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SEEKING THINGS ABOVE

“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above,

where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. “(Col. 3:1)

Volume II Number 2

May 2021

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Dangerous Preaching

Sewell Hall

A man who accepts the task of preaching the gospel accepts a dreadful responsibility. “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment” (James 3:1). Application of these words may not be limited to what we commonly term local preachers, but they apply in a special way to such men. The longer a man remains with a church, doing such work, the more responsible he becomes for the convictions and faithfulness of the members.

Brother, why do you preach? Is it a profession for you, simply a way of making a living? Is it a career that you wish to enhance by building up a large congregation? Is it an opportunity to exercise your artistic talents by producing a masterpiece of words each week? Is it the pride of having people praise your preaching for years without tiring of it? Preaching for these reasons may build reputations or even larger congregations but it will not produce godly, well-informed, and indoctrinated Christians. Preaching that is God approved is not for the advancement of the preacher but for the salvation and edification of the hearers.

Note three examples of dangerous preaching.

Preaching What is False

The Old Testament is filled with warnings. Remember the “man of God” who died because he believed a false prophet’s lie (I Kings 13). Jesus warned, “Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves” (Matthew 7:15). Peter echoed these words, predicting, “… there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies …” (II Peter 2:1).

The danger of false teaching is recognized by most of us. But teaching does not have to be false to be dangerous. We have seen how the media can distort the news by reporting only selected facts. Those facts may be true but if they do not give the whole picture, false impressions are left. A mother may not feed her child poison, but if she does not give it the balanced diet it needs she may contribute to its sickness or even death.

Preaching Only in Generalities

We may be pleased when someone says, “You have made me eager to obey God in everything.” Such words are encouraging, but we should not suppose that our job is done when this is said. Jeremiah’s countrymen said, “Whether it is pleasing or displeasing, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God ….” (Jeremiah 42:6). But when Jeremiah told them what God wanted them to do, they totally rejected it and called him a liar. It is our job, as it was Jeremiah’s, to show our hearers what God says they should do and not do. We need to be teaching what is wrong with profanity, dancing, drinking, immodesty, and other worldliness; as well as with the social gospel, instrumental music, Calvinism, denominationalism, institutionalism and other doctrinal errors.

Preachers, how long has it been since you have preached on these important subjects? Elders, how long has it been since the flock for which you are responsible have been taught on such subjects as these? We may think that the congregation knows about these things, but how do they know? Even if the older members know, what about young people who did not hear the old sermons of thirty years ago? It is a failure to continue preaching on such things that leaves a church open to worldliness and unscriptural innovations.

My brother, Bill, has observed that churches vary in their feeling about sound doctrinal preaching. The first church does not want sound teaching and will avoid preachers they fear might produce it. The second church will accept sound teaching and appreciate it, but they do not demand it. The third church not only accepts sound teaching but will accept nothing short of it. However, those churches that will accept it but do not get it for a period of ten years will cease to want it.

Preaching that is Limited to Attacks on Worldliness and Error

It can kill a church. Recently, someone reported to me their periodic visits to a very small congregation of older Christians, and observed that every time they visited, the preacher was warning about some kind of apostasy that really does not threaten those faithful veterans. All Christians, young and old, need encouragement. The gospel is good news; the promises it makes and the hope it gives should be often stressed.

The same passage (II Timothy 4:2) that calls upon evangelists to convince and rebuke also instructs them to exhort. Exhortation involves appeal, entreaty, encouragement, consolation and comfort (Vines). “Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all” (I Thessalonians 5:14).

On the Other Hand …

Great preaching has always come from the heart of one who was passionate about the needs of his hearers and confident that God’s word is the solution to their needs. One of the temptations involved in preaching to the same congregation each Sunday is the feeling that one must come up with something that is either new, or a novel presentation of what is old. The needs of the hearers may be forgotten. One may use scripture — even limit himself to expository preaching — yet not deal with the current needs of his audience.

Jeremiah rebuked the sins of his generation and warned them of future consequences until he was tempted to keep silent. “But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones. And I was weary of holding it back, and I could not” (Jeremiah 20:9). “Someone has said that there are three kinds of preachers. The first has to say something — he is a paid talker who has to fill a certain amount of time each week. The second has something to say, and that is a whole lot better. But best of all is the third — the man who has something to say and has to say it. That is the kind of preacher Jeremiah was” (L.A. Mott in Thinking Through Jeremiah).

Each of us who preach should ask, “What is the burning fire in my bones that I cannot hold back?” If we do not have such a burning fire, or if it is something other than “what is good for edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers” (Ephesians 4:29), then we had best quit preaching.

www.lavistachurchofchrist.org

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Bible Authority (9)

Approved Example

Mike Johnson

The Bible teaches direct command is one form of Bible authority. (Others are approved example and necessary inference). There are, however, other kinds of statements, which do not occur in the command form but still serve as our guide. They have the same force of authority as a direct command. Consider the various types of statements, which serve as our authority today.

Declarative Statements

A declarative statement is one “which states that something is or is not the case, that a particular object has a certain property or that it does not have that property, or that a certain state of affairs exists or does not exist.”

For example, a restaurant owner who is trying to sell a large number of rib-eye steaks might say to his servers, “Whoever can get at least 100 people to order the rib eye steak during the next week will receive a bonus of $50.00.” The owner does not give a command, but he makes it clear that a specific achievement (selling one hundred steaks) is essential to gaining a particular blessing (the fifty dollars).

A college administrator might say to the incoming freshmen, “For you to receive the Bachelor of Arts degree from this college, you must complete at least one hundred and thirty semester hours of classwork with a grade point average of 2.5.” In the strictest sense, the administrator has not given a command. Yet clearly, he makes two achievements essential to getting a B.A. degree from the college. Thus, his statement would have the force of a command — at least for the student interested in graduating.

Consider a few Biblical examples of declarative statements:

Mark 16:16 says, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” This passage makes a declarative statement and does not contain a direct command. (A direct command is in verse 15.) Although verse 16 is not a command, it has the same force as a command; it implies an obligation for those who wish salvation—belief and baptism.
Matthew 7:21 says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” Again, this verse is not a direct command, but it has the same force as a direct command. It tells us what people must do to “enter into the kingdom of heaven,” revealing an obligation for everyone.
I John 1:7 points out, “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Although not in the form of a direct command, this verse demands that we walk in the light just as much as if it had commanded, “Walk in the light.”
Matthew 5:1-12 – The beatitudes are also simple declarations, but the obligation is clear for us to be poor in spirit and to be meek, to hunger and thirst after righteousness, etc. If we want to receive the blessings associated with each, we must be as Jesus said.

The Interrogative

Another type of direct statement is the interrogative. An interrogative statement is one, which asks a question. We ask some questions to gain information, and some to give information. Saul said, on the road to Damascus, “Who art thou Lord?” Saul asked this question to gain information. Consider now some examples of interrogatives designed to give information.

1 Kings 18:21– Here Elijah said to the people, “. . . How long will you falter between two opinions?” Elijah was not asking this question to gain information; he was asking it to give information. He, by this question, was demanding that the straddlers take a position.
Acts 22:16 – Ananias asked Saul, after his experience on the road to Damascus, “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” Ananias was not asking for information, but he was demanding that Saul not wait any longer in obeying the gospel.
1 Corinthians 1:13 – Paul asked, “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” By asking this series of rhetorical questions, Paul is giving the information that Christ is not divided; Paul had not been crucified for them, and they had not been baptized in the name of Paul. This section of Scripture is teaching that followers of Christ should strive for unity, and no one has the right to call himself after anyone who has not been crucified for him or into whose name he has not been baptized (v. 12)
Acts 10:47 – In connection with the conversion of Cornelius, Peter asked, “Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” Peter was not asking for information, but he was giving them information that Cornelius and his family (Gentiles) were proper subjects for baptism just as penitent believers among the Jews. Peter did not issue this command, “You Gentiles must be baptized in water just as the Jews mus” Instead, he asked the above question, which would have the same effect as if he had commanded it.

There are some actions authorized by more than one kind of statement. The Bible, for example, teaches baptism to be essential by direct command or an imperative (Acts 2:38), a declarative statement (Mk. 16:16), and by an interrogative or question (Rom. 6:3). Love for the brethren is shown to be essential by a command (Heb. 13:1), a declarative statement (1 Jn. 3:14), and by an interrogative or question (I Jn. 3:17).

The Hortatory Statement

Another type of statement is the hortatory statement. This type of statement expresses a strong wish or desire and puts forth binding obligations on people living today. Consider Romans 5:20-6:2. A false position in Paul’s day seems to be that grace is good; where sin abounds, grace abounds; thus, one may continue in sin. Verse one of chapter 6 says, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” He answered this with the hortatory statement, “Certainly not!” He is saying, “Oh, that such would never come to pass!” Paul sets forth a prohibition, through a hortatory statement, condemning the position of continuing in sin that grace may abound. Other examples of this type of statement are in Romans 6:15 and Romans 7:13.

The Conditional Statement

The final type of declarative statement for consideration is the conditional statement, which some call an “if/then” statement. There is the condition and the consequence. The conditional statement expresses the object, or state of affairs, gained if the requirements of the terms are met.

In1 Corinthians 15:12-20, there are a number of these “conditional” statements. The main point is “if there is no resurrection of the dead (the condition), then Christ was not raised from the dead” (the consequence). Paul also states in these verses, many consequences, which would be the case if Christ were not raised from the dead.

The next example is Romans 7:2-3: “For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man.” If a wife is married to another man while her husband is alive (then), she would be an adulteress. (The exception of Matt. 5:32, 19:9 is not under consideration here.) However, if her husband dies and she marries another man, then she would not be an adulteress. Other examples of conditional statements are in Romans 8:12-13 and Romans 8:17.

Direct statements from God’s Word govern us today. The direct statement is one of the forms of Bible authority. Do you give heed to the statements of God’s Word? Do you use them for your authority?

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“This Is My Body”

John Hendrix

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. (Matthew 26:26)

What of the body of Jesus? What do we think as we take the bread?

There is no monument to mark where Jesus’ body lies, for His body has passed beyond this physical world. But we have the unleavened bread. This is His body; this is His monument. Nothing special about it—just plain bread. Unchanged, it is blessed, broken and passed among devout followers. We hold bread, we taste bread, we swallow bread.

Yet this simple bread reminds us of so very much. Our hearts are stirred as we consider all that the body of our Lord endured.

This is the body that was born to a poor family spending the night in a stable in Bethlehem. Wrapped in pieces of cloth, it was laid to rest in a manger that held straw for the animals to eat. Such humble beginnings for the body of the Lord of all creation! Such a humble, loving statement made by God that He was coming to save the simplest of us, that He calls the lowliest.

This is the body washed by the Jordan river, baptized by the prophet John. A sinless body sanctified for the work that was ahead. Not baptized out of need, but as an example. Jesus was compelled to fulfill all righteousness. If it was a good work, He was determined to do it.

This is the body that fasted for over a month while awaiting a time of temptation by Satan. The body hungered, the body knew thirst. The body longed for the bread that Jesus could so easily make out of the very stones of the ground. Thus that body knew the discipline that kept it in subjection to the will of the Father that sent Him.

This is the body that touched the children brought to Jesus. Children brought by eager parents who wanted their offspring to feel the loving caresses of this man of God. And Jesus would not forbid the children from coming to Him. Jesus would not turn away His children from Him.

This is the body that walked up and down the sandy mountains and valleys of Judea, Samaria and Galilee. The skin felt hot winds blowing fine grains of sand. The sandaled feet scraped along rocky ground. The throat ached from thirst. The head grew weary, but had no comfortable place to lie. The voice cried out in the wilderness and in the city. The heart hurt as Jesus wept over the lost who would not listen.

This is the body that sweat great drops like blood as Jesus contemplated the cruel tortures waiting for Him. The body stretched out on the ground, the face felt the coarse grass. Tears streaked His cheeks, and He prayed that some way be found for Him to avoid the pain that was coming.

This is the body beaten with Roman scourges. The head streaked with blood flowing from thorns stuck in His brow. The body was naked, exposed to this shame by soldiers who wanted some free clothing. The hands felt the point of a spike and screamed in pain as the spike was driven through.

This is the body that hung by its wounds on a cross of wood. The lungs filled with fluid as Jesus struggled to breathe. The side was pierced by a spear, but Jesus did not feel it: He was already dead.

This is the devastated body that was hastily laid in a new tomb. His morticians had to hurry, they did not want to be unclean on the Sabbath. The body was wrapped, a napkin placed on the face. It was shut up in darkness when the stone was rolled over the entrance.

This is the body that was missing when Peter and John looked in, that appeared in a room when all the doors were shut, that moved freely between Judea and Galilee as His disciples were taught what it all meant.

This is the body that ascended on high and was lost from sight in the clouds.

This is the body that we contemplate as we eat the great feast of a little bread and a little grape juice. May we never forget what kind of body it was.

And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19)

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“Oh Lord, Our Lord”

(Psalm 8:1)

Mike Johnson

Psalm 8:1 says, “O Lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth, who have set Your glory above the heavens!” Christians often incorporate this beautiful verse as an introduction to their prayers. In the Psalm, David speaks of the greatness of God compared to the insignificance of man. God is so great, and above human beings, he points out later, it is incredible God would even take note of us; yet, God has exalted us, giving us a place of honor on the earth. Consider now a closer look at this short expression of praise by the Psalmist.

David refers to God as “Lord.” The Hebrew word (yahweh), found here, occurs thousands of times in the Old Testament, and the typical rendering is “Lord.” In fact, this is how God refers to Himself. Exodus 6:2 says, “And God spoke to Moses and said to him: ‘I am the Lord’.”

We hear people who are not even religious regularly saying, “O Lord.” Sadly, so many only use the phrase simply as an interjection and thus use God’s name in vain (Ex. 20:7). David was certainly not doing this as he reverently cries out to God.

After starting with “O Lord,” David next says, “our Lord.” The Hebrew word used here (adone) can refer to a human master, but it also can refer to divinity. It means “lord” or “master.” God is not just David’s Lord He is Lord of all!

The Psalmist next proclaims, “How excellent is Your name in all the earth.” (The Hebrew word, translated as “excellent,” is sometimes rendered “majestic” elsewhere in the Scriptures.) Speaking of the name of God, the Psalmist seems to be using metonymy, which is a figure of speech where one idea stands for another. The name of God stands for His character, person, works, and attributes. Consider Psalm 5:11, which says, “But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; let those also who love Your name be joyful in You.” Here, those who “love Your name” refers to those who love God, not merely those who love the sound of his name. Psalm 20:1 says, “May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble; may the name of the God of Jacob defend you.” When he speaks of the “name of God,” defending them, he is saying God would protect them.

We are also told God’s name is “excellent,” or majestic, in “all the earth,” informing us that God’s works manifest themselves throughout the earth (Ps. 19:1-4). Some people may not honor the name of God as they should, but this does not keep His name (Him) from being magnificent.

Further revealed is that God’s name is “glorified above the heavens.” Some interpret this as referring to Christ. The idea, though, seems to be that the earth is too small of a theater to express God’s glory. Thus, the earth displays God’s glory, but His real glory is above the heavens (Ps. 148:13, 108:5).

After continuing to exalt God, noting man’s insignificance, and expressing surprise that God is even mindful of us (v. 4), the Psalmist concludes the Psalm with verse 9. Again, he says, “O Lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth!” Thus, the Psalm ends as it started. Verses 1 and 9 serve as bookends for the Psalm and what is in between illustrates God’s majesty and greatness. Perhaps after stating what comes after verse 1, the Psalmist is even more motivated and writes verse 9 with greater feeling.

In summation, humans are simply specks relative to the universe, which God created. It is beyond comprehension that God is even mindful to allow us to have glory and dominion over the earth, and yet He does. We should all be so motivated to exclaim, “How excellent is Your name!”

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He Missed the Target and Ricocheted

All Over the Assembly

Guthrie Dean

The preacher took his text from James 3:6-9. “And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell . . . Therewith bless we God and therewith curse we men.” He poured it on the whisperers, the backbiters, the inventors of evil things, and the sowers of discord, the murmurers, the gossipers, and the talebearers.

After the service was over a cloud of smoke hung from the ceiling of the church auditorium. (There was a long-tongued loudmouth in the church that he had tried to convert but to no avail; thus, the preacher had decided to give him a public exposure in hopes that he would repent.)

One sister came out trembling and said to the preacher, “I didn’t think you would get so personal with me about what I have been saying.”

And an elderly gentleman then came to the preacher and was heard to say, “I’ll not be back!”

Another came and shook the preacher’s hand and replied: “I didn’t know you heard what I said at the job last Friday. You must have been eavesdropping.”

Then a red-faced member came out and said with a sharp voice: “I have never been so humiliated in my life. I came here to worship God. But you have made me feel like a heel.”

Then the real culprit came out. He let out a big laugh and grabbed the preacher with one hand and slapped his back with the other and commented: Preacher, you deserve a raise. They really need that one.”

On his way home, the preacher shook his head and was heard to mutter: “I missed the target and ricocheted all over the assembly.”

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