The Bulletin
of the
Church of Christ at
New Georgia
Tim Johnson, editor
September 17, 2006
In
This Issue:
Hairpin
Curves
by
Steve Klein
Starting
Over
by
Phil Robertson
"Hairpin Curves"
Hairpin curves. The winding mountain roads that I drove as a young man in Colorado had many of them. You'd be traveling east, hit a hairpin curve, and suddenly you're headed west! The curves were difficult to navigate, but they were necessary. Without them, the road to the mountain summit would be impossibly steep and dangerous.
Repentance is like a hairpin curve. We're traveling down the road in sin. If we keep going in the same direction, we'll wind up driving off a cliff to eternal destruction. We must make the hairpin curve. We must completely change direction. Truly, "The way of life winds upward for the wise, that he may turn away from hell below" (Proverbs 15:24). The Lord wants us to make it. He is "not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). The person "who would love life and see good days" simply must "turn away from evil and do good" (1 Peter 3:10-11)
If you are driving along out of control at breakneck speed, you will spin out on the curve. The secret to making it is to slow down and get yourself under control. According to 2 Peter 1:5-10, self control is one of several qualities that a Christian must possess in order to make sure of his salvation and prevent a terrible fall to eternal destruction.
It is one thing to recognize that you cannot keep going the same direction. It is quite another to get yourself under control, and turn the other way. Out of a list of 9 men in the Bible who said, "I have sinned," perhaps only four actually repented. They were David (2 Samuel 12:13), Nehemiah (Nehemiah 1:6), Micah (Micah 7:9), and the prodigal son (Luke 15:18). Those who recognized that they needed to turn but didn't include Pharaoh (Exodus 9:27; 10:16), Balaam (Numbers 22:34), Achan (Joshua 7:20), King Saul (1 Samuel 15:24, 30) and Shemei (2 Kings 19:20). These men saw the curve coming and hit the gas instead of the brake!
What about you? Is there a turn that you know you need to make? Will you make yourself make it?
--Steve Klein
They were ambitious, antagonistic and angry. They probably didn't want it to come to this but they felt like they had no choice. For years they had been revered and praised by the people for their wisdom and insight into God's word. They were the Pharisees and the scribes. They had dedicated their lives to defending the word of God. But now people didn't seem to care and their popularity was waning.
Like caged animals hoping for a crack in the gate, they leaped onto a desperate pitiful soul in hopes of reclaiming their prominence. She was indeed a pitiful creature who possibly had a reputation of giving in to sexual desires. However, on this day, she was more than just a tramp, she was bait. They needed her to help them catch the greatly admired Jesus in a moral and doctrinal trap.
"Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst (of the crowd), they said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do you say" (John 8:3-5).
This woman was just a pawn in a despicable scheme. If Jesus said "stone her", the people would have questioned His compassion and mercy because many of His followers were the poor and the "sinners." But, if He didn't follow through with the stoning, His authority as a teacher of the Law would be questioned.
Jesus chose not to say anything at first. He just scribbled in the sand with His finger. After a continuous barrage of questions from the accusers, He finally said, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone."
It was of course a brilliant reply. Beginning with the oldest to the youngest, all the angry scribes and Pharisees dropped their rocks and walked away.
Many have tried to use this story to prove Jesus offers grace and forgiveness regardless of the Law. That just isn't true. Eager to trap Jesus, the religious leaders failed to fulfill the requirements of the law to justify an execution. The Law required two to three witnesses (Deut. 19:15; 17:6) and that both adulterers, the woman and the man, be stoned (Deut 22:22).
After all the accusers were gone, Jesus finally turned His attention to the woman who was probably standing in a puddle of tears. Knowing she had slipped by on a technicality, Jesus told her, "Go and sin no more." He never questioned her guilt and neither did she.
Just a few moments earlier, she was on death row. Now, she is not only alive, she has been forgiven. Isn't that amazing?
"Starting over" is a wonderful concept. Jesus calls it grace. And all of us must have it if we're going to escape our own judgment (Eph 2:8-10). But grace doesn't excuse sin. Jesus charged this woman to change her thoughts, motives, actions, and goals. Understanding how close she came to being executed, don't you think she did?
Jesus knows all about us just like He knew those religious leaders and this woman (Hebrews 4:13). May we all accept Jesus' gracious acquittal (Mark 16:15-16).
-- Phil Robertson
Via Hueytown church of Christ Bulletin