Answer to a Question

Answer to a Question

There was a certain day, recorded in the Scriptures, when, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes, backed by the elders of Israel, confronted Jesus with the question: “By what authority are you doing these things? Who is he who has given you this authority?” (Luke 20:1-2)

answer question

Do you want to hear the answer to your question?

People should not ask questions that they don’t actually want the answer to.

When these men questioned Jesus, they were really just looking to score points, perhaps embarrass Jesus, or find a reason to find fault with Him. They did not actually care about whether Jesus had the authority to do what He was doing, or where He got that authority from. They assumed they were the authority in charge, and they knew they had not given Him permission.

Understanding that these men did not really care about the answer, helps us to understand why Jesus responded to them the way He did. Rather than answering their question directly, He supplied a question of His own: “The baptism of John, was it from heaven or from men?” (Luke 20:4)

That seems like a simple enough question; and an honest soul would reply with either one or the other of the supplied choices based on what they believed about John. If one believed John was a prophet, then one could safely say, heaven. If one was not a believer, or at least not a believer in John, then it was reasonable to assume John had no authority greater than himselffor what He taught.

But these Jewish leaders were not honest souls. They were politicians, mindful of their social standing. They were more worried about matters of the world than matters of the soul. They reasoned that if they denied John, it would upset the people. If they praised John as a prophet, they would reveal themselves to be hypocrites. So, they took the easy way out and claimed not to know(Luke 20:5-7).

And so Jesus likewise refused to answer their question.

Why should this matter to us?

For one thing, it is a reminder to each of us concerning how we approach God and Christwith questions.

There is nothing wrong with asking sincere questions of the Lord. The Bible is filled with examples of individuals who asked questions and received forthright replies. When a man approaches God with a sincere heart, and wants a question of life answered, God is willing to supply an answer and, very likely, has already done so in the Bible. There are many answers supplied by God concerning how to be saved, how to live a good life, the causes of suffering, the propriety of this choice or that choice. As it is written, the Scriptures are profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, so that the man of God may complete, thoroughly furnished for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

But when we ask a question of God, and we find He has supplied us with an answer, there is a responsibility to accept that answer and act upon it.

If Jesus had told the Jewish leaders that God had sent Him, they would have ignored the answer and done what they were planning on doing anyway. They had no real interest in the truth; they wanted to do what they wanted to do, and they were going to do it regardless of the answer Jesus provided. Their attitude toward the preaching of John showed this. John taught that God wanted the Jews to be baptized. They refused to listen to John and refused to accept the baptism of John. So, as their question was asked in bad faith, Jesus refused to deal with it. One suspects that if they had been willing to act upon what Jesus told them, He would have given a more forthright answer.

Men (and women) are still doing this today.

They want women to be preachers, so they search the scriptures, claiming to want to know God’s will, but really just trying to find any and every excuse to do what they want to do, heedless of what God actually thinks on the issue. They want to drink and be drunk, so they claim they are going to really dig into the word to find out whether God allows it. They want to worship the way they want to worship and so again they make great claims about going to God for answers about worship when really they just want to find a reason to do what they were already going to do.

In almost every case, God supplies clear answers to the questions, but men are not satisfied with those and so insists they are going to “dig deeper.” Normally, in practice, they dig right through the word and out the other side before finding that, lo and behold, they are going to do what they always wanted to do.

If we aren’t going to act upon what God has told us, then why bother asking God at all? It is a waste of our time and a waste of God’s time (so to speak). If you are going to simply do what you were going to do in the first place, then don’t try to use the Bible to validate your prior choices. You aren’t living the way you are because it is pleasing to God; you are living the way you want because it is what you want to do. You are honoring God with your lips but your heart is far from Him.

Only if you are actually willing to submit yourself to the answers God provides does it make sense to go to God with questions: seeking guidance.

If we do have such a humble heart, willing to follow where God leads, learn what God wants to teach, allowing God to act through us according to His will instead of ours – then know that the Bible is a book God wrote just for you and your questions. God gives grace to the humble, but He resists the proud(cf. James 4:6-10). As a loving father, God wants to answer the questions of those who come to Him as penitent children.

But before you ask a question of God, make sure you really want to know the answer. You aren’t going to fool God.

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Fried Worms

Fried Worms

What’s with all the worms?!? Especially those of the half-baked to extra-crispy and overly-crunchy variety found fried to death on the concrete sidewalks around the church building of late? What is it that causes so many worms to suddenly seek to make the journey out of and away from the soft, moist, muddy soil which protects and preserves them, up onto the unforgiving and sun baked concrete which then summarily cooks and kills them? What is the draw that makes them want to leave the shelter of the grass and ground, to expose themselves that openly to the birds who prey on them? Does the grass truly appear that much greener on the other side? Is the warmth of the concrete really so appealing to them that they just have to experience it – despite the slowly immobilizing, petrifying, and (presumably) painful and putrefying death it inevitably brings upon them? Can they not see the crippled, crusty, and crunchy corpses of their extended family members who tried it before them strewn all over the same sun baked surface?

fried worms

Will you be just another fried worm?

Now of course I am applying human wisdom and the ability to think and reason to this situation, seeking to superimpose it onto the worm family – which cannot be done. After all, worms do not have a human brain. They cannot think and reason as we do, or, at least as we should…

You see, I cannot help but consider how similar this wormy sidewalk situation is to our fatal human attraction to sin. Although sin – like that sidewalk – may appear to be warm, inviting, and pleasurable, we both know and understand from the Scriptures as well as life in general that it is nothing more than a well-disguised death trap (Gen. 3:1-24; Isa. 59:1-2; Ro. 6:23; Gal. 5:19-21; 1 Jn. 2:15-17). It only requires the most casual of observations to see the death and destruction that seeking such sinful pursuits has caused so many others – both friend, foe, family member and complete stranger alike. Those of us who truly belong to, listen to, and follow close to the great Shepherd, know that the grass cannot be greener anywhere else on earth, other than where He is and lovingly seeks to lead us (Ps. 23:1-6, 100:1-5; Jn. 10:1-30, 14:1-3).

Let us let the crispy critter corpses of the once-lively worms that often litter our surrounding sidewalks be an ever-present reminder of the powerful pull and always deadly outcome of succumbing to the alluring enticements of sin… lest we eventually join them, where: “Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Isa. 6:22-24; Mk. 9:43-50).

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Respect Toward the Word of God

Respect Toward the Word of God

The comments made by those who visit our services are so important. One visitor said, “I’ve been to many churches and they talk about the Bible; at this church you let the Bible talk to you.” Our goal is to simply open the Bible and let the message of this amazing book guide us in every aspect of our lives. There is a reason why our classes and sermons are different. We truly want to have the same attitude toward the Bible that Jesus had. Take a moment and think about Jesus and His respect for the word of God. We must have that same respect.

bible respect

Do you have respect for His Word?

We believe the Bible because Jesus believed the Bible. He believed that it described precisely what God had done in the past. He really believed the Genesis account of God creating Adam and Eve (Mark 10:6-8). He believed in the Divine origin of marriage. He believed the story of Noah and the great flood (Luke 17:26-27). He believed that God destroyed Sodom (Luke 17:32). He believed God spoke to Moses at the burning bush (Mark 12:26) and gave the manna from heaven (John 6:49). He believed that Jonah was inside the great fish for three days and three nights (Matt. 12:40). Jesus believed the Bible.

We believe the Bible because Jesus believed that every single letter of every word was given by God and not one letter has been lost. Sometimes we might think that since so many years have passed that we can have no assurance parts of it have not been lost. Think about this. The smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet is a jot, and Jesus said not a single one of them had been lost (Matt. 5:18). He gave us His words in the New Testament and promised that every word He spoke would abide till the end of time (Matt. 24:35). He believed the eternal nature of the Bible and so must we.

We believe the Bible because Jesus said it would be the basis of the judgment of our lives at the end. How do you decide how to live? What guide do you have about how to live on this earth? Listen to the words of Jesus. “He who rejects Me and does not receive My words has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day” (John 12:48).  Looking at nature can let us know God exists, but it cannot reveal how He wants us to live (Psa. 19:1-2). He has revealed Himself to us and given us His eternal word to be our guide.

If you visit our services, you will sense a deep respect for the Bible and a sincere effort to study every word in the Bible. Jesus taught that His words are the life source given to us by God (John 6:63). God help us to return to His word with the same attitude of respect and reverence for the Bible that Jesus had. There is no other way!

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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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