The Bulletin
of the
Church of Christ at
New Georgia
Tim Johnson, editor
April 17, 2005
In
This Issue:
Taking
out the Trash
by
Joel Wheeler
Gambling
is a Sin
by
Steve Klein
Taking out the Trash
(2 Chronicles 29)
Hezekiah is known by the fact that God added fifteen years to his life. He began to reign as king at the age of twenty-five and ruled for twenty-nine years. He became sick and the prophet told him to get his house in order because he would soon die. Hezekiah prayed to the Lord to spare his life and God answered his prayer by adding fifteen years to it. One of the greatest things that he did was to clean house, that is, the House of the Lord.
The first thing Hezekiah did was to open the doors of the House of the Lord and repair it (II Chron. 29:3). He then called the Levites and the priest to sanctify themselves and the house of the Lord (II Chron. 29:4-5). The next thing was to carry the filthiness out of the Holy Place of the temple. The temple was in dire need of repair because it had been defiled and polluted by the previous generations. There is a valuable lesson that we must learn. We must clear the trash from our lives in order to be pleasing to God.
We must clean out strife. Strife is destructive to the church. James wrote, "For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work" (James 3:16). No congregation can endure strife. It will quickly destroy it. The cure for a strife-infested congregation is to "let each esteem other better than themselves" (Phil. 2:3).
We must clean out pride. This is not self-respect but arrogance, haughtiness and leads to self-destruction. This kind of pride causes us to be swollen with conceit and look down on others with contempt. "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall" (Prov. 16:18).
We must clean out complacency. The church at Laodicea had become lukewarm and complacent in their Christianity. The Lord directed them to be zealous and repent. (Rev. 3:14-19) According to the Lord, lukewarmness is sickening. (Rev. 3:16)
We must clean out greed. Greed is defined as covetousness, which Paul said by inspiration, is idolatry (Col. 3:5). Greed was the downfall of Achan, Gehazi, and Judas.
We must clean out racism. God is not a respecter of persons (Acts 10:34). Paul wrote, "For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him" (Rom. 10:12).
Our lives oftentimes become cluttered with the garbage of the world. Hezekiah did the right thing by cleaning out the trash from the temple and making it presentable to God. There is a need to remove the clutter and garbage from our lives in order that we may be presentable before the Lord (Rom. 12:1-2).
-- Joel Wheeler
Via The Jackson Drive Admonisher, Oct. 1999
I've heard more than one person assert that "the Bible does not condemn gambling." While it is true that there is no Bible statement which says, "Thou shalt not gamble" it is entirely UNTRUE that the Bible is silent on the subject. Gambling is shown to be sinful by the principles of truth and righteousness found in the Scriptures. The Bible condemns gambling the same way it condemns racketeering, drug abuse, and pornography. None of these things is specifically mentioned in Scripture, but they can all be shown to be sinful by the straightforward application of Bible principles.
GAMBLING IS SINFUL FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS:
1) It is an exercise in covetousness. People gamble because of a lust for money possessed by others. In Hebrews 13:5 God's book says, "Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have." If gamblers are "content with" what they have, why are they gambling? They are looking for the big payoff! They are willing to risk what they've got out of a desire to get rich quick. "But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows" (1 Timothy 6:9-10). Jesus said, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses" (Luke 12:15).
2) Gambling is poor stewardship. All that we have has been given to us by God and is to be used to glorify Him. The apostle Peter admonishes us to be "good stewards of the manifold grace of God" (1 Peter 4:10). Gambling institutions such as casinos, horse tracks, government lotteries and charity raffles design their games in such a way as to guarantee that players will lose much more money overall than they ever win. The odds of hitting the jackpot in a typical state lottery are about one in 12 million. Any investment firm that took such chances with its clients' money would soon be out of business and probably facing criminal charges. Surely the Christian's duty to be a "faithful" steward is greater than that of some Wall Street investment firm (1 Corinthians 4:2). How can Christians consider themselves faithful stewards of the finances God has entrusted to their care and gamble them away?
3) Playing the Lottery promotes addiction. Addiction is sinful because it places another master on the throne of a person's heart. That throne should be occupied by the Lord alone. "No man can serve two masters" (Matthew 6:24a). A significant percentage of people (especially young people) who gamble will become addicted to it. It will control their lives.
4) Playing the Lottery is worldliness. Gambling is worldly in its origin and nature. In fact, one would be hard pressed to think of an activity that more people would identify as being worldly. When Hollywood wants to depict a character in a film as a man of the world, what activities do they typically have the character engage in? Three things immediately come to mind: drinking, smoking and gambling. In 1 John 2:15 the apostle John commands us, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him."
Gambling is definitely a sin. "Whoever abides in Him does not sin." (1 John 3:6).
-- By Steve Klein