Same Pew, Different Views!

So you are disillusioned and all bent out of shape with the church? What’s that? Oh, you see imperfect elders who seem to be such average human beings and who sometimes move more slowly than a snail? And imperfect deacons who imperfectly "deke?" Imperfect members who are struggling with temptation, sin and the devil – and sometimes lose a battle? And imperfect preachers who don’t talk or preach or dress or do other things the way YOU think any good preacher would do them? On and on the list might go if you interview the right – no, I mean the wrong – persons in the pews. Some are shocked to see hypocrites in the church who act like....hypocrites! Weak people who act weird. Lukewarm members who are, well, lukewarm about the things of God. People who don’t show up but an hour a week unless something extra fun is going on. People who spend more on sodas and snacks and maybe movies and ball games each week than they give to the Lord or to send Bibles to Africa or support an inner city ministry to feed hungry kids or send a missionary to preach Christ and rescue people headed for hell. And then those pesky people in worship who don’t pay attention to the sermon but spend more time texting than they do listening and studying the Bible text. And how about those people who won’t sing a note but argue loud and long against using a piano in worship? And those young people and the way they dress with their shirt tails hanging out and holes in their jeans?! And, oh yeah, let’s don’t foreget those inconsiderate babies who cry like babies and distract me from watching and critiquing all these other people who are paying no attention in worship and doing all this bad stuff! And the young mothers and daddies who let the babies get away with it! Why, the nerve of some people!

Come on now my disillusioned brother/sister! Of course we should address the very real problems often present in the pews. But let me tell you something – there ARE good people sitting on the same pew as you who choose to take a different view! They are as aware as you are of all the bad, sad, stinky stuff at worship and in the church at times. But they don’t come to church looking for that stuff. And they don’t get so fixated on it and frustrated by it that they walk off their job as members of the body of Christ. Instead, they focus on God and His Son. They look for good in others and draw strength from the fellowship of other Christians and the "like precious faith" we share in Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:1). And you can be sure, my "down on the church" friend, Jesus knew there would be a lot of stinky stuff and imperfect people in the pews when He died for you on the cross! Jesus is still up on His church, whether you are or not. The apostle Paul wrote these words to an imperfect but sincere group of Christians at Rome long ago – ^"Now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another" (Romans 15:13). Oh that all Christians might hold those convictions about the church! Hummingbirds and vultures sometimes fly over the same space, but they are looking for very different things – and each finds what he is looking for. Now – which view do you choose from your pew? You will likely find what you are looking for. Just saying. 

   Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN

The Basic Sin!

       Bernard Bailey said something worth thinking about when he declared, "When science discovers the center of the universe a lot of people will be disappointed to discover they are not it." That would be shocking news to a world suffering with a widespread disease best described as "meism" – defined as "a focus on and obsession with oneself." In great contrast to that, Jesus Christ declared that "whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it" (Luke 9:24). Those words follow immediately after the more familiar if still highly unpopular words of Luke 9:23 - "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me." In 2002 Rick Warren published what turned out to be a very popular book entitled, "The Purpose-Driven Life." Warren hit the nail squarely on the head with the opening sentences of the book. They read as follows: "It’s not about you. The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It’s far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born by His purpose and for His purpose." John Ruskin warns us about the diminishing impact of a self-centered life instead of a God-centered one with these words – "When a man is wrapped up in himself he makes a pretty small package."

The self-centered life is an old and on-going problem in human society. Two thousand years ago in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 the apostle Paul depicted what Bible commentator William Barclay refers to as "one of the most terrible pictures in the New Testament of what a godless world would look like." The very first thing Paul lists as characteristic of "perilous" is, truth be told, the most popular and widespread sin in our land today. Paul writes, "For men will be lovers of themselves" (vs 2a). Barclay writes about this phrase: "It is no accident that the first of these qualities will be ‘a life that is centered in self.’ The adjective that is used is philautos, which means self-loving. Love of self is the basic sin (emphasis mine, DG), from which all others flow. The moment a man makes his own will the center of life, divine and human relationships are destroyed, obedience to God and charity to men both become impossible. The essence of Christianity is not the enthronement but the obliteration of self" (William Barclay, The Daily Bible Study Series, The Letters to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon; p 184). Like a dandelion, selfishness is hard to get rid of. As Jane Austin observed, "Selfishness must always be forgiven, you know, because there is no cure." Actually, there is a cure, or at least a helpful corrective. The apostle Paul spells it out in Romans 15:1-3 as he calls on Christians to learn to live together in peace and harmony – "We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification. For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, "The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.’ " Scripture and history agree – the shortest route to an empty life is to be full of yourself. Avoiding this most basic sin will help you avoid many others. Will you think about it?

Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN

Loving One Another 1 John 3:11-12

    Let’s take a look at the “big picture” of 1 John first.

    The letter begins with a prologue  (1:1-4). John emphasizes the incarnation several times in the letter. The definition of the “anti-Christ” is one who denies the incarnation. John’s point about the witness of the “water and the blood” in 5:6-8 seems to be directed toward proving the incarnation. 

    The letter ends with this challenge: “Little children, guard yourselves from idols” (5:21). The letter begins by emphasizing the incarnation but it concludes by warning against idolatry. In the middle, we have the greatest concentration of the use of the word “love” in any book of the NT. What is the relationship between the incarnation, idolatry, and love?

     We stay away from idolatry because we know that God has come in the flesh. We know that idolatry is nothing, that it is not helpful, because Jesus is God in the flesh. Jesus, being God in the flesh, has provided the highest motivation and the clearest example, of love for brethren. There’s the connection… What you believe and what you follow affects how you live!

    We see the connection between the incarnation and love in 3:16: “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” Since the incarnation is true, then the crucifixion was possible which makes our service reasonable. 

    In 3:7-10, the apostle John writes that the distinction between a child of God and a child of the devil is this: if you don’t practice righteousness and if you do not love your brother, you are a child of the devil. Doesn’t that sound like Jesus’ words about the greatest commandments in Matt. 22:37-39? 

    Why out we to love our brethren (3:10)? “For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning…” (3:11) What message is that? “We should love one another” (Matt. 22:37-39; Romans 13:9; James 2:8). Jesus. Paul. James. John now says the same thing, the same message that has been heard “from the beginning:” “love one another.”

    The antithesis of this message of love can also be traced back to the “beginning,” as John draws our attention to Cain, who was of the “evil one,” who slew his brother. Cain was “of Satan.” He was under the influence of Satan. It was Satan who influenced Cain to kill his brother. John asks, “Why did he kill his brother?” Well, because Cain’s “deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.”

    Envy is what killed Abel at the hands of his brother. John goes on to say in verse 13, do not be surprised if the world, out of envy as Cain, hates you. But we, Christians, have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren.

    Back to 1 John, in 3:17-18, John makes an application of this “love one another” to his first century audience: “But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth” (cf. James 2:15-17).

     Let us love one another as God has loved us.

Paul Holland