The Bulletin
of the
Church of Christ at
New Georgia
Tim Johnson, editor
December 16, 2007
In
This Issue:
If
You Knew How Much God Loves You
by
Steve Klein
"What
Shall We Do?"
by
Jeff May
If You Knew How Much God Loves You
Do you know how much God loves you? He loves you so much that He let His Son die for you while you were still a sinner (Romans 5:8). Can we really get our minds around the "great love with which He loved us"? (Ephesians 2:4).
The Apostle Paul prayed for the Ephesians that they would "be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height - to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:18-19). God's love is so deep, so rich and so wonderful that it is nearly beyond human comprehension. Yet, in Ephesians 3, Paul is telling the Ephesians (and us) that if we want to receive all that God has for us - to be filled with the fullness of God - we must comprehend God's great love.
The Bible teaches that if you knew how much God loves you&ldots;
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You would ask God for more, and trust Him to give it. This seems to be Paul's point in Ephesians 3:18-19 because in the next verse he mentions that God can do "exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us." James says that God "gives to all liberally and without reproach," so we should ask "in faith, with no doubting" and "it will be given" (James 1:5-6). God loves you so much that He wants you to have everything you want that's good for you. "Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him" (1 John 5:14-15).
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You would tell others about His Son. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son" (John 3:16). How could we possibly accept this gift of love and not want to share it with others? In 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, Paul is explaining to the Corinthians why he was so completely dedicated to using his life to "persuade men" to receive the truth. He says, "For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again."
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You would obey his word. 1 John 2:5 says that, "Whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him." 1 John 5:3 states that "this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome."
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You would love others. 1 John 4:7 encourages us to "love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God." God's love shows us how to love others; His love is sacrificial, not selfish. "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another" (1 John 4:10-11). Truly, we "are taught by God to love one another" (1 Thessalonians 4:9).
Once you know God's love, there is no reason to ever be separated from it. It can fill your life with goodness from now till the day of eternity. "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39).
Do you know how much God loves you?
-- Steve Klein
I'm noticing more and more that, when I, as a preacher of the gospel, tell people what to do to become a Christian, some seem bothered. They respond as if I have somehow offended Christ or made light of His cross. I was once even told about a TV evangelist who was preaching in Acts 2 and came to the question the crowd asked Peter: "Men and brethren, what shall we do" (Acts 2:37)? The preacher then boldly asserted, "There is nothing to do! Jesus has done it all." How different that was from Peter's answer.
The question "What Shall We Do?" or similar questions are found a number of times in scripture. Let us examine how the question was answered.
In Acts 2, Peter's answer to "What Shall We Do?" was "Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38). He told them what to do.
In Acts 9, when Jesus appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus, Saul asked Him, "Lord, what do you want me to do" (Acts 9:6)? Jesus was not offended at the question and didn't think it minimized His work on the cross. He simply answered, "Arise and go into the city and you will be told what you must do" (Acts 9:6). Not only did Jesus tell him there was something to do, He told him there would be something he must do. When Saul arrived in the city, Ananias came to him and told him, "And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord" (Acts 22:16).
In Acts 16, the Philippian Jailer asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved" (Acts 16:30)? He was told, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household" (Acts 22:31). They first pointed him to the man (Christ) and then shared His plan (vs. 32). The he did something. "He took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized" (Acts 16:33).
In each of these instances, those who needed to be saved were told what to do. Jesus is not insulted when we teach people what to do nor does it minimize His work. It's all from Him. Without His cross, all the "doing" in the world would be worthless. It is Jesus we praise for our salvation, not our "do's". I've often used John 9 as an example. In that context, a man was blind. Jesus told him something to do and the man was healed. "Go wash in the pool of Siloam", Jesus said (John 9:7). The man later returns with joy saying, "I went and washed and I received sight" (John 9:11). Jesus was the key to his healing, yet Jesus told him something to do. He praised Jesus!
Even the "do's" magnify Jesus. I notice in Romans 6, when a person is baptized, he is crucified with Christ (6:6), buried with Christ (6:4), and raised with Christ (6:4). How much closer to Christ could we get? Far from minimizing the cross of Christ, the command to be baptized takes us to the core of the gospel" His death, burial and resurrection!
Yes, we must tell people what to do to be saved. That's our commission from the Lord. Those things must be done. And when they are done, let's remember still, "When you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do" (Luke 17:10).
-- Jeff May
Via The Exhorter, November 2007, Oakland church of Christ