In This Issue

 

• THE WORK OF GOD

• AIRING DIRTY LAUNDRY

• RUINED BY BITTERNESS

• A BEATING HEART THAT DIDN'T STOP

• MORE INFORMATION...

THE WORK OF GOD

The apostle John records the incident in which Jesus walked on the water of the Sea of Galilee. “On the following day, when the people who were standing on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except that one which His disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His disciples, but His disciples had gone away alone-- however, other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks-- when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they also got into boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, ‘Rabbi, when did You come here?’ Jesus answered them and said, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.’ Then they said to Him, ‘What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent’” (John 6:22-29).

Since the feeding of the 5,000 (John 6:5-14), the multitudes continued to follow Jesus from place to place. They had watched as His apostles got into a boat and rowed across the lake. They had observed that Jesus did not go with them, but when morning came, Jesus could not be found. They got into boats and found Jesus on the other side of the lake. Their question to Him was, “When did you come here?”

Jesus did not directly answer their question. Instead, He called attention to their reason for seeking Him. He had come to “seek and save” the lost (Luke 19:10) – but these people were seeking Him only for material gain – because they ate the loaves and fishes and were filled. He admonished them, “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life.”

This prompted them to ask what they needed to do. They had been working for physical food – what must they do to work for that which does not perish? Note, they expressed an interest in doing “the works of God.” What work does God demand of us that we may have everlasting life? Jesus responded that the “work” God required of them was to “believe on Him whom He sent.”

Is Jesus suggesting that they need not do anything at all? That God would “zap” them with faith. No, they must DO the believing. And need we point out that the belief, the faith of which Jesus speaks, is an active faith like that of the Old Testament heroes mentioned in Hebrews, chapter 11? Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, etc., showed their faith by their actions. Faith without action is dead, James 2:14-26.

--Clarence R. Johnson

AIRING DIRTY LAUNDRY

Occasionally, this bulletin addresses errors in other churches or doctrinal differences, to which often someone responds with disgust at Christians “airing their dirty laundry” before the world. Though it is true that sometimes it is inappropriate to discuss differences in a public forum, it is not all the time. The distinct impression often received is that it is wrong all the time.

In the news of late have been revelations of wrongdoing in a church that had been known by some church insiders for years, but kept under wraps. Many feel that should not have been.

Most importantly, do the Scriptures teach that such ought to be the case? The answer is “No”. The Bible showed in the case of two lying church members, whom God punished directly from heaven (Acts 5) that keeping it under wraps, so as to not adversely affect outsiders, was just not His way.

Most of the New Testament epistles are letters to churches or Christians of the first century with problems. These were often read in the churches and non-members were sometimes present.

In dealing with false teachers, the Bible points out who they are and urges faithful Christians to do the same (Romans 16:17-18). Once again, it is true that sometimes matters ought to be kept private, but that ought not to be the case all the time.

Christians do not get a charge out of being at odds with folks religiously, but neither do they shun controversy like the plague. They realize that just as it was true of their Master, Jesus, so it will be true of them, that they must expose false ideas religiously and that often that will rile some who are exposed and others who just do not like to see issues arise.

--Whit Sasser, Exhortations and Stuff

RUINED BY BITTERNESS

“Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you” (Eph. 4:31-32).

He was a man nobody liked--hard, sullen, taciturn, and sour. If you met him on the street and wished him good-day, he would keep his eyes straight in front of him, grunt sulkily and pass on. He lived in a tumbled-down old hut away back in the bush. He spoke to nobody, and he made it perfectly plain that he wished nobody to speak to him. Even the children shunned him. Some said he was a hermit; some that he was a miser; some that he was a woman-hater; some that he was a fugitive from justice, a man with a guilty secret. But they were all wrong. The simple truth was that in his youth a companion had done him a grievous injury. ``I'll remember it to my dying day,'' he hissed, in a gust of passionate resentment.

And he did. But when his dying day actually came, he realized that the rankling memory of that youthful wrong had soured and darkened his whole life. ``I've gone over it by myself every morning,'' he moaned, as he lay gasping in his comfortless shanty, ``and I've thought of it every night. I've cursed him a hundred times each day. I see now,'' he added brokenly, a suspicion of moisture glistening in his eye, ``that my curses have eaten out my soul; they've been like gall on my tongue and gravel in my teeth. My hate has hurt nobody but myself. But it's turned my life into gloom and misery!'' It was true.

The man at whom he had spat out his venomous maledictions, having done all a man could do to atone for the suffering that he had thoughtless caused, had dismissed the matter from his mind a generation back. Upon him the gnarled old man's bitterness had produced little or no effect. It was the man who cherished the sinister memory who suffered most. It shadowed his life; it lent a new terror to death; it expelled every trace of brightness and excluded every ray of hope; and at last, a grim and ghostly companion, it lay down with him in his cold and cheerless grave.

May we each learn the healing power of forgiveness -- before it is too late!

--Author Unknown, bulletin, Charlottesville, VA

A BEATING HEART THAT DIDN'T STOP

"Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven" (Mt. 18 10)

Many of us have seen the bumper sticker that says, "Abortion stops a beating heart." Is it not tragic that our national morals have declined to such a low point that abortion has become a means of ending unwanted pregnancies? In many, many cases it is the result of fornication and the associated desire to live as one pleases without the unwanted consequences. Selfishness is the cause of the problem, and the so-called remedy of terminating the life of another in abortion is the ultimate expression of selfishness. One life is stamped out for the sheer physical pleasure and enjoyment of another.

I recently read the account of a doctor's delivery of a "breech baby." In one case out of ten this kind dies during delivery. This doctor, who normally would not have ever thought of aborting a life did give it some thought in this one instance. Once the birth had begun, he was able to see that one thigh of the baby was missing completely, so that the little foot, attached at the hip, would never have reached past the knee on the other leg. Upon seeing this defect, the doctor actually thought about sparing the parents the pain they would surely experience later. However, he just could not bring himself to commit the act. Under the circumstances death would have been somewhat expected, but he expected much more of himself. He delivered that baby, pitiful leg and all. There was one heart unstopped by the tragic act of abortion.

Some twenty years later the same doctor was present at a ceremony honoring some nurses. There a number of musicians entertained. There he saw her again--the one he chose not to abort. The harpist on the occasion was that very young woman. What talent she displayed as she beautifully performed for the people assembled! There was one harpist who would have never played if abortionists had had their way. There was one heart that abortion did not stop.

We are reaping the harvest of bitter fruit resulting from the sowing of the wrong kind of; seed -- humanism, evolution, atheism, and moral relativism. When people believe human beings are merely elevated animals, they soon begin to act like animals. Only a firm faith in God that treats human beings as the special creatures of God that they are will solve this worldwide problem.

--Bobby Graham

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