Colossians 3:14

Colossians  – “Love is the Perfect Unifier”

The title of this article is my translation of the last part of Colossians 3:14. The English Standard Version translates it thus: “And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” The New King James Version says, “But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.” The New American Standard Version renders the verse: “Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.” The Christian Standard Bible says: “Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.”

colossians love

Does true love unite?

Does God’s word lie? Or is it true that love is the perfect unifier? All disagreements, disputes, differences, and disunities could be resolved with a healthy application of love. We don’t love each other enough! We would rather split apart to preserve our own prideful opinions than to value someone else more than our own alleged intelligence. How intelligent are we really? Not very, if we are willing to sacrifice relationships for our own pride. Lack of love is the culprit. When I look at another person, what do I see? Do I see someone made in the image of God? Do I see someone for whom Christ died? Do I see a soul that will spend eternity in either heaven or hell? Many simply see other people as means to ends: “You are only as good as what you can do for me” they think. This is not loving people. This is using people for our own selfish purposes. People are ends in and of themselves. They are worth sacrificing ourselves for. God certainly thought that, and Jesus demonstrated it (Romans 5:8)! Don’t cast aside relationships like they are just toys for your amusement. Repent, and love people more.

God bless you, and I love you (I really do!)!

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Kim Davis and the Samaritan Woman

Kim Davis and the Samaritan Woman

Kim Davis, clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, was informed by a judge that she would be jailed for openly and consistently refusing to issue marriage licenses to homosexual couples.  Ms. Davis had been in the news ever since she turned down a homosexual couple who were wanting to be married after the Supreme Court nationalized same-sex marriage earlier this year.

kim-davis

Good and bad examples come in varied packages.

As is the case with just about anyone who makes the news, especially those who take stances which go against the hedonistic worldview of most in Western media, everything about Ms. Davis was investigated and reported on.  Two items about her life which came to light are that she was likely a member of the Apostolic Christian Church and that she was an adulterer who has been married four times.

The Apostolic Christian Church was by their own admission founded in the 1830’s rather than on the Pentecost after Christ’s death and resurrection as was the church of the Bible (Acts 2), and holds an unscriptural view on baptism in that they believe conversion and a new walk of life in Christ happens before immersion, not after immersion as is taught in Romans 6:3-5.  If Ms. Davis is in fact a member of such a church, she is not in a right relationship with Christ (2 John 9-11; cf. Eph. 4:4-5).

Likewise, it appears from reports on her marital past that she has repeatedly violated Jesus’ teaching on divorce and remarriage (Matt. 19:9), as well as the biblical injunction against adultery (Gal. 5:19-21; 1 Cor. 6:9-10).  Such is unfortunate, not only in light of the situation it puts her soul should she have not repented of such sins, but also because it has given those who oppose her biblical view about homosexual marriage ammunition to use against her in their efforts to distract others from her message that homosexual marriage is sinful.

However, are those who disagree with her biblical views about homosexual marriage the only ones who are bringing up her sinful background?  What about those who join with her in agreement with what the Bible says about same-sex marriage?

Within a few hours of the announcement of her imprisonment, I saw several Facebook posts from brethren in the Lord’s church, brethren who stand with her behind the biblical condemnation of homosexuality who also have either questioned or have outright denounced her for being a member of a man-made church and for being involved in adulterous relationships.  I’m not in complete disagreement that such questionings and denouncements have been made.  We live in a world of religious confusion, a world filled with false teachings (2 Tim. 4:3-4), a world filled with religious people who are guided by naive feelings rather than biblical facts (Prov. 14:12) and thus are easily deceived “by smooth talk and flattery” (Rom. 16:17-18) as they are “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14).  I can easily see the religiously naive both in the Lord’s church and in the religious world of Christendom as a whole look at Ms. Davis’s stance for the truth about homosexual marriage and come to the erroneous conclusion that she is heaven-bound simply for that alone, irregardless of whether she is part of the one church talked of in the New Testament or whether she has repented of her adulterous remarriages, and thus be influenced to believe that they likewise are heaven-bound simply for standing against homosexual marriage, or for being a good person, or some similar ideas.  Such notions are dangerous in that they ignore Jesus’ warning to the religious elite of his day that obedience is essential to salvation (Matt. 7:21-27).  From this perspective, those who speak up about Ms. Davis’ questionable religious and marital background are doing the right thing.

That being said, I cannot help but be reminded of the Samaritan woman whom our Lord encountered at Jacob’s well (John 4:1-42).  She likewise had a sinful marital background as described in John 4:16-18:

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”  The woman answered him, “I have no husband.”  Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband.  What you have said is true.”

Not only that, the Samaritan woman likewise had a questionable religious background as described in John 4:19-20, 22:

The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.  Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”….(Jesus said to her) “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.”

According to James Coffman’s commentary on John 4:

.. the Samaritans came into possession of the Pentateuch, the only part of the Hebrew Bible which they accepted. They set up a system of religion based partially upon the Pentateuch, but containing also a number of foreign elements.

Thus, the Samaritan woman was part of a religion that had chosen to unrepentantly take away from the divinely-inspired Old Testament (cf. Deut. 4:2; Josh. 1:7), no different from the Apostolic Christian Church and the rest of the denominationalism of Christendom today which also adds to and takes away from Scripture.

Yet, in spite of her failings and the sin in her life, our Lord was able to use this woman as a catalyst to bring souls to him.  Notice what happened after their conversation as recorded in John 4:28-30, 39-42:

So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did.  Can this be the Christ?”  They went out of the town and were coming to him…Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.”  So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.  And many more believed because of his word.  They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

I believe it entirely possible that if our Lord could then use a woman living in fornication and worshiping under a counterfeit religious system to bring souls to him, he can still do the same today with a woman like Ms. Davis who also reportedly is living in adultery and part of a man-made church.  I both pray for and believe that there are “honest and good hearts” (Luke 8:15) out there who are lost in sin while “hungering and thirsting for righteousness” (Matt. 5:6) who take notice of Ms. Davis’ stand for the truth concerning homosexual marriage in spite of the persecution brought upon her for doing so, are thereby inspired to study their Bibles more and decide that they likewise are going to stand for nothing more or less than what the Bible says, and as a result come to both know and obey the pure, unadulterated gospel of Christ, be added to the one true church which is described in the New Testament, and thus be saved (Eph. 5:23; 2 Thess. 1:7-9; Gal. 1:6-9).

I also pray for and believe that many of my brothers and sisters in Christ who are already part of his church will take notice of Ms. Davis’ courage to stand behind the truth concerning homosexuality regardless of the cost and decide to follow her example by unapologetically standing behind ALL of the truth of God’s Word, and thus become more evangelistic and lead more souls to Christ by bringing the unchanged gospel to their attention.  I pray that I myself can follow her example of courage and do so.

Lastly, but far from most importantly, I pray for and believe that those of us who know, believe, obey, and stand behind what the Bible says about not only homosexuality but also the oneness of the church and divorce and remarriage will recognize Ms. Davis as a soul for whom Jesus died and whom Jesus loves, and will do more than simply point out from afar on our Facebook posts her religious and marital failings because we do not want anyone to be led astray by ignoring such sins because they’re blinded by her celebrity.  I pray for and believe that we will prayerfully do whatever we can to reach out to her personally, just as Paul did with the Athenians (Acts 17), and both applaud her for her stand for the truth about same-sex marriage while also seeking to lovingly and patiently start a dialogue with her in which a Bible study can show her something which perhaps she doesn’t know about the will of God, something which she needs to hear, something which she needs to believe and obey (Eph. 4:15; 2 Tim. 2:24-26; James 5:19-20).

This woman needs our prayers and our evangelistic efforts even as we need to follow her example of conviction.  Let’s remember that.

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ESDRAS Y NEHEMÍAS

LA RESTAURACION EN TIEMPOS DE ESDRAS Y NEHEMÍAS

Hay demasiado que decir en cuanto al tema que tenemos delante, sin embargo lo primero que hay que notar es precisamente el tiempo en que estos dos hombres vivieron. Es muy probable que ambos libros la división de nuestras Biblia no colabore tanto para la comprensión del tiempo espacio, pero sabemos que en la historia Esdras y Nehemías se encuentran casi al final del Antiguo Testamento. Sin duda alguna eran tiempos difíciles. La época en la que los dos trabajaron para Dios sin duda alguna fue un tiempo de gozo e ilusión  ya que iban a regresar a Jerusalén, el lugar de las promesas de Dios. Al mismo tiempo eran libres del cautiverio babilonio del cual había sido víctimas por sus propias rebeliones por décadas. La restauración en Tiempos de Esdras y Nehemías sin duda alguna fue una época de trabajo y esperanza.

ESDRAS Y NEHEMÍAS

La restauración en tiempos de Esdras y Nehemías tenía que ver con: Preparación, oposición y por último reconstrucción.

Hay algunos elementos importantes que observamos en el movimiento de restauración en cuestión. Observe con nosotros tres de ellos:

  1. PREPARACION:  En todos los movimientos de restauración de la historia Biblica siempre ha existido una preparación. En Nehemías desde el 1:1—2:20 observamos en detalle en que consistió esta preparación. 1) Ellos habían descubierto las murallas destruidas. Es decir se observa y se evalúa cuales son los daños. 2) Nehemías luego intercede ante Dios 1:4-11. 3) Nehemías luego intercede ante Artajerges 2:1-8. 4) Nehemías luego exhorta al pueblo 2:17-18 y 5) Nehemías inicia respondiendo a los enemigos 2:19-20. Todos estos aspectos son esenciales en la preparación al trabajar por un movimiento de restauración. El Espíritu Santo fue especifico al dejar en récord las siguientes palabras para nosotros: “Porque Esdras había preparado su corazón para inquirir la ley de Jehová y para cumplirla, y para enseñar en Israel sus estatutos y decretos.” (Esdras 7:10 RV 1960 énfasis HLM añadido). Si no existe preparación no puede de ninguna manera  existir Restauración.
  2. OPOSICION: En tiempos de Nehemías los enemigos abundaban de todas partes. Parece ser una paradoja, ya que al existir enemigos uno logra poner las cosas realmente en perspectiva (ellos de alguna manera son necesarios).  Muchas fueron las adversidades; Oposición a través de la ridiculisación ( Neh.4:1-6), a través del ataque (4:7-7), a través del desánimo (4:10-23), a través de la exhortación (5:1-13), entre otras.  La oposición es un elemento que siempre estará presente, ya que será manifiesto el buen trabajo que se realiza en público. Nehemías relata lo siguiente en el récord sagrado: “Los que reedificaban la muralla y los que llevaban cargas llevaban la carga en una mano trabajando en la obra, y en la otra empuñaban un arma.” (Neh 4:17). Parece ser obvio después de leer este pasaje entender porqué Dios nos dotó de dos manos en vez de una. Al existir oposición, la misma demandará todo. La restauración en tiempos de Esdras y Nehemías incluía oposición y el pueblo estaba preparado para afrontar a los adversarios y vencerlos.
  3. RECONSTRUCION: Después de haber evaluado los daños, inicia un trabajo arduo de reconstrucción. Para la reconstrucción se necesitaba la ayuda de todo el pueblo, y también que ellos tomaran un rol en que iban a efectuar su trabajo. Existió todo un plan organizado:
  1. Los lideres (7:7)
  2. Los hombres de Israel (7:8-38)
  3. Los Sacerdotes (7:39-42)
  4. Los Levitas (7:43-45)
  5. Los sirvientes (7:46-60)

La restauración en los tiempos de Esdras y Nehemías requería participación de todos los sectores. Reconstruyeron el ánimo, reconstruyeron la esperanza y reconstruyeron la ciudad de Jerusalén en conjunto con los muros (Esto era necesario para lograr concretar el plan retentivo. La ley y voz del Señor saldría de Jerusalén Is.2:1-4, esa ciudad era el lugar de la promesa).

Es la convicción de quien escribe que el movimiento de restauración ya ha sido hecho y que realmente el cristianismo del Nuevo Testamento ha sido restaurado completamente hoy y que por eso la prioridad no es enfocarse en la restauración. Mas bien debemos enfocarnos en mantener viva la iglesia restaurada, en proclamarla y en defenderla. Esta Iglesia que ha sido restaurada desde hace una década ha comenzado a decaer y los principios de Restauración necesitan ser enseñadas nuevamente ya que las futuras generación necesitaran saber como llevar a cabo un movimiento de restauración, de lo contrario el panorama no será muy prometedor. La restauración en tiempos de Esdras y Nehemías tenía que ver con: Preparación, oposición y por último reconstrucción. Dios nos ayude transmitir estos principios a las nuevas a los que vienen detrás nuestro. De el que  nosotros hagamos el adecuado trabajo en la enseñanza de los principios de restauración depende la continuación y existencia de la Iglesia de Cristo en nuestros países o comunidades. “Recuerda, por tanto, de dónde has caído y arrepiéntete, y haz las obras que hiciste al principio; si no, vendré a ti y quitaré tu candelabro de su lugar, si no te arrepientes. (Ap.2:5)

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Criteria for Selecting a New Church

Criteria for Selecting a New Church

What kind of criteria do people use when searching for and selecting a new church to attend? Some, obviously, simply go back to the church they were raised in. They are comfortable there. Others select a church because someone else they know recommended it as one that makes them happy. Others select a church based on its closeness in proximity to where they live; it’s closeness in doctrine to what they’ve always chosen to believe; and/or the size of its congregation, youth group, or the beauty of its building. This, while still others select a new church to attend based upon its featuring others of their personally-preferred comfort and convenience features; features such as: Is the worship style one that they prefer and find enjoyable? How well does it hold their interest and keep them entertained? Does the church allow them to continue to live comfortably in the lifestyle and situation that they have chosen, without challenge, correction, and/or conviction? In other words, does it tell them what they want to hear, thus keeping them comfortable, contented, and coming back?

Spotlight church

Do you want your perceived needs to be the center of Church focus?

While many choose a new church to attend based on the above criteria, there are a few with a completely different focus and goal. They realize that church and it’s work, worship, and teachings on such things as how to be saved and live a new, pure, and holy lifestyle (Romans 6:1-23; Colossians 3:1-17),  is not – and cannot ever be – at all about them and their personal preferences, but totally and completely, one hundred percent and forever about God almighty’s preferences, desires, commands, will, and agenda alone. He is the One who came in the flesh and died to purchase His own church with His own perfect blood (Acts 20:28). He is the one and only head over His body, His church (Ephesians 1:22-23; Col. 1:18). These folks realize and respect that Jesus Christ is the one, true, Lord and King who has been given full and total authority in all things by the Father (Matt. 28:18-20) – and not them. As such, they recognize and are more than willing to lovingly submit themselves and their wills fully to the Lord and His word (John 14:15; Lk. 6:46-49).

Such sincere and humble seekers of God understand and accept the truth that within His holy word, the Bible, God has given us everything we need in order to stand pure, holy, and perfect before Him (2 Timothy 3:16-4:4; 2 Peter 1:2-4). Therefore, they would never seek to be saved by a process, live by a practice, or worship by a pattern, not found in – and therefore foreign to – that perfect, flawless, eternally binding and divinely-inspired life-providing word (Psalm 19:7-11, 119:89; John 6:63, 68, 12:48-50). They have read, understood, and accepted the fact that to worship according to man-made practices, teachings, and traditions which are not found anywhere in the sacred Scriptures, is to do something they definitely do not want to be guilty of: contaminating and therefore rendering their worship vain, futile, and useless before God (Matthew 15:3-14; Mark 7:5-13; Colossians 2:20-23).

The ultimate beauty and beautiful irony for such sincerely humble seekers who are willing to sacrifice any and all of their personal preferences for whatever God said in His word that He wants – thus giving Him His proper place of prominence and preeminence in their lives (Colossians 1:15-20) – is not only that they are truly seeking and will therefore surely find God (Matthew 7:7-8), but that such folks are exactly and exclusively the kind of worshippers that the Father Himself is still seeking today (See: John 4:23-24)!

What are you looking for in a church? Are you one of the many who are simply looking for a place that pleases and gives you, as the audience, what you prefer? Or, are you one of the few who understands that when it comes to worship, God is the audience to be pleased and that we must therefore perform our worship of and to Him with the proper spirit of godly reverence, in accordance with His word? If you are one of the latter, please come and join the like-minded of the Lord’s church this coming Sunday (Romans 16:16).

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Preaching Jesus: The Eunuch

Preaching Jesus

In the 8th chapter of the book of Acts, we read the first recorded account of the conversion of a single, lone individual to Christianity. The individual in question was an Ethiopian Jew: a eunuch in the employ of the queen of Ethiopia. This man had journeyed to Jerusalem in order to worship and, as we meet him in the text, he is on his way home. (cf. Acts 8:26ff)

eunuch preaching

Just preach Jesus.

To this individual, God sent a preacher named Philip, a man full of the Spirit of Christ, and experienced in sharing the Gospel. Philip had been preaching among the Samaritans, and had enjoyed great success there, but now God wanted the Gospel to go into Africa also, and so it was providentially arranged for the preacher to meet the lost soul.

When Philip met the eunuch, the latter was in his chariot, being driven south, and he was studying the Bible. Specifically, the text tells us that the eunuch was studying the prophet Isaiah. (cf. Acts 8:30-34; Isaiah 53:7-8) The text, specifically, was that which spoke of the Messiah being led like a lamb to the slaughter.

When Philip asked the eunuch if he understood what he was reading, the eunuch confessed his puzzlement and asked if Philip could explain it. Beginning at the spot, the Bible says, Philip preached Jesus to him. (cf. Acts 8:35)

Following this lesson, the Eunuch saw a body of water and asked if it was possible for him to be baptized. Philip affirmed that it was, and the two went down into the water, the eunuch was baptized, and then after, he went on his way rejoicing, having received the forgiveness of his sins, and the salvation of his soul (cf. Acts 8:36-40; 2:38)

Philip preached Jesus and the eunuch was saved.

Preaching Jesus.

Such a simple phrase, but so full of import and meaning.

The eunuch was a religious man. But being religious was not enough. There was something he yet needed. He needed a relationship with Jesus Christ, who was and is the Way, the Truth, and the Life: the only path to God (John 14:6). Religion, without Christ, is not enough to get one to the Father.

When the apostle Peter preached to the crowd on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), he was preaching to a crowd filled with religious people, assembled for the worship of God. But their religion was not enough. They needed Jesus.

Saul of Tarsus was a very religious man, and in his religious zeal he persecuted the church of God (cf. Acts 9:1ff). But it was not enough. He needed Jesus.

Philip preached Jesus because Jesus was the message the eunuch needed to hear for the salvation of his soul. The world today still needs to hear the message of Jesus preached. There is no other name given under heaven by which men must be saved (Acts 4:12).

We can also discern, from the text, that preaching Jesus involves more than just telling the man about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Philip began with the theme of the sacrifice of Jesus, the same theme we see in the sermons recorded for us in Acts 2 and 3. But just knowing about the death, burial and resurrection of Christ is not enough. When Philip preached Jesus to the eunuch, we can also deduce he preached faith and baptism. He taught the eunuch that the death of Christ demanded a response.

Why else, when the eunuch spotted a water, would he ask about baptism? Obviously, Philip had taught him about the need to be immersed in water for the forgiveness of sins.

Preaching Jesus is not just preaching about what Jesus has done for us, it is preaching about the response that Jesus demands of us. It is telling people that it was Jesus who said, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved.” (Mark 16:16) It is teaching people that it was Jesus who said, “Unless you repent you will surely perish.” (Luke 13:3)

The world needs to hear Jesus preached. The problem of sin, judgement and death remains the same today as it was then. The solution to this problem likewise remains the same. Jesus is still the Way, the Truth and the Life.

And when Jesus is preached, when we in our need hear that glorious message of salvation… each of us should have the enthusiasm of the eunuch in responding to Jesus.

 

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