Baptized Question

Three times the book of Acts records non-Christians asking a familiar question.  The Philippian Jailer asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16: 30).  The Jews on Pentecost asked, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (2:37).  Saul of Tarsus asked, “Lord, what do you want me to do?” (9:6).

Please notice (first of all) that each of these dear souls assumed they had to DO something in order to receive salvation.  Secondly, please notice that they were never told (1) that they were already saved or (2) that “faith only” saves.  On each occasion they were told to DO something in order to be saved.  The Philippian Jailor was told to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” (16:31).  He and his household believed and they were baptized (vv. 32-34).  The Pentecost Jews were instructed to “repent and be baptized” (2:38), and they obeyed (vv. 41).  Saul was told what to do in the city of Damascus (9:6) when Ananias said, “Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (22:16), and he did it (9:18).

Though the conclusions were the same, the three instructions were somewhat different.  Why? Suppose a man traveling from Mt. Vernon to Cincinnati was told that he was about 156 miles from his destination.  A person in Columbus might be told it is about 102 miles.  A person in Dayton might be told it is about 49 miles.  Is there a contradiction? No.  Three different answers would be given, but all three would be correct.  The same is true spiritually. The jailor, the Pentecost Jews, and Saul were at different stages of understanding on the road to salvation.  The jailor was not initially told to “be baptized” because he had not yet heard and believed the gospel message.  (It would be pointless to command baptism to someone who has not first heard and believed in Christ – cf. Mk. 16:16).  After hearing and believing he and his household did what was required of them (they were baptized).  At the preaching of Peter the Pentecost Jews were cut to the heart (i.e., their belief was evident); thus he did not command them to believe, but to repent and be baptized.  Saul was not told to believe or repent because he was already a penitent believer by the time he came in contact with Ananias; thus he was only told to be baptized.  Though three different answers were given, they all came to the same conclusion.

Friends, do you believe?  Have you repented and have you been baptized into Christ that your sins may be forgiven?  If you haven’t, why not do it today?

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Manliness

Over the last few years the internet has shown an interesting trend. ” Manliness ” has become cool again among males in their 20s and 30s. Of course, some of that has carried over from online trends into real life, which can be seen every day in the facial hair-growing, meat-eating, gun-shooting men that fill college campuses and cities. However, their attempts to proclaim manliness ring hollow. It’s not that there is anything wrong with those things, and they certainly are more associated with manliness than womanliness generally speaking, but it falls short of being what a man is all about. You see, it’s many of these same twentysomethings that have given into feminism and consider their wives (or potential wives, since they also avoid marriage like the plague) equally burdened with providing. While young women are ambitiously chasing education and careers, young men are now more commonly thought of as “sowing their wild oats” and playing video games rather than finding work and doing it with all of their might. It makes sense that the world would settle for a cheap misunderstanding of what being a man is all about, though. It is God who provided those guidelines, and without Him we can expect to find males exactly where we do today – dodging responsibility and avoiding their roles as God-given leaders of the home.

As with all things that our culture cheapens, we in the church must reject what they think and make sure we continue to uphold God’s standards and definitions. What does God expect of a man? A man must provide. From the very beginning God gave Adam the responsibility of caring for the Garden and watching over the animals, but it was after the fall that he was told to work to provide by the sweat of his brow. A man must protect. Peter tells us that husbands need to treat their wives as the weaker vessel, protecting them by giving emotional security, caring for them, and understanding and accommodating that which makes them delicate and special. A man must teach. Too many families rely on Bible school teachers, youth ministers, or the mothers alone to teach and train the children the ways of the word. Fathers, it is placed upon you to train, discipline, and teach your children according to God’s Word (Deuteronomy 6, Ephesians 6).

Manliness isn’t merely just some outward declaration of difference from females. Instead, it is living up to the calling that God has placed on men everywhere and leading families that will be faithful for generations. It is the man who is responsible for leading his wife and children to heaven, and responsibility brings accountability. Fathers and husbands, lead with eternity in mind. Single men, treat all women with respect as sisters and mothers, preparing yourself to be a spiritual leader and example whether you choose that path or not. It’s time God’s men showed the culture what a real man looks like and does. Are you up to the challenge?

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Praise God Often

Saved Hearts Praise God Often

It is difficult to imagine how heaven rejoiced when the church began. Acts 2 describes that time when the most devout Jews from every nation under heaven arrived at Jerusalem and found a treasure they did not know existed. They thought they already had found what God had planned for them—the holy altar where sacrifices for their sins were made, the beautiful temple where the Lord met them and the priesthood chosen by God to carry their offerings to the Almighty. They were so wrong!

Then heaven intervened! Suddenly there was the sound of a rushing mighty wind that came from heaven to the place where the apostles were assembled. Then the visible fire that came upon the twelve and these common men began to speak in foreign languages. The text tells us that news of these events spread throughout the city, and the whole city came to investigate. To their amazement, men from every nation found these lowly Galileans talking about the wonderful things of God. Then Peter and the other apostles preached the first gospel sermon ever proclaimed. The result was the birth of the church when 3,000 were immersed on that day. Those Jews from every nation realized that God had something far better than the treasures of Judaism for He was now revealing the ultimate treasure of the kingdom of heaven.

There is a great lesson to be learned by every Christian when we see how those new Christians responded. Look at the text, “They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. . . . So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart,  praising God and having favor with all the people” (Acts 2:42-47). How heaven must have rejoiced to see the response of the redeemed in the daily lives of these new Christians! They had been saved, and every day they wanted to praise God.  Heaven rejoiced, as did the church!  This is the basis of worship! We have been saved, and we cannot wait to praise Him and seize every opportunity to be with the saints to adore Him.

Having said this, could I talk from my heart to those who choose to come to worship only one time each week? How would the choices you make today compare with the actions of those Christians? If your conclusion is that every other service other than Sunday morning is optional, look again at Acts chapter two. The joy of their salvation made them choose the “option” of being with the saints every day. Every week you have the same “option” choice. How would the option you have chosen compare with the option they chose? Prayerfully, I ask that you think about this.  Heaven rejoices when we long to praise God!

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Nurture

The Nurture and Admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4)

In a society that is increasingly moving away from God’s truth, the job of parenting could not be more important.  More and more children are being drawn away from doing the Lord’s will by friends at school, family members unfaithful to the Lord, and the general secularization of the culture around us.  The most important influence within a child’s life is his parents.  Godly parents must resolve that they are going to do whatever it takes to fulfill their New Testament obligation to raise their children in the Lord’s nurture and admonition.

The process is two-fold.  On the one hand, we must nurture our children.  From a physical standpoint, this involves providing for them food, shelter, clothing, and an education in how to provide for oneself the physical necessities of our society.  From a spiritual standpoint, this involves engendering within the child a recognition of his responsibilities toward himself and his eternal estate, his relationship with his fellow man, and most importantly, his relationship toward his God.  Looking at these tasks from the 100,000 foot level emphasizes how great a job this really is.  It is good that such things may be accomplished over a period of time (our society provides a period of eighteen years).  Nevertheless, the time is not as much as we realize, and every moment counts.  We must make the most of these moments and redeem the time in relationship to nurturing our children (Ephesians 5:16, Colossians 4:5).

Nurturing our children is largely a product of attitude.  Love seeks not its own (1 Cor.13:5), and when one has a child, one begins to realize what this means.  When a child arrives, the time and resources of the parents become centered around that child.  An adult’s personal activities must give way to the nurturing of the child.  Parents who truly nurture their children do not seek to impose upon them the fulfillment of their own personal goals and objectives, or make their children mere objects of their selfish pleasures.  Children are individuals created in the image of God with their own personal intrinsic value and decision-making abilities.  The goal of parenting is to create within the child a sense of enablement that is constrained by the responsibilities the child owes to God, others, and himself.  This can only be achieved through personal dedication and commitment to the child as one practices self-sacrifice in relationship to his personal desires.  In so doing, however, something remarkable happens.  The parents grow and develop spiritually to become more like God.  The act of nurturing another actually provides spiritual nurturing for the self.

Children also need admonition.  Proverbs 22:15 declares, “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.”  Children are not born with specific and innate knowledge of right and wrong.  They must be taught.  When left to their own devices, children will make wrong, hurtful, and selfish choices.  When they do so, they must be admonished according to God’s word.  The goal of admonishment is the personal and moral development of the child.  Children must learn to obey the law and be good citizens.  To do so, they must respect authority, and respect for authority is taught first at home.  Admonition may be both verbal and corporeal, and should not be abusive, but correcting.  Parents need not be concerned with the accusation of hypocrisy when it comes to correcting children; they have a mandate from God to employ the means necessary for such correction, provided the end is correction and not self-gratification of improper emotion.

This issue of the Christian Worker seeks to explore various biblical thoughts related to parenting.  As Christians, our goal should be to raise children who become Christians.  Along the way, we, as parents, will also learn, seek, try, fail, struggle, and cope with the various responsibilities involved.  As mentioned in this article, good parenting promotes spiritual development, not only of children, but of parents as well.  Bringing up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord ultimately benefits the child, the parents, the family unit as a whole, society, and God’s kingdom.  May we ever seek to live so as to be good parents to our children.

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Truth, Ignorance, Deception

Does God exist? Are there multiple gods? Is man his own god? These questions have drawn lines across the world. These questions affect not only relationships between people, but those between people and their governments. Under some governments, certain religions are forbidden and persecuted, while others are promoted or enforced. In the United States, a government founded on Christian principles and a trust in God, the government is increasingly allowing persecution of all forms of Christianity while enabling the progression of Islam. This is quite ironic considering adherents of Islam have been actively engaging in terrorist actions against the United States. Additionally, the government has been taking steps to suppress freedom of speech regarding Christianity, while encouraging atheistic religions such as evolution and humanism. The frustration that exists with all of these entities is each is operating by a set of values that they believe is established in truth. They each view the other entities as either ignorant or operating in a deceptive manner to bring others under the umbrella of their perceived truth. Coming from a Biblical approach, the viewpoint given in this article regarding truth is that the Word of God, the Bible, is truth.

John 17:17 – Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

Pontius Pilate, a Roman official, during the time of Jesus Christ, stated “What is truth?” (John 18:38). Though subject to much and continued criticism, it is the Christian’s conviction that the Word of God is inerrant and truth. Geography, history, physics, geology, astronomy, meteorology, oceanography, are all affirmed as the Bible has recorded their occurrences and processes and modern day man has later discovered them. No other recording has accomplished this. Recorded over fourteen hundred years by numerous authors in differing locations, the Bible is unique from any other book the world has known. It is documented by more manuscripts than any publication every written, dwarfing the closest competitor by multi thousands. Its words of prophecy have been validated over the course of time without error. Confirmed in the first century with miracles, its confirmation now comes from its own inspired words. This is why men hold it as truth and put it up as a standard against other such claims. This is why man has been told to share the Words of God through preaching. Let people decide if the Bible is true based on what the Bible presents (I Corinthians 1:21). Were there men and women of old who tried to add to the words of the Bible with their falseness? Yes. Are there folks of the modern era who have attempted the same? Yes. The Bible has shown their teachings, writings, and prophecies to be false. It has stood on its own since its completion in the first century. It has stood true since the first word was penned long before the first century.

Psalms 119:160 – Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.

So if everyone holds to perceived truths, why are the truths not the same? The answer is twofold: Ignorance and deception.

Ignorance can come about in two different ways. It can exist because there has not been opportunity to gather knowledge or it can exist because it has been chosen. A child may be ignorant of traffic laws because they have never been exposed to them before. In the same manner, a person may yet be ignorant of God’s truths because they have yet to be exposed to them. However, the truths will become evident for God has prompted all men to realize his existence through creation (Romans 1:20). It is at this point they will choose to seek God or not. If they seek Him, they will find Him (Matthew 7:7). God will give them time to find Him (2 Peter 3:9).

Ignorance is not always a matter of not having the opportunity to yet know. Ignorance can also be a choice a man makes (Proverbs 23:9). A man may decide when confronted with the idea that there is a God who demands obedience from him that he does not want to know that God. Consequently, he closes his mind toward any teachings regarding God. He chooses rather to hold other aspects of life as truths regardless of whether they are factual, consistent, or verifiable. Ignorance is also chosen in religion when someone gains partial knowledge, agrees with it, and follows portions of it, yet fails to continue to grow in and walk in the full belief he has accepted (Matthew 7:26). There are a great number of men and women in all religions who fall into this category. It is a type of spiritual laziness. It results in a person being in a religion which is false their whole life, because they choose to be ignorant to the remainder of the truth they have accepted. There are not only a great number of well meaning Christians in this group, but a large number of well meaning ministers as well. They choose to be ignorant of certain aspects of their religion because it might mean lesser numbers would gather, it might cause conflict, it might bring in less money to fund their efforts, or it might mean a loss of power. The world which they have chosen as their god, has blinded them. God does not leave an excuse for such behavior today and has given them opportunity to change:

Acts 17:30 – And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 – But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

This brings in the next aspect to be examined in regard to why the same truths are not held by all: deception. If someone is teaching falsely and it is not because of ignorance, they are doing it to deceive. To be clear, many entities are not above deceiving others in order to gain their adherence to their perceived truth. Nor do they all deceive to destroy. Many people deceive because they believe in their perceived truth. For example, consider the Global warming advocates. There have been many instances exposed in which data was altered, suppressed, or created erroneously to support claims being made. These activities were willingly engaged in to sway people to their umbrella of perceived truth. Do a great number of them believe in what they are doing? Yes. However, to strengthen the attraction to their beliefs they go beyond being honest.

Romans 16:17-18 – Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

There are many change agents today who are teaching postmodern doctrines, those which are “cutting edge” so that they can draw more people to them. This is the attraction of community churches. They believe they are doing right. They use bells and whistles to influence those who do not know God or those who rely on their emotions rather than truth. Yet, God said it is to be the power of the Gospel preached that should draw men. Teachers who stray beyond piercing the heart of man with the gospel preached deceive those that assemble. Such preachers have become ear ticklers.

2 Timothy 4:3 – For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires.

A second branch of deceivers deceives to destroy. Men such as these know what the scriptures say, but purposely distort the gospel. Some of the atheist religion fall into this category. They claim “discrepancies” in scripture when they know their own arguments to be false. Atheists are not alone in their deceptions; even some in Christian assemblies attempt to destroy other Christian assemblies through deceit. One of the most ridiculous internet claims ever published is from a Baptist preacher who has a so called list of items a “Church of Christ Preacher” cannot answer. Of course the distorted list is simply refuted and has been for a great long time, but the claim is still made. It is a pitiful deception to those seeking Christ. It is much better to say “Here is what this body believes and here is what the Bible says” and then let the person take a Bible and decide. Regardless of the Christian faith held, ministers have dealt with such questions and are typically not without answer, correct or not. Where the truth is ultimately discovered is when men sit down together with scripture and earnestly seek using the full breadth of the Bible and not a single (often out of context) verse for an answer. This is a far better approach to combating a belief than making false claims in hopes that it will turn folks away from it. Sitting down and doing so takes love and patience which a deceiver will rarely extend if at all.

Acts 17:11 – Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so.

2 Timothy 2:15 – Give diligence to present thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, handling aright the word of truth.

Ignorance and deception have long been enemies of the truth. They will stand toe to toe with the truth until the end of all things. Men choosing these paths are more than enemies of the truth, they are enemies of God. Their battling against the truth, based on their own love of the world, is like a man trying to hold back the ocean. Their efforts ultimately will fail. God’s truths cannot be suppressed. Ignorance and deception will fall by the wayside while truth will continue forward eternally.

Isaiah 40:8 – The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.

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