The Bulletin
of the
Church of Christ at
New Georgia
Tim Johnson, editor
December 18, 2005
In
This Issue:
What
Kind of Leaven is in You?
by
Steve Klein
Fruits
Proper for Repentance
Gilbert
Alexander
What Kind of Leaven is in You?
Take just a small piece of leavened dough and put it in a larger lump of unleavened dough and soon the entire lump will be leavened. "A little leaven leavens the whole lump" (Galatians 5:9). The leaven spreads. It infects the rest of the dough and makes it like itself. This amazing property of leaven is used in Scripture a number of times to symbolize things that grow and multiply.
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Religious error. In Matthew 16:6 Jesus warned His disciples to "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." The disciples eventually realized that Jesus was warning them about "the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees" (16:12). False teaching spreads like leaven. If a person accepts just a small piece of it, he will usually pass it on to someone else. Soon, countless souls are infected. People sometimes wonder how religious errors like salvation by "faith only" or "once-saved-always-saved" have found such wide acceptance. Here is the answer!
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Hypocrisy. In Luke 12:1, Jesus warns His disciples to "beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy." Hypocrites influence others to become like them. When religious people offer prayers and charitable deeds "to be seen of men," there is a real concern that others will "catch on" and do the same. Jesus warned, "Do not be like them." (Matthew 6:8).
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Immorality. The church at Corinth had a fornicator in its midst. Paul explained to them that their acceptance of this sinner was dangerous. He asks, "Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?" (1 Corinthians 5:6). Allow immorality to go unchecked in one person and soon it will be in everyone. We have seen this sad truth illustrated in the history of our nation in recent years. All kinds of immoral behavior, from sexual immorality, to drunkenness to homosexuality have gone unrestrained, and have now infected virtually the entire nation. The leaven of immorality can work the same way in a church, a family, a workplace or a school.
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The kingdom of heaven. In Matthew 13:33, Jesus spoke this parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened." Like leaven, the Lord's kingdom also has a tremendous ability to spread and grow. If one is carrying the kingdom within him (cf. Luke 17:21), and sharing it in word and deed, he can infect many souls.
You and I are spreading something wherever we go. What we are spreading is determined by what is within us. If we are filled with religious error, hypocrisy and immorality, that's what we will spread. But if we are filled with heaven's kingdom, its influence will be felt by all who come in contact with us. How do you affect people? What kind of leaven is in you?
--Steve Klein
When multitudes of Jews came out to John to be baptized, he urged them to bear fruits worthy of repentance (Luke 3:8). He was making it clear to them that if they were truly repentant toward God, their lives would have to show that change in mind and behavior. How do we show repentance toward God today? What means do we have to show to God and men that we have truly had a change of mind motivated by godly sorrow for our sins? What do the Scriptures teach us?
Common to repentance of sin is confession of that sin to God, and to men when it is essential or helpful to do so. After David's sin with Bathsheba, he confessed to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord" (II Samuel 12:13). An even more impressive confession is found in II Samuel 24:10, "And David's heart condemned him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the Lord, 'I have sinned greatly in what I have done; but now I pray, O Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant, for I have done very foolishly.'" God's acceptance again of wayward Israel was based upon their humbling themselves, accepting their guilt before God, and confessing their sins (Leviticus 26:40-42). As Christians, when we err from the truth and become unfaithful in our service to God, we are instructed to repent (Acts 8:22), to confess our sins (I John 1:9), and to pray to God that we may be forgiven (Acts 8:22-24). In this passage and in others, we also are taught to pray for one another that our sins may be forgiven (James 5:16). Even though God knows our hearts, whether we are repentant or not, we are taught to confess to Him. How important it is then, to our brethren, who cannot know our hearts except by our words and deeds, that we confess our sins to one another and make our repentance known to them (Luke 17:3,4). In times when our sin is between us and God alone, we still may be strengthened by our brethren if we say to them, "I am having spiritual difficulties, and I need your prayers. Please pray for me that I may be strengthened." We are privileged to seek help from faithful brethren in times of weakness and spiritual need of advice and encouragement.
Another part of the fruits of repentance is the changed life that it brings. We stop wrongdoing and turn away from those things and associations that are corrupt in their influence. We obey the Lord's commandments for worship and service, for duty to the local church, for daily living in soberness, righteousness, and godliness (Titus 2:11). We cultivate an appetite for spiritual things in order to draw near to God and grow up into Him who is the head (I Peter 2:1-3; Eph. 4:15-32). In the course of time, it is not hard to see true repentance by the fruit that it bears and the zeal that it stimulates in the lives of those who have truly turned their hearts from the world to serve the true and living God (I Thess. 1:5-10).
Please turn to, read, and study each of the passages cited in this message and ask yourself, "Have I repented of all of my sins? Have I properly confessed to God who knows my heart? Have I properly informed my brethren and appealed to them for their prayers and support in my efforts to please God? Does my life daily demonstrate my repentance from sin toward God?
-- Gilbert Alexander