Do You Not Hear?

Listen to this question from the Bible in Galatians 4:21: “Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law?” Galatians 4:21-31 is clear the apostle Paul addressed that question to Jewish teachers who in fact where NOT hearing the law, at least not accurately. An elaborate argument follows verse 21, and Paul completely turns on its head the way the Jewish teachers heard the law. They heard it teaching the Jews alone were God’s favored people because they physically descended from Abraham. Their preconceived, long-held way of viewing and hearing the law left them unable—or more correctly, unwilling—to hear it saying that the Gentiles, too, could be favored by God, not by being physical descendants of Abraham, but by being Abraham’s spiritual descendants through a trusting and obedient faith in Christ (see 3:26-29). Paul sought to change their perspective and to get them to hear the law more carefully and perceive what the law actually said. Paul’s words in Galatians 4 remind us we need to “get the whole picture” when it comes to the Bible and the gospel. The ancient Roman dramatist Terence once warned about the power of preconceived ideas to close our ears and eyes and minds to fuller insight. He said, Beware of prejudices. They are like rats, and men’s minds like steel traps. Prejudices get in easily, but rarely do they get out.” Paul’s question, “Do you not hear the law?” was directed to people (Jewish teachers) who were convinced they heard the law of God more accurately than anyone on earth, but they didn’t!                               

Author Gary Patterson, in Character Forged From Conflict, relates a story that challenges how we hear when we listen to the Bible being taught and / or read it for ourselves. Here is Patterson’s story When the telegraph was the fastest means of long-distance communication, there was a story about a young man who applied for a job as a Morse code operator. Answering an ad in the newspaper, he went to the address that was listed. When he arrived, he entered a large, noisy office. In the background a telegraph clicked away. A sign on the receptionist’s desk instructed applicants to fill out a form and wait until they were summoned to enter the inner office. The young man completed his form and sat down with seven other waiting applicants. After a few minutes, the young man stood up, crossed the room to the inner office, and walked right in. Naturally, the other applicants perked up, wondering what was going on. They muttered among themselves that they hadn’t heard any summons yet. They took more than a little satisfaction in assuming the young man who went into the office would be reprimanded for his presumption and summarily dismissed for the job. In a few minutes the young man emerged from the office escorted by the manager who announced,

“Gentlemen, thank you very much for coming, but the job has been filled by this man.” One applicant spoke up with great irritation in his voice, “He was the last one to come in, and we never even got a chance to be interviewed. Why was he hired? That’s not fair.” The boss responded, “All the time you’ve sat here, the telegraph ticked out the following message in Morse code: ‘If you understand this message, come right in. The job is yours.’ None of you heard or understood it. This man did. The job is his.”         

In our very noisy world, Jesus still challenges every person in Luke 8:18, “Take heed how you hear.” So, do you read the Bible? Do you listen to it preached? Tell me, do you not hear the Bible? 

by: Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN

Be Like Kevin ... or Christ?

Preachers often urge people to follow and imitate and be like Christ. They are speaking very Biblically when they issue that call. For instance, the apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:1 --- "Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.” Another passage presenting the same challenge is Ephesians 5:1 — “Therefore, be imitators of God as dear children.” Most professing Christians readily express a desire to follow and be like Christ. But are you sure you want to be like Him? Professing to be like Him and even wanting to be like Him are noble and even necessary things, but actually being like Him is sometimes very difficult to do. Years ago I ran across a little told by story by Alan Smith (Boone church of Christ, Boone, North Carolina) that humorously drives that point home. He told about a mother who was preparing pancakes for her sons Kevin, age 5, and Ryan, age 3. The boys argued over who would get the first pancake. Mother seized the opportunity for a moral lesson. “If Jesus was sitting here,” she told them, “He would say, ‘Let my brother have the first pancake. I can wait.’” Kevin turned to his younger brother saying, “Ryan, you be Jesus.” Brother Smith then added, “I think it’s safe to say we’re all a little like Kevin. We want everyone else to act like Jesus. We want everyone else to make the sacrifices and be kind and giving. We want everyone else to make the sacrifices and be kind and forgiving of us.”

I could mislead myself here and say that I always want to be like Christ. But if I’m honest, I have to confess there are more times than I’m comfortable with when I am more like Kevin. How about you? A Scripture at Galatians 4:19 presents a tremendous thought about what it means to truly be a Christian. There the apostle Paul wrote, “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you.” The Greek word translated “labor” in the New King James Version is ódinó (pronounced in English o-dee'-no) and is defined by Strong’s Concordance as “to have birth pangs, to travail.” The King James Version renders the word as “for whom I travail in birth again.” We have little space to explore the context here, but the letter        of GALATIANS makes clear Paul experienced pain when he first preached and established congregations in the region known in the first century as Galatia. Some of the pain was physical (see Acts 13, 14, especially 14:19 where it is recorded that Paul’s Jewish opponents stoned him in the city of Lystra, dragged him out of town, and left him for dead). After some time he’s still experiencing great emotional, mental, and spiritual anguish over the Galatians who are being led astray by false teachers trying to convince them to trust in and keep the Law of Moses for salvation instead of trusting and obeying Christ and His gospel (Galatians 1:1-9 and all of chapter 2). Now in 4:19 he uses childbirth and the agonizing pain that accompanied it in ancient days (modern medicine has relieved some, but not all, of the pain of birthing a child) as a metaphor. He confesses he is in that kind of intense anguish “again” and declares it will continue “until Christ is formed in you.” Thayer’s Greek Lexicon defines this phrase as meaning, “literally, until a mind and life in complete harmony with the mind and life of Christ shall have been formed in you.” God’s goal for us is “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (Ephesians 3:17a). His will is that we walk and act “just as He    walked” (1 John 2:6). To end where we began above, we must not be like Kevin. We must be like Christ.

by: Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN

By All Means!

The apostle Paul was driven by a conviction many in the church lack today. A scan of 1 Corinthians 9:16-23 reveals an unquenchable fire burned deep inside his heart — a deep love and compassion not only for Christ but also for the immortal souls of men and women. The text says to the Jew he became as a Jew, to the Gentile he became a Gentile, to the weak he became as weak. His purpose? “... that I might win the more ... that I might by all means save some” (vs 19, 22b). No real student of the New Testament would take Paul’s words to mean he ever changed or adapted the gospel message and its demands to fit whatever crowd he happened to be in. He is not arguing that the church should adapt the Gospel so that it will be more acceptable to the culture or people or age we happen to be in (Galatians 1:6-9 * 1 Corinthians 4:17). Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow” insofar as His spiritual accomplishments in our behalf, His commands to us in the Gospel, and the promises He holds out to the faithful (Hebrews 13:8). The same gospel system and process that made a Jew a Christian in the first century also made a Gentile a Christian (Acts 15:11 * Romans 10:12 * Mark 16:15-16 * Acts 2:36-38 * Acts 10:47-48). Paul is not saying he changed the gospel to reach Jews or Gentiles. He is saying he wants to make the gospel available to as many people as possible. And he is willing to do anything within the will of God to accommodate himself to that end, his personal customs and conveniences aside! Note again, “I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” Note Paul said “some.” He was never under the illusion he could bring the whole world to Christ. Some are unwilling to give their lives to Christ no matter what means we use. But that didn’t dampen his passion to bring Christ to the whole world if he could by any means do so.                   

What means have you used to save some? Have you used any?  Are you praying for someone you know is lost? What have you done to bridge the gap between yourself and some lost person so that you might win them to Christ? In a Gospel Advocate magazine article back in October 1989 Don Humphrey wrote an article entitled: “Jonah – An Unwilling Missionary.” His words still sober my soul to this day — “Someone observed that the average member of the church of Christ has heard 4,000 sermons, sung 20,000 songs, participated in 8,000 public prayers, and saved zero sinners. How close to average are you?” I do not mean to indict every member of the body of Christ. The years have taught me there are always Christians with no desire for recognition who are involved in ongoing and intentional efforts to reach their children, neighbors, friends, and co-workers for Christ. They visit, pray, live a Christ-like life before others, regularly invite people to attend worship and Bible study-assemblies. They eagerly share their faith verbally and tactfully, and study the Bible with other people. Many who can’t “go” themselves “become fellow-workers for the truth” (3 John 8) by supporting efforts to reach others, far and near. Behind it all is a passion for souls, a willingness to “by all means save some.” How about it? What means are you using to save some? 

by: Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN

Holy Unclaimed Inheritance!

 "It turns out it’s not just in the movies that you can get a huge inheritance from that uncle you never knew about.” Those are the opening words of an October 24, 2022, article by Mack Liederman posted on the internet @ blockclubchicago.org. The long title of the article succinctly summed up its contents: “A Chicago Man Quietly Left Behind $11 Million — The Largest Unclaimed Estate In American History.” The article told about Joseph Stancak who lived a quiet life in Gage Park (near Chicago). Stancak, who never married and had no children or immediate family, was found dead in his modest bungalow in 2016, according to the state treasurer’s office. He was 87 years old. Little was known about him. He left no will. But according to Rudy Quinn, president of

Linking Assets Inc. (a company that finds unclaimed money), what Stancak did leave was $11,000,000! It took a while but Linking Assets Inc. finally unraveled his accounts and family tree. That tree includes 119 heirs located in the U.S. but also Canada and several European nations. Piercey noted that after taxes, the average heir would get a check in the $60,000 range. None of them had heard of Stancak before, said attorney Kenneth Piercey who represents Stancak’s estate, adding, “There’s no shortage of people who had money tucked away and nobody ever knew.”

Anybody reading this thinking about checking it out to see if you were distantly related to Stancak?! His estate may be the largest estate in American history, but it is not the largest unclaimed estate in the world’s history. Not by a long shot. The apostle Paul describes that estate in Galatians 4:1-11. His words in that text are part of his long argument that salvation and right standing before God are not achieved through the works of the law of Moses or dependence upon any merely human work that earns or merits salvation. Instead, he argues justification before God is received as a gift through an obedient faith that spiritually puts us in Christ (the gist of that message in Galatians is succinctly summed up in the passages found at 2:16 and 3:26-29). Now, in the passage at 4:1-11 Paul argues the law of Moses had a temporary purpose “until the time appointed” (vs 2) ... But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent for this His Son ... to redeem those born under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (vs 4-5). He continues in vs 6 that “God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts” providing an intimacy with God so close we can cry out, “Abba, Father!” That phrase was used by Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane in His agonized prayer the night Judas betrayed Him (see Mark 14:36). “Abba Father” occurs in the New Testament only one other time at Romans 8:15. There Paul uses it in the context of us having “received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father’ ”, indicating a an especially close intimacy. God has declared He wants to adopt us! If we trust and obey the Gospel of Christ and live in union with Jesus, we are no longer slaves to sin but sons  (and daughters of God), “and if a son, then an heir, an heir of God through Christ (Galatians 3:7), and a “joint heir with Christ” (Romans 8:16-17)! The inheritance He promises is literally out of this world (1 Peter 1:4), and gloriously rich (Ephesians 1:18). Those who obey God’s will tap into staggering spiritual riches, summarized in Ephesians 3:8 as “the unsearchable riches of Christ.” God has an eternal inheritance for all who are willing to come into and stay in Christ. Don’t leave that holy inheritance unclaimed!

    by: Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Putting Words in God’s Mouth?

 A man told a friend, “My dad always said I loved alphabet soup growing up. But really it was just him putting words in my mouth.” Hmmm – I wonder if God might sometimes say that same thing about the things people say He said in His Word? The following (clearly fictional) story by James Meadows is a little lengthy but clearly illustrates the point. One Sunday, a minister was talking on baptism and illustrating that baptism should be performed by sprinkling and not by immersion. He said, “In the Bible where it says that John baptized in the River Jordan (John 3:23), it didn’t mean ‘in’ but close to, round about, or near by. Again, when it tells us Philip baptized the eunuch in the river (Acts 8:38), it didn’t mean ‘in’ but close to, round about, or near by.” When the service ended, one old fellow stopped by and said, “Preacher, that was the best sermon I ever heard, and it uncovered many mysteries of the Bible to me. For example, the Bible tells us Jonah was ‘in’ the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights (Jonah 1:17), but now I see he was not ‘in’ the fish, but that he was just close to, round about, or near by the fish floating in the water. Then there’s the story about the three young Hebrew men who were thrown into a fiery furnace but not burned and didn’t even get their hair or clothes seared. I thought that sounded impossible, but now I see they were not ‘in’ the furnace at all, but really were just close to, round about, or near by. But the hardest thing of all for me to believe was where Daniel was thrown into the lions’ den for a whole night but wasn’t hurt. Thanks to your sermon I now see he wasn’t ‘in’ the den but was close to, round about, or just near by, kind of like when you go to the zoo. The revealing of these mysteries was very rewarding to me. But the greatest comfort to me was because I have lived a wicked life and sinned much and the Bible tells me that the wicked will be cast into hell. But now I see I won’t really be case “into” hell at all, but just close to, round about, or near by. So every Sunday from    now on, I won’t have to be ‘in’ church, I can just be close to, round about, at the lake near by.”

The idiom “put words in someone’s mouth” is to suggest someone said or meant something that he or she did not actually say. Almost all believers agree that being saved from sin requires sinners to get “into” Christ. The spiritual blessings accessible to those “in Christ” are too numerous to list here. Ephesians 1:3 sums it up by saying God has “blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Him” (Christ]. So how does someone  “dead in sins” (Ephesians 2:1) come into Christ? The apostle Paul answers in Galatians 3:27 – “For as many of you as  were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” That verse follows hard on the heels of the statement in verse 26 that “you are all the sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (note Paul didn’t say by “faith alone”). Both statements are part of a long argument by the apostle that sinners are not saved by keeping works of the law of Moses or any other law whereby we can earn, pay for, and merit God’s salvation. But Paul, unlike many preachers and believers in Jesus today, had no hangups in saying that faith in Christ and baptism into Him are part and parcel of the package we call “salvation from sin.” There is no ambiguity if we take God at His Word — if we want to be “in Christ” and not just close to, round about, or near by, we must be baptized into Him. Those words are in and from God’s mouth. We best leave them alone.

  by: Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN

Loopholes in the Bible?

W. C. Fields (American actor and comedian) was a self-avowed Bible skeptic & atheist. On one occasion a friend entered Field’s dressing room and was shocked to find the famous old comedian reading a Bible. When asked why, Field’s quickly shut the Book, & looking rather embarrassed, replied, “Looking for loopholes, just looking for loopholes.” ("The Sinai Summit," Rick Atchley,  Sweet Pub’g, 1993, p 138). The website merriamwebster.com defines “loophole” as “an ambiguity or omission in the text through which the intent of a statute, contract, or obligation may be evaded.” Remember that definition as we think for a few moments about New Testament teaching about baptism. 

Brother Edward Wharton wrote: “According to the New Testament writers’ own statements of its purpose, baptism, preceded by repentance, is an expression of faith in Christ to receive forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38) and to bring us into union with Christ (Romans 6:1-7) . . . It is, then, at baptism that the lost sinner is united with Christ as His own possession” (commentary on Galatains, "Freed For Freedom," p 118). Jesus taught baptism is involved in saving us after we believe the gospel (Mark 16:15-16). Both men and women in Samaria were baptized “when they believed Philip” as he preached the gospel in their city (Acts 8:18). When Lydia heard the gospel preached by the apostle Paul, her heart was opened to heed and “she and her household were baptized” (Acts 16:15). Later in Acts 16 a Roman jailor came to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and was baptized after midnight (verses 25ff, esp’ vs 34). Saul of Tarsus (who became Paul the apostle of Christ) was confronted by Christ for persecuting Christians in Acts 9:1ff. After being without sight and neither eating or drinking and praying for three days, a disciple named Ananias was sent to Saul by Jesus to tell him what the Lord wanted him to do (Acts 9:9-11). Years after those dramatic events, Paul testified that when Ananias came to him, he said, “And now why are you waiting? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16). The apostle Peter wrote that baptism is involved in saving us (1 Peter 3:21), not  from any dirt on our bodies, but from sin on our souls. Colossians 2:10-13 teaches we are “buried with Him [that is, Christ] in baptism” and then “raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.” Baptism is a work, yes it is! But it is not the penitent sinner who works nor the baptizer. Rather, the apostle declares, God is working, excising a person’s sins in a “circumcision made without hands,” making the baptized person “complete in Him” and “alive with Christ” and “forgiving you all trespasses”!! Galatians 3:26-27 declares, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” [the NIV says “clothed yourselves with Christ.” In these passages, the purpose and place of baptism in the conversion process is clear.

Here’s the take-away point. All these words about baptism are inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16). What preachers’ and theologians’ say about them are not! Look, and look long as you want, but there is no “faith alone” loophole that allows us to evade or escape inspired teaching about baptism. God’s pronouncements are clear, not ambiguous. Baptism was an essential and beautiful part of the plan Christ and His apostles taught. There are no loopholes in God’s Word. God help us to faithfully proclaim the same gospel they did.  

       by: Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN 

The Tree That Can Set You Free!

The greatest story ever told doesn’t begin, ‘Once upon a time.’ It begins, ‘Once upon a tree.’” I heard that ear-grabbing statement nearly 45 years ago from Irish preacher Jim McGuiggan, and like an annular nail driven into a piece of hard oak, they have stuck fast in my head and heart throughout the years. McGuggian was referring of course to the fact that Jesus Christ died on a cross for our sins. The image of the cross as a tree is a very Biblical one. Let me cite one passage and note a few others.

In Galatians 3:13-14 we read these amazing words: “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” The apostle’s reference to one who hangs on a “tree” is from Deuteronomy 21:22-23. In that passage the Law of Moses legislated that the body of one who was stoned for a capital offense, that is “a sin deserving of death” (verse 22) would be hung up on a tree as evidence that “he who is hanged is accursed of God” (verse 23).

New Testament images of the cross as a “tree” can be found not only in Galatians 3:13, but also at Acts 5:30 * Acts 10:39 * Acts 13:29 * 1 Peter 2:24. The 1 Peter 2:24 passage is specific that Christ “Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree ... by whose stripes we were healed.” The verse also calls Christians in response to this to die to sin and live for righteousness. This passage provides what amounts to inspired commentary and keen insight on the apostle Paul’s declaration in Galatians 3:13 that Christ has “redeemed us from the curse of the law.”

We don’t stone people for sinning these days, but that doesn’t mean the penalty of death has been lessened, for God’s word still declares “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a), that is estrangement and separation from God in hell (Isaiah 59:1-2). This is the “curse of the law” Paul mentions in Galatians 3:13. From that estrangement and from that curse, Paul claims Christ has “redeemed” us, that is (we don’t have space to study it out), paid the price / cost to buy us back and set us free the guilt and condemnation of sin (see Acts 20:28 * 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 * 1 Peter 1:18-19 * Ephesians 1:7). How did He do that? Paul is blunt: He “became a curse for us” and gave His life for us.

We’ve only skimmed the surface here. But you don’t have to be a trained theologian to understand that, whatever the more technical nuances and meanings of words in these verses may be, one truth is crystal clear — God is dying to save you! I read a story (fictional but helpful) about a young man, twice-convicted for a lesser offense, on trial for yet a third time for murder. Terror washed over him as he surveyed the jury in the courthouse. Positive he’d never beat the murder rap, he managed to get a message to one of the kinder-looking jurors & bribed her with a large amount of cash through an anonymous person, asking her to go for a manslaughter verdict. Sure enough, at the end of the trial the jury convicted him of the lesser charge, saving him from the death penalty. Tears of gratitude spilled from his eyes, and he managed a moment with the juror before being led away to serve 20 years in prison. “Thank you, thank you, thank you — how did you ever pull it off?” The juror admitted, “It wasn’t easy. The rest of them wanted to acquit you.” That’s what Christ wants to do for you!  Praise God for the tree that can set you free!  (see Galatians 3:26-29.

    by: Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN