The Bulletin
of the
Church of Christ at
New Georgia
Tim Johnson, editor
July 27, 2003
In
This Issue:
Finding
Your Place
By
Steve Klein
No
One Cared For My Soul
By
David Padfield
Finding Your Place
Have you ever purchased a ticket for a sporting event, a concert or a play that had your specific seat number printed on the ticket? That number was your assigned seat. When you located it and put yourself in it, you had the privilege of enjoying the event.
In the church, the Lord hasn't given us tickets with assigned seating, per se. But as members of the body of Christ, we each have a special role to play and a niche to fill in the functioning of the body. Not everyone does the same thing -- sits in the same seat if you will. "For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another" (Romans 12:4-5). One of the most important things each of us can do to strengthen the church and our own relationship to God is simply to find our place in the Lord's work and fill it. The whole body of Christ is "joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love" (Ephesians 4:16).
In the New Testament church, there were many different seats of service. In Romans 12:6-8 alone Paul lists six different kinds of work to be done (prophecy, ministry, teaching, giving, exhortation, leading and showing mercy). As we read through the New Testament, the public preaching of the Word was generally done by apostles, prophets, evangelists and teachers. But there are many examples of others doing vitally important work as well. Dorcas was full of good works; she seemed to find her place in making clothes (Acts 9:36-39). Priscilla and Aquilla were able to teach a man privately the way of the Lord (Acts 18:26). Gaius received and supported travelling preachers (3 John 5-8). Phoebe served the church by being a helper to many individuals (Romans 16:1). Onesiphorus visited Paul in prison (2 Timothy 1:16).
Every one of us has a place to fill in the work of the church. God has given each of us different abilities, and we are to use them in His service. "As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." (1 Peter 4:10). We must commit ourselves to doing what we can do. No one can do everything, but everyone can do something. Have you found your place?
--By Steve Klein
The 142nd Psalm contains "a prayer of David when he was in the cave." David, while hiding from King Saul, thought he had been deserted by all his friends. In one of the saddest verses in the Bible, David said, "Look on my right hand and see, for there is no one who acknowledges me; refuge has failed me; no one cares for my soul" (Psa. 142:4).
Is it possible that you have a friend or neighbor who, like David, feels that no one cares for their soul? In all likelihood, within the last two years one of your friends or neighbors died unprepared to meet God. What did you do to prevent this tragedy? Did they know that you cared for their soul?
Do your children know you care for their soul? If you do, they will know it from your instruction in the Word of God. Before the Israelites entered the promised land Moses told the people, "these words which I command you today shall be in your heart; you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up" (Deut. 6:6,7).
Do your friends know you care for their soul? One of Paul's greatest desires was for the salvation of his nation (Rom. 10:1-3). The obligation he felt to preach made him cry out, "Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel" (1 Cor. 9:16).
When was the last time you invited your friends to a Bible study? It seems as though we can find time to discuss everything in the world except the salvation of a soul which is worth more than the world itself (Matt. 16:26).
Do your brethren know you care for their soul? "Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous" (1 Peter 3:8). Love for the brethren is expressed by action. Do you help or hinder the public assembly? Are you an encouragement to others or a constant complainer? You can not encourage and complain at the same time.
At the judgment your concern, or lack thereof, will be made known. Imagine the heartache of one of your neighbors saying, in the words of one of our songs, "You never mentioned Him to me, You helped me not the light to see; You met me day by day and knew I was astray, Yet you never mentioned Him to me."
God warned a prophet by saying: "When I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul. Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; also you will have delivered your soul." (Ezek. 3:18-21).
By David Padfield,
Via The Beacon, May 13, 2003