David and the Shewbread

Okay, let's try this one more time and see if we can get it straight.  We continue to hear folks, even some Christians, who would like to use Jesus' reference to David and the shewbread as a justification for a kind of ‘situation ethics’ reasoning. 

Do you remember the incident (Matt. 12:1-8)?  On a Sabbath day the disciples had passed through a field and gathered some grain to eat.  The old law allowed such gathering (it was not stealing).  But the Pharisees criticized them as doing that which was "unlawful".  Their complaint was about the ‘work’ involved in gathering the grain.  While not forbidden by the law of Moses, the Jews had invented certain traditions which prohibited this.

In response to this criticism by the Pharisees, Jesus said: "Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungered, and they that were with him; how he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?" (vs. 3,4).  He went on to rebuke the Pharisees for "condemning the guiltless" (vs. 7). 

The point here is clear.  The Jews regarded David as their great national hero.  In the matter of the shewbread, David sinned. (We must take Jesus at His word - David's deed was "not lawful".) The Pharisees overlooked this clearly sinful act.  But, in the case of Jesus' disciples, they criticized something that was not wrong (notice that Jesus said it left them "guiltless").  Jesus was simply pointing out the inconsistency of the Pharisees in this matter.

And so, we have here no justification for any ‘situation ethics’ type of reasoning.  Jesus was not holding up David as a worthy example.  He was not saying that the law can be broken under extreme circumstances.  He was not justifying the disciples in a sinful deed.  He was pointing out the hypocrisy of the religious leaders of His day.  Learn the lesson!

- by Greg Gwin

 

Are There Any False Teachers?

The Bible warns of false prophets, ones who pretend to be preachers of righteousness, but are actually agents of the devil.  "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works" (2 Cor. 11:13-15).  John warned, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world" (1 Jn. 4:1).  However, in spite of these warnings, many today act as though there are few, or no, false teachers in the world.  They will give their general approval to almost any man (or woman) who says he is preaching the gospel.

In contrast to the general feeling among religious people, the Bible teaches that false prophets abound.  John said "many" have gone out into the world.  Is it any different today?  Right after Jesus stated that few would make it to heaven while many will go to hell, He warned us about false teachers (Matt. 7:13-20).  Do you suppose there is any connection?  Many false teachers will deceive many people.  Few teachers of righteousness will persuade few people.

Instead of endorsing everyone who is a "preacher" and accepting his teaching, we are to examine, test, and try what he says by the Scripture (1 Thess. 5:21; Acts 17:11).  When it is true, accept it and live by it.  When it is false, reject it and him (Gal. 1:8-9).  When a man will not affirm that Jesus is the Christ, reject him (Matt. 16:16).  When a man will not teach that salvation is offered to all men of all races, reject him (Mk. 16:15).  When a man will not advocate the words of the Lord, that baptism is for salvation, reject him (Mk. 16:16; cf. Acts 2:38).

Please, dear friend, understand that there are false teachers in the world.  Use some discernment.  If what we teach is false, reject it.  Only follow the Word of God!  Yet, if what we teach is true according to God's revelation, receive it and abide in it.  We want to go to heaven and want you to go, too.

- by Steven F. Deaton

 

Is This an Active and Growing Church?

There can be no doubt that the Lord expects every congregation of His people to be active and growing.  He told all of the seven churches of Asia (Revelation 2,3) that He was aware of their activity.  He began His assessment of each church with the statement, “I know thy works.”  We would be seriously mistaken to imagine that He does not make the same observation of all churches today.

So, we must be active and growing.  But, while seeking to be so, there are some errors to avoid:

1) Don’t equate increased numbers with real growth.  Yes, growth usually means an increase in the physical size of the congregation, but not always.  There are instances where the kind of ‘growing’ that God desires will actually result in lower numbers.  The rapidly growing church in Jerusalem actually lost members in the case of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1ff).  The church at Corinth was condemned because an immoral brother had not been “taken away from among you” (1 Cor. 5:2).  ‘Growing’ sometimes means losing numbers in order to please God.

2) Do not confuse ‘commotion’ with beneficial, God-honoring activity.  Seems some brethren think that ‘keeping things stirred up’ is a good thing.  And so, they constantly are bringing up controversial subjects or suggesting ill-conceived plans that force an unnecessary tumult.  These folks apparently have missed the analogy of the church to a flock of sheep.  Just as sheep do best when kept calm, so also the church.  We do not need or want unnecessary stress and turmoil in the local church.

3) Never compromise Bible authority in the name of ‘doing good.’  The religious world at large – and sadly, too many of our own brethren – urge us to consider ‘how much good is being done’ when we challenge them about their unscriptural practices.  We must remember Samuel’s famous rebuke to King Saul: “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams” (1 Sam. 15:22).  Or, to put it another way, you aren’t really ‘doing good’ if you aren’t adhering to Bible authority.

4) Be careful about assuming that ‘special programs’ are essential in achieving growth.  Too many disciples apparently think that nothing is being done if there are not specially organized efforts in behalf of this or that artificially designated group within the congregation.  This is particularly evident in regards to ‘programs for the young people.’  However, even denominational ‘church growth experts’ are proclaiming that “today's modern concept of youth ministry is a 50-year failed experiment” (Christian Post, 7/28/11). Actually, this institutionalized view of activity hurts the real productivity of a congregation by causing members to sit back and wait for someone to ‘organize’ something, rather than using their own initiative to get God’s work done.

5) Do not imagine that the church is not growing and active simply because you don’t ‘see’ something happening.  Often the most positive work done in a local congregation is done by quiet, humble servants who are simply out there caring for the sick, encouraging the weak, sharing the gospel with others, etc.  They’re not trying to make a big‘splash’ – they’re just doing their best to accomplish all they can.  They are not doing their work “to be seen of men” (Matt. 6:1ff).

Active?  Growing?  Yes, we must be!  But let’s evaluate our progress as the Lord does, and not as man does.  Think!

- by Greg Gwin

 

How to win souls

Influence

A woman asked, "How can I win my husband to Christ?"  "You can't," was the surprising answer from the preacher.  "You never attend worship regularly.  If your husband wants to go for a drive on Sunday, you  neglect the Lord and go with him.  And if you don't have a way to come to church, you never call some other member to come for you.  You will never win your husband unless you let him know, and all those about you, that your religion means more to you than anything else under heaven.  This alone is the kind of influence that wins souls."

- via "Great Plainness of Speech"

 

This Body… One owner, High Mileage, Needs work!

I was doing some work at our house the other day and I kind of over did it. I worked on different projects for probably about 5 hours and I was so tired that I really didn't feel like doing anything else the rest of the day. You probably know how that feels, just worn out.

The other day I saw an "older gentleman," with a tee shirt that had a caption with which I could identify. It said, "This Body… One owner, High Mileage, Needs work!" Simple, straight forward, to the point! That describes me at times… and perhaps you also.

Folks often say that it would be great to "turn back the clock," to a time when we were younger, with the addition of keeping the knowledge we have now. Yes, that is very appealing; a younger body, no aches, no pains, smooth skin, strong muscles, but at this point even with all of our medical technology it is just not possible; at least not possible here on earth.

I heard a story about a little boy who came running to his father and said, "Dad, I just figured what the Bible is about." His days, said, "Really, what is it about?" The son answered, "It's on the front, "B.I.B.L.E. and it means, Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth." I guess he got it right didn't he, that just about sums it up. That is what the Bible is all about, because we for sure are not going to stay here on earth forever.

At times I'm ready for that change, the older I get the more I understand the power of the promise. That's the promise the Apostle Paul was trying to help us understand in 1 Corinthians 15:51-53 where he said: "But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies."(NLT)


Yes, I'm ready for a new one, a new body, one like Jesus, no more pain, no more weariness; no more parts that sometimes refuse to cooperate. There is a time coming when my 'High mileage" body will be traded in for a new one. That's what I planning for, that what I'm looking forward to! How about you?

--Russ Lawson

Great characters of the Bible

 

 I've begun a series of lessons about some of the great characters of the Bible in our Sunday morning class and our first "character" was Abraham with the 11th chapter of Hebrews used to illustrate his "faith."  How that "by faith" he lived and accomplished what God wanted him to do. 

 

During our study of Abraham, we discussed his sojourn in the land of Egypt.  While studying this portion of his life we took note of one of the promises and predictions God made to him.  In the 15th chapter of Genesis you can read where God told Abraham that his "seed" (descendants) would be "strangers" in a land that wasn't theirs and that they would be slaves in that land.  Then after 400 years they would "come out with great substance" and be given the land of Canaan.

 

It was this part of our lesson that brought about comments on the fulfillment of that promise which we know as "the exodus" of the Israelites from Egypt.  We turned to the 12th chapter of Exodus where we read about this mass migration which engendered some thoughts on what a sight this must have been.

 

When God told Abraham that his descendants would leave with "great substance" we read the evidence of the truth of God's promise.  First we noted that they had increased in number from 70 to a multitude estimated to have been about 2 million people at the time of their leaving.  It doesn't tell us exactly how many Israelites were involved in this move but, I'll go out on a limb and say this - there was a whole bunch of them.  Plus, they had others going with them along with their "flocks, herds and very much cattle."

 

The amount of souls making this exodus from Egypt is derived from the fact that we're told that there were 600,000 "footmen" (Num. 11:21) which didn't count the women and children.  And, as more evidence of their "substance" we're told that the Egyptians wanted them gone so bad that they gave them "jewels of silver and jewels of gold and raiment."   And, guess what?  They had been in Egypt for 430 years.  (Ex. 12:31-40)

 

Well, a discussion ensued on the logistics of that mass migration.  I count it as praiseworthy on Moses' behalf that there is no evidence of him ever saying "Hey wait a minute, this is impossible" which is something I'm sure that most of us would have said.  No, Moses never said a thing about the aspects or logistics of this movement.  He simply did as God directed him and it's no wonder he's cited as an example of faith to us.

 

We can see from passages in Ex. 16 and Deut. 29 that God provided everything Israel needed during their 40 year journey from Egypt to the "Promised Land."  Their shoes and clothing never wore out.  They had food and water provided on a continual and daily basis.  What I found interesting about this is that their daily food (manna) ceased the day after they celebrated Passover in the land of Canaan and after they had eaten the food of the land.  (Josh. 5:12)   Could this have been just a coincidence?  I think not.

 

But, let's return to the discussion of the logistics of the exodus.  Have you ever given much thought to what it must have taken to sustain that many people and their animals?  I think that the logistics of this undertaking would stagger our imagination.  The following figures come from the calculations of the Quartermaster General of the Army.  And I see his estimations as being believable because that office is responsible for figuring out the amount of provisions necessary for sustaining a large amount of people (like an army).

 

According to their figures, 1500 tons of food would be needed "daily."  To put it in a modern illustration, that amount would take up 2 freight trains, each one being a mile long.  If they needed to have fires, the amount of fuel or firewood necessary for that large group of people would have been 4000 tons per day.  And remember, they were out there for 40 years.

 

How about water?  (This was brought up in our class discussion).  If they only had enough to drink and do light washing, you're looking at 11 million gallons a day.  If we stick with our freight train illustration, this would require a train 1800 miles long.  Isn't this alone mind-boggling? 

 

Remember the crossing of the Red Sea?  Let's look at the logistics of that incident itself.  The path through the sea would have to have been at least 2-3 miles wide in order for all of them to get across in one day (Ex. 14).  To give you a better idea of this crossing, it's estimated that if they went across two abreast, there would have been a line 800 miles long and would have taken 35 days and nights for all to cross.

 

And when they stopped, the encampment of that many people would have been enormous.  It would have to have encompassed an area of approximately 750 square miles.  Again, using a modern day illustration, that area is about 2/3 the size of the state of Rhode Island.  Unbelievable, isn't it?  Especially when you remember that they moved locations from time to time.

 

I just don't think that we've ever really considered the magnitude of the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and their wondering in the wilderness for 40 years.  And, you know what?  They never lacked food or water nor any of the necessities of life.  How could this have occurred?  Only one way - God!  Something to consider, isn't it?

 

Respectfully submitted,

Ron Covey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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