Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall

 “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”

1Corinthians 10:11-12

After describing the baptism into Moses of the “fathers” as they were under the cloud and in the sea, Paul goes on to note that God was not well pleased with many of them as they journeyed through the wilderness. Paul says that their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. What happened? How could this be? They had begun with a dramatic rescue from Pharaoh and the Egyptian army, and they were immersed into Moses as they passed through the sea; they ate spiritual food; they drank from the spiritual rock of Christ. However, they are later described by Paul as idolaters, sexually immoral, testers of God’s patience and complainers. Paul’s conclusion is that we should learn from their mistakes and that we must take heed lest we fall.

In Luke 17:32 Jesus made a very remarkable statement. He said, “Remember Lot’s wife.” There is not a whole lot of information about Lot’s wife. The main incident for which we remember her is that she disobeyed the Angels’ command to not look back when she and her family fled from Sodom and Gomorrah. We read, “But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt” (Gen. 19:26). Her rescue had been secured. She was on her way to safety. It appears she could not resist the urge to take one more look back. She disobeyed the warning and she perished. Jesus in teaching about the Day of Judgment warns us to remember Lot’s wife.

There is another prominent character in the Old Testament who reminds us that Paul’s warning to “take heed” applies to all of us. King David is described as a “man after God’s own heart” and yet he stumbled. It was in the spring of the year and King David had sent Joab and the army to besiege the city of Rabbah. But a terrible battle was about to beset David’s heart right in the city of Jerusalem. From his roof one evening David saw Bathsheba bathing and this great king fell prey to temptation. We are familiar with this dark episode in David’s life and Psalm 51 is David’s confession and prayer for forgiveness. However, again we are reminded to take heed.

The Apostle Paul was well aware of “every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us.” In 1Corinthains 9:27, just before he relates the warnings regarding the fathers who fell in the wilderness, Paul declares, “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” Paul wasn’t just giving an idle warning to the church at Corinth. He was emphasizing to them the struggle that he knew we all face. No matter who we are or what we have done, we must take heed lest we fall. Paul realized that he was subject to the same pitfall.

Matthew Henry writes in his commentary on 1Corinthians 10:6-14, “Carnal desires gain strength by indulgence, therefore should be checked in their first rise. Let us fear the sins of Israel, if we would shun their plagues. And it is but just to fear, that such as tempt Christ, will be left by him in the power of the old serpent. Murmuring against God's disposals and commands, greatly provokes him. Nothing in Scripture is written in vain; and it is our wisdom and duty to learn from it.” Take heed lest you fall is a warning for Christians. God help us to listen and learn.

--South Hill Church of Christ
1136 South Hill Avenue
PO Box 3425
Fayetteville, Arkansas 

Preaching – High-Risk Occupation?

So, if I asked you to name some high-risk occupations, what comes to mind? Construction workers, heavy-equipment operators, electrical power- line installers and repairers? Maybe firemen, or police and sheriffs’ patrol officers? Truck drivers, NASCAR and INDY race car drivers? Roofers?  Loggers? How about preachers and preaching – did they make your list?

Preaching can be high-risk at times! Especially if the sermon goes “overtime.” Some people like their sermons “short and sweet.” A young preacher began his first located work and asked in a meeting, “About what should I preach?” He was told, “About heaven and about fifteen minutes.”

All joking aside, the Bible reveals that preaching sometimes places the preacher in a flash-point between what people want to hear on the one hand, and what God wants said on the other. The wicked, Baal-worshiping Queen Jezebel, wife of Israel’s awful King Ahab, made it state policy to massacre the Lord’s prophets because they opposed idolatry (1 Kings 18:4, 13). In 1 Kings 18:17-18 Ahab accuses the prophet Elijah of  being “he that troubleth Israel.” Study reveals the only trouble Elijah caused was speaking out against the king’s wicked ways. Ahab imprisoned a prophet named Micaiah in 1st Kings 22. Ahab freely acknowledged to King Jehoshaphat of Judah that Micaiah was indeed the Lord’s prophet, but confessed, “but I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.” It didn’t bother Ahab that he WAS evil – but it bothered him greatly that the preacher dared call him and his moral / spiritual beliefs and behavior “evil.” Because of the powerful but wicked Ahab, preaching was high-risk for Micaiah. Another notable Old Testament spokesman for God who was at risk was Daniel. He was thrown into a lion’s den for obeying God – is that high risk?  Daniel’s three Jewish friends took a great risk and dared defy King Nebuchadnezzar’s vulgar decree to worship a statue. Their “reward” was being thrown into a super-heated oven (see Daniel 3). Perhaps most memorable of all was the weeping prophet Jeremiah. He was mocked and derided till his heart broke and he tried to quit preaching and speaking in the Lord’s name. But he couldn’t because, “His word was in my heart like a burning fire, shut up in my bones” (Jeremiah 20:7-10). At one point the princes of Jerusalem cast him into a filthy dungeon where he sank down in the mire. So much for preaching being a low-risk or no-risk job.

The beat goes on in the New Testament. John the Baptist was beheaded for preaching the truth. It’s risky for preachers when their preaching condemns a high government official’s moral beliefs and behavior. Jesus warned His apostles in Matthew 10:16, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.” How’s that for a high- risk job? ACTS records that the apostles and early church found risk awaiting at every turn. Some were abused, others beaten, some jailed, and some brutally killed. Their crime? Being Christians and preaching the gospel. And Jesus?

They fastened Him to a tree with metal spikes through His hands and feet, human spit on His face, His body bleeding and tortured. Should we be surprised that standing for the truth and speaking out against sin and falsehood, in all its forms and faces, in high places and low, is still a high-risk occupation? Only one thing exposes us to greater risk in the troubled times we live in today – fearing man’s wrath more than we fear God’s (see Matthew 10:28, 32-39).  Think about it.

 by Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN

The Lord's Supper

“But the man that is clean, and is not in a journey, and forbeareth to keep the passover, even the same soul shall be cut off from among his people: because he brought not the offering of the Lord in his appointed season, that man shall bear his sin”—Numbers 9:13

The first 12 verses of Numbers 9 deal with God’s instructions to Moses concerning keeping the Passover on the 14^th day of the 1^st month (vs. 1-5).  Verses 6-12 present Moses with a problem in that there are certain men who have been defiled by a dead body and thus would not be able to observe the Passover but they do not want to be left out so they go to Moses for a solution to the problem. Moses then seeks help from God in order to resolve this issue. God’s answer is found in verse 12:  a provision is made for those people as well as anyone who might be on a journey to observe the Passover on the 14^th day of the 2^nd month.

Now take note of verse 13: Anyone who chooses without a legitimate reason to not observe the Passover on the 14^th day of the 1^st month would be sinning!  I believe with all my heart that there is a great principle found in this 13^th verse that is most applicable to you and I today—those who deliberately fail to assemble at the appointed times with God’s people without a legitimate reason for so doing place themselves in a most precarious position. I stand firm in the belief that if I fail to assemble with God’s people to worship him when I do not have a legitimate reason for so doing, I sin. As for myself, I apply this principle not only to Sunday morning but Sunday night and Wednesday night as well. Many of our children are being raised today with the attitude that one hour on Sunday morning is sufficient. They are not seeing the kind of loyalty, commitment and faithfulness to God that they should be seeing not only from their parents but those of us who occupy the pews in our auditoriums. Many of our sons and daughters are seeing the church and the Lord’s Supper being relegated to a secondary place in the lives of those who claim to be disciples of Jesus.  (Prov. 22:6, Eph. 6:4, 1 Tim. 4:12, Phil. 4:8). And we find ourselves wondering why those sons and daughters sometimes become lukewarm, indifferent and unfaithful as it regards God and the church. I make no apologies for this stand because I believe it is in accord with God’s word (Heb. 10:25, Matt. 6:33, Phil. 2:12).

 I do want to focus for a moment on the Sunday morning worship because there is an abuse of the Lord’s Supper made by some at this hour. Because we do make available the Lord’s Supper on Sunday night, there are those who will choose to go play golf, go fishing, go to a baseball game or a football game, just sleep in late or do anything else that pleases them rather than be present in the worship service where they can assemble around the Lord’s table  because after all they can come on Sunday night and engage in this observance. With love in my heart I say to you that there is not one ounce of doubt in my mind that this is an abuse of the Lord’s Supper and anyone who conducts themselves in this manner will be sinning.

Mark 12:30

Charles Hicks