Truth Magazine

By Donald Townsley

Men usually think of Christ as a peacemaker and a comforter to the soul, which is certainly true, but we have not fully seen Christ if we fail to see him as a disturber of men as well. He says in Matthew 10:34-36: “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.”

1. Christ preached a disturbing message. He disturbed the complacent, self-satisfied religious leaders when he:

• Rebuked them for their teaching and practice of the traditions and commandments of men (Matt. 15:1-3; 16:6, 12).
• Rebuked them for their prejudiced hearts (Matt. 13:15).
• Rebuked them for their religious inconsistency (Matt. 23:1-4).
• Pronounced a “woe” upon them for taking “away the key of knowledge” (Luke 11:52; Matt. 23:13).
• Pronounced a “woe” upon them for their religious pretense (Matt. 23:14, 27-28).
• Pronounced a “woe” upon them for making proselytes to their opinions (Matt. 23:15).
• Pronounced a “woe” upon them for their leaving undone “the weightier matters of the law” (Matt. 23:23-24).
• Pronounced a “woe” upon them for their making “clean the outside of the cup and platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess” (Matt. 23:25, 26).

2. When Jesus preached his disturbing message, openly rebuking and denouncing their sins, the religious leaders reacted in an ugly and violent manner:

• They called him names — a “Samaritan” (John 8:48).
• They said he had a demon (John 8:48).
• They claimed he performed miracles by the power of the devil (Matt. 12:22-24).
• They challenged his authority (Matt. 21:23-27).
• They took up stones to cast at him (John 8:59).
• They accused him of blasphemy (John 10:33).
• They sought to kill him (John 7:1).
• They finally had him crucified (Matt. 26:3, 4; 27:1-2, 24-26, 34-35).

3. Christ not only preached a disturbing message, he asked disturbing questions:

And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans so? (Matt. 5:47).

And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? (Matt. 7:3).

Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? (Matt. 16:13).

For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matt. 16:26).

And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? (Luke 6:46).

4. Christ not only preached a disturbing message and asked disturbing questions, he set disturbing standards.

For the home — his marriage law. He taught that it was God’s will from the beginning for one man to be married to one woman — a one-flesh relationship that God has joined together and that man is not to put asunder (Matt. 19:4-6; Gen. 2:24). He intended for this to be a permanent relation- ship. He taught that there is only one reason for divorce and remarriage — fornication (Matt. 19:3-12). Only the innocent party has a right to divorce the guilty party, for this reason, and remarry.

Husband. He is to be head of his wife (Eph. 5:23), to love her as his own body (Eph. 5:25, 28-29), to provide for his family (1 Tim. 5:8), and to bring up his children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Eph. 6:4).

Wife. She is to love her husband, to love her children, to be a keeper at home and to be obedient to her own husband (Tit. 2:3-5).

Children. They are to obey and honor their parents (Eph. 6:1-2; Col. 3:20).

For his Disciples.

• Christ and his church must come first in their lives (Matt. 6:33).
• Christ must come before the family (Matt. 10:34-37).
• They must love one another (John 13:34-35).
• They must correct their sins against one another (Matt. 5:23-24; 18:15-17).

For Worship.

Worship is to be in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). The Lord authorized five items of worship:

• The Lord’s supper on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7).
• Giving of our means on the first day of the week (1 Cor. 16:1, 2).
• Singing praises to God (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16).
• Prayer (Acts 2:42).
• Teaching (Acts 2:42; 20:7). Worship that is not in spirit and in truth (according to truth) is vain worship (Matt. 15:9).

You can see from this study that Christ is a disturber of men when they are in their sins. He came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). Men have to become disturbed about their sins before they will do anything about them, so Christ deliberately preached a disturbing message that he might turn them from their sins that they might be saved and serve him. Christ wants gospel preachers today to preach this same message so that people will be disturbed about their sins and turn from them to serve him (2 Tim. 4:2).

One of the sad things in the church today is that members no longer want to hear the disturbing message of Christ. They “will not endure sound doctrine” (2 Tim. 4:3). They want to hear “fables” (2 Tim. 4:4), or a “felt-need gospel” that builds up their ego and deals with interpersonal relationships. They want a religion of entertainment and/or a positive message which soothes them in their sins. They want the preacher to preach “Peace, peace; when there is no peace” (Jer. 6:14)! The lust in the pew for such a message has given us preachers in the pulpit who will preach the kind of message the people crave (2 Tim. 4:3), and many of God’s people “love to have it so” (Jer. 5:31)!

Brother Preacher, is your preaching patterned after the preaching of Christ, the disturber of men? Or is your preaching simply the kind that satisfies the lust in the pew (2 Tim. 4:3, 4)? Preaching that is patterned after the disturber of men will save men from hell! Preaching that satisfies the lusts of men will damn the preacher and those who hear him! Brother, could Christ preach where you worship?

Because man sins, he is separated from God (Isa. 59:1-2) and needs to be justified in the sight of God. The word justify means to be accounted righteous. This study takes a look at three things which will make one righteous before God.

The Ones God Justifies

Paul wrote the Romans, “Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified” (Rom. 8:30). Please notice the order of justification:

1. Those Predestinated. Paul told the Ephesian Chris- tians, “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. . . . Having predestinated us unto adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will” (Eph. 1:4-5). This kind of predestination is that when God made the plan of salvation, those who choose to obey are predestinated to be saved and those who choose not to obey the gospel are predestinated to be lost. It’s that simple!

2. The Called. To be justified, one must be called. Paul says one is called by the gospel. “Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 2:14). As one reads or hears the gospel preached, he is called, of God, to obey it (Mark 16:15-16).

Three Things Which Justify

1. The Grace Of God. Paul wrote the Roman Christians, “Being justified by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24). The favor of God, which is his grace, “. . . that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us” (Tit. 2: 11-12). We must remember that we are not justified by grace alone, but by grace.

2. Faith. The Holy Spirit stated, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). We cannot please God without faith (Heb. 11:6). We must put our trust in the Lord. Re- member Jesus said, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16). I would caution us that James said, “Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only” (Jas. 2:24).

3. The Blood of Christ. Again it is written, “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him” (Rom. 5:1). The Revelation letter teaches, “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood” (Rev. 1:5).

When This Justification Takes Place

Many do not have the biblical concept of when this justification takes place. The Bible has the answer. The Roman Christians were told, “For he that is dead is freed from sin” (Rom. 6:7). To be freed from sin is to be justified from sin. Now just what is this death about? A reading of Romans 6:2 will show us, “How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Then one is “baptized into the Christ,” thus, “baptized into his death” (Rom. 6:3). Christ shed his blood in his death (John 19:34) and when one is baptized into his death, the cleansing effect of the blood is reached, “. . . being then made free from sin” (Rom 6:17-18).

The Justified Will Be Glorified

The end result of being justified is to be glorified by God. By obeying the gospel call, one, if faithful, will be “. . . obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 2:14). The child of God who obtains “. . . an inheritance . . . should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ” (Eph. 1:11-12). Won’t it be a wonderful day, having glorified God here as a Christian (Eph. 3:21; 1 Pet. 4:16), to have him glorify us over there!

In Acts 5, we learn that two Christians, Ananias and his wife Sapphira, were intending to copy the example of Barnabas and other saints by selling a plot of land and bringing the proceeds to benefit the needy of the Jerusalem church. However, unlike Barnabas, this couple covets the notoriety of such a gift but does not want the pain of charity to afflict them so severely. Ananias and Sapphira conspire to pretend they are giving all when they are really only giving part of the proceeds. Truly, it was their option to give as they chose, but they endeavored to deceive their brethren into thinking they had done more.

The apostle Peter accuses the husband of his sin, claiming he had “not lied to men but to God” (v. 4). Maybe that was news to Ananias. Maybe he thought he could gild the lily and look like a big man and no one would ever know. Had Peter not possessed a prescient gift from the Holy Spirit, he might have gotten away with it. But honestly, God would have always known the truth anyway.

Ananias was struck dead and his unwitting wife soon joined him in eternity. They perished simply because they pretended to have piety when in fact, they were just going through the motions.

Our offering to God must be more than financial, of course. Money is only a part of the Lord’s work and what he demands and deserves from his children. The Hebrew writer tells us that he also should receive from us “the sacrifice of praise to God, the fruit of our lips” (13:15). Is God listening to our songs? As surely as he beheld the sacrifice of bulls and goats in Moses’ day, he is beholding the notes and words of our songs today. Paul describes our song service as “singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Col. 3:16). Our songs are directed toward heaven and they are received there.

For our songs to be a pleasing aroma to God, they must be sincere. The most avowed atheist could sing “Amazing Grace” on stage for money, but God would not be worshiped because the grace was not in his heart. We must worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24); that is, our songs must be authorized by God and sincere from the heart. If you don’t mean it, don’t sing it. If you don’t mean it, God won’t accept it.

What if God calls our songs as evidence in the great day of reckoning? Will they have reflected the thoughts and purpose of the heart and body? Or will they be evidence of hypocrisy and vain worship? We have promised God over and over that we will “Take Time To Be Holy” by speaking oft with him and feeding on his word. We must ask how regular our prayer and study habit is. Or will the Judge convict us of singing insincerely?

When we sing “This World Is Not My Home,” do the words emit from a heart secretly bowing at the altar of covetousness and the evil things of this world? Should God believe we are just a-passing through when we are busy heaping up treasure on earth and accruing nothing where we are supposedly headed for eternity (Matt. 6:19-21)?

We love to sing “Blest Be the Tie” that binds our hearts in Christian love. Do we mean it? Do we live it? Or do we not even consider one another and forsake the encouragement of the assembling together (Heb. 10:24-25)? Do we live to gossip and backbite? Do we count the tie that binds a noose around our libertine necks?

“Into Our Hands” the gospel is given, we sing. “Haste, let us carry God’s precious message, Guiding the erring back to the right.” But how can we say we mean it if we never utter the name of Jesus outside the security of the meeting house? Why should God accept that song from us if we horde the gospel like it might somehow be used up?

“Every time I sin on earth, I feel that I’m the one,” we pronounce in “I’m the One.” How can we even utter the words if we sin like we are sure of tomorrow? Unless we truly hate sin and intend to rid it from our lives, we had better not sing this song — we don’t mean it yet!

“Would you be free from your burden of sin? ‘There’s Power in The Blood.’” Why then do we lust after the premiums offered by denominations like amusements, banquet halls, and dramatic sketches? If we truly believe there is power in the blood, why flirt with anything less?

“Tell Me The Story of Jesus.” How dare we attempt to sing that in God’s presence when we never pick up a Bible to find the story in the first place? How dare we sing such words when we neglect Bible class?

We pledge allegiance to God beneath “The Banner of the Cross:” “Marching on and on! Marching on and on!” Where are we going? Are we marching into our communities, families, and workplaces like Christian soldiers or have we declared neutrality in the world war with the devil? If your faith never leaves the pew — you leave it there on Sunday afternoon and pick it up next Sunday morning — don’t sing like you plan to march under the Christian standard all week.

“Make me as ‘Clay in the Potter’s Hand.’” Singing this means you intend to truly be a disciple of Jesus, a person who is sincerely like Christ. That requires that your life be molded and shaped by the word and will of God. Will you read it? Will you apply what you read to your own life?

Then there’s the best one of all: “Are you ‘Sowing the Seed of the Kingdom’ brother?” You had better be broad- casting the seed of faith yourself before you start asking about your brother’s habits (Matt. 7:1-5).

Conclusion

Christians must start listening to their songs and learning from them. God is listening. And if we are giving him a blemished sacrifice or keeping back part in pretense, we will be held accountable for it. What part of that offering might we be withholding? Is it the spirit or the truth? Could it be both?

Could God be reacting to our songs as he did to the Hebrews in Amos’ day: “Take away from Me the noise of your songs” (5:23)?

 

servants also found water (26:32-33).

Lessons From Isaac

1. Isaac yielded to the Lord’s command not to go to Egypt (26:2-3) . The land of Egypt was notoriously prosperous at the time, but it was outside the land of promise. The Lord commanded Isaac not to go there and he yielded. His desire to move was not motivated in pleasure, but in necessity. Nevertheless, he yielded to the Lord’s command.

Thomas Whitelaw observed, “But the behaviour of this Hebrew patriarch is sometimes outdone by that of modern saints, who not simply project, but actually perform, journeys, of pleasure or of business, across the boundary line which separates the Church from the world, into places where their spiritual interests are endangered, and that too not only without the Divine sanction, but sometimes in express violation of that authority” (The Pulpit Commentary: Genesis 325).

2. Prosperity sometimes causes envy and conflict (26:12- 14). Isaac’s success caused the Philistines to envy him. One sometimes can bear another’s prosperity easier than he can another’s prosperity. Rachel could not rejoice in Leah’s children (Gen. 30:1, 15). Joseph’s brothers were jealous of Joseph’s place in the family (37:4-11, 19, 20). Miriam and Aaron could not enjoy the place Moses had over Israel (Num. 12:1-10).

The proper attitude toward a brother’s success should include: (a) Joy. We should rejoice with those who rejoice, just as we weep with those who weep (Rom. 12:15; 1 Cor. 12:26). Elizabeth’s neighbors shared her joy at the birth of John the Baptist (Luke 1:58). The friends of the one who lost the sheep and coin rejoiced when they were found (Luke 15:5-10). Barnabas shared the joy at Antioch at the conversions that occurred in that city (Acts 11:23). Think of some of the occasions of joy that we should share with our brothers: (1) A raise in pay; (2) A promotion; (3) A new car; (4) A new house; (5) New furniture; etc. Surely, none of us would be like the Philistines who became envious at Isaac’s prosperity and drove him from them. (b) Thankful that one of our brothers was blessed of God to be so prospered. Who had we rather see so blessed as one of our brothers? See 3 John 2.

Some attitudes one should not have toward a brother’s prosperity are: (a) Envy; (b) Jealousy; (c) Suspicion. Abimelech seemed to suspect that Isaac’s increase in power was some threat to his kingdom.

3. The efforts Isaac made to live at peace. He gave up three very precious possessions (wells) rather than fight with the Philistines over them. In an age that demands its rights, this spirit is rare. Indeed, some would even equate it with pusillanimity.

The spirit of Christ teaches his children to give up their rights for the sake of the brother who might stumble because of exercise of their rights (1 Cor. 8:10-12). One is to pursue those things that make for peace (Rom. 14:19). Why did Isaac not fight for those wells? There is no indication that he did not fight because of his inability to win. The Scriptures imply that his giving up the wells was a reflection of Isaac’s peaceful nature.

Isaac was a peacemaker (Matt. 5:9). He chose to be defrauded rather than contend (1 Cor. 6:7). He manifested the attitude toward his enemies that Christ commanded (Matt. 5:39-42), as shown by his willingness to enter a covenant with Abimelech even after he had been so abused (26:30).

Conclusion

How many church conflicts would end if brethren reflected the magnanimous spirit of Isaac! Rather than belligerently standing for one’s own way, sanctifying it of course with “I’m standing for the truth,” why not display more of the spirit of Isaac? Sometimes brethren display more of the spirit of a pit-bulldog which bites and holds on in a death struggle rather than turning loose of something. We are not stating that one should sacrifice the revealed word of truth for the sake of peace, but in matters of judgment and personal preference, such a yielding spirit should characterize each of us.