s plan. Rather than complaining, or
even simply suffering silently, he can’t help but to praise
God: “to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen” (4:18b).
In the last lines of his last letter, Paul returns again
to making requests of Timothy and relaying information
about their mutual friends in the work of ministry. “Greet
Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus.
Erastus remained at Corinth, but Trophimus I left sick at
Miletus” (4:19-20). His instruction here assumes that
Timothy will make the hard journey to see him, because
most of these he is asked to greet are likely in Corinth. At
the time, this was the “second city” of the Roman Empire, a
thriving metropolis of nearly half a million people and an
important half-way stop on any Mediterranean voyage
because of its overland shortcut at the Peloponnesian
isthmus.
Aquila and his wife Prisca (or Priscilla) were tentmakers and merchants who Paul met in Corinth. During his
time there, he stayed with them and worked alongside them
to support himself (Acts. 18:3). They had previously been
banished from Rome (Acts 18:2), and later carried the
Gospel back there (Rom. 16:3-4). Onesiphorus, mentioned
earlier in the letter as one of the few who visited Paul and
“was not ashamed of [his] chains” (1:16), was probably a
traveling merchant (he had been with Paul in Rome and at
Ephesus [1:17-18]) based in Corinth. Erastus was a Roman
official at Corinth, the “city treasurer” (Rom. 16:23).
Trophimus was an Ephesian believer who had traveled with
Paul and Timothy around Asia and even to Jerusalem (Acts
20:4; 21:29), and had been left in Miletus, a port city that
Timothy would pass through shortly after leaving Ephesus.
Paul formally repeats his request for Timothy to
join him, adding a sense of urgency: “Make every effort to
come before winter” (4:21a). Mediterranean winters are
often wet and stormy, making travel by sea impossible with
the technology of the day. Paul knew that if Timothy did
not come right away, he would be delayed by several
months. He is concerned for Timothy’s safety, to be sure,
but more so, he is eager to see him, and worried that he may
not make it before his death if delayed.
In closing, Paul sends Timothy greetings from a
few of the faithful from the fledgling Roman Church:
“Eubulus greets you, also Pudens and Linus and Claudia
and all the brethren” (4:21b). These are all Latin names,
giving us a glimpse into how the Gospel had reached
beyond Jews and Greeks living in Rome to the natives,
securing a foothold for the truth in the culture that
dominated the world at the time. In a sense, their fellowship
with him is a confirmation that Paul’s work to reach the
Gentiles had been accomplished. He can rest in the
confidence that the message will go on exponentially
through this next generation, that “God buries His
workmen, but carries on His work” (Stott, Guard the
Gospel, 116).
Lastly, Paul sends Timothy a benediction and
blessing, entrusting him and his ministry to the Lord and
praying for grace for his upcoming journey: “The Lord be
with your spirit. Grace be with you” (4:22). This fitting
closure to Paul’s writing ministry underlines his focus
throughout both letters to his “true child in the faith.” The
work of preaching the Gospel and shepherding Christ’s
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Church is only accomplished by God’s grace and in His
popularity or protection. Stand firm, therefore, in the truth
strength. He is faithful, and He continues to equip his
of Scripture, because it’s not about you—it never has been.
ministers, from Paul and Timothy’s day to our own. Were it
up to us to fulfill that call, we would long ago have
Justin Lonas is editor of Disciple Magazine for AMG
compromised or abandoned God’s Word for the sake of
International in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Following God—by Erik Christensen
Growing in Knowledge and Trust
Ephesians 1:15-23
In the first half of Ephesians chapter 1, we saw that
believers have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in
the heavenly places in Christ. The Apostle Paul expresses
gratitude to the Father for this ultimate blessing: Christ
Himself. The list that Paul gives us stresses that our
salvation is not due to our works but rather due to the
Father’s will through the shed blood of Christ Himself. Paul
consistently emphasizes that we are in Christ, having
believed in Him, and that our salvation is not of our own
effort.
Paul now commends the Ephesian believers due to
the faith they have in Christ and their love for all the saints.
The Ephesian believers did not have a dead faith but rather
a living one. They were “in Christ” and God’s love was
being produced through them as evidence of the indwelling
presence of God, who is love.
with Himself. For the believer, the question is whether or
not we are walking by faith? We have the potential of being
deepened in our relationship with the Lord because we are
in Christ. Are we willing?
III. The Supremacy of Christ (Eph. 1:19b-21)
Paul continues to encourage the Ephesian believers
concerning the strength of the Lord. God is all strength. His
strength is sufficient and available to us due to the fact that
we have been blessed in Christ. The Father raised Christ
from the dead, and in verse 19 Paul highlights this strength
which is also toward believers. God is inherently strong.
There is nothing that taxes His energy or depletes His
strength. As we follow the Lord, His eternal strength is
available to us as believers.
I. A Growing Knowledge (Eph. 1:15-17)
Not only did these believers have a relationship
with the Lord, they were also walking with Him. Faith was
being seen in action. They were growing deeper in their
understanding of the position and love that were theirs in
Christ, and the result of God working in their lives was
evidenced by the love of Christ being seen in their actions
toward one another. Paul however, is not satisfied with the
status quo. He desires and prays for the believers to be
deepened even more. He prays God the Father would give
them a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of
Christ.
IV. The Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23)
In fact, as Paul goes on to state, the Lord has been
placed in His rightful place of authority over the entire
demonic force. He is in authority over all rule, authority,
power and dominion. Paul even goes so far as to include
any name in this age but also in the one to come. There is
nothing that the Lord Jesus is not superior to or in authority
over. His strength is sufficient for each believer as well as
the entire church. There is nothing that can stand in His
way, and He is infinitely capable and available to every
believer. We have been blessed in Christ, and His life is
ours. He fills His body, the church, and each and every
believer is filled with His fullness.
II. Enlightened Hearts (Eph. 1:18-19a)
Our position in Christ is secure. Paul makes that
clear as we are “in Christ.” With that in mind, we now have
the privilege of growing in our relationship with the Lord.
The adoption of believers, revealing the inexhaustible depth
of the love of Christ and the sealing of the believer in the
Holy Spirit, is security for all believers. Paul prays that
those in Ephesus would be enlightened. It is interesting to
note that this is in the subjunctive tense indicating the
“possibility” for believers. God is available. He is
constantly inviting us into a deeper understanding and walk
Conclusion
So often as believers, we are striving in our own
strength to accomplish for God what He ultimately has
either already accomplished in Christ and alone is able to
accomplish. Are we growing in our relationship with Christ,
recognizing His infinite power and ability? This is a lifelong process of discipleship and transformation.
Are we walking with the Lord in light of His truth?
Are we following Him on the basis of who we are in Christ
and the reality of who He is? What is too difficult for the
Lord? Is my sin or situation too difficult for Him? The Lord
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has all authority and lives within me as a believer. Am I
learning to walk in the reality of who Christ has declared
me to be?
Next month, we will look at what Paul states in the
beginning of chapter two as he reminds us what we (at one
time) used to be. Until then, enjoy the journey and follow
Him knowing that nothing is too difficult for our great God!
Erik Christensen is senior pastor of Hoffmantown Church
in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Points to Ponder—by David L. Olford
So Great Eternal Salvation
Text: “But we ought always to give thanks to God
for you…because God chose you as the firstfruits to be
saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the
truth” (2 Thess. 2:13).
Thought: In this second, “follow-up” letter to the
church in Thessalonica, the Apostle Paul encourages
believers there to stay true to the Gospel, despite
persecution and false teaching. Having addressed the
subject of the “coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2:1) and
deceptive teaching that may have influenced the church, the
Apostle ends his instruction with strong words concerning
the condemnation of those who refuse to love or believe the
truth (2:10-12). Then, in the light of this condemnation of
unbelievers, he shifts his focus and expresses thanksgiving
for the salvation of the believers in Thessalonica. In this
section of his letter (2:13-17), we can learn much about the
eternal salvation that is ours in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I. The Celebration of Eternal Salvation (2:13)
Paul begins this section with thanksgiving to God.
His thanks is directed to God, and it is thanksgiving for the
Thessalonian believers themselves (“for you”), because of
God’s sovereign and saving work on their behalf. Paul
refers to them as “brothers beloved by the Lord, having
been chosen” (“as the firstfruits,” [ESV] or “from the
beginning” [NKJV]). So, these believers in Thessalonica
were now part of the family of God by God’s own choosing
and were recipients of God’s love for His own.
When God’s people face persecution and false
teaching, it is especially helpful to be reminded of the fact
that God Himself initiates salvation, and that we are loved
by the Lord with a divine love that chooses, calls, and
saves. No wonder Paul writes, “But we ought always to give
thanks….”
II. The Explanation of Eternal Salvation (2:13-14)
How and why was this “salvation” to be
experienced by the Thessalonians? We know from the text
that God chose these people for salvation (2:13) and He
called them (2:14). God was the initiator of this salvation,
not the religious strivings or the meritorious works of men.
But, this salvation came through means that God used.
God’s call came through the Gospel itself, which speaks of
the preaching and the ministry of the Gospel while Paul was
there in the recent past (see 1 Thessalonians). God’s
choosing was through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and
“belief in the truth” (2:13). As opposed to those who reject
the truth, these people in Thessalonica responded in faith to
the truth of the Gospel. Regardless of the specific emphasis
intended by Paul in speaking of “through sanctification by
the Spirit,” these people experienced the work of God’s
Spirit (see 1 Thess. 1: 5-6), and were set apart by the Spirit
of God to a new life and life eternal.
So, through the work of the Spirit of God and belief
in the Word of God they were called unto salvation. The
ultimate goal or the “why” of this saving work was “the
obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2:14). As
opposed to those unbelievers who will be condemned, these
believers were to share in the glory of the Lord. This speaks
not only of eternity itself, but the glorious return of the Lord
and the glory that will be revealed at that time. As
wonderful as the Christian life can be in our earthly days,
the ultimate glory of eternity is far greater. When the
believer is facing harsh persecution in this life, this glorious
hope becomes even more meaningful and precious.
III. The Exhortation Due to Eternal Salvation (2:15)
The simple exhortations given by the Apostle are
not unique to this letter. He encourages faithfulness to what
the Thessalonians had been taught already. These teachings
were to be the foundation for the believers’ strength, and
the Thessalonians were not to depart from these truths but
to hold faithfully to them. These people were to stand
strong in the Lord in the face of persecution and hold to the
truth in the face of false teaching.
Paul, therefore, is not trying to teach them new
revelation as he exhorts, rather he wants them to stay true to
the “traditions” that were passed on to them already. The
truth they had received was sufficient to undergird and
strengthen them; they just needed to stand in the truth and
not let go of what they believed. This kind of exhortation
was a common feature of Paul’s follow-up ministry to the
churches he planted or ministered to. While he encouraged
his converts with the security of the love of God and the
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certainty of God’s saving work, he also encouraged
faithfulness and perseverance in the face of hardships and
false teachings. We would do well to maintain both thrusts
in our personal lives and in our discipleship ministry to
others.
IV. The Intercession in Light of Eternal Salvation (2:1617)
These two verses are a concluding prayer to the
whole section (2:1-17), and what a prayer it is! The prayer
is addressed to the Lord Jesus Christ “Himself” and God is
spoken of as Father. It is important to note the little but
important word “our;” “our Lord Jesus Christ Himself,”
and literally “The God and Father our.” The personal and
familial relationship with our loving, giving, comforting
and gracious God is emphasized.
The intercessions on the part of the Apostle reveal
his heart for these dear young Christians in the light of their
tough circumstances. Paul prayed for inner comfort and for
outward faithfulness in word and deed. Their hearts were to
know the comfort of a God of love and grace who has made
consolation and hope possible. Although not stated here, it
is in the Gospel and the saving work of God in the Lord
Jesus Christ that true comfort and strength are found.
The certainty of salvation including the believer’s
participation in the glory of the returning Lord would give
hope and comfort in the midst of direct persecution and
false teaching that could cause discomfort, confusion and
uncertainty. After all, while the believer awaits the return of
the Lord, perseverance and faithfulness are called for.
Strength, therefore, is needed through inner comfort and
such strength will express itself in a resolve to live good
lives (in word and work).
Thrust: Understanding how great eternal salvation
is should cause us to give thanks and to live faithful lives,
even in the midst of difficult times. How important it is to
know that truth concerning our salvation. Such truth is the
basis of comfort, hope and strength as we persevere as
believers looking forward to the glory that is to be revealed.
“Come, Lord Jesus” (Rev 22:20b)!
David L. Olford teaches expository preaching at Union
University’s Stephen Olford Center in Memphis,
Tennessee.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Jewels from Past Giants
Counterfeits—Part 2 of 2
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
A portion of a lecture given by Spurgeon before the Young
Men’s Christian Association in Exeter Hall, London, in
1862. Published in Exeter Hall Lectures, 1861-2. Edited
slightly for length and modern spellings.
builders used marble in the sanctuary, let us employ the
grainer; it will do as well. Why be too honest in our
offerings? Is it not said of this age of temple builders:
“They make a front just like St. Paul’s,
Or like Westminster Abbey,
“See to it, see to it,” says the evil one, “that you be
And then, as if to cheat the Lord,
but watchful and, when eyes are on you, exceedingly
They leave the back part shabby.”
careful, and even more zealous and more scrupulous than
This is the style of the age, and the Demon of
certain really excellent men may be, and you will keep it
Deceit bids us fashion the architecture of our life after the
up; you will last through the heyday of your youth; you will same design. Gingerbread and tinsel will suit the soft age of
be able to play the masquerade all through your manhood,
charity. Paint and varnish have some durability. “Sufficient
and you may encircle your hoary hairs with the halo of
for the day is the evil thereof:” Why anticipate the times of
saintship, notwithstanding that your heart is as black as the fading and decay? Unless the counterfeit should fall into
night of bell. It will, with careful mending, last a lifetime,
rough hands, or get nailed upon the counter, it will not melt,
and why not, since it is more glittering and cheaper, and
and will be but little the worse for wear when it has gone
answers every purpose, why not take the pretense and leave through many hands. The pretender’s fragile web often lasts
the reality to more scrupulous souls?
out the whole of a summer’s day, and catches flies all the
“You know,” the evil one says, “that this is the way while, which is to him an all-important item. But truly, O
with the world. They say, ‘Our forefathers built with stone, son of man, be not too credulous, for often the candle of the
but we may build with brick, and the walls need not be very wicked is put out in a moment, and woe to him when God
thick so long as they will last our time, Our forefathers gave takes away his soul!
God freehold soil on which they built His house of prayer,
Once more we have heard the tempter whisper
but we are thriftier, and are content to offer leasehold; it
winningly, “Pretence is more suitable to the age. This is not
will last our time, and it will do as well. Where ancient
the age for bigots.” Time was when a man felt he was right,
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and did not believe that the opposite opinion could be other
than false and wicked. The man said; “Yes” in the depths of
his heart; and in rough but simple honesty of reasoning he
thought that “No” must be a lie. Modern professors know
better than this. In these times contradictory things are
accepted as true. “Yes” and “No” may both be right! We
can both swear to the same articles and mean contrary
things, and yet both be honest men!
Strange feats are now performed in the theatre of
doctrine. Our forefathers would fail to comprehend us. So
broad, so extensive does the charity of the age seem likely
to become, that Mohameddan and Buddhist may reasonably
expect to be welcomed as true believers by the followers of
Christ. If men who cavil at inspiration shall be recognized
as Christian ministers, we shall soon see atheists accepted
as preachers of Christ, and deists received with open hands
as evangelical divines. You may say, “Never!” but to the
unsophisticated mind of an “ungermanized” believer,
accustomed to call spades spades, and to speak of things in
Saxon terms, it seems a natural and inevitable goal.
If certain things be truths, and their opposite errors,
I know where I am; but when I am bewildered with
objectives and subjectives, standpoints, and points of view,
I confess I am in a maze; and I think those babes, to whom
Christ declares that heavenly things are revealed, must be in
a maze too. We see at this hour things which were, and are,
plain, naked heresy, labeled as “Orthodoxy looked at from
another point of view.” We are told that, if a man
contradicts us point-blank, nevertheless our statements are
precisely the same, only that, from our peculiar
idiosyncrasy, we have different ways of expressing
ourselves.
Now the counterfeit is the man for such an age as
this—at least so the demon tells him. “You will give,” he
says, “no obnoxious rub to your neighbor. You will never
speak bitterly for the truth, because you do not love it well
enough. You will never grow angry with an opponent,
because you have nothing to be angry about. You will wear
no uncomely points and jagged edges, which can come into
unceremonious collision with your fellows. Your words can
be smoother than butter, and you may dip your foot in oil.
To turn your sail a little, according to company, is very
easy, and you can tack about as the wind changes. Religion
is to the counterfeit but a matter of broad and narrow gauge;
so long as he can keep the train going, and speed towards
the terminus, it does not matter.
In the old covenanting age, when men signed the
articles of their faith with blood, counterfeits were in the
way, and were disdainfully kicked out of the chair of honor.
In those times, when men jostled with side and shoulder for
the right—when men said, “No, in God’s name, we must
earnestly contend for the faith, and not for an hour will we
give place to the enemies of the Lord. God has committed
the truth to our keeping, and we will keep it or spill our
hearts’ blood. With burning hands we will grasp it at the
stake; on the rack and in the dungeon we will hold it fast;
and in the agonies of death we will preserve the treasure in
our bleeding hearts, hoping to bear it with us to the
skies!”—then, we say, counterfeits were in the way; but
now it is an easy age; and my Lord Turnabout, and Mr.
Anything, and that other gentleman whose great grandfather
was a waterman, looking one way and rowing another, will
be much in demand.
Pliable, malleable men—men who go to be molded,
fashioned, and shaped! Do you know Mrs. Feigning’s
opinion of them? Such nice men in all company! Such
delightful persons in the drawing-room—never raise a
controversy! The very men for editors of twist-about
periodicals; just the chosen conductors of those daily
newspapers whose want of principle is their principal
means of sale; just the persons, in fact, who are up to the
times, and scorn the fetters of consistency or truth. What
clever fellows! Just the men for Master Feigning to mark
and follow. See how swimmingly they proceed. If you want
an instance, there is our esteemed friend, Sure-to-get-on,
Esq., M.A. None of your old, stereotyped notions for him;
he has thrown them all away into the barbaric past. Honesty
he thinks an anachronism and earnestness pretense. Why,
sir, he distances all competitors. Yes, Mrs. Feigning, we
admit it; he is a clever man, and he is too often the man of
the day; but when that day shall come for which all other
days are made, where will he be, and where will his
admirers be found?
Now it is fair to admit that there is something in all
this reasoning of the great deceiver; that is to say, there is
just enough in it to make it take, for take it does among not
a few. It is not harsh to say, there are, alas! too many in our
Israel who dissemble in their hearts—who hide iniquity in
their bosoms, and flatter with their months; men who have a
name to live, and are dead—who justify themselves before
men, but God knows their hearts.
The leaven of the Pharisees still ferments in the
mass; the mint and the cumin are tithed, and the weightier
matters forgotten; the high seats in the synagogue are loved,
and the closets neglected; the sepulchers are whitewashed,
and the rottenness reeks within. Not yet is the chaff
winnowed from the wheat, nor the dross consumed from the
gold; still the wolf wanders in sheep’s clothing, and false
prophets wear rough garments to deceive. These are wells
without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest, to
whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. Jesus, in the
Apocalypse, cries to us, “I know the blasphemy of them
which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue
of Satan.” Let us hear and examine ourselves. Let the
conscience of any present who shall stand convicted,
reprove them, and lead them to repentance, lest having a
form of godliness, and denying the power, they should grow
worse and worse deceiving and being deceived.
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Have we no time-serving young men here, who, if
they should find themselves in an establishment where piety
is the rule would cheerfully glide with the stream, but if, on
the contrary, they should find themselves in another house
where practices of trade—where the mandate of the master
would compel them, as they say, to lay aside their scruples,
would they breast the current and swim against the torrent?
Thank God! We have thousands, both of masters, workmen,
employers, traders, who would not do the wrong thing even
though a sin were needed to prop the heavens; but still we
must allow, for we see daily disclosures of the gloomy fact,
that there is a remnant according to the election of
hypocrisy who only have the name to be honest and to be
upright, but who are not so, concerning whom the last great
day shall reveal, that they spoke lies in hypocrisy, having
their conscience seared with a hot iron.
Young men, you think my language strong;
remember from what book I quote, and be persuaded that I
utter but the truth. Demon of Counterfeit I would fain cast
you out; therefore do I cry aloud and spare not; but your
voice is more powerful than mine. You have prevailed to
convert more thousands than any minister among us. You
have swayed with the charm of your eloquence tens of
thousands of hearts, and you have led captive many mighty
men with thy soft and persuasive accents.
Oh, for an Elijah to pour full torrents of scorn upon
you! Rise, noble confessors, and launch your thunders at
this foul abomination! Knox, Luther, Athanasius,
Chrysostom, from your tombs, being dead, yet speak, and
charge us to be true! Let every manly, noble, holy, divine
thing protest against fraud, hypocrisy, dissimulation, deceit,
and counterfeit; and you, young soldiers of the Cross, dash
right and left at the ever-present evil, and the angels of God
and the Lord of Hosts, himself shall fight with you against
the common foe of earth and heaven!
Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892), “the Prince of
Preachers,” was a renowned pastor and author who served
as pastor of London’s Metropolitan Tabernacle for 38 years.
His works are still widely read today.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Counselor’s Corner—by James Rudy Gray
Dealing with Sin
Originally published in Pulpit Helps, November
If they agree it is sin, what next? In the past I have
2008.
suggested that one of the two parties move out of the house
if they are living together. Next, they should take the time
After the initial problem has been presented and the to create a healthy bond that focuses on friendship and
smoke of disguise has lifted, pastors, counselors, and others learning to walk together in obedience to God. Obviously,
who do counseling often find we are dealing with a sin
they should not have sex until after the marriage.
problem. What do we do?
A counselor or pastor can never know for sure if a
What we cannot do is skirt the issue. Suppose a
couple is living immorally or not. However, we can present
couple comes to see a pastor for counseling. They are not
the truth of God’s Word in a clear way to them. If we
married but are sexually active. They are planning to be
believe that His Word will not return void, we can also
married but they are living in sin. I believe we must gently
expect that His Word may very well have a significant
and yet firmly confront them with the truth of God’s Word. impact on the couple. A couple may or may not listen to our
There are plenty of verses we could show them, and if we
advice, but we cannot dodge our responsibility. We must
have earned their trust, the fact that we are pointing out
speak the truth in love.
something wrong will have an impact. They may not repent,
There are many other types of sin that someone
but at least they will be counseled in truth.
may be involved in when they come for counseling. For
My technique has been to ask the couple what they example, alcoholics and drug addicts are typically excellent
think of their behavior. Do they think it is sin? Do they
liars and con artists. I have asked many over the last 11
believe it is wrong? Whatever their answer, I always go to
years, and they virtually all agree that they are among the
the same passage. Hebrews 13:4 says, “Marriage is to be
best at misleading people. How can we deal with a person
held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be
who lies to us in counseling?
undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.”
First, we must recognize that it is going to happen.
That is a chilling verse. God takes sexual responsibility
Next, we must be determined to seek the Spirit’s wisdom as
seriously. Immorality is sin and there is no way to get
we try to help them. Usually, if we ask enough open-ended
around it. We fail in our duty to God if we do not point this questions and follow-up with probing interaction, they will
out to a couple.
eventually be caught in an inconsistency. When that
happens, we can help them see the wrong and even the bad
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patterns of thinking and living that have become entrenched lives, it is the responsibility of a Christian counselor to help
in their lives.
that person learn to deal with sin God’s way. There is
1 John 1:9 is a powerful verse of hope and healing
healing and hope in that type of help.
for people struggling in the grip of a life-besetting sin, “If
we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive
James Rudy Gray is certified as a professional counselor by
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
the National Board for Certified Counselors, and is a
That is a verse written to Christians for Christians. If the
member of the American Association of Christian
person we are counseling is a Christian caught in the web of Counselors. He serves as the editor of The Baptist Courier,
some sin, this verse can be especially helpful and
the official newspaper of the South Carolina Baptist
encouraging to them.
Convention.
People may have many different problems when
they come to us for counseling. When sin is evident in their
__________________________________________________________________________________________
The Story behind the Song—by Lindsay Terry
A Cyber Bible and My Guitar
Song: “Lord, I Lift Your Name on High”
“Let them praise the name of the Lord: for His
name alone is excellent; His glory is above the earth and
heaven” (Ps. 148:13).
According to the CCLI Top 25 Songs list, “Lord, I
Lift Your Name on High” has the distinction of being the
number one praise and worship song sung in America’s
churches from 1997 to 2002. Rick Founds wrote this
inspired piece of music. And although it is only one of more
than 500 songs he has written in his lifetime, it is by far his
most popular.
Rick was born in 1954 to Doyle and Lorraine
Founds of Idaho Falls, Idaho. His musical interest began
early in life, and by age ten he already had a few songs
under his belt, penning his first tunes for Sunday school. As
a youth he developed a love for the guitar. Years later, in
college, Rick took a number of music courses preparing
him for his future ministry.
“Lord, I Lift Your Name on High” was born during
Rick’s daily devotional time, which he usually has in the
morning. At the time the song was written, Rick was
musical director of a large church. In order to sing and
worship freely during his morning devotions, Rick chose an
office in the back of the building, far away from the others
who worked there.
“Sometimes I made a lot of noise when I sang,”
Rick admitted, “but I felt comfortable in that office to sit
and play my guitar while studying.” Using a small
Macintosh computer along with a disc, which contained the
entire Bible, Rick would worship while viewing passages of
Scripture. “I developed a habit,” he said, “of playing my
guitar along with the reading of the Bible on my computer
screen. I would read a portion of the New Testament
followed by a portion of the Old Testament.
“One particular day, as I was having my devotional
period, the Lord impressed on my heart that His work on
our behalf was a cycle of events—Christ came from heaven
to earth, gave His life on the cross for us, was buried, and
three days later rose from the dead. He then went back to
His heavenly Father, making the cycle and our salvation
complete. That, essentially, is the lyric of the song. I picked
up my guitar and began to sing, ‘Lord, I lift Your name on
high.’
“It’s really just a simple song,” Rick said, “but it’s
what the Lord dropped into my heart. The whole song came
quickly—I didn’t struggle with it at all. I did, however,
continue to work on the latter part of the song for another
four or five days before I felt it was complete. Then I sang
it for an evening Bible study. They seemed to love the song.
At the time I had no idea that it would be so popular—I had
simply written another song, much as I had done so many
times before.”
Hearing his song sung by thousands of men during
a Promise Keepers rally has been just one of the wonderful
thrills Rick has experienced with “Lord, I Lift Your Name
on High.” The letters he receives on a regular basis touch
his heart. Translated into multiple languages, this easy-toremember song has quickly made its way into distant lands,
encouraging all who sing it to worship more freely. It shows
us just how powerful our God is and how He can use one
person for His glory. This gives us reason, indeed, to lift
His name on high.
There are times when we should worship the
heavenly Father simply for who He is. There are times
when we should worship God simply because of His
holiness. And there are times when we should worship God
for all that He has done to bring us to Himself!
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© 2008 by Lindsay Terry. Used by permission.
hymns and worship songs including the books I Could Sing
of Your Love Forever (2008), from which this piece is
excerpted, and The Sacrifice of Praise (2002).
Lindsay Terry has been a song historian for more than 40
years, and has written widely on the background of great
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Church Builders—by Bernard R. DeRemer
Samuel Zwemer: Apostle to Islam
Samuel M. Zwemer (1867-1952), born in
Vriesland, Mich., was educated at Hope College in Holland,
Mich., and later at the New Brunswick Theological
Seminary in New Jersey. In college he came under the
influence of Robert Wilder and became one of the first
1,000 members of the Student Volunteer Movement for
Foreign Missions as well as a local leader with that
organization.
He was famously turned down by the American
Missionary Society which resulted in him going overseas
alone. With others, he founded the Arabian Mission in 1890
and after ordination went to the Middle East. The Dutch
Reformed Church took over the fledgling mission.
Zwemer married Amy Elizabeth Wilkes in 1896.
Even in the midst of his missionary efforts, he continued to
study and learn, earning a D.D. from Hope College in 1904,
an L.L.D. from Muskingum College in 1918, and a D.D.
from Rutgers College in 1919.
Zwemer worked in various places around the
Middle East, and then, in 1913 moved his headquarters in
Cairo, Egypt, and traveled over most of the Islamic world.
His labors aroused interest in Europe and America in
bringing the faith to Muslims and training missionaries. He
was even elected a fellow of the Royal Geographical
Society of London.
In 1906 he organized and chaired the
Mohammedan Missionary Conference. Then in 1910 he
returned to the mission field on the Arabian Gulf. Zwemer
traveled to many nations over the Muslim world, “making
notable contributions to the cause in South Africa and the
Netherlands Indies.” Also he visited China and India
several times.
Ever the teacher, he started The Moslem World in
1911, which he edited for 35 years. In 1929, Zwemer was
appointed as professor of missions and the history of
religion at Princeton Theological Seminary, where he
taught until 1937. His 50 published volumes include Arabia
the Cradle of Islam, Moslem Doctrine of God, Islam a
Challenge to Faith, The Unoccupied Mission Fields of
Africa and Asia, The Moslem World, and Mohammed or
Christ. He continued to speak and write actively well into
his eighties, before he died in New York in 1952.
In his long and fruitful life, Zwemer became an
outstanding pioneer in one of the neediest mission fields of
the world. According to Ruth A. Tucker, Zwemer’s
converts were “probably less than a dozen during his nearly
forty years of service” and his “greatest contribution to
missions was that of stirring Christians to the need for
evangelism among Muslims.” His is a message and
example greatly needed today also. “…Well done, thou
good and faithful servant…” (Matt. 25:21).
Bernard R. DeRemer chronicled the lives of dozens of
heroes of the faith in more than a decade of writing for
Pulpit Helps Magazine. He continues to serve in this
capacity as a volunteer contributor to Disciple. He lives in
West Liberty, Ohio.
References: Who Was Who in Church History, by Elgin S.
Moyer, excerpts used by permission of Moody Publishers.
Wikipedia, “Samuel Marinus Zwemer”,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Zwemer.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Advancing the Ministries of the Gospel
Looking Up: Medical Ministry
By AMG International Staff
When the Pharisees accused Jesus of hypocrisy for
eating with tax collectors and sinners, He rebuked them
with a metaphor: “It is not those who are healthy who need
a physician, but those who are sick…for I did not come to
call the righteous, but sinners” (Matt. 9:12-13). In many
ways, Jesus’ word picture is a good description of AMG
International’s dedication to medical ministry.
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Our primary motive is to provide everyone who
comes into contact with our work a chance to hear and
respond to the Gospel—our ultimate healing from sin
through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Often, we work toward this by compassionately meeting
physical needs to open hearts to that message. Few such
needs are more keenly felt than the pain of illness or injury,
so a healing touch in Jesus’ name during a medical crisis
can impact a patient and their family for eternity. As AMG
board member Dr. Demosthenes Katsarkas has often said,
“When we are upright, our line of vision is horizontal, but
when we are sick and on our backs, then we are ready to
look up to God.”
This vision continues to bear fruit at AMG through
countless medical mission trips around the world and the
establishment of several full-time clinics and hospitals
staffed by national workers serving in their home cultures.
At the Hope and Bethany Medical Centers in Uganda,
Bethesda Clinic in Haiti, Kadyum Eye Hospital in India,
Señorita Elena Hospital in Guatemala, and Diaconia Clinic
in Romania, AMG strives to provide the best care possible
for God’s glory.
The oldest and largest of AMG’s medical facilities
is St. Luke’s Hospital in Thessaloniki, Greece. Founded in
1973 by Dr. Katsarkas and Dr. Spiros Zodhiates, St. Luke’s
shows the love of Christ by treating patients with a level of
courtesy and dignity seldom found in Greece’s secular
medical system. Today, St. Luke’s is one of the most
trusted hospitals in Eastern Europe, providing care not only
to the people of Thessaloniki, but also to missionaries,
government employees, and foreign service workers
throughout the region.
Lulzim Merkhushi, a patient from Albania, shares
his experience with St. Luke’s: “I am 40 years old, and I
have suffered from myasthenia gravis, which appeared to be
caused by a [thymus tumor], since 1993. At that time, in
Albania, this diagnosis meant to be helpless…. I knew
somebody, a pastor, who came to me and told my family
that he knew someone in Thessaloniki, Dr. Katsarkas, who
could help us. He told me of his clinic and of his devotion
to help people and his professionalism. He contacted him
and gave us the good news that he was ready to do
everything for me. Now all these problems are past. Dr.
Katsarkas always says to me that I am at home in this
hospital. I feel like a son of this home…it is my privilege to
say the best words for St. Luke’s…God bless them and their
work and mission.”
Each of the more than 2,000 patients who come
through St. Luke’s each month is given an opportunity to
hear the Gospel through interactions with medical staff, but
also through daily devotionals and Scripture readings
broadcast through the hospital’s PA system. Additionally,
the quality and excellence of the care provided by St.
Luke’s serves to build up the reputation of the Evangelical
Church throughout Greece, paving the way for ministry far
past the hospital doors.
Beyond this direct ministry, St. Luke’s excellent
medical services generated profits used to start and support
other AMG ministries, including orphanages, church
planting, relief work, and the only Christian radio station
broadcasting in Cyprus. In recent years, however, the
hospital itself has been in need of gifts to continue
operations. During the ongoing financial crisis in Greece,
the government-run health insurance has delayed payments
time and again. Despite this shortfall, the staff of St. Luke’s
has steadily worked on, often extending service even to
those who cannot pay because of their own financial
difficulties. Though the situation in Greece has stabilized
somewhat in 2013, there are still great needs at St. Luke’s.
The Christian doctors, nurses, aides, and orderlies
at St. Luke’s and every other AMG hospital or clinic are
only able to be the hands and feet of the Gospel in their
communities because generations of faithful ministry
partners have heard the call and responded with God-given
generosity. By God’s grace, we trust Him to provide both
now and in the future.
To learn more about AMG’s medical ministries in Greece
and around the world, and how you can partner with us,
please visit www.amginternational.org or call 1-800-2517206.
Advancing the Ministries of the Gospel (AMG)
International is a non-denominational, international
missions agency based in Chattanooga, Tenn. AMG’s
distinctive has always been its reliance on national workers
to carry the Gospel in their own cultures. Today, they
operate ministries in over 40 countries around the world
through partnership with national believers.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Marks of the Master—by the Old Scot
The Bloody Ladder
Originally published in Pulpit Helps, November 2008.
How did man come to be what he is today? Is he
the culmination, the topmost rung of a lengthy evolutionary
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ladder? Or is he the unique creation of a God who formed
all life into distinctive and characteristic forms?
Many of those who argue for the “ascent of man”
through countless evolutionary states base their belief upon
the concept of “survival of the fittest.” This concept states
that fierce competition for survival has acted, through
numberless eons, to improve and develop races and species
by allowing only the hardiest specimens to survive and
reproduce. This is also called the “Law of the Claw and
Fang.” While this theory has a surface plausibility at first
glance, it has some fatal flaws, and one of them we wish to
consider today:
According to the “Law of the Claw and Fang,”
those qualities which help in survival are “good,” and those
that do not help are “not good.” Thus, as one writer
expressed the situation: “Darwinism regards animals as
going ‘upstairs’ in a struggle for individual ends, often on
the corpses of their fellows, often by a blood-and-iron
competition, often by a strange mixture of blood and
cunning, in which each looks out for himself and extinction
besets the hindmost.”
The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche
carried this to its logical conclusion, late in the nineteenth
century. He openly glorified this “bloody ladder of natural
selection” as leading to a race of supermen. War, he said,
was the chief means by which individuals and states reach
higher states of development. Cunning, violence, deceit,
and betrayal all serve this higher cause, he argued. But
kindness, gentleness, selfless love, and mercy all earned his
scorn.
Nietzsche declared that “such ideas as mercy and
pity and charity are pernicious, for they mean a transference
of power from the strong to the weak, whose proper
business it is to serve the strong. Remember,” he went on,
“that self-sacrifice and brotherliness and love are…merely
manufactured compunctions to keep you from being your
true self.”
Adolf Hitler sought to flesh out Nietzsche’s
thoughts, to create an “Aryan super race.” At the same time
he tried to eliminate supposedly inferior races. The world
knows the result as the Holocaust, in which six million
men, women, and children perished. They were victims of a
terrible philosophy. Their deaths were made more horrible
because the underlying premises were false.
But where, in all this, is any ascent? Is this not
rather descent? It is outdoing the beasts in bestiality. It is a
total perversion of all that civilization holds dear. To be
“civilized” means to have learned to live in harmony with
one’s neighbors. Peace is something we all yearn for: to be
able to go home to a secure hearth, without fear either of
intruders or of dread summons to interrogation and torture.
There is a place for kindness and gentleness; there
is a need for loving our neighbors. Otherwise, every man’s
hand is against his neighbor, and there is no security
anywhere in the land. But we know that our hearts harbor
very different feelings, also. Hate, greed, envy, the desire
for power, money, sexual gratification—these oppose our
gentler feelings, and sometimes conquer them. We are often
at war within our own hearts, now pulled this way and now
that way, as conscience strives with our baser nature.
As Pascal put it in his Pensees, “Poor wretches that
we are, and all the more so than if there were no greatness
in us. We have a notion of happiness, and cannot reach it;
we are conscious of an image of the truth, and only hold a
lie; incapable of (either) entire ignorance (or) of certain
knowledge. So obvious is it that we stood once at a point of
perfection from which we have unfortunately fallen.”
How else shall we account for the opposing groups
of emotions we find in ourselves? If Nature has no place for
the finer feelings, from whence did they come? The Bible
answers that God made man in His own image, but man
was corrupted and fell from that exalted character. As a
result of that fall, we find echoes of goodness, mercy, and
truth, mingled with hardness, hatred, and perversity in
ourselves to this day.
God is “merciful and gracious, long-suffering and
abundant in goodness and truth (Ex. 34:6), and His desire
is for us to regain our full status in His image. In fact, one
of God’s purposes in sending His Son, Christ Jesus, to earth
was to be a living—and dying—example of selfless love.
As those who would not accept His mission to mankind
were crucifying Jesus, He implored His Father to “forgive
them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
The more important question is not how did man
come, but why? Why were you born, and why do you still
live? The Bible says we were created to glorify God (Rev.
4:11). You will never find your reason for being as part of a
mindless desperate drive to survive, at the expense of every
competitor. Seek it, instead, as a unique child of God, born
to fulfill a unique work for God, which has been waiting for
you from time immemorial (see Eph. 2:10).
The Old Scot (Ted Kyle) served as managing editor for
Pulpit Helps magazine (Disciple’s predecessor publication)
from 1993-2008. He was always fascinated by the natural
world, and readily saw God’s hand in every detail. Ted
went to be with His Creator and Savior in April 2013.
Source: The Phantom of Organic Evolution, by George
McCready Price, Fleming H. Revell, New York, 1924.
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__________________________________________________________________________________________
Book Review—10/21/13
goals” too often involve just keeping the plates spinning
long enough to survive. The goals are unstated (we would
never admit to others we run on mediocre or bare
Wheaton, Ill., ISBN 9781433533389, 128 pages, $11.99,
minimum), but our lives can often reflect those “goals”
softcover
every day when we mismanage our time and priorities.
We don’t want this to be us, but DeYoung says our
Crazy Busy delivers on its subtitle—it is a
expectations are low because our motivation for being busy
mercifully short book on a really big problem, barely over
is usually wrong—we tend to be much more man-centered
100 pages. Pastor and author Kevin DeYoung has written
(appearing to be important and sought-after) and not Christenough books, posted enough blog blurbs, and given
centered (laboring well with a focus on eternal things,
enough sermons to know that to talk about the ubiquitous
which may or may not get noticed by others). His
problem of busyness in 500 pages would be unhelpful to
graciousness in calling readers to reflection and repentance
many readers. This is specifically why he focused on
shows in how he pinpoints our errors while also giving a
writing a “how come” book rather than a “how to” book.
healthy dose of “I’ve-been-there-man” to let you know the
You probably won’t come away from reading with an
action plan, but rather with some convictions about pruning struggle to recapture your time for the Lord is worth the
fight.
family schedules and checking your motivations for
For all the things Crazy Busy diagnoses on how we
activities and commitments. For those who may want these
got here, it’s not a guilt-induced exercise on excising things
ideas fleshed out in more detail, the book’s intentional
from your life. As an extrovert myself (like DeYoung
brevity may be its major flaw.
If you’ve read other of DeYoung’s works (Just Do claims to be), I feel like I am always on the go whether I
want to be or not, so it was comforting to for him to remind
Something, What Is the Mission of the Church?, Hole in
Our Holiness, etc.) you’ll know that he has an gift for being me that it’s okay to be busy, but be busy about the right
things! He encourages us to build discipline and rest into
terribly funny and at the same time terribly serious (he’s
quite blunt about biblical truths). It’s a hard thing to pull off our lives (and into our children) so that we can rightly
prioritize what God prioritizes within the limits of who He
as a writer, but it’s become DeYoung’s trademark and it’s
has gifted us to be.
why people appreciate his gracious teaching style.
Crazy Busy deals with a cadre of issues that plague
Rachel Lonas
those of us who see the world with “Western lenses”—
personal pride, stressing out about our kids, obsessing over
our gadgets, lack of rest, not setting priorities, striving after Target: All
Type: Practical Theology/Christian Living
what God does not expect of us. Obviously some chapters
Take: Recommended
hit me harder than others, but each certainly gave me a lot
to chew on. For instance, in Chapter 5 he says our “daily
Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book about a
(Really) Big Problem, Kevin DeYoung, 2013, Crossway,
__________________________________________________________________________________________
News Update—10/21/13
Police in India Rebuke, Threaten Pastor for
Reporting Vicious Beating
Police in Chhattisgarh state last week chastised and
threatened a pastor when he reported that Hindu extremists
beat a Bible student unconscious, area Christians said.
After drunken Hindu extremists beat 23-year-old
Shyam Sunder unconscious with a plow head three times—
twice reviving him with water and continuing the beating—
on Oct. 9 in Milan Patra, Koriya District, Christian leaders
called the town inspector. The police officer who reached
the spot asked Pastor Arun Toppo why they had alerted
police when nobody had been murdered or killed, Christian
leaders said.
Pastor Toppo then went to Manandra Garh police
station seeking help, but there Town Inspector M.S. Khan
and other police verbally abused him, threatened to register
a case against him and ordered him to stop leading worship
if Hindu villagers did not like it, the pastor’s attorney said.
Pastor Toppo, however, said he sought further help.
“When I reached home and found Sunder in a crucial
condition, I knew that I had to approach higher officials for
protection,” he said. “The wound on his lower back is the
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most severe, and for that reason he could not walk. We took
him to the area government hospital, but the hospital
authority refused to admit him unless they get permission
from the area police. We are treating him with some home
remedies available to us.”
Religion Today Summaries
Ministries File Class Action Suit over HHS
Mandate
The Southern Baptist Convention’s GuideStone
health plan and two other non-profit religious groups are
suing the Obama administration over its contraception
coverage mandate, which forces all employers to provide
birth control coverage to employees, including drugs that
may cause abortions, CBN News reports.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is suing the
Obama administration on behalf of GuideStone, the
Oklahoma-based Reaching Souls International and TruettMcConnell College in Georgia. The class action lawsuit
actually includes more than 100 ministries that participate
in GuideStone’s health benefits plan. The three
organizations argue the contraception mandate is “an
assault on biblical convictions and an attack on religious
liberty.”
The Obama administration has said churches and a
narrowly defined category of religious organizations are
exempt, but the administration is still threatening
devastating penalties to many other ministry organizations,
such as Christian colleges, missions organizations and
family ministries.
“The government’s refusal to treat these ministries
as ‘religious employers’ is senseless,” said Mark Rienzi,
senior counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.
“These people spend their lives teaching and preaching
their religious faith—if they do not qualify as ‘religious
employers,’ the government needs to get a new definition.”
Religion Today Summaries
Iran Abuses Christians’ National and International
Rights
Iran’s continued mistreatment of its Christian
minority was raised at a recent meeting of the United
Nations Human Rights Council.
Attieh Fard, a lawyer specialising in human rights,
urged President Hassan Rouhani to make good on his
promises to the United Nations in New York by releasing
the 42 Christians known to be in jail and the 45 awaiting
trial.
Fard said these figures represent only known cases
and that the number is likely to be much higher, but that
many have remained silent due to threats by the
government. In doing so, she said in her Sept. 24 report, the
government had infringed its national and international
legal obligations.
At least 300 Christians have been arrested in the
past three years in Iran, with the most common charges
being actions against public security and propaganda
against the regime. Many of these Christians were arrested
while taking part in house churches.
“In bringing about these charges against Christians,
both the government and the judiciary have made an error
of law and fact because Christian gatherings either at homes
or churches are mainly formed for Christians to worship
together and to read and study the Bible, not to change the
regime, and they do not have a goal of any political activity.
So these are wrong judgments,” said Fard.
Religion Today Summaries
European Parliament Calls for Release of
American Pastor Saeed Abedini
The European Parliament on Thursday, October 10,
2013, passed a resolution that called for the exoneration and
release of American pastor Saeed Abedini, who is
imprisoned in Iran simply because of his Christian faith.
“Our team at the ACLJ, along with our European
affiliate—the European Centre for Law and Justice—has
been meeting with members of the European Parliament
(MEPs) detailing the facts surrounding the illegal
imprisonment of Pastor Saeed, a U.S. citizen,” said Jordan
Sekulow, executive director of the American Center for
Law & Justice (ACLJ).
In a press release issued today, the European
Parliament, based in Strasbourg, France, reported the
passage of the resolution, which had broad cross-party
support, focusing on Pastor Saeed: “The fate of Pastor
Saeed Abedini in Iran is also a matter of deep concern to
MEPs, who called on the government to exonerate and
release him immediately.”
Additionally, the Parliament “call[ed] on Iran to
take steps to ensure that full respect is shown for the right to
freedom of religion or belief, including by ensuring that its
legislation and practices fully conform to Article 18 of the
ICCPR;” recognizing that this fundamental right includes
“the right of everyone to change his or her religion, if he or
she so chooses.”
Religion Today Summaries
Bangladeshi Christians Told to Close Church,
Convert to Islam
A local government official in central Bangladesh
has halted the construction of a church, forced Christians to
worship at a mosque and threatened them with eviction
from their village unless they renounce their faith, World
Watch Monitor reports.
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The Tangail Evangelical Holiness Church in
Bilbathuagani village, Tangail district, about 70 miles north
of Dhaka, was started Sept. 8 by a group of about 25
Christians who had been meeting secretly for three years.
However, local council chairman Rafiqul Islam Faruk
joined around 200 demonstrators Sept. 13 to protest against
the start of the building of the church.
The following day, the Christians were summoned
to his office. More than 1,000 Muslims waited outside,
following an announcement at all local mosques to gather at
the chairman’s office.
Mokrom Ali, 32, told World Watch Monitor: “The
chairman and the imams of the mosques interrogated me for
accepting Christianity. They asked me why I had become a
Christian. It is a great sin to become a Christian from Islam.
If I did not accept Islam, they would beat me, burn my
house and evict me from the society. Their threats chilled
me to the bone. That is why I pretended to accept Islam, but
faith in Christ is the wellspring of my life. Now I am no
longer a Muslim; I am a Christian.”
Religion Today Summaries
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Sermon Helps—from www.sermonhall.com
Sermon Outlines
Are You Standing for Something or Falling for
Everything?
Joshua 1:18-18
Intro.: Most people today don’t believe there are any
absolutes. Hence, they reason, there is nothing you can
absolutely trust except yourself. What a contrast to we who
hold the Scriptures as the final authority and the source of
all truth! If we do, we must grow in our certainty and
confidence of the Word. These are the convictions we must
have about the Scriptures:
I. What God Says Is Correct (1:10-12)
A. You take it literally.
B. You take it totally.
II. What God Says Is Certain (1:13-15)
A. It calls us to remember.
B. It calls us to trust.
III. What God Says Is Conclusive (1:16-18).
A. It demands obedience.
B. It brings results.
C. It produces joy.
Conc.: Are you treasuring God’s Word? Do you make time
to read it? Do you make time to meditate on it? Do you
make time to study it? Are you consumed with it? Are you
obeying it? Are you sharing it with others?
Jim Stevanus
Christian Reward
2 Tim. 4:6-8
I. The Present (v. 6)
A. Dedication: “For I am now ready to be offered”
B. Departure: “And the time of my departure is at
hand.”
II. The Past (v. 7)
A. Fighting: “I have fought a good fight”
B. Finish: “I have finished my course”
C. Faith: “I have kept the faith”
III. The Prospects (v. 8)
A. Righteous crown: “A crown of righteousness”
B. Righteous judge: “The Lord, the righteous
judge”
C. Righteous people: “All who love His appearing”
Croft M. Pentz
Illustrations
God’s Embroidery
When I was a little boy, my mother used to
embroider a great deal. I would sit at her knee and look up
from the floor and ask what she was doing. She informed
me that she was embroidering. As from the underside, I
watched her work within the boundaries of the little round
hoop that she held in her hand, I complained to her that it
sure looked messy from where I sat.
She would smile at me, look down, and gently say,
“My son, you go about your playing for awhile, and when I
am finished with my embroidering, I will put you on my
knee and let you see it from my side.” I would wonder why
she was using some dark threads along with the bright ones
and why they seemed so jumbled from my view. A few
minutes would pass, and then I would hear Mother’s voice
say, “Son, come and sit on my knee.” When I did, I would
see a beautiful flower or a sunset. I could not believe it,
because, from underneath, it looked so messy. Then Mother
would say to me, “My son, from underneath it did look
messy and jumbled, but you didn’t realize that there was a
pre-drawn plan on the top. I was only following the design.
Now you see it the right way.”
Many times through the years I have looked up to
my heavenly Father and said, “Father, what are You
doing?” He has answered, “I am embroidering your life.” I
say, “But it looks like a mess to me. It seems so jumbled.
The threads seem so dark.” The Father seems to tell me,
“My child, you go about your business of doing My
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business, and one day I will bring you to heaven and put
Croft M. Pentz
you on My knee, and you will see the plan from My side.”
Anonymous No man will ever put on the robes of Christ’s righteousness
until he is stripped of his fig leaves, nor will he wash in the
fount of mercy until he perceives his filthiness. Therefore,
The Story of the Stones
There was a man who went to hear George
we must not cease to declare the Law, its demands, its
Whitfield preach, and he went with his pocket crammed
threatenings, and the sinner’s multiplied breaches of it.
with stones. As Whitfield preached, he first took out one
Charles Spurgeon
stone, and threw it behind him; and then another stone, and
threw that down; until at last there was not a stone left
To be almost saved is to be totally lost.
except the one in his own chest—his heart, and even that
was loosening and softening. And presently that stone
In the sentence of life, the devil may be a comma—but
changed too, and became a fountain of waters, giving glory never let him be the period.
to God in tears of sorrow, instead of remaining a hard stone
of resistance.
There is no short cut to the heavenly Kingdom. It is not the
Now it may be that, if under the pretense of
way across, but the way of the Cross, that leads home.
throwing stones at King David, we are really angry with the
Bible, and want to throw stones against the Lord God
Many a man saves everything but his soul.
Himself—it may be that we shall empty our pockets, and
throw this stone down—this objection down, and that
If you could telegraph, telephone or write to Heaven for
criticism down, and the other objection down—and
information on how to be saved, you would get the same
presently there be nothing left but our heart, and that not so answer the Bible gives, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
stony as it was, because it has been growing softer and
and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).
softer with every foolish and perverse quibble thrown aside.
Our own heart is changing. And if the first action of Many who have tons of religion don’t have an ounce of
the new heart be to make itself like a fountain of sunny and salvation.
invigorating waters; and it is well even to have to weep a
These six anonymous
little, if by-and-by, through the softness that you have thus
experienced, you obtain joyful drafts of refreshing water out Three men died on Calvary: one for sin, one in sin, and one
of the ever-flowing fountain of eternal life, that is now not
to sin. These three propositions cover the whole human
far off, but within your own penitent and happy heart.
race. Do not die in sin. Die to it by receiving as your Savior
Anonymous Him who died for it in your stead.
George Guille
Bulletin Inserts
On Salvation
My understanding of Christianity is God in search of lost
men, not men in search of a lost God.
Ronald R. Hatch
God made His home with us that we might make our home
with God.
Conversion is not the smooth, easy going process some men
The Fountain seem to think. It is wounding work, this breaking of the
hearts, but without wounding, there is no saving.
No one’s so good that he can save himself; no one’s so bad
John Bunyan
that God can’t save him.
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__________________________________________________________________________________________
Puzzles and ‘Toons
Church ‘Toons by Joe McKeever
Answers to last issue’s puzzles:
Originally published in Pulpit Helps, October 1997
Father Abraham and Hidden Wisdom
By Mark Oshman
Hidden Wisdom on next page
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