[Biblemat] B> Gospel Observer 10/14/07
tedwards at onemain.com
tedwards at onemain.com
Fri Oct 19 15:39:22 CDT 2007
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THE GOSPEL OBSERVER
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"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching
them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you
always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19,20).
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October 14, 2007
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Contents:
1) The Importance of Doctrine (Steve Klein)
2) Effective Workers (Gary Patton)
3) Works and Salvation (Greg Gwin)
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-1-
The Importance of Doctrine
by Steve Klein
This past week, I noticed that the sign in front of the
Presbyterian Church in Rogersville said, "Love God. Love others.
The rest is doctrine." The message was plain. Loving God and
loving others are essential things, but doctrine is not essential.
In other words, it doesn't matter what you believe or teach, as
long as you love God and love others. This sentiment, implied in
the message on the church sign, reflects what a lot of religious
people in America believe.
Now I am second to no one in my conviction that loving God and
loving others are the greatest commandments. Jesus Himself said so
explicitly (Matthew 22:37-39). If we get those things right, we
will get everything else right as well, because "on these two
commandments hang all the Law and the prophets" (Matthew 22:40).
However, when doctrine is relegated to the status of non-essential,
unimportant and not relevant to man's salvation, there is a lack of
understanding concerning the nature of love! If a person really
understood what it means to love God and others, he would know that
believing and teaching sound doctrine is an essential part of
loving God and others.
In John 7:16, Jesus said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who
sent Me." Now if doctrine is unimportant, why would Jesus bother
to inform us that the Source of His doctrine was His heavenly
Father? Does anyone really believe that Jesus could have taught
any doctrine He pleased and still laid claim to being God's loving
and obedient Son? His love for God bound Him to teach His
doctrine.
Doctrine matters!
* Obeying the right doctrine frees us from sin. The Romans
obeyed a specific form of doctrine in order to be freed from sin.
"But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you
obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were
delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of
righteousness (Romans 6:17-18).
* Teaching the wrong doctrine invalidates our worship. In
Matthew 15:9 Jesus said, "And in vain they worship Me, teaching as
doctrines the commandments of men." The fact that so many
denominational groups teach as doctrines the commandments of men no
doubt explains why they want to convince us that doctrine is
unimportant. Most denominational groups must get everything from
the names of their denominations, organizational structure, manner
of worship, titles of church leaders and programs of work from MEN,
because they sure can't find them in the Bible.
* Following the wrong doctrine results in departing from the
faith. "Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some
will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and
doctrines of demons" (1 Timothy 4:1).
* Whoever does not stick with the doctrine of Christ, does not
have God. "Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine
of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of
Christ has both the Father and the Son" (2 John 9).
To summarize, following the right doctrine frees us from sin,
but having the wrong doctrine makes our worship useless, causes us
to depart from the faith and separates us from God.
What attitude will we have toward doctrine if we love God? If
we love others, how concerned will we be about teaching them only
doctrine that is correct and sound? The apostle Paul told Timothy
to "charge some that they teach no other doctrine" (1 Timothy 1:3).
Maybe Paul didn't understand that doctrine was unimportant. Or
maybe, Paul loved God and man so much that he wanted only the one
true doctrine to be taught.
-- Via The Bulletin of the Church of Christ at New Georgia,
August 26, 2007
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-2-
Effective Workers
by Gary Patton
The business world is constantly scanning the work force for
those people who will make them effective workers. An effective
worker is one who not only does his job well, but can be counted on
to be loyal and diligent in his relationship to the company. When a
business consists of this kind of employees, it will be successful
for years to come.
The same is true when one enters the Lord's labor force. Upon
obedience to the gospel, not only do people become children of God
but also laborers in His kingdom. For one to be an affective worker
for the Lord, that is to "be the best he can be," certain things
are necessary.
Conviction
Being convinced or believing in what one does will have a great
deal to do with one's success. The belief that the church is right
and the most important area of work for mankind is most essential.
Only when we truly believe there is one true church (Ephesians 4:4;
1:22-23) in which salvation is found will it mean something to us.
This conviction will also help to keep us from going along with
denominations of man. A lesson some, who claim to be members of the
Lord's church, have not learned. Their actions of acknowledging
those outside the body of Christ as brethren in the Lord and
worshipping jointly in ways not authorized in God's word, bears
fruit of a lack of conviction as the rightness of the church of our
Lord.
When we are truly convinced "Except a man be born of water and
of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:5),
and that Christ is the Savior of the body the one church (Ephesians
5), will we cease our half-hearted service.
Aggressiveness
The aggressive worker is the one who gets things accomplished.
He is aggressive because he believes the work must be done and that
he must do all he can to see he does his part fully. The lack of
aggressiveness in our work for the Lord tends to develop the
attitude of letting someone else do the work. Such a disposition
can cause us to become lazy and slothful workers.
We must be aggressive in preaching and teaching God's word.
Aggressively means without fear or favor, uncompromisingly, yet
frankly and kindly -- "But speaking the truth in love, may grow up
into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ" (Ephesians
4:5); "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are
spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness;
considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted" (Galatians 6:1). We
can privately teach those we come in contact with as well as
aggressively support the preaching of the gospel both with our
presence and money. The New Testament Christians were effective
workers because they were aggressive in their work (Acts 8:4):
"Therefore, they that were scattered abroad went everywhere
preaching the word."
Sacrifice
A major attribute in becoming a successful worker is being
willing to sacrifice. It is easier sometimes to believe in
something and aggressively pursue it as long as it doesn't cost us
anything. But the most effective workers are those who willingly
sacrifice for the good of the company. So it is with the Lord's
work: we can only be truly effective workers when we sacrifice. We
must make sure that we can give up worldly connections that would
interfere with our work in His kingdom. We are informed in James
4:4, "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the
friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore
will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." Jesus warns in
His teaching about the danger of temporal and material things that
can interfere with our being effective workers. He tells us that
one is an effective worker only if he is willing to sacrifice all
and follow Him (Luke 9:57-62; 14:5-24).
The motto of the effective worker in the church, the body of
Christ, must be "... seek ye first the kingdom of God and His
righteousness" (Matthew 6:33). Then we can hear our Master say,
"Well done, thou good and faithful servant...enter thou into the
joy of the Lord" (Matthew 25:21).
-- Via The East Florence Contender, Florence, Alabama.
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-3-
Works and Salvation
by Greg Gwin
Those who believe in salvation by "faith only" are quick to
recite Ephesians 2:8,9 whenever a discussion of baptism arises.
They assert that baptism is a work, and this passage says: "For by
grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is
the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast."
Think with us for a minute about their claim. If this text
precludes baptism because it is a "work," then what would we say
about:
* Repentance? Repentance is clearly necessary for salvation
(Luke 13:3), but it involves work (see John 3:1-14).
* And, what about confession? It is a prerequisite of
salvation, and it obviously requires work on our part (Romans
10:9,10).
* But the real clincher is that faith itself is termed a work
by Jesus. Note: "Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we
might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them,
This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent"
(John 6:28,29).
And so, if we are going to throw out baptism because it is a
"work," then we must also reject repentance, confession, and even
faith!
Look again at Ephesians 2:8,9. Careful examination shows that
the works being denounced are those that would serve as a basis for
"boasting." In other words, Paul is saying that there are no
meritorious works that we may do to "earn" our way into heaven. He
explains that salvation is a "gift." But do not forget that
conditions are often attached to gifts. In this case, the
conditions are faith, repentance, confession, and baptism (Acts.
2:38, Mark 16:16, 1 Peter 3,21, etc.).
-- via The Beacon, 5/31/05
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MYRTLE STREET CHURCH OF CHRIST
1022 Myrtle Street
Denham Springs, LA 70726
(225) 664-8208
Sunday: 9:15 AM, 10:00 AM, 4:00 PM
Wednesday: 7:00 PM
evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (225) 667-4520
e-mail: tedwards at onemain.com
web site: http://home.onemain.com/~tedwards/go
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