The Bulletin
of the
Church of Christ at New Georgia

Tim Johnson, editor

January 13, 2008

 
In This Issue:
Would You Resolve "No Longer to LInger"?
by Steve Klein

True Faith

 

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Would You Resolve "No Longer to Linger"?

    I am aware that those who could use this article the most are the least likely to read it.  Christians who are not really dedicated to serving Christ don't read articles like this.  Those who like to live life on their own terms and occasionally enjoy the passing pleasures of sin don't read articles like this.  Those who know that they are not really right with God, but ease their consciences by telling themselves that they'll straighten up one of these days, don't read articles like this.  And if they do, they seldom change. But they are the ones that I wish would read this.

  Now if you are the kind of person described in the first paragraph, and you are still reading, I want to ask you four questions?

  1. How much time do you think you have to straighten up?  God has not promised you tomorrow.  "You do not know what a day may bring forth" (Proverbs 27:1). "It is high time to awake out of sleep" (Romans13:11).  "Awake to righteousness, and do not sin" (1 Corinthians 15:34).  Don't kid yourself by thinking that you have all the time in the world.  The truth is that the things we think we can do at any time often wind up being done at no time because time runs out.

  2. Do you realize that the longer you wait, the harder it will be to straighten up?  If tomorrow comes, you may be so hardened by your sin that you will no longer desire to do right.  The Bible warns believers about "departing from the living God" and being "hardened through the deceitfulness of sin" (Hebrews 3:12-13). It has been said that, "Putting off an easy thing makes it hard.  Putting off a hard thing makes it impossible."

  3. Do you realize that you're wasting your life in sin when you could be making good use of your life in service to God?  Please DO NOT waste the rest of your life following worldly lusts and living selfishly when you could be doing God's will (cf. 1 Peter 4:2). "We have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles-when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries" (1 Peter 4:3).

  4. Do you realize that you are testing God's patience?  God "is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).  But there is an end to God's patience and it is very unwise to test it. The longer we keep God waiting, the more His wrath builds.  Paul puts it like this in Romans 2:4-5:  "Do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?  But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God."  Why keep Him waiting?

  Today, you have an opportunity to get right with God.  Tomorrow may not come.  Stop wasting your life!  Stop trying God's patience!  Resolve "no longer to linger!"

    I am resolved no longer to linger,
    Charmed by the world's delight,
    Things that are higher, things that are nobler,
    These have allured my sight.
    I will hasten to Him!

-- Steve Klein

 

 True Faith

  Romans 4:1-12 points to Abraham as God's best example of the kind of faith needed to please Him. Above all else, this passage teaches that we are saved by faith. We are not saved by "pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps." We are not saved by praying so many prayers, attending so many worship services or performing so many good deeds that God owes us salvation, or that God will reward salvation on that basis. Salvation is purely by grace, to those who follow in the steps of the "faith of Abraham."

  What is implied in this "faith of Abraham"? Abraham's faith was such that he could (A) BELIEVE ANYTHING GOD SAID, (B) DO ANYTHING GOD COMMANDED (C) WITHOUT ASKING QUESTIONS. Those three qualities form the example Abraham set for us today, if we are to have the same saving faith as he.

  God made some marvelous promises to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3; 13:14-17; 15:1-6). In these passages God commanded Abraham to leave his earthly family (parents and kinsmen) and travel to a land He wanted to give him. He not only promised a land for his descendants, but God said Abraham's offspring would become a multitude too large to number. Finally, God told Abraham he would have a child, a son, and that through this child "all nations of the earth will be blessed." The difficult part for Abraham was that he was 100 years old and Sarah, his wife, was 90 at the time of this promise. But Romans 4:23-25 teaches that Abraham was certain that this promise would come true. Why? Because ABRAHAM COULD BELIEVE ANYTHING GOD SAID.

  And Abraham could do anything God commanded. God told him to leave his land of birth and go to a strange land, and he did. He gave Abraham the commandment of circumcision and he followed God's directive exactly as given. But the crowning moment of Abraham's faith is found in Genesis 22 when God commanded Abraham to take Isaac to Mount Moriah and offer him as a sacrifice there. No test of faith could be any greater than giving up, even killing, your only son. Can you imagine the look in Isaac's eyes as Abraham bound him, laid him on the altar and took the knife to plunge it into the body of his only son? Only God's angel prevented Abraham from carrying out this command. ABRAHAM COULD DO ANYTHING GOD COMMANDED.

  An important element of faith that is added in the example of Abraham is that he could do all this WITHOUT ASKING QUESTIONS. In our minds, let's ask Abraham some questions. "Abraham, where are you going?" Mt. Moriah. "What will you do there?" I'll offer Isaac as a sacrifice to God. "But isn't he the son of promise?" Yes. "But how will you inherit the Promised Land? How will your seed bless all nations?" I don't know. And he truly did not know! Oh, he considered the possibility that God might raise Isaac from the dead (Hebrews 11:19), but he had no assurance that God would do this. The point is, Abraham didn't know and he didn't need to know. He knew that whatever problems arose, God would work them out.

  Do we have the same faith as Abraham? Can we believe ANYTHING God says? Are we willing to do ANYTHING God commands? And can we do so WITHOUT ASKING QUESTIONS, patiently trusting in Him? God calls on us to have such faith today, certain that His way is best, no matter how apparent our "success" may be or not be outwardly. Are you wondering if there really is a group of Christians who are content to strive for this kind of faith? We invite you to come and see.

--Via North Gardendale church of Christ bulletin