God Knows

God Sees and God Knows

I heard a story on the radio one day of a man who was flying over Ellis Island in a helicopter when he looked down in wonder upon the Statue of Liberty. His interest was sparked when he noticed the great detail in the very top of the head of Lady Liberty. It appeared that the sculptor took great care in detailing every single wave of hair. My interest in this story led me to search out a picture of the top of the Statue of Liberty and I found some beautiful pictures of the very site mentioned in the story that the man in the helicopter had seen. And he was right. The workmanship is beautiful.

But why did the sculptor expend so much time and energy to this particular part of the statue? He certainly couldn’t have conceived that human eyes would ever see it. The sculptor, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, was commissioned to design the sculpture with the year 1876 in mind for its completion and began construction in 1875. Yet, due to financial obstacles in both the United States and France, he was unable to complete the great monument till June of 1884. Once delivered and erected upon the foundation and base the top of the head stands nearly 270 feet in the air. It was not until December 1903, on the sands of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, that the Wright brothers achieved the milestone of manned, controlled, powered flight.

So why did Bartholdi go to such great lengths certainly never contemplating that it would be looked down upon my human eyes? Possibly an honorable sense of pride in his workmanship. Who knows? But this one thought struck me, whether men see the work we do or not, whether or not our labors here are ever appreciated or scrutinized, God sees and knows everything!

“The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry” (Psalm 34:15). “For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and He ponders all his paths” (Proverbs 5:21). “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good” (Proverbs 15:3). “For who has despised the day of small things? For these seven rejoice to see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. They are the eyes of the LORD, which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth” (Zechariah 4:10). “For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil” (1 Peter 3:12).

So be careful what you do, say, see and think. Because, whether your neighbor, spouse, elders, or friends know, God knows and will “bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14). Because God sees and God knows. He even knows that “Lady Liberty” wears a size 879 shoe. And you thought you had big feet.

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Jesus Wept

As Jesus wept, so let us weep

 We all know “Jesus wept” over Lazarus’ death (Jn. 11:35), but that was not the only time. Jesus, when approaching Jerusalem on that final Sunday before his subsequent crucifixion and resurrection wept as well. He wept over God’s people’s rejection of His word and Him as their Lord (Lk. 19:41-44). And so we who are His ought to weep as well… over those of God’s people today who have chosen, somewhere along the way, that God just isn’t worth ‘giving the time of day’ anymore – and certainly not worth giving a little time out of their Sunday to worship and study with us like they used to.

It’s one thing when non-Christian folks in need call the church building and request benevolence, inevitably telling us they’d like to come visit us some Sun-day because after all, they’ve “been looking for a church.” However, after we’ve rushed $200 to some local City Hall to help them avoid their disconnect date, or purchased $50 worth of gas for them so they can go ‘seek employment,’ or gone to Wal-Mart and bought $50 worth of groceries for them, they seldom if ever seem to be able to ‘find’ us come any given Sunday (despite having been given good directions), and in fact, are more often than not unreachable after that.

I’m slowly and painfully coming to learn after years of this, that that’s kind of ‘par for the course’ when dealing with the majority of the unconverted, unconvicted, unconvinced, and often uncaring masses at large.  But my personal pain over their lost estate and the fact that they care far less about their eternal souls than they do about their electric bills or bellies (See: Phil. 3:18-19), is greatly and grievously intensified the moment we start talking about our beloved and fallen-away brethren who don’t seem to want to ‘remember’ when and where we worship God together anymore either (SEE: 2 Ptr. 2:20-22; Hebs. 10:19-31)!

Let us weep for the loss of all of those brethren as we know who once were faithful and here but have chosen to no longer be. For those who impenitently choose to no longer assemble to worship with the saints on this side of eternity, have actually, whether they know it or not, ultimately made their choice – which God will also absolutely honor – to not be with His saints for all eternity either.

Yes, let us weep as Jesus wept… and for those like for whom He wept as well… For one day they will weep as well… and their ‘day’ will never end (See: Matt. 25:1-46)…

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Liberty

The Proper Use of Both Spiritual & National Liberty

On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln, opened his famous Gettysburg Address with these words, “Four-score and seven years ago, (now 230 years ago) our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal…” President Lincoln was referring, of course, the birth of our great nation.

On July 4, 1776, The United States of America was born. As Americans and as Christians, we have been blessed by God to live here. We have freedom from tyranny and the constitutional right to worship God “in spirit and in truth…” (John 4:24)

Most people in this world do not have this same privilege – true freedom of religion. We often take for granted that which our brethren throughout history have never had. It was not until the Constitution of the United States (June 21, 1788) and the Bill of Rights (December 15, 1791) was adopted that a nation of people had complete freedom of religion. The First Amendment to the Constitution states,

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble….”

Before this (even in some parts of the United States), there was the concept of an official state religion. For instance, the official church of Great Britain was the church of England (Anglican church); in Italy, France and Spain, it was the Roman Catholic church.

Many of those who opposed the religion of their respective homelands and were persecuted for it, (such as the Puritans) came to this continent and established colonies where they could practice their religion freely. The descendants of these religiously persecuted people wanted a guarantee that no single denomination or religious body could be declared an official religion of the United States. They wanted to insure that the kind of religious persecutions their forefathers had endured in Europe would not take place on American soil. It was out of this constitutional freedom that the American restoration movement was born, resulting in the restoration of the Lord’s church.

We often take for granted that which many of our brethren in other countries do not have – freedom from religious persecution! Even still today, many members of the Lord’s church live in countries where they have no constitutional right to practice their religious beliefs. What a struggle they must face each and every day of their lives!

Even though some do not have religious freedom, all Christians, from the First Century to the present have had spiritual freedom and liberty in Christ Jesus. “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free… If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed…” (John 8:32, 36). “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free…” (Galatians 5:1) With His own blood, Christ bought for us freedom from bondage in sin (Revelation 1:5; Acts 20:28), freedom from the burdens that a life in sin brings and freedom from the sentence of spiritual death in sin. (Romans 6:23)

In this country, all men and women enjoy national freedom. By our constitution, all men and women have the legal right to pursue life, liberty and happiness. While Americans are a nationally free people, but by and large, are not a spiritually free people, in the sense that Christ meant.

Members of the Lord’s church who live in this great nation have two types of liberty, spiritual and national. We should never allow either type of freedom to be used as an excuse in forsaking doing the will of the Father or to use it for an excuse to do what is wrong. “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh….” (Galatians 5:13a) Yet that is what so many people in our nation today have done with their lives. Rather than in freedom serving their fellow man, many today use that “liberty for a cloke of maliciousness…” (1Peter 2:16a) Read Romans 1:18-32 and see what results when a people turn away from God! “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.” (Proverbs 14:34).

1Peter 2:16 and Galatians 5:13 implicitly state, that rather than serving the flesh or in otherwise sinning, we must use it “as the servants of God” and “by love serve one another.” Our country today has a spiritual sickness; a disease that has no political or physical cure; an ailment that no medical doctor, lawyer or politician can alleviate. Only the Christ has the answers to the problems besetting this country. It is up to Christians, as servants of God, to lovingly, compassionately, teach the gospel to a lost and dying world, that all men might come to know the healing that only the Great Physician can give. In carrying out this commission, we truly “by love serve one another.”

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Is the Light On?

“A City That is Set on a Hill Cannot Be Hid.”

In Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus said,

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

 Notice some observations from this text.

Jesus is the ultimate source of light. John would record concerning Jesus as light,

 In him was life; and the life was the light of men…And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. [John 1:4; 3:19-21]

Darkness stands for sin, ignorance and evil. On the other hand, light represents righteousness, knowledge and good. Even Jesus himself claimed,

I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life…He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness (John 8:12; 12:44-46).

The Bible is our light. The Psalmist would write, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path…The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes” (Ps. 119:105; 19:7-8). We come to receive our faith in God, experience the new birth, inherit spiritual immortality and enjoy light in the gospel all by the word of God. Peter explained,

Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. [1 Pet. 1:22-23]

A true disciple contains the light and shines it brightly in the darkness. Paul was a light to the Gentiles (Acts 13:47). The wise man wrote, “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble” (Prov. 4:18-19). Just as the passage of consideration affirms, we are lights of the world (Matt. 5:14-15), walking “as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth): Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Eph. 5:8-11). Just as a light that does not work is useless, a Christian whose light does not shine is useless to God.

Our light will not work if we do not remain connected to the source of power. Electricity or alternate sources of power (such as batteries) are necessary for light to function—consider the many people in the last weeks without electricity in the northeast due to Hurricane Sandy. Are our lights working? Do we all have relationships with Jesus that urge us to live for him daily and shine our lights everywhere we go (cf. Gal. 2:20)? When Saul of Tarsus saw “the light,” he was baptized (Acts 22:12-16). To make the world a better place, we need to be in Christ, free from sin and shining gloriously.

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You Must Decide to Make Decisions

Why Many Take that Position: Forced to Decide by Circumstances.

Many people I have known over the years have made decisions about Biblical concepts such as baptism, fellowship, Faith only, marriage, divorce, adultery, elder’s qualifications, mechanical music, institutional practices, Herald of Truth operations, and etc. I have seen some good brethren and sisters publicly sweat as they listened to Biblical teaching on some concepts that they were considering. Indeed, the ability to make choices that we possess is often a great burden, most of the time we make the right decisions but those rare times when outside and close ties are at stake [i.e. family, money, fame, position, etc.] we may stumble while making the choice between truth and error. This thought I have presented is absolutely true, many good men and women that I have known have given up the sound position [i.e. the truth] for error because of extenuating circumstance or family ties or some other pressure that was just too great.

The Bible is full of examples that show God’s people have made wrong choices many times in past history also.

Actually our first parents [i.e. Adam and Eve], had to make a choice between following God’s instructions or not. They choose to reject God’s instruction for selfish reasons. Eve wanted to know, wanted to be pleased, apparently longed for more than “PARADISE” — I have often wondered where the phrase, “Paradise Lost” came from, I think I know after considering Eve’s fall from good relationship with God and leading her husband into sin too. Then there is Aaron, who while Moses was upon Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments he fashioned a golden calf for the Israelites to worship instead of Jehovah. Now Aaron had a choice but the people pressured him and he gave in to the pressure.

How sad is this person who turns from the truth to a false way especially later when he/she comes to their senses and weeps bitterly over their failure. The human ties that we possess may undo a lifetime of faithful service to God because it is just too devastating. Man is often influenced too greatly by friends, loved ones, or desires to hold on, he gives in to sin and then seeks to justify his sin through human reason. We must be faithful even when it is inconvenient, even when our family objects, even when we know that it will sever relationships that we have with other people; yes we must hold on to the truth — 1 Cor 10:13, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as man can bear: but God is faithful , who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation make also the way of escape, that ye may be able to endure it.”

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