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Financing The Work of God

Literature, , ,

by David E. Moss

Money is one of the practical resources necessary for the work of God to be accomplished. Among other things, money is needed to pay salaries for Christian workers, to buy materials used in doing the work, and to provide facilities where these activities can be based. The question is: Where is the money to come from in order to pay for these things and thus finance the work of God?

The Word of God presents two important principles concerning the source of money used to finance the work of God. First, the support of the work of the Lord is to be by voluntary giving, or free will offering, as opposed to other fund raising methods. Secondly, the support of God’s work is to come from His own people and not from the resources of ungodly people. The following paragraphs explain the biblical basis for these two principles and why other means of raising funds for the work of God are not appropriate.

The Free Will Offering Of God’s People

The principle that the Body of Christ is to be a self-edifying organism supports the truth that it is also to be self-supporting financially. Ephesians 4:16 says, From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body, unto the edifying of itself in love. While it is true that this verse directly refers to spiritual activity, what believers do with their money also involves spiritual principles and the supply of the practical needs of God’s work has no little significance in making it possible for the body of Christ to function efficiently. According to this principle, each part of the body is to contribute from itself to provide what the rest of the body needs. This is made possible as the members of the body submit to the Head, Jesus Christ. It should be easy to see how this can be applied to financial contributions as well as spiritual ones.

Consistent with this principle, every example of financial and material support for the work of the church in the New Testament centers around the voluntary gifts of believers only. For example:

Acts 2:45 – (The first Christians) sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.

Acts 4:34-35 – …for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, And laid them down at the apostles’ feet and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.

I Corinthians 16:2 – Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him…

Philippians 4:15-18 – …ye (the Philippian believers) sent once and again unto my necessity… fruit that may abound to your account… an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God.

II Corinthians 8 and 9 – And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God (8:5)

This last verse, taken from II Corinthians chapter 8, explains that financial gifts to the Lord result from a proper spiritual attitude. The Macedonian believers were limited in their financial resources. Nevertheless, they found a means to contribute to the collection being taken for the impoverished saints in Jerusalem. They were able to do this because they first gave their own selves to the Lord. The thing to note about this is that unbelievers cannot have such an attitude. One can but guess what their motive would be for contributing to a divine cause. Only believers can first give themselves to the Lord and then give their money to his work.

The Old Testament agrees with this principle when it describes how the tabernacle project was financed. God instructed the Israelites to make a tabernacle to facilitate their worship and sacrifice unto Him. This was then financed by the freewill offering of His own people.

  1. The offering was from the Lord’s people.

    Exodus 35:5 – Take ye from among you an offering unto the LORD…

  2. It was voluntary.

    Exodus 35:5,22 – whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it…

  3. It was an offering according to ability.

    Exodus 35:22-24 – and every man with whom was found… brought…

  4. It was prompted by zeal for God’s service.

    Exodus 35:21-26 – And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing…

  5. It was an offering unto God.

    Exodus 35:5,22 – and every man that offered, offered an offering… unto the LORD.

  6. It was more than sufficient to meet the need.

    Exodus 36:5-7 – For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.

In stark contrast to this, God clearly rejects financial contributions to His work from ungodly people. Wages derived from an ungodly lifestyle or profits from unclean merchandise are unacceptable to Him (Deuteronomy 23:18). The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD (Proverbs 15:8). In fact, God even rejects the offerings and sacrifices given by people who profess to believe in Him but who are living ungodly lives.

Isaiah 1:11 – To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.

Jeremiah 14:12 – When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them…

Hosea 8:13 – They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it; but the LORD accepteth them not; now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins…

Amos 5:22 – Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.

The only logical conclusion to be drawn from these Old and New Testament principles is that God finances His work through the free will offerings of His own people, who have first submitted themselves unto Him. He is not interested in raising funds by means other than free will offerings, nor is He interested in receiving offerings from those who do not know Him.

Is A Tithe A Free Will Offering?

Some people argue that tithing is not taught in the New Testament. Tithing, they say, is barely mentioned in the New Testament, the word itself appearing only four places: Matthew 23:23, Luke 11:42, Luke 18:12, Hebrews 7:5-9. None of these are passages in which New Testament Christians are instructed to tithe. Tithing is part of the Old Testament law, they say, and the New Testament makes it clear that the church is not under the law but under grace (Romans 6:14-15). Because of these things, some insist that tithing does not qualify as a free will offering and that it is inappropriate to lay such a legalistic necessity on the shoulders of Christians.

However, tithing was practiced as a voluntary offering before the Law was given through Moses. Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedec in Genesis 14:20. Melchizedec was the King of the city of Salem but he was also the priest of the most high God. There is no suggestion in Scripture that Abraham was required to pay these tithes. It clearly says he gave them, indicating it was a voluntary act. Hebrews 7:9 does use the expression “payed tithes” in reference to this incident. However, the sense is still that the choice to pay came from Abraham’s heart and not from Melchizedek’s demand for payment. So, whether he paid or gave, Abraham turned his tithes over to Melchizedek as a voluntary act.

Later, the Mosaic Law called for three tithes: one to support the ministry of the Levites and the maintenance of the Temple (Numbers 18), one to finance the major feasts held annually in Jerusalem (Deuteronomy 12:5-18), and one to benefit the poor (Deuteronomy 14:20; 26:12). The first two were annual tithes and the third was called for every third year. But, it is important to note that even though the tithe was ordered by the Law, there is no biblical record of a civil penalty for Israelites who did not pay their tithes. The civil and moral laws given to Israel typically were enforced with penalties imposed upon those who violated specific laws (for example, Exodus 22:1-4 and Exodus 22:16). However, there is no civil penalty provided for failing to pay one’s tithes. There was only a spiritual penalty as explained in Malachi 3:8-10.

Even in the Old Testament, God wanted man’s material contributions to His work to come from the heart and not from a sense of legal obligation. But when a man who professes to believe in God chooses not to contribute to His work, this choice serves as an indictment against his lack of devotion to the LORD. God purposely prospers His people to enable them to support His work. By refusing to share in the support of God’s work and by diverting what God has provided to selfish interests, God’s people are in effect robbing God. God is not going to bless someone who is guilty of such fiscal irresponsibility. This is not a matter of legalism, that is, God zapping people who do not pay their required tithes. Rather, it is a spiritual principle which says that God is not going to finance irresponsible behavior, or give His blessing to a carnal lifestyle.

The primary tithe of the Old Testament was intended to provide support for the Levites. The Levites were given no inheritance in the land of Israel (Numbers 18:20). In turn, the Levites dedicated themselves to the service of the Tabernacle and later the Temple ministry (Numbers 18:1-7). Without land, without a trade to produce an income, and with the responsibility of spending all their time in ministry activities, the Levites needed some other means of supporting their families. God provided for them through the tithes of all the other Israelites. When all the people brought their tithes as sacrifices unto the LORD, they were also in effect bringing gifts for the material support of the Levites (Numbers 18:8-9, 11-19). The Levites’ subsistence was supplied by everyone else giving 10% of their incomes (Numbers 18:23-24).

Tithing in the New Testament has the same purpose as it did in the Old. A New Testament tithe provides for the financial support of those who spend their whole life preaching the gospel and ministering about holy things in the church. This is explained and connected to the Old Testament tithe in I Corinthians 9.

  1. Christian workers have the right to eat, drink, be married and forbear working. (Verses 4-6)
  2. They have the right to be supported financially by those to whom they minister. (Verses 11, If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?)
  3. The tithe of the Israelites in the Old Testament which provided the livelihood of the Levites is an illustration of this principle. (Verse 13, …they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple, and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar. The things of the Temple and the things of the altar were provided by the tithes of the people.)
  4. Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel (Verse 14). The words even so show the relationship between the New Testament financial support of ministers and the Old Testament support of the Levites. Tithing (or proportionate giving according to the prospering of the Lord, I Corinthians 16:2) is a reasonable means of insuring that pastors, missionaries and others who work full time in the ministry have the means to provide for their families just as it was for the Levites in the Old Testament.

Tithing in the Old Testament was described as an offering unto the LORD.

This shall be thine (the Levites) of the most holy things reserved from the fire: every oblation of theirs, every meat offering of theirs, and every sin offering of theirs and every trespass offering of theirs, which they shall render unto me shall be most holy for thee and for thy sons… But of the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as an heave offering unto the LORD, I have given to the Levites to inherit… (Numbers 18:24).

There are several things in the New Testament that are also described as sacrificial offerings unto God (Romans 12:1; Hebrews 13:15-16; I Peter 2:5; Philippians 2:17) and supporting those who preach the Gospel is one of them. Paul, in thanking the Philippian believers for sending some money to him, said,

But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God.

In the Old Testament, the tithes of the people consisted of offerings and sacrifices they gave unto the LORD. These things given unto the LORD were then used in part to provide material support to those who worked in the ministry. The same thing happens today in the church. People give their tithes and offerings to the Lord, and those gifts are then used to support the work of the ministry.

Compliance to the tithe principle of the New Testament is voluntary just as it was in the Old Testament. II Corinthians 9:7 says, Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. II Corinthians 8:11 and 12 use the phrases, a readiness to will and if there be first a willing mind. Giving to the Lord must come from a man’s heart and not from some legal obligation. But even though tithing or any other gift to the Lord is based on a voluntary act by a New Testament believer, there is a spiritual blessing which accompanies the offering and a spiritual consequence which results from not giving, just as there was in the Old Testament. II Corinthians 9:6 says, But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

What About Fund Raising Activities?

Fund raising activities are those things which a local church or other Christian organization does in order to obtain money for the work of the Lord from sources other than the free will offering of God’s people. There are two issues involved in fund raising activities. One is that money is solicited from sources other than free will offerings. The other is that money may be solicited from people other than Christians.

Fund raising activities take a variety of forms. Many of them involve selling things such as baked goods, crafts, candy, or trinkets. Sometimes a Christian organization will purchase items at wholesale and sell them at retail. At other times, people donate items to the organization which in turn sells them. Other fund raising activities involve things like walk-a-thons or other programs in which the participants solicit donations based on their achievements within the program. The participants in such programs often solicit donations from people they know such as relatives, neighbors or church members, or they may go door to door and solicit donations from complete strangers.

There are some serious ethical problems with such activities.

  1. Selling things to raise money turns a local church or Christian organization into a merchandising market place which depends upon a profit derived from the general public, including ungodly people, rather than a ministry relying on God’s direct provision through the gifts of His own people. Someone will ask, “What is the difference between selling things in your own private business and giving the profits to the church and the church selling things directly?” The answer is that the church is not a business which survives by its ability to generate a profit. It is a spiritual organism that is sustained by the direct supply of its divine Head. He provides what is needed not through the marketing skills of the organization but through the free will offerings of His own people given out of their personal devotion to Him. When the Israelites turned the Temple into a market place, Jesus Christ adamantly expressed His displeasure, personally throwing out the violators (Matthew 21:12). Local churches and Christian organizations can just as seriously grieve the Lord by pretending to be a profit making business rather than a ministry dependent solely upon God’s provision.
  2. Those who are solicited for donations through programs like walk-a-thons may feel an obligation to contribute because of whom has asked. They may feel pressured to give when they do not really have the money available, or when they would not otherwise have chosen to give to that particular cause. Fund raising programs thus make merchandise of people (II Peter 2:3). The unsaved especially may easily get the impression that a Christian’s primary interest in them is getting their money out of their pockets. But this is not necessarily the response of the unsaved only. Paul was concerned that the Corinthians might think he had made a personal gain of them (II Corinthians 12:17). He always conducted himself in such a way that no one ever suspected his motives to be covetous (I Thessalonians 2:5).
  3. When going door to door to seek donations for God’s work, it is likely that participants will invite ungodly people to contribute to the work of God. When God’s people finance the work of God by soliciting funds directly from the ungodly, they are filling the church treasuries with tainted money and risk losing the blessing of God. (Proverbs 15:8; 21:27)
  4. When Christians successfully finance their programs through marketing projects, they develop a sense of self-sufficiency that contradicts the dependence through faith they ought to have on God. They may still mouth the right words and “pray” for God to bless their endeavors, but they are not waiting on God’s provision. They do not need to. They have taken care of everything themselves (Revelation 3:17). They have no idea whether or not God approves of their projects. In fact they operate on an assumption that God approves of everything they decide to do as long as they do it in His name. They never consider that God may actually disapprove of what they are doing and they never will find out. Because they are so good at financing their projects without His help, they will never notice that God is withholding His provision.

What about pledges?

Some denominational churches use a pledge system in order to obtain money to cover their annual budget. God says that if a man pledges, promises, or vows to do something, he is obligated to do it: That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and perform; even a freewill offering, according as thou has vowed unto the LORD thy God, which thou has promised with thy mouth (Deuteronomy 23:23). The cheerfulness that comes from voluntary giving is lost in a pledge system because it makes giving to the Lord a matter of necessity. II Corinthians 9:7 says, …so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. If you promise to give an exact amount as an offering, you bind yourself by your word to give what is promised and your cheerfulness will be lost in your efforts to fulfill your obligations.

One pledge system used in many Fundamental churches is called the Faith Promise Program. The Faith Promise Program was started by Dr. A.B. Simpson, founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance churches. The term “faith promise” came from Dr. Oswald J. Smith, pastor of the famous People’s Church in Toronto Canada. The plan was already in use in the church when Dr. Smith became the Pastor, but at the time they were using the word “pledge” to describe what they were doing. Dr. Smith did not like the word pledge and came up with the term “faith promise” as a substitute to make it sound more biblical. The program found its way into the Baptist Bible Fellowship and eventually into many independent Baptist churches and many Bible churches as well.

The Faith Promise Program involves the following basic elements:

  1. A person determines by faith a certain amount of money he will give to missions in the coming year and then makes a promise (pledge, vow) to give this amount in weekly installments. Ideally, the amount promised is to be above his regular tithes and offerings and above what he expects to have left over after he has paid all his bills. This is what gives it the nature of a “faith-promise”. A promise is made to give, but faith is required in order to trust God to provide what has been promised.
  2. A tally service is held in the local church during which members may turn in their pledge cards. As the cards are added up, the total is announced to the Congregation, so that all know how much has been promised. This then becomes the basis for the missions budget in the coming year.
  3. A person is to “pay God” his tithes, offerings and faith promises at the beginning of each month. He is then to meet his other obligations such as mortgage, utilities, insurance, etc. For the rest of the month, he is to “trust” God to provide what is needed and have faith that it will be enough.
  4. A person is then to trust God to provide in unexpected ways, such as a raise in salary, a decrease in expenses, unexpected dividends, the absence of doctor and repair bills, gifts from unexpected sources, etc.
  5. Finally, the amount of the pledge is to be increased each year so as to stretch one’s faith further and further.

The biblical basis for this is taken primarily from II Corinthians chapters 8 and 9. II Corinthians 8:3 says, For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves to give; and II Corinthians 9:7 says, Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give…

Many good Christian people are convinced that this program is a righteous thing. How could anyone say there is something wrong with having faith and making promises? Actually, it is not that simple. As good as it may sound, a close look at the Faith Promise Program reveals that it contradicts God’s free will offering policy and creates financial obligations to which God will hold a man accountable.

The phrase “as he purposeth in his heart,” in II Corinthians 9:7, is not suggesting that men make pledges to give specific amounts of money to God’s work. Rather, it is used to emphasize the principle of voluntary giving in contrast to any thing that makes a man feel compelled to give. Compelling a man to give generates a sense of necessity which is the opposite of a free will act of the heart. It also generates a grudging attitude instead of a cheerful one. God does not want men to feel compelled to give. He desires each individual to decide in his own heart that he wants to give so that when he gives, he may do it cheerfully.

Furthermore, it is clear that God does not want a man to purpose to give what he does not have (II Corinthians 8:12). To promise to give a specific amount that God has not yet provided places a demand upon God that goes beyond trust. On the one hand, a man who makes a pledge has no choice in the matter. God holds him accountable to give what he has vowed to give (Deuteronomy 23:23). On the other hand, to say that you are trusting God to do something you have promised uses faith as a device which puts God to a test. Will He come through for you or won’t He? If He does not provide what you promised, did God fail or was your faith too small? If you had too little faith, what happens to your vow to which God will hold you accountable? Is it nullified by your lack of faith? True faith does not place specific demands on God’s generosity. It is one thing to ask God to provide the means to give abundantly to his work and then to wait to see what He will provide to make this possible. It is an entirely different thing to promise to give a specific amount toward those needs and then expect God to supply it after the promise is made.

It is more in line with biblical principles for a person to purpose in his heart to give a percentage of all that God will provide. A tithe is always a good place for a person to start in determining what he will give to the Lord. By purposing to give a percentage of what God provides, the individual is not limiting himself to a flat amount he can or must give, but has the potential of giving ever increasing amounts to the Lord’s work as God prospers him. In addition, the Scripture does not restrict a person to giving only ten percent of his income. Anyone is free to purpose in his heart to give eleven or twelve or fifteen percent. Or he can choose to follow the pattern of the Old Testament and give two tithes each year and an additional tithe every third year. He may also purpose in his heart to give offerings above and beyond his percentage giving after he has provided for his family and met his personal financial responsibilities. But all of this giving comes from a heart that has willingly and voluntarily purposed to give as God hath prospered him (I Corinthians 16:2).

What can we say then about the phrase in II Corinthians 8:3 that says the Macedonians gave “beyond their power?” Doesn’t this suggest they gave more than they were really able to give on their own? Giving sacrificially what little one has is different from requiring God to provide beyond ones means. Jesus pointed out the poor widow who gave her last two mites to God (Mark 12:41-44). Such sacrificial giving is not presumptuous of the generosity of God. Instead, it is a willingness to cheerfully do without in order that God’s work may go on unhindered. This is not something that every average Christian will be able to do. It is an extraordinary act of a heart that is devoted to God to depths most will never understand (II Corinthians 8:5). This was probably the spirit in which the first Christians sold their possessions and turned the money over to the Apostles for the common welfare of the young church (Acts 2:45; 4:34-35).

Final Note

If God wants His people to do something that costs money, He will provide clean offerings given from the willing hearts of His own people. The Old Testament standard for offerings was that they be clean and without blemish: Leviticus 22:21-22, And whosoever offereth a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD to accomplish his vow, or a freewill offering in beeves or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no blemish therein. Blind, or broken, or maimed, or having a wen, or scurvy, or scabbed, ye shall not offer these unto the LORD, nor make an offering by fire of them upon the altar unto the LORD. New Testament offerings are characterized in exactly the same way. In Romans 12:1, we are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable unto God. In I Peter 2:5, we are to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. When the Philippians sent money to help Paul in his work, Paul described the gift as an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God (Philippians 4:18). You can be sure this was not tainted money. It was honorably earned and willingly given by God’s people.

If God does not provide through this means, it is legitimate to wonder if God wants a particular project to be done. Too often, God’s people decide what is to do and then expect God to finance the activity. When He does not provide within a prescribed period of time, men often ignore God’s message and devise some other means of raising the money. What they should do is accept God’s lack of provision as an indication of His will. If He approves of a project that costs money, He will provide. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills and is not limited in resources. If He does not approve of a project, he will not provide. When this happens, Christians should back up and re-think what God really wants them to do rather than proceed with alternative means of fund raising. Many times these alternative means do bring in enough funds for the project to be pursued. It functions without God’s blessings, but the people involved feel good about what they are doing.

Of course, there could be another reason that the money does not become available to do the work of God. It could be that God’s own people fail to give according to the biblical pattern. This is no excuse, however, to seek funding through alternative means. Two wrongs cannot possibly satisfy God any more than one does.

So here is the biblical pattern for financing the work of God. God prospers His people with an honest income. God’s people give themselves unto the Lord and thereby become sensitive to God’s direction in what they should give. They purpose in their heart to give a portion of what God provides to support God’s work. They give it voluntarily. They give it willingly. As God prospers them, they give more. There is no pledge involved, binding God’s people to a necessity in giving. Financing the work of God becomes part of a Christian’s overall commitment to faithfulness in His walk with the Lord. The wonderful result is that as God’s people give according to this pattern, God’s servants generally have what is needed to do God’s work.

Are you giving according to the biblical pattern? If you are, God is showering an abundance of blessings upon your life among which are cheerfulness in your heart, rewards awaiting you in heaven, and a joy in knowing that you are doing it God’s way.

Are you not giving according to the biblical pattern? “Oh,” you say, “here it comes. You are now going to tell me I ought to be tithing.” Sorry to disappoint you. What you ought to do is give yourself to the Lord as the Macedonian believers did. Once you have that kind of relationship with Him, He takes care of everything else.

Faith

Literature,

by David E. Moss

Faith is the primary element of man’s relationship with God. We know this from Hebrews 11:6 where it says, But without faith it is impossible to please him. This is true whether someone is approaching God for the very first time, or has been walking with God for a very long time.

Actually, man needs holiness and purity of heart to see God, but God has chosen to accept faith instead. Hebrews 12:14 says, Follow… holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. And Matthew 5:8 says, Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. The problem is that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) making it impossible for any of us to enter into His presence. Even when we try our best, the only righteousness we can produce on our own is worth nothing more than filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6), leaving us unacceptable to God. It is for this reason that God decided to accept faith from man in place of the holiness or righteousness he needs but does not have within himself and cannot obtain on his own. This solves man’s problem because when someone directs faith onto Jesus Christ and His work of redemption, God in turn transfers His own righteousness to the account of that believing human being, thus giving him exactly what he needs. Romans 3:21-22 says, But now the righteousness of God…is manifested…Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. Romans 4:9b says that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness and Romans 4:11 says that Abraham is the father of all them that believe… that righteousness might be imputed unto them also.

This explains why Romans 14:23b says, whatsoever is not of faith is sin. We really have only two choices in life: follow faith or yield to sin. Earning our own way to heaven is not an option because all attempts to do so only adds to our debt instead of reducing it. As Romans 4:4 says, Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. It is only by faith that we can qualify to see God. Thus Romans 4:5 says, But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. But neither can the redeemed please God by human effort alone because faith is the governing principle by which believers are to live every day of their Christian lives. Habakkuk 2:4 (O.T.) and Romans 1:17 (N.T.) both say, The just shall live by faith. In other words, those who have already been justified are to be guided daily by the principle of faith. Galatians 2:20 makes this very clear: I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Seeing then that faith is so important to every human being, saved and unsaved alike, it is expedient that we understand what faith is. Faith involves at least two profound dynamics. First, faith involves believing God. Secondly, faith involves trusting God. The following paragraphs describe the various factors involved in these two aspects of faith.

  1. Believing

    The biblical concept of believing God involves being absolutely convinced, fully persuaded. Sometimes we use the word believe as a synonym for suppose, saying that we think or believe something is so but are not quite sure about it. Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary gives as one definition for believe: “to hold as an opinion.” However, in believing God there is no room for reservations or questions. Faith consists of being convinced beyond any shadow of doubt or hesitation.

    1. To believe God, then, is to be fully persuaded that everything He says is right, true, and accurate. It is to believe that every single word which proceeds out of the mouth of God is full of integrity and contains no errors, inaccuracies, mis-statements, or short comings in any way. Psalm 33:4 says, For the word of the LORD is right… Psalm 119 supports this with several statements:

      75. “I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right.”
      140. “Thy word is very pure…”
      142. “…thy law is the truth.”
      160. “Thy word is true from the beginning…”

      At the same time, to believe God is to be convinced that it is utterly impossible for Him to lie (Hebrews 6:18). Faith understands that the divine nature consists of holiness, purity and righteousness. Therefore, God cannot sin; He can never make a mistake; and He cannot do or say anything wrong. Deception, guile, misleading statements, or every other form of corrupt speech are totally foreign to the mouth of God. When He speaks, the force of truth energizes His words with undeniable and irresistible power. They create things out of nothing, they sustain life, or they penetrate and judge the hearts of men. And because of these things, the words of God demand a response from all who hear them.

    2. Therefore, if a person truly believes God, he must act on that belief, implicitly obeying God’s commands. This is what James meant when he said faith without works is dead (James 2:20). If a man says he believes God but does not obey God’s commands, those who hear his profession of faith must seriously doubt his sincerity. How can someone honestly believe that what God has said is absolutely right, true and accurate and not respond to it with the appropriate action? What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works, can faith save him? (James 2:14). Can a man’s faith profit him when it consists of nothing but empty words? James says: Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works (James 2:17).

      It is important to note, however, that James is not teaching that works has any part in saving a man. Acting because you believe what God says is not the same thing as working in order to obtain God’s favor. By declaring that faith without works is dead, James teaches that a man must really believe God and not just say he does. If a man really believes God, he will do whatever God instructs him to do. It is the believing part that pleases God. The accompanying work or action merely demonstrates that the profession of faith is genuine. A man is justified in his profession, that is, shown to be genuine, by the evidence of his activity after he has believed.

      When Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, many believed what they heard and responded with the question, Men and brethren, what shall we do? (Acts 2:37). They understood that believing the message of the Gospel necessitated an appropriate response. So it is with all the words of God. If we really believe them, we will gladly submit to what they require.

    3. Abraham is an excellent example of this dynamic of faith. Abraham believed God (Romans 4:3). The proof of this is that when God told Abraham to do something, he did it, regardless of whether or not it made sense to him.

      One example of this is Abraham’s response to God’s promise that he and Sarah would have a son. The promise did not include a conception engineered by the Holy Spirit as in the case with Mary and Jesus. Abraham’s child was to be born through the natural process of human conception. This meant that Abraham and Sarah had to have the appropriate physical relationship in order for conception to occur. Once Abraham really believed that what God said was true, he considered not his own body now dead… neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb (Romans 4:19) and knew his wife. Abraham believed God and followed that belief with the appropriate action.

      Another example concerns Abraham’s actions regarding his son Isaac. God instructed Abraham to take his son Isaac to the top of a mountain and sacrifice him there as a burnt offering. (Genesis 22:1ff). He dutifully took Isaac to Mt. Moriah, demonstrating how thoroughly he believed what God said by tying up his son, laying him on an altar and raising the knife in his hands with the full intention of slaying him before the Lord.

    4. The applications of this principle are very practical. When an unregenerate man believes the Gospel, he must act on that belief by confessing his sin and by calling upon the name of the Lord, receiving Christ (Romans 10:8-14; John 1:12). Confessing and calling are not works which he does in order to be saved; they are only the appropriate actions which result from genuine belief. Of course, if he does not confess and call, there must be serious questions about how genuinely he believes.

      Likewise, a believer’s response to the Word of God, will result in very specific behaviors. For example, a Christian reads Romans 12:11, Be… not slothful in business… Prior to this, he has had a typical worldly attitude on the job, showing up and doing just enough to be able to pick up his pay check each week. But because he has decided to believe God, upon reading this statement he consciously changes his attitude at work and becomes diligently productive every day. Similarly, when God’s Word tells us to distribute to the necessity of the saints (Romans 12:13), we respond by giving money, or food, or clothing to the members of our local church who desperately need these things. When it tells us to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction (James 1:27), we go to their homes and help them in any way we can. When it tells us to be ready to answer anyone who asks about our hope in Christ (I Peter 3:15), we openly testify of our salvation and of our confidence in the Word of God.

    5. One problem that comes from failing to believe God is inaction. This is the consequence that James discusses. A man says he has faith, but he never acts on that faith. His inaction, his failure to act on what he says he believes, demonstrates the emptiness of his profession. Illustrating this, James turns our attention to a man or woman who is insufficiently clothed and destitute of daily food. Inaction wishes them well but leaves them naked and hungry (James 2:15-16). Even so, he says, faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone (James 2:17). A professed faith may be full of good wishes, but without being accompanied by the appropriate action, it is likely not real faith. And an empty faith always leaves an unsaved man in his lost estate, an immature Christian slothful in business, the fatherless and widows lonely, and the questions of seekers unanswered.

      By contrast, genuine belief always results in an appropriate action. By faith, Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice, Enoch walked with God, Noah prepared an ark, Abraham went out to a strange place, and Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. Through faith, men subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, and did many other remarkable things (Hebrews 11:33, 34). Those who stayed home and did nothing are not recorded in the Hall of Faith.

      How many people in this world say they believe in God yet show no evidence in their lives of specific responses to the things God has said. James says that simply believing God exists is grossly insufficient. The devils also believe this, but look at the terrifying condition they are in (James 2:19). Merely accepting the existence of God is an entirely different thing from understanding our accountability to Him and submitting to that accountability by an implicit obedience to His commands.

      The passivity that results from empty belief often leaves a vacuum in the human soul. If it is sustained for any length of time, all kinds of superstitions will rush in to fill the void. This leads to another problem.

    6. Another problem that comes from failing to believe God is wrong action. Many people not only chose to ignore God’s plan of action for their lives but also choose to replace it with a plan they make up on their own or one that has been made up by someone else. This is, of course, the reason there are so many religions in the world today. As Paul describes the problem in his letter to the Romans, Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God… but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things (Romans 1:21-23). Instead of accepting God as He is, they made up their own gods and along with them also made up a whole set of commandments to follow which were contrary to the commandments of God.

      Jesus indicated that this problem is not exclusive to those who make up false gods. The Scribes and Pharisees in the Gospels professed to believe in the true God. In spite of that, they transgressed the commandments of God by their own traditions. In confronting them about this, Jesus said, For God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; And honor not his father or his mother , he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition (Matthew 15:4-6). The Scribes and Pharisees, in spite of their professed faith in God, did not really believe God because they failed to obey His words, choosing instead to pursue alternatives they had made up on their own.

      Passivity regarding the Word of God is bad enough, but to go so far as to invent alternatives, or blindly follow the inventions of others, is a very serious offense. This is why Scripture admonishes us repeatedly concerning the danger of false teachers who pervert the right ways of God with damnable heresies. God will never accept alternatives to His Word. For example, Cain thought he could bring an offering of his own choosing and still be acceptable unto God. But he learned the hard way that man’s alternatives to God’s instruction are nothing more than the unacceptable result of unbelief. He either had to believe God and respond accordingly or He would be rejected, regardless of how nice his alternative plan appeared to be.

  2. Trusting

    Faith also includes the dynamic of trust. This means that we not only believe God to be accurate in what He says, but we also are convinced that He is trustworthy. There are several things involved in this dynamic of faith.

    1. To trust God is to have absolute confidence that He can do whatever needs to be done. This is a crucial part of faith, because doubting God’s ability contradicts the very nature of faith. God is able. If he is not able, He is not God. If He is not God, there is no reason to have faith in Him. But since He is God, He is able; and believing that makes it easy to trust God to deliver whatever is needed. Seekers can be assured of salvation because, He is able also to save them to the uttermost… (Hebrews 7:25). Seasoned believers can endure the most difficult of circumstances because His grace is sufficient even for infirmities, reproaches, necessities, persecutions, and distresses for Christ’s sake (II Corinthians 12:9-10).

      This is the very thing that sustained Mary in the challenge of bearing a child as a virgin. When the angel appeared to Mary, she wondered how she could be with child when she had never known a man. Gabriel explained to her that with God, nothing shall be impossible (Luke 1:37). Knowing that God was able to do this marvelous thing alleviated all her apprehensions and gave her the courage to gladly submit to the plan.

    2. To trust God also means to have an unwavering confidence that He will keep His Word. Numbers 23:19 says, God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Isaiah 55:11 reinforces this by saying, So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Faith convinces the heart that God is reliable, trustworthy, dependable, faithful, responsible, credible, and believable. Abraham, who believed God to be truthful, also trusted God to do whatever He said He would do. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also to perform (Romans 4:20-21).

      This aspect of trust is illustrated in James 1:5-7. God has promised to give wisdom to all men liberally. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. So, if any of us are in need of wisdom, all we need to do is ask for it. But James says, Ask in faith, nothing wavering. If we question whether or not God will keep His promises, we likely will not receive what God desires to give. As James says, For let not that man (whose faith is wavering) think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. Faith trusts God absolutely to deliver what He has promised. It acknowledges God to be full of integrity, true to His Word and absolutely trustworthy.

    3. It follows then, that to trust God is to wait as long as it takes for God to deliver what He has promised. When we believe God, we act on that belief showing that we really do believe; but when we trust God, we do not act: we wait for God to act, showing that we really do trust in Him. This is where Hebrews 11:1 fits into the definition of faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. If God has not yet acted to fulfill His promises, faith in God’s integrity sustains us while we wait. Faith is evidence enough to convince us that He can do whatever needs to be done and substantial enough to convince us that He will act when He deems it appropriate.

      And thus, all those recorded in the Hall of Faith (Hebrews Chapter 11) were unhesitatingly loyal in spite of the fact they never received the promise in their life time on earth (Hebrews 11:39). They believed God, obeying Him faithfully and they trusted Him completely, never giving up the hope that is born out of real faith.

    4. Another dimension to trusting God involves depending upon Him for things we need. Jesus makes this point in the Sermon on the Mount when He says, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on… for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you (Matthew 6:25,32-33). Faith assures the heart that God knows what we need and will provide accordingly.

    5. But this aspect of trust also includes accepting God’s judgment in determining what we need. If we ask Him for something and wait patiently for Him to respond, faith assists us in graciously accepting whatever His response is. You have probably heard someone say jubilantly, “I received an answer to prayer.” But did you ever notice that people say that only when they get what they asked for? Does God sometimes say, “No,” when we ask for things? Would it not be just as appropriate, when it becomes obvious that God is not going to give us what we asked for, to say, “Hallelujah! I received an answer to my prayer. God said no!” Unfortunately, many of us are not satisfied until we get what we want. When we begin to suspect that He is not going to give us what we asked for, we often seek some other way to obtain it. This is not trusting God. Trusting does not only include depending on Him for what we need; it also includes accepting His judgement in determining whether or not we actually need it.

      Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego provide an excellent example of this. Faced with the possibility of being thrown into the fiery furnace they said, If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O King. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up (Daniel 3:17-18). They knew God could deliver them from the fire in the furnace; but they did not know if He would. It made no difference to them. They were willing to accept either deliverance or death as God’s solution to their dilemma. We face many situations in which we know what God can do but not what He will do. Faith trusts that what God ultimately decides to do is the very best decision, no matter what.

    6. It follows then that to trust God means we do not judge God by what we experience. Since God is always correct in the decisions He makes on our behalf, there is never a time that faith allows us to question His judgment. We never accuse Him of being wrong, unfair, uncaring, or insensitive to our needs. Instead, we always respect His decisions no matter how difficult or unpleasant our experience becomes. Faith assures our heart that He always knows what is best for us according to His will.

      For example, two people, both of whom are walking with the Lord, find themselves financially destitute and about to lose their homes because they cannot pay their mortgage. Both pray identical prayers, asking God to provide the money they need. God provides for one of them who then says, “Thank you Heavenly Father for being a wonderful provider.” But God does not provide for the other one, who ends up losing his home. Does the second man criticize God for letting him down, or does he accept the loss of his house as part of God’s perfect will for his life? The trusting heart accepts God’s decision whatever it is and gives thanks in all things (Ephesians 5:20). This dynamic of faith assists the Christian in learning to be content in whatever state he finds himself. As Paul said, I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me (Philippians 4:11-13).

    7. One problem that arises from not trusting God is self-sufficiency. Consider the story of the rich man in Luke 12:16-21. He had so much that his barns could not hold it; so he built bigger barns and was sure he had need of nothing. His self-sufficient attitude was an act of unbelief, or faithlessness. He acknowledged no dependence upon God whatsoever and trusted solely in himself. His confidence went for nought, however, because he could not keep his soul alive (Psalm 22:29) and he died, leaving his full barns behind. A similar indictment is given against the Church of Laodicea in Revelation 3:15-17, I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods and have need of nothing… Surely, the participants in the church at Laodicea claimed to believe in God and even claimed to believe in Christ, else they would not have been in the church. But their faith was grossly deficient. In fact, it was so deficient that God was ready to spit them out of his mouth. Oh how wretched we become when we think we can provide for ourselves and have no reason to trust God.

    8. Another problem that arises from not trusting God is worry. Worry is the exact opposite of faith. When we worry, our hearts fill up with anxiety, our emotions become frazzled and our soul is drenched with the fear that the worse possible thing that can happen will. Think how incompatible this is with the belief that God always keeps His word and He always does what is best. The song writer said, “Why worry when you can pray!” Indeed. Why worry when we have the privilege of making our requests known unto our Trustworthy Heavenly Father who will work all things after the counsel of His own will and who never forsakes His own. Philippians 4:6-7 says, Be careful for nothing (that is, do not let your heart be filled up with anxiety); but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made know unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

      Consider the little faith of the disciples that could not keep them from panicking. One day they were on the Sea of Galilee and a storm ferociously battered their boat. The disciples awoke Jesus from his sleep crying, Lord, save us: we perish (Matthew 8:25). One might argue that they were turning to Christ in faith, knowing He was the only one who could help them in a desperate situation. Jesus, however, confronted them for having too little faith. Their cry was laced with fear betraying their despair in which they were nearly convinced that all was about to be lost. But worry is about as useless as trying to make ourselves taller (Matthew 6:25-26,27,28-34). It is an act of faithlessness which will likely prevent us from receiving many of the blessings God is waiting to shower upon us.

      The antidote for worry is faith. Trust Him! He can do whatever needs to be done. He will do everything He has promised to do. Depend on Him to know what is needed and to provide it at precisely the right time — not too soon and not too late.

Conclusion

The Bible presents two dynamics of faith. But please note: while we can examine each dynamic separately, we must learn to use them together. Believing God and trusting God are like the two sides of a coin. You cannot spend the heads side today and the tails side tomorrow. You must spend them together as a single coin. Similarly, believing and trusting are intricately bound together in the operation of faith.

For example, when Abraham believed that God’s promise of a son was true, he acted on that belief by knowing his wife. But at the same time, he fully trusted God to intervene and make it possible for Sarah to bear a child in spite of their aged bodies. These two things together make up the substance of Abraham’s faith in God.

Since faith is the primary element in man’s relationship with God, we cannot afford to get faith wrong. If we get faith wrong, we do not please God. And, the failure to please God can have eternal ramifications. Unfortunately, there are many well meaning people who are participating in the church who do not get it right. They say they believe God, but at the same time seek to please Him by following their own attempts to produce righteousness. They say they trust God, but the things they do themselves make them much more confident of heaven than the grace of God does.

In order to get faith right, we have to lay aside every weight that so easily besets us and look only unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. We have to believe that He starts it and He finishes it and there is nothing for us to do in between those two things. We have to throw away everything that would cause us to boast that we had something personally to do with our pleasing God.

Faith pleases God and faith alone. By faith, I enter into a relationship with God, believing the Gospel and trusting Him alone to save me. By faith I walk in Christ daily, obeying His every word because it is right, and trusting Him for everything, being fully persuaded that what He says, He does. May your faith be real; and if it is, I am sure you too will always find God to be a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him, even as He promised.

The Eternal Security of the Believer

Literature, , ,

by David E. Moss

Preface

The doctrine of eternal security is very important to the history of the North Hills Bible Church. The following excerpt from our records shows why. “In July of 1939, a group of Christians, including the pastor, O.M. Kraybill, left the West Poplar Street Church of God and shortly thereafter, formed the Bible Church. The new church came into being because Pastor Kraybill believed in the eternal security of the believer, and preached it openly. The Church of God (the non-charismatic denomination) hierarchy was of the persuasion that a person could lose their salvation, and was putting much pressure on Pastor Kraybill to cease and desist from preaching eternal security. Rather than continue in a system whereby he could not teach what he considered to be the truth of the Scriptures, Pastor Kraybill chose to leave the denomination.” (The Bible Church was located on North George Street in North York until 1969 at which time it moved to our present location and became the North Hills Bible Church.)

Since the doctrine of eternal security is so significant to the heritage of our church, it is extremely important that we continue today to stand on this foundation with strong conviction, lest the sacrifices of those who laid it be in vain. It is for this reason that I dedicate this article to the memory of Pastor Kraybill who faithfully preached the truth without compromise and to all those who faithfully stood with him in 1939.

Some of the text that follows has appeared in previous articles published in this paper. Some of the thoughts have been preached in sermons at the North Hills Bible Church. It is my hope that the compilation of these things together will give some clarity to biblical teaching on this subject.

Eternal Security

David said in Psalm 23:6, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. He did not say, “I hope so, I think so, or I might.” He said, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. David had tremendous confidence that He would live forever in the presence of God. He was secure in his faith and was sure that his security was eternal in nature. This was because he had placed all his confidence in the Shepherd who guarded his life.

But there are those who would disagree with David. They believe that salvation is conditional in nature and requires something from man to insure that it will endure. They view salvation like a contract that contains options for both sides. Some of them believe that when a person receives Christ as his Savior, he is given a temporary license to live that is valid as long as he performs satisfactorily. If he does so to the end of his earthly life, then, and only then, will he receive a permanent license to live eternally. Others believe that saved people maintain an option to relinquish their salvation if they ever decide to disbelieve the gospel. The one believes that God will terminate salvation if He becomes unhappy with man. The other believes that man can terminate salvation if he becomes unhappy with God.

The teaching of the Bible is very clear on this subject. In saving us, God promises to preserve our lives forever (John 3:16; Romans 6:23). This promise is effective immediately upon the salvation of our soul, and the life He produces in us is consistently and emphatically said by Scripture to be eternal! In fact, the Bible is saturated with truths that teach that once a person is saved, he is saved for eternity and will never be lost again either by an act of God or by an act of man. The following is representative of the profound nature of this doctrine as it is taught by God in His Holy Word.

  1. The Meaning Of Eternal

    The Bible says that everyone who has believed in Christ and is saved has (present tense) eternal, or everlasting life (John 3:15,16; John 5:24; I John 5:13). Something that is eternal has no end. It goes on and on with no conclusion, no ending point, no possibility of termination. So when God says a believer possesses life that has no ending point, he cannot be saying at the same time that a saved person possesses a life that can be terminated if the right conditions occur.

    God uses the word “eternal” to describe part of His own nature (Deuteronomy 33:27). In doing so, He describes two very important dimensions to His deity. One is that he lives completely outside of the context of time (Psalm 90:1-4). He cannot be defined in terms of past, present, and future because in all those time elements He simply is (Exodus 3:14). The other is that there is a definite correspondence between the nature of His existence and the concept of unchangeableness. Psalm 102:25-27 says of God,

    Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure… they shall be changed: but thou are the same, and thy years shall have no end.

    When God applies the word eternal to the kind of life He gives to those who believe the Gospel of Christ, He does not change the definition of the word from its application to His own nature. As the eternal God lives outside of the context of time, the eternal life He gives to believers is a life that also exists outside of the context of time. And, as the eternal nature of God implies that He is perpetually the same throughout eternity, the eternal life He gives to those who are in Christ will never change throughout all the limitless span of eternity.

    To believe that eternal life can be terminated or changed is to require that one also believe that God can be terminated or changed. If this be so, then God is not God after all and salvation is meaningless. If the eternal God is limitless and unchangeable as He claims to be, then the eternal salvation He gives to us is equally limitless and unchangeable. And since it is, everyone who is in Christ can be eternally confident that they are secure in Christ.

  2. The Earnest Of Our Inheritance And The Seal Of God

    The Bible also says that after a person is saved by believing the Gospel he is sealed with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-4). To understand what it means to be sealed with the Holy Spirit, it is important to look first at the word “earnest.” The word earnest means “down payment.” The earnest of the Holy Spirit means that the entrance of the Holy Spirit into the body of a believer serves as a down payment for the inheritance he has been promised in Christ. This indwelling of the Spirit is God’s pledge that He will also give us everything else He has promised us in Christ. It is the same concept as making a down payment on a mortgage at a bank. The down payment is the earnest, or the promise, to pay all the rest of the mortgage. We can only imagine all that is part of our inheritance in Christ, but we know that we will receive it because of the down payment He has made with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

    When the Holy Spirit is given to us as a down payment of our inheritance, God uses this to place His seal upon our lives.

    1. What the Seal Is

      A seal in Biblical times served the same purpose as a signature does today. Special rings were made with raised insignias attached that served as identifying emblems. Each insignia was unique so that whenever a particular emblem was seen, it would immediately be known to whom it belonged.

      To place a “signature” on an item, they would use a lit candle to drop a little wet wax onto the item and then press the insignia of the ring into the soft wax, leaving an impression. In Bible times, it was often true that once a document was sealed or signed by a King’s insignia, the matter addressed in the document could not be reversed or changed.

    2. The Effect of the Seal

      An example of this is found in the Book of Esther, chapter three. Haman convinced King Ahasuerus to place his seal upon a death warrant for all the Jews in his kingdom. When the King discovered that the Queen was a Jew and that Haman had tricked him into signing a death warrant for his own wife, there was nothing he could do to cancel the order. The only way he could compensate was to issue a second order giving the Jewish people the right to defend themselves.

      A similar incident occurred in Daniel chapter six when the King issued a decree that no prayers were to be offered to anyone but himself for thirty days. Daniel violated the rule, but the King did not want to punish him. However, since the King’s signature authenticated the decree it could not be altered and Daniel had to be thrown into the Lion’s den.

      This is the concept of the sealing ministry of the Holy Spirit. With the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, God places His signature upon our lives. This authenticates our membership in the Body of Christ which cannot be reversed or changed in any way. When Scripture says we are sealed with the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption, it is a fact that can never be erased. We are God’s forever because He has sealed us with His signature. Isn’t this wonderful? This is security — the security of the signature of God authenticating our salvation and sealing it forever.

  3. Christ Living In Me

    The only reason a believer can claim to be alive is because of the living Christ who dwells within him. As Galatians 2:20 says, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me…

    The unsaved are dead. They might be walking around on the earth, but they are dead nonetheless (Ephesians 2:1). And because unbelievers are dead, physical death acts as a wall which prevents them from entering the realm of eternal bliss. Instead, upon impact with physical death unbelievers crash down into the pit of everlasting death and eternal condemnation. While they are walking around on earth as living dead people, this is all the unsaved have to look forward to.

    But there is a law that works in the believer called the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2). This is a law established by God that cannot be broken. As a result, nothing can separate those who possess eternal life from the love of God. Romans 8:35-39 lists a number of things that might try to sever this relationship such as tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword, etc. In spite of every attempt to separate a person from the love of God, the believer remains eternally secure because the law of the Spirit of life prevails. For those who are alive in Christ, physical death serves only as a doorway for them to enter into the presence of God in fulfillment of that wonderful promise: to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (II Corinthians 5:8). Thus in every believer’s life, God’s law of the Spirit of life in Christ is faithfully enforced.

  4. The Intercession Of Christ

    Even though a person has been saved from sin, it is still possible for him to sin while he continues to live on earth. Until the last trumpet sounds, the believer’s body is referred to as corrupt and mortal (I Corinthians 15:53). In that corruption and immortality is the full capacity to commit sin. Obviously, God’s desire is for His children to learn how to leave sin alone altogether, but because the sin nature continues to dwell within a believer’s flesh for the duration of his earthly experience, God understands the possibility of sin occurring (I John 2:1M).

    The question is whether or not sin can cause a believer to lose his salvation. Scripture is clear. When a saved person sins, God is not limited in His ability to save his children for eternity. Hebrews 7:25 says Christ is able to save them to the uttermost. That means He is fully capable of saving believers to the full extent, the furthest extreme, the entire duration of eternity.

    Why is He able to do this? The same verse explains that it is because throughout eternity Christ lives and makes intercession for all those who have trusted in Him. Because of Christ’s personal and perpetual work of intercession, no one can condemn a believer. Romans 8:34 asks the question, Who is he that condemneth? It then answers the question by explaining that Christ is the one who died and He also has risen from the dead and is presently at the right hand of God. Because He successfully represented us on the cross, He qualifies to represent us before the Sovereign judge to verify that our sins have been eternally adjudicated under His shed blood. The most that can happen to a saved person is that he can be accused (Revelation 12:10). But in every instance in which a saved person is accused (by any source including his own flesh, I John 3:20), he is immediately excused because of Christ’s intercession for him.

    If a Christian does sin, his advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous, makes a plea before the Father which is always accepted because Jesus totally propitiated or satisfied God concerning man’s sin in His redemptive work (I John 2:1-2). This satisfaction is so complete that it covers the sins of the whole world and for all time. As the mediator between God and man, Christ’s perpetual intercession eliminates any possibility that sin can ruin a believer’s relationship with God. We are secure in our possession of eternal life because in every instance in which we sin, Jesus Christ stands as our advocate before the Father and the Father always accepts the intercessory word of His Son.

  5. The Concept Of Biblical Hope

    Salvation includes many dynamics. There is confession and faith, mercy and forgiveness, grace, redemption, propitiation, reconciliation, justification, sanctification, peace, righteousness, eternal life, etc. But what kind of salvation would we have if God did not include hope?

    Hope implies not just a fulfilling life now but a sustaining of life for eternity. Biblical hope is not a maybe if everything turns out okay; it is an absolute certainty based on the trustworthiness of God. God cannot lie (II Thessalonians 2:1), and He said when a believer dies he does not perish but lives forever. That is our hope, our confidence, our security in Christ.

  6. The Integrity Of God’s Promises

    Salvation, therefore, and the security of salvation, rests solely on the ability of God to keep His promises. What are the promises He has made to those who have been saved by grace through faith?

    I John 2:25 – This is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.

    John 6:47 – Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.

    John 6:51 – I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever…

    Romans 6:23 – The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

    Titus 1:2 – In hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the world began.

    John 10:27,28 – My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give unto them eternal life.

    John 11:25,26 – Jesus said, I am the resurrection, and the life: whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.

    I John 5:11,13 – God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. That ye may know that ye have eternal life.

    John 3:16 – For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

    What is God’s opinion of making a promise? In Deuteronomy 23:21-23, God explains that if a person makes a vow he is required to keep it. To fail to keep a vow is to sin and every sin must be penalized. If this is God’s standard for people, it is certainly His standard for Himself. And since we know that God never sins, we know that He always keeps His Word. When He promises eternal life, He gives exactly that — eternal life — and not some cheap tenuous life that depends on human behavior or human choices to endure.

    To question the eternal security of believers in Christ is to question the very integrity of God. Has God made empty promises? Do the words of God not mean what they say? Such thoughts are ludicrous. It is impossible for God to lie (Numbers 23:19; Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18). But for someone to say that God’s promises are not true, it is the same thing as calling God a liar (I John 5:10). God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar… (Romans 3:4). God has promised eternal life and that is exactly what He gives.

  7. Kept By The Power Of God

    Peter discusses our wonderful salvation in the first chapter of his first letter by saying, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you (verses 3-4). This statement affirms the security of the believer with several words: saying we have a lively hope and an incorruptible inheritance which is undefiled, that fadeth not away, and is reserved in heaven for all of us who are saved. Then, to add even more emphasis to how secure we are in Christ, Peter says, we are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (verse 5).

    Our hope is a living hope and our inheritance cannot be corrupted or damaged in any way. It is reserved for us on the basis of God’s promises and we can have the utmost confidence that we will receive what God has promised in its entirety because God Himself preserves us unto our inheritance by His own almighty, irresistible power. Our life is hid with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3) and no one is able to pluck us out of that grip which is fortified by the same power that created the universe out of nothing and that raised Jesus Christ from the dead (John 10:29)!

    As the hymn writer, Lina Sandell, proclaimed, More secure is no one ever than the loved ones of the Savior. The fourth verse of her hymn reads,

    Little flock, to joy then yield thee! Jacob’s God will ever shield thee; rest secure with this Defender, at His will all foes surrender.

    It does not matter what foe that may be: sin that wars against our flesh, the fickle will of the human soul, or the great accuser who challenges our right standing before God. The power of God prevails against every attempt to pluck us from the grip of His Hand. When a person is in Christ because he has believed the Gospel and by grace through faith alone has received the gift of eternal life, it is impossible for the gift to be removed from his life — if for no other reason than the power of the almighty God which is able to keep us.

A Word About The Belief That It Is Possible To Lose Eternal Life

There are two basic schools of thought among those who believe that it is possible to lose one’s salvation. One school of thought is that in order for man to have a free will, he must maintain the freedom to turn away from Christ even after he is saved. The other is the thought that sinning to one degree or another after the point of salvation nullifies the application of redemption to a believer’s life.

Man’s will actually becomes freer after he is saved than it was before. Romans 3:11 describes a natural man that does not seek after God. Yet Hebrews 11:6 says that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. How does one change from being a non-seeker to a seeker? Faith is the answer. Before faith comes to a man’s heart, he is incapable of doing good or even seeking after God. But when the Word of God initiates faith (Romans 10:17) a man’s heart is free to choose that which he had always resisted before. When a person then chooses to believe in Christ through faith and is given the gift of eternal life by grace, God provides protection to his will by making him eternally secure in Christ. Hence, instead of being a violation of man’s will, eternal security is a means by which believers are guaranteed the opportunity to make the right choices for the rest of their lives (II Corinthians 3:5; Titus 2:11-12).

Unfortunately, a saved person does not always make the right choices and sometimes we who have the freedom to follow the will of God do not always do so. Never does Scripture suggest, however, that an irresponsible believer is in danger of losing his salvation. Those who believe it does make the mistake of not distinguishing between the contexts of salvation and sanctification. Consider how I Corinthians 3:12-17 explains that a man gets to heaven even if his entire life counts for nothing. It describes all the behavior of believers as being equal in value to either hay, wood, and stubble, or gold, silver, and precious stones. When the believer stands before the judgement seat of Christ, his irresponsible deeds are burned up like hay, wood and stubble while his acts of faithfulness endures the test of fire like gold, silver and precious stones. In the event that all the work of a particular believer is burned up, verse 15 of this passage says, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved. This tells us that even if a believer’s entire Christian life is worthless, nothing prevents him from being saved because he is secure in Christ. This in no way encourages irresponsibility among the saved; it only explains that works have no part in salvation — either in securing it for us, or in maintaining it after we are in possession of it.

Knowing that we are saved and cannot be lost is not a license to sin. Instead, eternal security provides motivation to please the One who has so richly blessed us. The sin nature, that still contaminates our flesh as long as we live on earth, persists in resisting the will of God and sometimes we lose the struggle and do those things which we really do not want to do (Romans 7:15-17). Nevertheless we are delivered from the body of this death through Jesus Christ so that while our flesh desires to serve the law of sin, we can still decide with our transformed minds to serve the law of God (Romans 7:24-25). If we get too far out of line, God chastens us and turns us back to the path of righteousness (Hebrews 12:5-10). If we persist in resisting the chastening of God and in pursuing irresponsible behavior, there is the ultimate penalty of sin unto death. This is the physical removal of a saved person from earth. He suffers the loss of opportunity to live for God on earth, but he himself shall be saved (I John 5:16-17).

But the heart of a truly saved person does not want to sin even though his flesh does. This is because loving God and obeying His Word are one and the same (I John 5:3). I heard of a person who said he did not want to get saved because then he would not be able to do the worldly things he enjoyed. The Christian who was witnessing to this person responded by saying that he could do all of those worldly things as a saved person. The unbeliever was surprised and was not sure of what to say. Then the Christian added that while he could do those things if he chose to do so, he would not want to do those things as a saved person because God would change the desires of his heart when He saved him (Philippians 2:13).

When God saves us, He does far more than give us a ticket to Heaven. Titus 2:11-12 says that the same grace of God that saves us also teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. God not only rescues us from the consequences of sin, but gives us the capacity to walk away from the temptations to sin that we face every day of our lives. It is in the context of our Christian walk that many warnings are given to believers — not because we are in any danger of losing our salvation, but because we are in danger of not experiencing the blessings that God has designed to accompany salvation. Thus He says in Hebrews 4:1, Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. The word “seem” refers to a subjective judgment that does not match up with reality. Sin can cause a believer to lose the joy of his salvation (Psalm 51:12), which might make him feel unsaved but cannot make him become unsaved. This is why God admonishes us in Ephesians 4:1 to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. He does not want us just to walk, but to walk worthily, not just to live, but to live soberly, righteously, and godly so that in the process we can enjoy both the hope of eternal life and all of the spiritual blessings that accompany it. Thus biblical warnings to believers are the rod of the Shepherd intended to keep us sheep walking joyfully on the right path until we reach the still waters. They are not a threat of retaliation by which we might lose the opportunity ever to arrive.

Conclusion

Eternal security is essential to the very nature of eternal life. Just as it is not within man’s power to obtain his own salvation, it is not within his power to retain it. Instead of a man needing to keep himself in the grace of God, it is the grace of God that keeps a man secure in Christ. Of course, man is given the freedom to believe the gospel or reject it. But once he willingly receives the grace of God and is saved, he is sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise and kept by the power of God forever.

At the heart of the matter is what a person is really trusting in. In every case where someone believes it is possible to lose his salvation, it is because he believes he must do something himself to satisfy God or else suffer the consequence of eternal death. There are only two possibilities. Salvation is entirely an act of God, or it is at least partially an act of man. Scripture settles the matter in very simple terms. Salvation is not of ourselves, lest any one of us should boast that we are in the grace of God by our own merit. Salvation is the gift, the free gift, and nothing but the gracious gift of God (Ephesians 2:8-9). And, as God is the one who gives us life, God is the one who keeps us alive for eternity. I am so glad I do not have to find something within myself that is adequate to the task of keeping me saved. I rejoice with thanksgiving that all I have to do is trust in God who alone saves me by His grace and keeps me by His power.

He tells me words whereby I’m saved,
He points to something done,
Accomplished on Mount Calvary
By His beloved Son;
In which no works of mine have place,
Else grace with works were no more grace.

Not saved are we by trying;
From self can come no aid;
‘Tis on the blood relying,
Once for our ransom paid.
‘Tis looking unto Jesus,
The Holy One and Just;
‘Tis His great work that saves us —
It is not ‘try’ but ‘trust’!

No deeds of ours are needed
To make Christ’s merit more:
No frames of mind or feelings
Can add to His great store;
‘Tis simply to receive Him,
The Holy One and Just;
‘Tis only to believe Him —
It is not ‘try’ but ‘trust’!

My sin — oh, the bliss of this glorious thought —
My sin — not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to His cross and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh, my soul!

[Poems from “Full Assurance” by H.A. Ironside. For additional reading also consider “Shall Never Perish” by J. F. Strombeck. A copy of the latter may be found in our church library.]

The Qualifications and Responsibilities of Elders and Deacons

Literature, ,

by David E. Moss

The Bible teaches that there are two offices in the local church: elders and deacons. Elder is an office of oversight. Deacon is an office of service. Together they provide the leadership and ministry that is vital to the health of the local church. [For a more complete definition of these offices, please see the booklet “Setting Things in Order, An Examination of the Biblical Format for Church Administration.” It also puts the role of “pastor” into perspective with the offices of elder and deacon.]

  1. The Institution of the Offices of the Church

    1. In the beginning, leadership in the church was provided exclusively by the Apostles (Acts 2:42; Acts 4:35).
    2. When the numbers of Christians began multiplying, the Apostles ordered the institution of other servants (deacons) to help in fulfilling direct ministry to the people (Acts 6:1-6).
    3. The first mention of elders in the local church is at Jerusalem where they received relief sent from believers in Antioch (Acts 11:30). Elders were also ordained in all the local churches started by Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey (Acts 14:23). Their role of providing primary oversight to the local church emerged in Acts 15 where they participated with the Apostles in making major decisions (Acts 15:2,4,6,22,23; 16:4).
    4. The oversight of the local church was turned over completely to the elders when the Apostles were no longer going to be available — as illustrated by Paul with the Elders in Ephesus (Acts 20:17-38).
    5. Meanwhile, at least one of the first seven deacons became an evangelist and performed great wonders among the people — illustrating that deacons had more to do than wait on tables (Acts 6:8). [Acts 8 – If this Philip is the deacon and not the apostle, he would be the second deacon who became an evangelist.]
    6. Bishops and deacons are identified together in the church at Philippi — illustrating that the two offices were to work together within each local church (Philippians 1:1). [The terms elder and bishop are used interchangeably by Titus in Titus 1:5-7.]
    7. Distinct qualifications are listed for bishops and deacons indicating a distinction in office, but a similarity in spiritual emphasis of responsibilities. Both are to be blameless, the husbands of one wife, and rule their children well; but the elders are to “take care of the church of God” (I Timothy 3:5), while the deacons in using their office “purchase to themselves a good degree,” [i.e. a step or grade of influence] (I Timothy 3:13). The elders are recognized as the ones who are primarily responsible for the welfare of the church. Deacons are recognized as having ministry responsibilities similar to some of those given to elders, only on a different level, as servants rather than overseers.

  2. The Selection of Men as Elders and Deacons

    The selection of men for the offices of elder and deacon is one of the most significant factors in maintaining stability in the local church. Leadership has much to do with the way a church functions and the direction a church goes.

    Many of the problems in today’s local churches can be traced to unqualified leaders. This unfortunate dilemma often results from having a constitution that requires a certain number of offices to be filled whether or not qualified men are available. As a result, congregations elect available men to serve even though they do not qualify, and these men provide inadequate leadership resulting in stressful situations in the church.

    God has outlined both the qualifications and responsibilities of elders and deacons in the New Testament Scriptures. It is absolutely essential for every local church to carefully consider these matters in selecting those who serve in leadership roles.

    The procedure we use at North Hills Bible Church for selecting elders and deacons is as follows:

    1. At an Elder Board meeting several months before election time, we identify men whom we think might qualify for the offices of elder and deacon. Each current elder then considers these prospects and makes personal observations about them in light of the list of biblical qualifications. Also considered is whether or not they have been members of our local church for at least one year and how faithfully they attend all the services of our church.
    2. At a later meeting, having given prayerful consideration of each prospect, the Elder Board agrees upon those who are believed to meet the qualifications. These men are then approached and asked if they are willing to consider serving in the respective offices.
    3. Two elders then make an appointment with each man being considered and interview him.
    4. Reports of the interviews are then shared with the entire Elder Board and a final decision is made as to whom will be presented to the congregation.
    5. At the Annual Congregational meeting, those presented as candidates for elder are voted upon individually so that each man is approved on the merits of his qualification for office and not on the basis of how he compares with someone else. Each man who receives a vote of approval by the congregation (our constitution requires a two-thirds approval rating) then serves as an elder of the church for three years, after which he must be re-approved by the congregation.
    6. Men deemed qualified to serve as deacons are appointed by the Elder Board.

  3. Qualifications for Elders and Deacons

    The Bible has established a very definite set of qualifications for men who would serve in the two offices given to the church. The qualifications for elders are listed in I Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9. It is necessary to combine these two passages for a complete list of qualifications for the office of elder. The qualifications for deacons are listed in I Timothy 3:8-13. It is necessary for men to meet all of the qualifications in order to serve in these offices.

    These are not comparative qualifications. In other words, a man does not qualify to serve as an elder or deacon because he comes the closest to fulfilling the biblical requirements among the men available. These are absolute qualifications. A man either qualifies, or he does not. If none of the available men in a local church qualify, it is better to have no elders or deacons than to have unqualified men serve.

    Elders (I Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9)

      With Regard To Their Reputation

    1. Blameless

      The word blameless means to be above reproach. It does not require that a person be absolutely sinless but it does require two very important things. (1) In his daily walk with God, a man must know how to deal with sin immediately and keep current in his confession of sins, maintaining a healthy fellowship with God the Father, and not grieving or quenching the Holy Spirit. (2) He must never be guilty of serious sins which can cause embarrassment to Christ, His Church, or His work. No one must ever be able to point their finger at this man and say, “Look what he did. And he is an elder in the local church. Shame! Shame!” Blamelessness provides no opportunity for this to happen.

    2. Good report of them which are without

      The man who provides leadership within the church must have a good reputation outside the church as well. This suggests that he obeys the law, gets along well with his neighbors, is polite to strangers, and conducts himself honestly in business. There must to be no possibility that his behavior in the community at large might cause embarrassment to Christ and His Church.

      With Regard To Their Experience

    3. Not a novice

      The word novice refers to someone who is just starting out, a person newly planted in his faith like a seedling tree that is still in the nursery. While this characterizes the condition of new Christians, it may also be true of some who have been saved for a very long time but have never grown. The point being made by this qualification is that spiritual maturity is absolutely essential for providing leadership in the church. This maturity should not be measured simply by how long one has been a Christian, but by how far he has progressed in his Christian growth.

      With Regard To Their Marriage

    4. Husbands of one wife

      An elder must set an example in his own marriage relationship as to what Christ meant when He said, Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church… (Ephesians 5:25). Christ has promised never to leave nor forsake the church, no matter what. An elder should be a living illustration of this truth in his relationship with his wife, loving her and remaining committed to her in the same way that Christ maintains his unconditional relationship with the church. If a man is divorced from his wife and married to another woman while his first spouse is still alive he loses the opportunity to fulfill this illustration.

      With Regard To Their Family Life

    5. Ruling well his own house

      The Scripture explains the importance of this qualification in I Timothy 3:5: “If a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?” The home is a proving ground for men who aspire to leadership in the church. There he learns how to deal with all kinds of situations similar to those he will encounter by working with people in the church. If he has managed his home well through such circumstances, he is a good prospect to provide oversight to the church. If he has failed at home, he will likely fail in the church.

    6. Having his children in subjection with all gravity

      In managing his home well, a father will develop within his children the tendency to be obedient and respectful in their demeanor. By doing so he provides evidence that he is able to be a positive influence on the lives of church members.

    7. Having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly

      A father cannot force his children to be saved. Therefore, this faithfulness refers not to salvation, but to a child’s response to what he has been taught by his father. If a child constantly resists his father’s instructions and is known for riotous and unruly behavior at home, at school, at church, and in the neighborhood, this is evidence that a man has not managed his home well and will do poorly in managing the lives of people in the church. On the other hand, if a man’s children are known to be obedient, respectful and faithful to what they have been taught at home wherever they go, this man is a good prospect for providing leadership in the church. [This qualification would appear not to pertain to children who are grown and no longer living at home.]

      With Regard To Their Spiritual Qualities

    8. Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught

      This statement first of all implies that the man has been taught the Word of God. He is familiar with the Scriptures and has learned them well. By holding them fast, he demonstrates by his life that he not only knows what the Bible says, but also has been able to apply its principles to his daily life. The effect of this relationship with the Word of God enables him by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers (Titus 1:9). In other words, he knows the Bible and is skilled in using it.

    9. Vigilant

      This word describes the ability to be cautious and watchful, guarding against trouble. This kind of man is not taken by surprise nor easily shaken in his leadership. He is well prepared to face difficult situations.

    10. Patient

      This word describes the ability to be equitable, fair, and gentle with people. A patient man has carried the principle of Romans 12:18 to its furthest extreme, If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

    11. Just

      This word describes the consistent pursuit of righteousness. This kind of man is meticulously concerned about knowing what God has said to be right and about upholding that in his personal conduct and in his relationship with others.

    12. Holy

      This word describes the condition of a man’s life who has cooperated with the Holy Spirit in the process of sanctification. The characteristics of the old man have been put off and the characteristics of the new man have been put on. He lives a clean, moral, ethical life that truly glorifies God.

      With Regard To Their Personal Character

    13. Sober

      This word describes the soundness of a man’s mind. A sober man is one who takes life seriously and is conscientious in all he does.

    14. Given to hospitality

      Hospitality is the willingness to share one’s personal possessions with someone else who needs them. It is also the willingness to receive strangers and to be helpful to them. Being given to hospitality, a man demonstrates that he is not selfish or a respecter of persons. As he is hospitable toward the needy and strangers, he sets an example of benevolence before all the people of the church.

    15. Lover of good men

      This is not suggesting a man be a respecter of persons, but that he exhibit proper values. If he demonstrates a tendency to respect those who are characterized by low morals or questionable behavior, he will provide poor direction for the church. On the other hand, if he demonstrates respect only for truly respectable people, he will lead the church toward excellent values.

      With Regard To Their communication skills

    16. Apt to teach

      Not all elders will be teaching elders. I Timothy 5:17 says, Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine. By specifying especially they who labor in the word, there is a clear indication that not all elders will labor in the word. But all elders should be ready and able to share with others the things they know about the Word. Some may be able to do this with a group of people, while others may only be able to do this one on one.

    17. Able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers

      A gainsayer is one who speaks against the truth and offers objections to what the Word of God teaches. To qualify to be an Elder, a man must demonstrate that his faith is unshakeable because he is able to support what he believes from the Scriptures. He will not be carried away because he is capable of defending sound doctrine against those who would contradict it.

      With Regard To Their Financial Integrity

    18. Not greedy of filthy lucre

      This describes a man who understands the purpose of money and uses it wisely. He is not in love with money nor in danger of doing questionable things in order to obtain it.

    19. Not covetous

      This describes a man who is content with what he has. He has learned both how to be abased and how to abound. In whatsoever state he is, he has learned therewith to be content (Philippians 4:11-12). He is not constantly wishing he had something new, or different, or more that he presently has.

      With Regard To Their Personal Discipline

    20. Temperate

      This is not simply a man who has developed self control. This is the quality of control developed as a result of a dynamic relationship with the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Lust and all of its companions (such as lasciviousness, wantonness, concupiscence, etc.) are held in check by the power of God. Consequently, a temperate man is one who is not given to yielding to temptation.

    21. Of good behavior

      This describes the qualities of modesty and respectability. A man of good behavior is one who is willing to do good things without being recognized for them. He does them simply because they are right.

    22. Not given to wine

      This phrase, not given to wine, means that a man is not interested in alcoholic beverages which would effect his judgment and possibly lead to irresponsible behavior causing embarrassment to Christ or his Church. Not given to wine means a person totally abstains from the use of alcoholic beverages in any form.

    23. No striker

      This describes a person that is not contentious. Argumentativeness would cast a shadow on the quality of a man who leads the church, especially the kind of argumentativeness which causes a man to lose control of his emotions. While “striker” suggests a readiness to hit someone, to be no striker as a quality for leadership suggests that a man never comes close to losing control and striking another, even with his tongue.

    24. Not a brawler

      This describes an unwillingness to get into a fight. It is characteristic of a reasonable, thoughtful man who seeks a more rational solution to difficult situations.

    25. Not self willed

      This describes a man who is not arrogant and does not insist on having his own way. He is instead able to accept the rejection of his own ideas and to listen respectfully to the ideas of others as he shares responsibility with them.

    26. Not soon angry

      This describes a man who has a very long fuse and is not given to explosive reactions. Instead, he remains calm even in the midst of very stressful circumstances.

    Deacons (I Timothy 3:8-13)

      With Regard To Their Reputation

    1. Blameless

      Same as Elders.

      With Regard To His Experience

    2. Proved

      Deacons are to be proved. This is the positive reciprocal of not being a novice. One who is proved has been examined and found to be worthy of the responsibilities to be handled.

      With Regard To Their Marriage

    3. Husbands of one wife

      Same as elders.

    4. Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things

      By prescribing qualifications for deacons’ wives, the Scripture clearly implies that there is a partnership between husband and wife in the work of the Lord. A man whose wife has a poor spiritual reputation will be hindered in his ability to serve effectively. To do so he needs the support and cooperation of his partner. (Though specified under qualifications for deacons, one would think that elders wives should also meet these same qualifications.)

      With Regard To Their Family Life

    5. Ruling their children and their own houses well

      Same as elders.

      With Regard To Their Spiritual Qualities

    6. Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience

      The mystery of the faith is the truth of the Gospel and the doctrines of the church as revealed in the New Testament. To be a deacon, a man must show consistency in his doctrinal beliefs and not harbor any private beliefs which, if discovered, would make him guilty of following false doctrine.

      With Regard To Their Personal Character

    7. Grave

      This is a general term which describes a man deserving of respect.

      With Regard To Their Communication Skills

    8. Not Double Tongued

      A double tongued man says one thing to one person and another thing to a another person. A deacon must not be a man who tells people what they want to hear, but always speaks the truth in love.

      With Regard To Their Financial Integrity

    9. Not greedy of filthy lucre

      Same as elders.

      With Regard To Their Personal Discipline

    10. Not given to much wine

      The word wine may mean either alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage (The New Century Dictionary, published in 1948 – Wine = The fermented juice of the grape…unfermented grape juice; also the juice, fermented or unfermented, of various other fruits or plants, used as a beverage). The emphasis in this statement is on the word much. The consumption of alcoholic beverages is not in view. It is instead a reference to the consumption of large quantities of food and non-alcoholic beverage. Consequently, this qualification is not a license for deacons to indulge in a little alcoholic beverage. It is a phrase which means a person is not gluttonous. One who is given to much wine causes embarrassment by how much he eats and drinks. By such behavior, he demonstrates a lack of restraint which is probably true of other parts of his life as well. A man who serves people must know how to restrain his appetite.

  4. Responsibilities of Elders and Deacons

    The spiritual nature of the responsibilities of elders and deacons is the reason men are required to meet such extensive qualifications in order to hold these offices. In these roles, men become the instruments of God in managing the lives of people and the affairs of the local church. They must, therefore, be clean vessels, well fitted for the Master’s use.

    Elders

    A list of duties for elders can be compiled from New Testament texts which refer directly to elders and the things for which they are said to be responsible. These observations can be organized in the following way.

    • Take the Oversight
      1. Oversee the particular flock to which the Holy Spirit assigns them. (Acts 20:28)
      2. Take the oversight of the flock willingly, and of a ready mind: not by constraint, for filthy lucre, or as being lords. (I Peter 5:2-3)
      3. Take care of the church. (I Timothy 3:5)
      4. Rule. (Hebrews 13:7)
      5. Rule well. (I Timothy 5:17)
      6. Consider matters – including doctrinal matters. (Acts 15:6)
      7. Send chosen men to answer matters. (Acts 15:22)
      8. Ordain decrees – establish policy. (Acts 16:4)
      Be Available
      1. Labor among the people. (I Thessalonians 5:12)
      2. Take heed unto all the flock. (Acts 20:28)
      Feed
      1. Feed the flock of God. (Acts 20:28; I Peter 5:2)
      2. Speak the word of God. (Hebrews 13:7)
      3. Labor in the word and doctrine. (I Timothy 5:17)
      Exhort
      1. Watch for the souls of the people. (Hebrews 13:17)
      2. Admonish the people. (I Thessalonians 5:12)
      3. Warn the flock. (Acts 20:31)
      4. Give account for the people either with joy or with grief. (Hebrews 13:17)
      5. Hold fast the faithful word to exhort and to convince the gainsayers by sound doctrine. (Titus 1:9)
      Minister
      1. Support the weak. (Acts 20:34)
      2. Pray over the sick when called. (James 5:14)
      3. Direct the sick to proper medical treatment. (James 5:14)
      Monitor Your Own Life
      1. Take heed unto themselves. (Acts 20:28)
      2. Watch for wolves and for perverse speakers among themselves. (Acts 20:31)
      3. Labor, using their own hands to minister unto their own needs and the needs of those who are with them. (Acts 20:33,34)
      4. Remember Jesus’ words, It is more blessed to give than to receive. (Acts 20:34)
      5. Be an example. (I Peter 5:3)
      6. Maintain a faith that can be followed, demonstrating the end of their conversation. (Hebrews 13:7)

    Deacons

    Deacons in the New Testament included Epaphrus (Colossians 1:7), Tychichus (Ephesians 6:21), Timothy (I Thessalonians 3:2), Mark (II Timothy 4:11), Stephanas (I Corinthians 16:15), Onesiphorous (II Timothy 1:18), Archippus (Colossians 4:17), among others. It is interesting to note also, that even though Paul had the authoritative position of Apostle, he identified himself as fulfilling the role of a deacon in many ministry contexts. The implication of this is that the role of primary leadership in the church includes many deacon type responsibilities. The basic distinction between the offices of elder and deacon is that elders rule and deacons do not. Otherwise there are many similarities between the two offices. A list of duties for deacons can be compiled by observing the biblical references to the things men did in the role of deaconing.

    1. Labor in the Gospel, preaching Christ. (I Thessalonians 3:2; Ephesians 3:7; Colossians 1:23; II Corinthians 4:1,5)
    2. Edify the saints. (II Corinthians 3:3; I Thessalonians 3:2)
    3. Distribute financial aid (benevolence). (Romans 15:25; II Corinthians 8 and 9)
    4. Carry messages of spiritual concern from one believer to another. (Colossians 1:8; Colossians 4:7; Ephesians 6:22)
    5. Labor fervently in prayer for the spiritual welfare of other believers. (Colossians 4:12)
    6. Be zealous toward other believers. (Colossians 4:13; II Timothy 1:17)
    7. Comfort the hearts of believers. (Ephesians 6:22; Colossians 4:7)
    8. Comfort believers concerning their faith. (I Thessalonians 3:2)
    9. Help and labor. (I Corinthians 16:15-16; Hebrews 6:10)
    10. Refresh the imprisoned. (II Timothy 1:16)
    11. Seek to reconcile the lost. (II Corinthians 5:18)
    12. Express spiritual gifts to one another. (I Peter 4:10)

Conclusion

Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church. It is from Him that all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increases with the increase of God.

This can only be achieved when qualified men serve as Christ’s instruments in the offices of elder and deacon. When unqualified men are allowed to fill these offices, they tend to lord it over God’s heritage (I Peter 5:3) or impose the traditions of men in place of the Word of God (Mark 7:13). However, when qualified men serve as elders and deacons, they will serve with a willing heart and ready mind (I Peter 5:2; I Chronicles 28:9) and emphasize ministry to people (II Corinthians 1:6) through gentleness, patience, meek instruction, and a sense of responsibility to the Chief Shepherd (II Timothy 2:24-25; Hebrews 13:17). The importance of selecting only qualified men to bear the responsibilities of the offices of elder and deacon cannot be emphasized too much.

Does The Experience of Speaking In Tongues Agree With The Truth of Scripture?

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A Biblical Answer To a Contemporary Question

by David E. Moss

A certain segment of Christianity preaches that there is a necessary experience after salvation if a Christian wants to have all that God has prepared for him. According to them, the gospel consists of something more than being born again by faith in Jesus Christ, for they claim to preach the “full gospel.”

One of the primary manifestations of this post-conversion experience, they say, is speaking in tongues. Some go so far as to say that tongues speaking is the evidence that a person has received the Holy Spirit. Others do not insist on this extreme view, but still consider speaking in tongues to be an appropriate manifestation of the work of the Spirit within the life of a Christian.

There is a strong division over this matter of tongues, because another segment of Christianity believes the legitimate use of tongues, as a spiritual gift, terminated with the age of the Apostles. Thus, to speak or not to speak, for some, becomes a puzzling question. For others, there is no doubt that all modern tongues speaking is unbiblical. At the heart of the issue is the basis upon which we determine the validity of an activity.

The Power Of God

One of the standard criticisms of those of us who do not believe in the use of tongues for today is that we deny or, at least, question the power of God to perform miracles. If God wants someone to speak in tongues (or, for that matter, perform some other miracle), who are we to say that God cannot do so? The truth is we do not say God “cannot.” We say He “does not”; and there is a significant difference between these two things.

We acknowledge that God has unlimited power to do whatever He wishes. We acknowledge the truthfulness of all the miracles recorded in the word of God. He created everything out of nothing. He parted the waters of the sea, healed the sick, and brought the dead back to life. We also acknowledge that occasionally, God does some things today which seem pretty miraculous. God is indeed quite capable of performing any miracle He chooses to perform and we are happy to acknowledge this truth.

What we do not acknowledge is that God chooses to perform miracles through human agents today. The miraculous spiritual gifts were withdrawn from the Church a long time ago. The operative word is “choose,” not “ability.” God is able to do anything, but He does not always choose to do what He is able to do.

History demonstrates that God has chosen to perform miracles through human agents only at select times. Moses, Elijah and the Disciples all were used to perform miracles. But Adam, Abraham and Jeremiah were not. Consider Abraham. He is called the father of all those who exercise faith in God. He was the beneficiary of a miraculous birth for his son Isaac, but he himself never performed one miracle. Why would a man of such great faith not be given the ability to perform miracles? It certainly would have been advantageous in some of the circumstances he faced. The fact is God simply did not choose to perform miracles through Abraham. He performed one (and only one) for Abraham, but none through him.

Today, God may occasionally perform some miraculous things for individuals, but he does not choose to use men as the means by which they are done.

The Experience of Man

One of the hardest things to refute, however, is a person’s experience. People really do speak in tongues. They experience this phenomenon in situations where they are invoking the name of God and are “worshiping” Him. So how can anyone say it is not real when it is actually happening?

We do not question that it is real, but we do question that it is right. Just attaching the name of Christ to an activity does not make it right. Jesus himself testified that some people would perform real miracles in His name but He would not recognize such things as valid (Matthew 7:21-23). Just because a person has experienced something does not mean it is legitimate.

Experience can never be the gauge by which activities may be measured correctly. This would be like using a student’s own test answers to grade his test. He would always score 100% because he would always agree with himself. Similarly, there has to be a higher standard than our experience to determine the value of life’s activities. In fact, there is. The standard is the truth recorded in the Word of God. If anything we experience does not agree with Scripture, then something is wrong with our experience, not with the Bible.

The Truth of the Word

God’s Word has some very specific things to say about the tenure of tongues as a spiritual gift, the most important of which is in I Corinthians 13.

8. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
9. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
11. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then fact to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

Verse 8

By saying that Charity never fails, God specifies that Agape love never comes to an end. There is never a time when it ceases, so that a husband or wife ought never to say “I don’t love you anymore.” If you have covenanted together a pledge of divine love, that is something which has no ending point.

To illustrate this, God chooses to contrast unfailing love with things that do have an ending point: three spiritual gifts — prophecies, tongues, and knowledge.

Verse 10

God qualified the ending point of these spiritual gifts as the moment when “that which is perfect is come.” This then is the key statement regarding the tenure of tongues, and other spiritual gifts specifically designed to communicate direct revelation from God.

Verse 9

Each of these spiritual gifts provided New Testament Truth to the infant Church. They needed the same revelation that we need today. We have the whole New Testament in print, they did not. In fact, some of the New Testament had not even been written yet. So gifts of knowledge and prophecy, in particular, and tongues in a less direct way, provided these truths to local congregations for their edification. The limitation of these gifts was that they could only provide small parts of the New Testament at any given time. This left the first century believers with the privilege of hearing parts of the New Testament, but without the means of reviewing all Scriptural truth at will. The word “part” is significant to understanding this passage.

Verse 10

The word “but” indicates that verse 10 is intended to stand in contrast to verse 9. Verse 9 speaks of that which is in “part.” Verse 10 speaks of that which is “perfect.” Thus “part” and “perfect” are opposites. The word part we can understand. It is something that is incomplete. The word perfect, as it is used in Scripture, can sometimes create confusion. But in these verses its meaning is clear. As the opposite of something that is incomplete, it represents something that is complete.

If verse 9 is talking about spiritual gifts that communicate parts of the New Testament, or parts of the Word of God, then verse 10 is talking about the completed Word of God. Thus when the Word of God is completed, by the writing down of all the New Testament, then the spiritual gifts which communicate parts of the Word of God will be done away. Who needs pieces when you can have the whole thing.

Verse 11

For further clarification, two illustrations are given. The first in verse 11, compares the spiritual gifts of prophecy, tongues and knowledge with childish ways of speaking, understanding and thinking. The connection is obvious — children lack the information they need to function on a mature level. Their knowledge is partial and incomplete. Once a person’s education and development are complete, he can lay aside the insufficient tools of childhood and conduct himself like a mature adult.

This illustrates what is to take place when the Word of God is complete and available to the Church in written form. The spiritual gifts which conveyed parts of the Word orally would be discontinued. They were tools of an infant church that would no longer be needed. All the truth they needed would be provided in the form of Scripture.

Verse 12

The second illustration in verse 12, speaks of looking at one self in a mirror. The mirrors used in the first century were not crystal clear as the ones we use today. When one peered at himself in a mirror, he could see only an incomplete reflection of himself. So it was that by hearing revelation through those who prophesied, spoke words of knowledge, or communicated truth by means of speaking in tongues in conjunction with an interpreter, a Christian could have only an incomplete understanding of truth. (Now I know in part.)

But then shall I know even as also I am known. When? When that which is perfect is come. When the Word of God is complete, I will be able to see the whole truth and understand how all its parts fit together in the same way that another person can look directly at me and see exactly what I look like.

What this passage is not saying.

There are many well meaning Bible students who interpret this passage to say that “that which is perfect is come” is referring to the return of Christ, because He is the perfect one. When He returns, they say, my understanding will be opened up so that I will never again have to walk about in the fog of an imperfect mirror.

If this is so, then tongues would certainly be for today. However, nothing about this word “perfect” suggests such an interpretation. The context as we have shown leads to a different conclusion. The meaning of the word does suggest a reference to Christ. And, the gender of the word is neuter, concerning which Christ is never in any other place in Scripture referred to with a neuter term.

This passage is definitely not a reference to the return of Christ, nor to the effect it will have on the understanding of a believer.

Conclusion

There are other reasons to believe that tongues are not for today. (1) It had a very specific purpose as a sign to unbelieving Jews that this new revelation was truly the Word of God (I Corinthians 14:22). Thus tongues had no intrinsic value to the church other than as a tool of evangelism. (2) When Scripture says that a person who speaks in tongues edifies himself, this is a criticism not a compliment (I Corinthians 14:2-4). It in no way suggests that tongues were to be used in private devotions, because the context of these verses is public worship. Those who spoke in tongues were not to do so without an interpreter present, because everything in a worship service is do be directed toward edifying the group, and directed away from a performance that benefited an individual.

The crucial issue, though, in the debate over tongues involves the closure of divine revelation for our age. Does Scripture represent the entirety of truth for our age? Or, is God still communicating parts of truth through spiritual gifts such as prophecy, tongues and knowledge?

To believe that tongues are for today is to believe that the Bible is incomplete and therefore insufficient. It is to believe that we need more than the Bible to know God and to serve Him adequately.

To believe that the Bible is the complete body of truth God intends to provide for us in this age, requires that any means by which additional revelation is communicated be rendered invalid. Regardless of what man experiences, truth always takes precedence. If what man is doing does not agree with what God has said, then it is not difficult to figure out which one is wrong.

The disagreement over the use of tongues goes far beyond a mere denominational distinctive. It is a matter of grave doctrinal difference. It is serious enough to believe that those who deny the completion of revelation and participate in pseudo spiritual gifts, which purport to communicate extra-biblical truth, are guilty of disorderly conduct and should be excluded from the fellowship of obedient believers according to I Thessalonians 3:6-9, and 14-15. Among them may be genuine believers who should be caused to question the validity of their practices by our unwillingness to fellowship with them. To treat them as obedient brethren, only just a little different than we are, would be to encourage them in their error.

There is, of course, a serious side effect of the charismatic phenomenon, as it is called. It has the potential to convince some who follow it that their salvation is based on something other than believing in the work of Christ and receiving Him as their salvation.

The death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the full gospel. When a person understands that he is a lost sinner and receives the gospel by faith, he is redeemed, forgiven, justified, sanctified and indwelt by the Holy Spirit all in a single moment. At the very moment of salvation, a person gets everything God has promised. As we learn more and more of the truth we learn how to appropriate all that we possess in Christ.

Never let your experience lead you into an activity which contradicts the truth. And, never let another person’s experience confuse you about what the Scripture says in very precise terms.

Doctrinal Considerations Regarding Baptism

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by David E. Moss

There are many different beliefs about baptism within the Christian community. Some believe there is no salvation if there is no water baptism. Others believe water baptism is entirely symbolic. Some baptize infants and others baptize only adults. Then there are those who focus on a baptism of the Spirit and make it an experience completely separate from salvation.

It is very important to understand what the Bible teaches about baptism. If it is necessary for salvation, then we ought to know that and participate in it lest we miss out. If it is not necessary for salvation then we ought to know that and help people avoid trusting in something that does not save. If there is something we ought to seek after salvation, then we ought to understand what that is and pursue it with passion. If there is not, then we ought to be able to defend against such teaching with scriptural evidence.

Half of all references to baptism in the Bible are found in the Gospels. Jesus himself was baptized, but His baptism is very different than Christian baptism. It served as an anointing, marking the beginning of his ministry on earth. John’s baptism of the Israelites bears some resemblance to Christian baptism in that the fruits of repentance were a prerequisite (Matthew 3:7-8). Still it was different, because those who had been baptized unto John’s baptism were re-baptized after Christ’s work on earth was completed (Acts 19:1-5). Some point to the thief on the cross to show that baptism is irrelevant. He professed belief in Christ and Christ promised him a place in paradise even though he could not possibly get down off the cross and be baptized. This was before the church began, however, and question whether or not it is appropriate to apply this specific incident to Christian baptism.

For an understanding of Christian baptism, one must study the book of Acts and the New Testament letters. A literal and dispensational interpretation of these Scriptures will show that there is a spiritual baptism that takes place at the moment a person is saved. This spiritual baptism consists of the Holy Spirit placing a believer into the body of Christ. It will also show that there is a water baptism which is entirely symbolic, serving as a public testimony of one’s salvation and as an illustration of the spiritual baptism performed by the Holy Spirit. To arrive at other conclusions about baptism requires a different method of interpreting Scripture.

The Word “Baptism”

The word baptism is a transliteration of a Greek word rather than a translation. Transliteration transfers the spelling of a word from the alphabet of one language into the alphabet of another language. Thus the Greek word ∃ςΒϑ4Φ&:Ξλ (baptismos) becomes the English word “baptism.” Translation, on the other hand, transfers the meaning of a word from the vocabulary of one language into the vocabulary of another language. If the word ∃ςΒϑ4Φ&:Ξλ (baptismos) were translated instead of transliterated, Scripture would typically read “immersed” instead of “baptism” because that is the action suggested by the meaning of the word.

The Greek verb “baptidzo” means to immerse or submerse an object into something else such as a liquid like water or dye. In each case where the word baptism or any of its forms is found in the Bible, it would be appropriate to substitute the word “immerse” as an English translation of the Greek word. It is translated “washed” in Luke 11:38 because the focus of the context is on the effect rather than the action of immersing one’s hands into a basin of water. Immersing is the action of baptism, washing or dyeing are possible effects which result from the act of immersing depending upon the specific activity involved.

God chose to use the word “baptism” in the Bible because the action of immersing describes the spiritual relationship of a believer to Jesus Christ.

  • In Romans 6:3-4, believers are

    • baptized, or immersed, into Christ;
    • and
    • baptized, or immersed, into his death.

  • In I Corinthians 12:13, believers are

    • baptized, or immersed, into one body (the spiritual body of Christ).

  • In Galatians 3:27, believers are

    • baptized, or immersed, into Christ.

Spiritual Baptism

Spiritual baptism is an act of the Holy Spirit by which he places a believer into the spiritual body of Christ. I Corinthians 12:13 says, For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body… When a person receives Jesus Christ as his Savior, he is indwelt by the Holy Spirit who then baptizes him into the body of Christ. This latter act is called “baptism” because the Holy Spirit immerses the believer into the spiritual body of Jesus Christ called the church. Romans 6:3 and Galatians 3:27 support this concept by saying that believers are immersed into Christ; and Romans 6:3 adds that when a person is immersed into Christ, he is also immersed into His death. This means that when a believer is part of the spiritual body of Christ he is considered by God to have participated with Christ in His death on the cross. Romans 6:4 explains that the effect of this spiritual immersion into the death of Christ is a participation in the resurrection of Christ, enabling a Christian to walk in newness of life here on earth.

Spiritual baptism takes place at the very moment of salvation. It is not an experience subsequent to salvation. It is not a second blessing. It happens immediately upon a person’s receiving Christ as his personal Savior.

In that wonderful moment, when a person confesses his sinfulness to God, believes the Gospel of Christ in his heart, and prayerfully receives Christ, there are many things that happen to him. God forgives him for his sins, declares him to be justified, regenerates him, bestows eternal life upon him, indwells him by His Holy Spirit, seals him unto the day of the rapture/resurrection event, and immerses him into the body of Christ. All these things happen in a single moment of time, but some of them happen sequentially before or after others. For example, a person is forgiven before he is justified because God would not declare a person to be just before he has been forgiven. Likewise, a person is justified before he is baptized into the body of Christ because God would not include a person in Christ who has not been justified. It is very important to note that all of these things happen in exactly the same moment, and yet they do occur in a sequence.

The conclusion, therefore, is that while a person must be saved before he can be put into the body of Christ, there is no delay between these two events. They happen together in the same moment. Romans 8:9 clearly teaches that a person who has been born again and indwelt by the Holy Spirit is also in Christ. Likewise, a person who has not been born again and indwelt by the Spirit is not in Christ. These two things, salvation and spiritual baptism, are as inseparable as the two sides of a coin. You cannot have one without having the other. They must, therefore, both occur at exactly the same time.

Spiritual baptism results from salvation; it does not produce salvation. At the same time, spiritual baptism is part of the salvation event and not a separate experience. Only those who have been born again by faith in Jesus Christ are baptized by the Spirit into Christ, but all who have been saved are baptized into Christ at the very moment they are regenerated by grace through faith in the gospel of Christ and indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

Water Baptism

  1. Purpose

    Being immersed into water is not what places a person into the body of Christ, nor does it cause one to participate in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Spiritual baptism by the Holy Spirit causes these things to happen as described above. So what then is the purpose of being baptized into water?

    Water baptism is a testimony, a public declaration, which illustrates two aspects of a believer’s relationship with Christ. First, water baptism symbolizes being placed into the body of Christ. However, because this is a permanent relationship and God did not want people left under the water permanently, He also provided, in His infinite wisdom, a second symbol in water baptism. Baptism also symbolizes being placed into the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As a person goes under the water, he shows that he is part of the body of Christ and as such has participated in Christ’s death and burial. When he comes up out of the water, he shows that he is a full partner in the resurrection and is now walking in the hope of that resurrection in newness of life.

    Being immersed into a body of water gives a believer the opportunity to declare openly his identity with Jesus Christ. If a person is not willing to be baptized into water, it is reasonable to wonder how real his relationship is with Christ. It seems that Christ ordered this symbolic act of water baptism to give each professing Christian the opportunity to state publicly that what he professes with his mouth is possessed in his heart.

  2. Timing

    The Scripture is very clear on when a person may be baptized into water. It can properly take place only after a person has received Christ as Savior. In Acts 2:41, those that had already “gladly received his word” were baptized. In Acts 8:12, the Samaritans were baptized when they believed the things that Philip had preached to them. In Acts 18:8, Crispus and many of the Corinthians believed the Gospel and then were baptized.

    In Acts 10:44-48, some Gentiles who believed in Christ as their Savior were indwelt by the Holy Spirit just as believing Jews had been. God verified this by the same miraculous events He had used among the believing Jews. After the verification took place, Peter asked the other believing Jews if they could possibly forbid these believing Gentiles to be baptized with water. Obviously they could not, so Peter commanded the Gentile believers to be baptized into water because they had already been saved and indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

    The Ethiopian Eunuch’s question to Philip in Acts 8:36 gives further evidence that salvation comes first and then the testimony of water baptism. He asked, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? Philip’s reply was, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. As Roman’s 10:10 says, For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. If the Ethiopian had not believed with his heart unto righteousness, the symbolic testimony of water baptism would not have meant anything. Salvation came first to the Ethiopian, and then he could testify about his salvation by being immersed into water.

  3. Mode

    Some churches “baptize” by pouring water over the head. Other churches “baptize” by sprinkling water on the forehead. Still others baptize by completely immersing the whole person under water. Does it matter what mode of baptism is used as long as it is done?

    In reference to pouring and sprinkling, the word baptize was put in quotation marks in the previous paragraph because neither pouring nor sprinkling is really baptism. The Greek word “baptism” means to immerse. It never means to pour or sprinkle. The Greek word which means “to pour” is “cheo.” The Greek word which means “to sprinkle” is “rantidzo.” If God had wanted pouring or sprinkling to serve as the symbol for our relationship to Christ, He would have used one of those words. Instead, He used the word “baptidzo” which in translation means only “to immerse.”

    In Acts 8:36-39 when Philip baptized the Ethiopian, they went down into the water and came up out of the water. When John the Baptist baptized, he did it in the Jordan river (Mark 1:5), at places where there was much water (John 3:23), because the water needed to be deep enough to immerse the ones being baptized.

    Pouring and sprinkling does not properly fulfill the symbolism associated with baptism. Neither can properly illustrate being placed into the body of Christ, nor participating in His death, burial and resurrection. Immersion is the only mode of baptism that fulfills this testimony and communicates the truth of our relationship with Christ. Besides, pouring and sprinkling are used typically by those who believe the ceremony itself has some spiritual effect upon the participant and Scripture no where suggests that this is so.

  4. Who should be baptized into water?

    Since water baptism is a public testimony intended to illustrate what has already happened in a person’s life, then only those who have received Christ as their Savior by grace through faith alone should be baptized into water. This eliminates infants, since they cannot believe. It also eliminates those who are old enough to believe in Christ but have not.

    Caution should be used, though, in baptizing young children who have made a profession of faith. While children are capable of truly understanding the Gospel and genuinely receiving Christ at very young ages, it is better to wait until it can be confirmed that they understand the symbolism involved in water baptism. Baptizing them too soon may confuse them and make them think that the water had something to do with their salvation.

Some Doctrinal Errors Regarding Baptism

  1. Confusing spiritual baptism with the indwelling and filling works of the Holy Spirit.

    Some erroneously refer to the “baptism of the Spirit” as the time when the Holy Spirit enters into the life of a believer. It is true that God sends His Spirit into believers’ hearts (Galatians 4:6) to dwell within them (I Corinthians 3:16). But Scripture never applies the term baptism to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Christian baptism in the Bible refers exclusively to the act of the Holy Spirit by which he immerses a believer into Christ and to the immersion into water which symbolizes that event.

    For those who believe that baptism is the same as indwelling, consider the analogy that Christ himself draws between being baptized with water and being baptized with the Holy Spirit. In Acts 1:5, Jesus was talking to the disciples just before He ascended into Heaven. He said, For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. When John baptized the people with water, what did he do? Did he put the water into the people? Or did he put the people into the water? When he baptized with water, did he say, “Put your head back and open your mouth because I am going to pour water into you?” No, the baptism of John did not involve pouring water into the people. He immersed the people into water. This is clearly stated to be the process of water baptism in Acts 8:38 where Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch “went both down into the water” where Philip immersed the Ethiopian into the water, baptizing him because of his belief in Jesus Christ.

    In the same way, baptism with the Spirit does not involve pouring or placing the Holy Spirit into a believer. Rather, it is the placing of the believer into the spiritual body of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit. When a believer is indwelt, the Spirit comes into him. When he is baptized by the Spirit, the believer is placed into Christ.

    Others believe that the baptism of the Spirit and the filling of the Spirit are interchangeable terms. In the Bible, baptism and filling are two distinct ministries of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. The biblical word “fill” refers to the effect the Holy Spirit has on a believer’s life as He dwells within him. Ephesians 5:18 explains that in contrast to the nasty effects of alcohol, but in exactly the same fashion of taking control, the Holy Spirit can radically change the behavior of a believer. After He indwells someone who has received Christ, the Spirit can alter a person’s activities from being fleshly to being spiritual. It is important to note that when God sent the Holy Spirit to indwell believers on the day of Pentecost, the spectacular things that followed were not because Christians were baptized with the Holy Spirit but because they were filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4).

    The filling of the Holy Spirit is essential for effective service in the Christian life. Without being filled, a believer will be ineffective, no matter how hard he tries to do his best for God. Being filled, the unlimited resources of God Himself become available to the Christian worker and the effectiveness of the believer becomes unrestricted. Filling, however, is a ministry of the Holy Spirit, wholly distinct from His baptizing of believers into the Body of Christ.

  2. Insisting that water baptism is necessary for salvation.

    Some believe that a person is not born again until he has been baptized with water. This is properly termed “baptismal regeneration,” although not everyone who holds this view is fond of the terminology. This doctrine is believed in several different forms by different denominations. In all its forms, however, the effect is the same — no water, no salvation. There are some verses of Scripture that sound like they promote such a doctrine, but each can be easily explained.

    Acts 2:38 – “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

    The key word in understanding the intent of this verse is the word “for.” This word can have several connotations. It can mean “in order to obtain” as in the sentence, “I will give you a dollar for that book.”

    In this case an exchange is being made. A person receives a book in exchange for a dollar bill. If the word “for” is used in this sense in Acts 2:38, then God is saying, “Be baptized in exchange for, or in order to obtain, the remission of sins.” However, the word ”for” may also mean “because of” or “in honor of” as in the sentence, “He received the prize for having the best score.” In this case, the best score was achieved first and then a prize was awarded because of, or in honor of, what was already accomplished. If the word “for” is used in this sense in Acts 2:38, then God is saying “Be baptized because of, or in honor of, the fact that you have already experienced the remission of sins. The latter is the sense in which God uses the word “for” in this verse. It teaches that a person ought to repent of his sins and receive Christ as his Savior whereby his sins are forgiven. He then ought to be baptized for, because of, or in honor of, the remission of sins he has already received. Thus it does not teach baptismal regeneration.

    Acts 22:16 – “And now why tarriest thou? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.”

    These words are spoken by Ananias to Saul shortly after Christ spoke to him on the road to Damascus. Saul was not saved because Christ confronted him on the road. Saul had to make his own personal confession to the Lord and receive Christ as his Savior. Ananias implores him, knowing now what he does, to be immersed into Christ by confessing his sin and being washed clean by the redemptive work of Christ’s blood. Peter had testified on the day of Pentecost that “whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21). Ananias was simply encouraging Saul to do what he should do now in order to be part of the body of Christ.

    Mark 16:16 – “ He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.”

    The explanation of this statement is that this is only half a verse of Scripture. The rest of the verse says, …but he that believeth not shall be damned. Salvation is based on what a person believes as clearly stated by the second half of this verse, for if a person does not believe, he is not saved. A person who has believed is saved and a saved person willingly testifies of his identity with Christ. There is nothing more to this verse.

    Acts 13:2 – “When John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.”

    This is a reference to the activity of John the Baptist before Jesus came onto the scene. In Matthew 3:2-6, John preached the message, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He then baptized all who came to him “confessing their sins.” In the verses which follow, some Pharisees and Sadducees came to him to be baptized, but he refused to do so, rebuking them by saying they needed to “bring forth… fruits meet for repentance” first, and then they could be baptized. When John preached the baptism of repentance, therefore, it was not a baptism that served as an act of repentance, but a baptism that followed an act of repentance.

    I Peter 3:21 – “The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

    Here again, the explanation is contained within the verse itself. This is not talking about water baptism saving us because, as the verse explains, the word baptism is not used here as a reference to the washing of the exterior of the body. Baptism in this verse refers to our being in Christ, and thus having participated in his death and resurrection (Romans 6:3-4), which provides a good conscience toward God because our sins are forgiven. Thus it teaches that the baptism that saves us is our immersion by faith into the resurrection of Jesus Christ, not our immersion into a body of water that washes off the exterior of our flesh.

    A similar explanation can be given for every verse that seems to teach that baptism is necessary for salvation. In some cases the word is referring to spiritual baptism, in which the Holy Spirit is placing a believer into the body of Christ after he has been saved (Romans 6:3; I Corinthians 12:13; Galatians 3:27). In other cases the word is referring to water baptism which is merely a testimony of the believer’s relationship to Christ and His work (Acts 19:3-5; I Corinthians 1:13-17).

  3. Baptizing infants is spiritually beneficial.

    Some churches believe that baptizing infants brings them into union with Christ, even though they are not able to exercise faith. Others believe that baptizing infants brings them under divine protection from depravity until they can reject the Gospel on their own. Still others believe that God uses infant baptism to claim his own and put his seal upon them in a unique way. And still others believe that infant baptism is the New Testament replacement for Old Testament circumcision.

    Infant baptism is nowhere to be found in Scripture and it contradicts what Scripture does teach about baptism. Spiritual baptism happens only to those who actually believe. Infants cannot believe. Water baptism offers no spiritual benefit to a person because it serves only as a public testimony after a person has received Christ. Infants cannot receive Christ and have no testimony to give. It is therefore totally inappropriate to baptize infants.

    There is scriptural precedent, though, for dedicating children to the Lord. Mary and Joseph went to the Temple forty days after Jesus was born to fulfill the post-natal laws of purification. In doing so, the special language of Luke 2:22 describes something they did in addition to the required animal sacrifice. It says, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord. Since children are an heritage of the Lord (Psalm 127:3) and parents are commissioned to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Deuteronomy 6; Ephesians 6:4), it is appropriate for parents to acknowledge these things publicly and present their children to the Lord with a commitment to fulfill these duties — thereby dedicating their children to the Lord with the hope that when they come to the age of understanding they will personally receive Christ as their own Savior.

Conclusion

The Bible says there is only one baptism (Ephesians 4:5). This is true. A person is placed into the body of Christ only once and he becomes a participant in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ only one time. Christ sacrificed himself only once to accomplish the work of salvation and satisfy God regarding man’s sins. Man believes the Gospel and receives Christ as Savior only one time and is thus baptized by the Holy Spirit into one body only once.

Water baptism symbolizes this once for all time relationship between Christ and those who believe in him. It does not produce this relationship; it merely serves as an illustration of it. Water baptism properly takes place after salvation because it testifies of something that has already happened. If a person, who is not saved, is immersed into water, it means nothing and it provides nothing spiritual to the participant.

Everyone who receives Christ as Savior ought to be baptized into water. It does not add to one’s salvation; and failure to be baptized into water does not prevent anyone from going to heaven. It does in a sense, however, provide a test of the genuineness of one’s faith. It is possible to profess to having received Christ as Savior without actually having done so. Some might profess to believe as an intellectual exercise. This is sometimes referred to as headknowledge as opposed to heart-knowledge. Others might profess to believe just because people around them expect them to and not because they really believe in their heart. A willingness to be baptized into water with a group of people watching does provide some evidence that the profession is sincere. An unwillingness to be baptized into water, apart from a water phobia, raises some questions as to the sincerity of the profession of belief.

Jesus told his disciples that they were to teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost (Matthew 28: 19-20). If Jesus instructed his disciples to baptize believers, then it is a matter of simple obedience to Christ, for all those who have believed in Him to testify of this by publicly being baptized into water. It serves as an open declaration to all who witness it of one’s identity with Jesus Christ. And, it just might be the testimony of faith in the Gospel that will encourage someone else to receive Christ as their Savior.

Do Christians Sin?

Literature,
A Study On the Two Natures of Man

by David E. Moss

It is sad but true. As redeemed, justified, and forgiven as a Christian may be, he still sins. Of course, not everyone agrees. There are some who believe in the “sinless perfection” of the believer.

Some believe sinlessness is acquired at the very moment of salvation. From that point forward, they acknowledge some “mistakes” along the way, but they definitely do not acknowledge any sin.

Others believe that sinlessness is acquired some time during their Christian life on earth, after which the Christian never does sin again. This was the view of John Wesley who is the father of the Holiness movement.

His theory is that in the normal Christian the principle of holiness, beginning with the new birth, gradually expands and strengthens as the believer grows in grace and in the knowledge of the truth, till, by a final, all-surrendering act of faith in Christ, it reaches an instantaneous completion through the act of the Holy Spirit, the sanctifier… Thus sanctification is gradual but entire sanctification is instantaneous… On March 6, 1760, Wesley entered in his Journal the following testimony of one Elizabeth Longmore: I felt my soul was all love. I was so stayed on God as I never felt before, and knew that I loved Him with all my heart… And the witness that God had saved me from all my sins grew clearer every hour… I have never since found my heart wander from God. Now this is what I always did, and do now, mean by perfection. And this I believe many have attained, on the same evidence that I believe many are justified.

– International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

Both of these views are incompatible with the Bible’s teaching on the two natures that coexist in the Believer’s life. The sin nature of the old man and the “divine” nature of the new man are clearly part of the believer until the time of the rapture.

The Two Natures

The Bible uses the terms “old man” and “new man” to refer to the two natures of the Christian.

The Old Man

God did not intend for man to sin. He created us in a state of innocence. We use the term “innocence” because man was completely without the knowledge of sin (Genesis 3:5) and had not yet committed any sin. He was, however, capable of sin. Upon being tempted with an alternative, Adam chose to reject total faith in the Word of God and by an act of his will brought sin into the world.

By Adam’s choice, man acquired a sin nature (Romans 5:12). The entire human race became “by nature, the children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3) determined to indulge in the lusts of the flesh and to fulfill the desires of the flesh and the mind which were contrary to the Word of God.

The “old man” is the term the Bible uses to describe the sin nature. It was the old man that needed to be crucified with Christ (Romans 6:6) and the characteristics of the old man that need to be replaced with the characteristics of the new man in the life of the believer (Ephesians 4:22-24, Colossians 3:9-10).

The unfortunate state of being of a “natural” man is eternal condemnation. This means that he is totally separated from God for eternity (John 3:18-20) because of his sin.

The New Man

As God did not want to leave man in this condition, He devised a plan whereby, the sin nature of man and man’s consequent doom could be supplanted with a new nature that would restore him to divine fellowship. Through the redemptive plan of the Gospel, this plan would be affected.

Faith in Christ and in his righteous work would grant to man all things pertaining to life and godliness. The Scriptures describe this as “partaking in the divine nature” (II Peter 1:1-3). This is not to say that we become divine, or “god”, but we acquire a nature that makes it possible for us to participate or “fellowship” with God in the things of his divine nature.

This new nature is the new man. It is described as being made the righteousness of God in [Christ] (II Corinthians 5:21).

Coexistence of the Two Natures

A question arises at this point: When a person is saved by Faith in Christ through the Grace of God, and in that moment of salvation acquires the new nature which is the righteousness of God, what happens to the old nature which made us the children of wrath? Does the Christian now have two natures or is the old nature completely eliminated?

Some isolated statements of Scripture make it sound like the old man is gone. I John 3:9 says, Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin… and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. However, if this verse is teaching the sinless perfection of the believer, then the Bible contradicts itself.

There are very clear statements in the Word of God that the believer retains the capacity to sin. Even in I John 2:1, God expressed His hope that Christians would not sin but acknowledged their ability to do so. The advocacy of Christ was provided to compensate for the guilt we experience as a result of sin we commit as believers.

So what does I John 3:9 mean? The middle of that verse says, his seed remaineth in him. The seed of God is the righteousness of God that He places within the believer at the time of his salvation. This seed “remains” with the believer forever as a new nature. It is the seed of the righteousness of God that cannot sin. With this, the believer always has the capacity to overcome sin, which is something the unbeliever cannot do (vs.10).

But as surely as the seed of the righteousness of God remains in us so does the sin nature. Romans 7:14-25 speaks of the battle that rages inside of us as a result of this coexistence of two natures. My nature that fellowships with God does not want to sin (vs. 15). But sin still lies within me pushing my old man to the limits of temptation (vs. 18-20). It is when my new inward man reigns that I successfully resist sin (vs. 22). It is when the fleshly nature of the old man reigns that I fail (vs. 23).

The Departure of the Old Man

We must trust that God has His reasons for allowing the old man to continue with us. It certainly reminds us of the value of the redemption we have in Christ.

God has also promised, however, that He will not let the old man remain in us forever. Christ intends to present the Church (and thus all the individual Christians included) to Himself without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, completely holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5:27). In this presentation, we will be as a chaste virgin (II Corinthians 11:2), every one of us totally complete in Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:28).

Biblical truth teaches us that the final eradication of the sin nature from believers will occur at the time of the rapture. All believers still experience physical death. Death is the result of sin (Romans 5:12). If sin were totally removed from us, then our body would be freed from the curse of death and its precipitous diseases. The bodies of believers are referred to, however, as corrupt and mortal (I Corinthians 15:53) until the last trump. The elimination of the corrupt part of our nature will occur “when” Christ appears. Corruption and mortality cannot inherit eternal life. So this part of our nature will be totally eliminated in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump (I Corinthians 15:52) which is the rapture of the church. It is when Christ appears that we become like Him (I John 3:3). Before this moment, the battle of the two natures rages within man.

Conclusion

The fact that the old man remains in the believer is not an excuse to sin. The intention is that as we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (II Peter 3:18), we will learn how to put off the things of the old man and put on the things of the new man (Ephesians 4:22-24, Colossians 3:9-10). The goal of all believers is the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13). As we grow closer to this goal, the leverage of the old man should diminish even though the desires of the old man remain as sinful as ever. Until the rapture and resurrection of the church, believers will struggle with the old man. But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 15:57).

Discipleship: The Work of The Ministry

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by David E. Moss

Some churches enjoy emphasizing Salvation. They are zealously evangelistic, and practically every sermon preached from the pulpit is a salvation message with an invitation to walk down the aisle.

Other churches enjoy emphasizing the Christian life. They offer a lot of Bible teaching on every conceivable aspect of living victoriously as a Christian. Their services often close with an opportunity for the believers to raise their hands in response to the particular commitment suggested by the sermon; or they have no invitation at all.

Sometimes, these two different types of churches try to justify their own approach as opposed to the other. I would like to suggest that a combination of the two is required to make a church truly effective. The Gospel is how people come into the church, but Christians must grow and mature.

This whole process of spiritual birth and growth to maturity was what Jesus Christ envisioned when He gave the Great Commission to His disciples. In Matthew 28:19 and 20, Christ did not just say evangelize. He said, teach, baptize, and teach to observe. Three steps
are listed:

  1. Step 1: Teach the truth to unsaved people. Do not simply preach at them. Do not expect people to grasp the immensity of the Gospel in five brief minutes. Faith comes from an understanding of the truth (Romans 10:17). So be diligent in exposing unsaved people to as much truth as possible and give faith the opportunity to sprout and take root (Matthew 13:3-8).
  2. Step 2: Confirm the faith of those who say they believe. Baptism is a public testimony that a person belongs to Christ. Guiding a person to this point adds convincing evidence that his profession is genuine.
  3. Step 3: Disciple new believers and bring them to maturity. Christ called twelve men to himself with the intent of preparing them to carry on the work after He returned to Heaven. They were to secure additional disciples to whom they could transfer everything Jesus had given them.

Each of these three steps is important to the church: evangelism, confirmation, and discipleship. None can be elevated in importance over the other.

The Problem

The real problem in the church today is not that local churches are emphasizing any one of these things over the other. The problem is that none of them are being practiced efficiently or sufficiently in most churches. Those who enjoy emphasizing evangelism often confine it to the four walls of their church sanctuary where few unsaved people are ever present. Those who enjoy emphasizing the Christian life spend tremendous energy on frivolous issues that do very little to build substance in the heart. Confirmation (as a process of initial discipleship from the moment of new birth to the testimony of baptism) is grossly neglected, leaving infant Christians in a undernourished condition for a very long time.

The Church is just having a big party. It is having a lot of fun and not getting much accomplished. In the midst of all the balloons and confetti and frivolity, the real Church is falling into disrepair.

The Solution

How should we behave ourselves in the house of God, which is the church (I Timothy 3:15)? There are a lot of answers to this question being proffered today just as there were in the first century church. God set this matter in order through His Word in the Letters to Timothy and Titus. He clearly declares the priority of an experiential knowledge of the Word and doctrine and the supreme importance of preparing each generation in the Church to produce and equip the next generation (II Timothy 2:2).

The Apostle Paul recognized that the Gospel had been committed to his trust (I Timothy 1:11). Christ counted him to be faithful, put him into the ministry (I Timothy 1:12), and ordained him a preacher, and apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles (I Timothy 2:7). But when Paul finished his personal course in the ministry, the ministry itself would not be finished. He had to prepare younger men to continue so that no momentum would be lost.

The Letters to Timothy and Titus are filled with instruction to these young men, equipping them to carry on the work. He also explains to these men the importance of adequate preparation of successors. Some, he says, desire to be teachers, but they do not understand what they are saying (I Timothy 1:7). Others desire to be leaders in the church, but they are novices (I Timothy 3:6).

The point is that anyone who desires to be skillful in anything must prepare according to the rules (II Timothy 3:5) and understand the product experientially (II Timothy 3:6) before they can function properly. In this regard, Paul’s charge to Timothy was to meditate on the things God gave him and give himself wholly to them (II Timothy 4:15). He must take heed to and continue in doctrine (I Timothy 4:16). He must give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. [“Till he come to visit” (I Timothy 4:13) shows the value of accountability in training.] He was to hold fast the form of sound words (II Timothy 1:13) and study to show himself approved… rightly dividing the word of truth (II Timothy 2:15).

As a result of these disciplines, Timothy would be able to be an example of the believers in word, conversation, charity, spirit, faith, and purity (I Timothy 4:12). Titus would be able to show himself a pattern of good works: in doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity and sound speech that could not be condemned (Titus 2:7). Thus established and prepared, thoroughly furnished for the work of the ministry (II Timothy 2:21, 3:16) they would be equipped to instruct people how to behave in the church of God (I Timothy 1:3; 4:6,11; 5:7; 6:2,17; II Timothy 2:14; 4:2; Titus 1:5; 2:1,9; 3:1,8). But, they must not neglect preparing others to continue the work after them (II Timothy 2:2).

The perpetuation of the church is dependent upon the effective training of people who can carry on the work of the ministry in the next generation. Mere attendance to the basic services of the church is not sufficient. It is incumbent upon the church to continually fulfill the mandate of discipleship.

The Three Steps

  1. Step 1: Discipleship begins with bringing people to Christ. There is a vast group of detached people wandering aimlessly in the world. They need to be informed of the truth because without the truth they remain without hope. It is crucial that members of the church be distributing the truth to the meandering crowd of the world without trickery or manipulative devices. It is not a method that brings people to freedom in Christ, it is the truth and the truth alone.

  2. Step 2: There is another very large group to which the church must minister — the multitude. This group includes all who have any association with the local church. They may be saved or unsaved. They may be regular attenders to all services, regular attenders to certain services, occasional attenders, or simply people who consider a particular local church to be “their church.” This group will include the following:

    1. The Complacent. These are people who desire an association with a local church but do not demonstrate any substantive faith. They also seem content to let things continue as they are. The Complacent need to have their curiosity aroused. This might be accomplished through stimulating teaching from the pulpit, personal exhortation, or Good Samaritan activities in which their personal human needs are met.
    2. The Curious. These are people who ask questions. They realize there is a spiritual deficiency in their lives and they are curious about the solutions being offered through Jesus Christ and the Church. The Curious need to be encouraged to respond to Christ with faith and obedience.
    3. The Responsive. These are people who are ready to make a commitment of obedience to Christ and enter into the smaller group of genuine disciples. The church must provide the Responsive with opportunities to be trained both in knowledge of doctrine and in specific ministry skills.
  3. Step 3: The group that is truly serious about growth and maturity is a small group. It follows the same pattern as in Christ’s own ministry on earth. He trained a small group of men to repeat in others what he invested in them. The church must provide similar training for its responsive members. It must indoctrinate them above all things in the Word of God which is so essential to effective ministry. But it should also provide these disciples with opportunities to learn through active participation in the ministry.

A Sad Commentary

In the early part of this century, there was a great movement that gave rise to Bible Colleges all over the country. These institutions served the church in a great way by providing professional training to those who would be the disciples of Christ. Yet I think we find in this a paradox. While the Bible Colleges nobly served the church, it also numbed a multitude of local churches to their personal obligations. Local churches became too busy and too much in debt to be able to disciple its own. It became comfortable in letting the Bible Colleges do it for them. And now the local church has no idea that it has any responsibility in preparing for the next generation. It is convinced that there is an unlimited supply of Pastors and Missionaries coming from some place else. When it is necessary to dispose of the ones we have, we will go to the bank and get some more.

What Will We Do?

We can either conform to the trends of the day, or do something radical like fulfill our Biblical mandate. We can all be content to be members of the multitude — in varying levels of attachment to the church – or some of us can answer the call to discipleship and get serious about preparing the next generation. We can hope our church still exists when we are all gone or we can get busy preparing someone to take our place. Or, we can count on the Rapture taking place soon and do nothing.

If you have read this article and respond with interest in being a disciple or in discipling someone else, I want to talk to you. This article is not intended simply to stimulate your thinking. I hope it motivates us to action.

Death: Why It Is Not A Solution For The Woes Of Living

Literature, , ,

by David E. Moss

It is a paradox of human wisdom that men seek to delay death as long as possible and at the same time offer death as a solution to the suffering members of their race. Mankind frantically seeks the solution to death so that it may escape the horrible end to existence. Yet by some strange twist of thought, it is able to translate death into a solution for the woes of living.

The Bible says that death is a penalty. It was not part of God’s plan. In fact, it was contrary to the nature and innocence of the first man and woman; but because of their defiance of God’s directive, the whole race lost the seal of life and was doomed to die.

In one of his foolish imaginations, man has reversed the stigma of death by claiming we have a “right” to die: as though death were a panacea instead of poison.

The flaw in human reasoning concerning death stems from man’s inability to observe both sides of the experience — the before side and the after side. All we really know about it is what we see on the before side. Concerning the after side, we are able to observe the lifelessness and decay of the body, but everything else remains a mystery.

The Quality of Life

At the heart of the issue is the controversy between the “quality of life” and the “sanctity of life.” According to the Bible, life has sanctity. That is, it is a gift and not a happenstance. It is sacred and inviolable. It has purpose and value. Simply to possess life is to be rich. The alternative view, however, suggests that possessing life is not worth the effort if the life one possesses does not offer the desired amount of pleasure and satisfaction. In other words, the gift of life is not enough, it must also be of sufficient quality to be of any value.

Indeed, life has the potential of being immensely difficult. Disease and deformity, accidents and confrontations, war and calamities of nature cause pain and suffering that can catapult us beyond our capacity to cope. In these conditions we feel anything but wealthy; and we can be easily convinced that something other than living would be of more value.

The controversy surrounding the concept of the “quality of life” has given birth to the concept of the “right to die.” If it is judged that one’s quality of life has disintegrated, then dying is viewed as having more value than continuing to live without quality. People like Jack Kevorkian actively campaign to legitimize the “right to die.” He has indubitably merged the acts of euthanasia and suicide into what is termed “assisted suicide.” While euthanasia involves one person ending the life of another, suicide involves a person ending his own life. Assisted suicide combines these together as one person provides the means for another person to end his own life. Mr. Kevorkian and his sympathizers argue that euthanasia and assisted suicide ought to be a legal part of medical practice because ending a life that has lost its quality is a merciful and compassionate “medical” procedure.

But can anyone’s life really deteriorate to such a low level that it loses its sanctity? Furthermore, if death ever becomes desirable over living, who has the right to decide when the moment of death should occur?

The Deficient Life of the Unregenerate

Those who are unsaved have an excuse for being so confused about life and death issues. Though living human beings, they are already dead in their trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). Death is their state of being. Consequently, for people in this condition, physical death is only a natural phenomenon that terminates a purely visceral existence.

An unregenerate lifestyle is based upon pleasure, comfort, satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment. When none of these can be derived from one’s experience, life becomes worthless.

Death is viewed as an anesthesia that numbs the senses and obliterates consciousness. It is believed that a suffering, tortured human being can only find comfort by sealing himself in an immortalized comatose state called death — the ultimate drug that offers a permanent escape.

The Error of Man’s Imagination

There is a significant flaw in this thinking. That is, one who wishes to flee life and seeks to do so by dying, is only looking on one side of death. Death has two sides. On this side of death, we live in a conscious state in the environment called earth. On the other side of death…?

Here is the tricky part of the issue. Man imagines what it is like after he dies. He imagines that it is either a state of annihilation in which nothing matters anymore, or it is a state of tranquility in which everyone lives in a universal nirvana.

The truth must come from a genuine source of authority on the subject — God. He says that saved people do indeed awaken in His presence when they pass through the door of death (II Corinthians 5:6-8). However, unsaved people are far from any resolution to their problems as they plunge irreversibly into the pit of Hell (Luke 16:22-23).

For the unregenerate, death is a most unfortunate experience. Their choice does not relieve them from suffering but adds to it. As the rich man who awoke in hell, they find themselves in torments, with a hot dry tongue, and their suffering grievously aggravated by flames all about them (Luke 16:23-24). Added to this is the mental torture they will endure for eternity while they realize that choosing to die actually cut off forever their opportunity to choose to live through Jesus Christ.

But What About the Christian?

This raises a serious question for Christians. If a Christian’s salvation is secure, wouldn’t death be a desirable option for believers who are suffering in this world?

The initial answer to this question is “yes”; but the answer must be qualified with an explanation and illustrated with Scriptural examples. The qualification is this: a Christian may justifiably desire death, which would place him in the presence of God; but a believer must acknowledge that the timing of death is a choice that belongs only to God.

  1. Job as an example.

    To say that Job suffered is an understatement. There was absolutely no pleasure or comfort in his experience. Nothing he did satisfied his terrible longing for relief. In all that was taken from him, he must have felt an overwhelming sense of loss and failure. There was no quality whatsoever to Job’s existence. In the midst of this he was encouraged by his wife to commit suicide (Job 2:9).

    In fact, Job did desire to die (Job 3:11-21). Yet he acknowledged that the timing of his death was in the hands of God (Job 6:8-9) and consequently he had no right to choose death. He unequivocally rejected his wife’s suggestion. For Job, desire and choice were two totally distinct and incompatible concepts.

  2. Paul as an example.

    To the Philippians, Paul expressed a strong desire to be out of this life and into the presence of God (Philippians 1:21-23). Nevertheless, he recognized that there was a viable reason for remaining active on earth. As long as God had something for him to do here, he would willingly remain. Only by the choice and hand of God would he depart from this life (II Timothy 4:6-7).

The Ramifications of a Christian’s Death

When an unbeliever dies, the greatest grief comes to himself. He enters into eternal damnation from which he will never escape. Even though people remaining on earth miss the departed person, their grief is nothing compared to that of one who awakens in Hell.

When a Christian dies, by whatever means, the greatest grief comes to those who are left behind. If the means of death is by disease, old age, accident or some fatal wound inflicted by an external source, the remaining loved ones grieve the loss of fellowship for one they held dear. Yet they understand that the victim is much better in the presence of God than they ever could be on earth.

If a believer commits suicide, he causes a debilitating grief within people acquainted with the departed individual. A person who claims Christ as Savior has declared that the Lord Jesus has the power to overcome an eternal problem in his life — sin. If that same person then commits suicide, he is declaring that Christ is not powerful enough to solve his temporal problems. These two things are contradictory. For any of the deceased’s acquaintances who may be considering Christ as a solution, the suicide of a Christian will be greatly discouraging. There is the potential that they will reason something like this: “If Christ could not help my friend solve the problems of his earthly life, how will he ever help me in eternity?” A Christian’s suicide could actually be the factor which discourages another person from trusting Christ for salvation.

A Christian who commits suicide is testifying that the Bible is not true. He is declaring that God’s grace is not sufficient; God is not always a very present help in time of trouble; God may give me more than I can bear without a way to escape; I cannot do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Etc., etc. [In fact, the opposite is true. II Corinthians 12:9; I Corinthians 10:13; Philippians 4:13]

A Christian who desires to commit suicide is declaring that he knows more than God. He knows there is no possible solution to his anxieties. He knows the best time to die. [In fact, the opposite is true. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).]

A Christian who chooses suicide over life on earth is rejecting the sovereignty of Almighty God. He believes that God cannot possibly be in control if things are so wrong. This comes from the false doctrine that God can give me joy only from good things. [In fact, the opposite is true. “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy” (Psalm 126:5). “Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptation; knowing this, that the trying of you faith worketh patience” (James 1:2-3).]

There is irony in all of this. A Christian by committing suicide declares that God cannot help him. Yet in dying he wants to go to God. What does he expect God to do in heaven that he cannot do here?

Conclusion

Our original parents were warned by God that they would surely die in the day they ate of the forbidden fruit. They may not have known precisely what death was, but they should have known it was undesirable. Nevertheless, they chose to die. In a gracious gesture, God provided a solution. When they plunged into death through sin, God’s grace made it a reversible condition.

The Bible teaches us that faith in Jesus Christ and his redemptive work provides a person with an escape from the condemnation of spiritual and physical death (I Corinthians 15). That escape, however, is only available as long as a person is living on the earth.

To Mr. Kevorkian and the members of our society who believe that living human beings have a right to die:

You believe that there is no credible evidence that life survives the death of the body. As a result you sincerely believe that in assisting people to die “with dignity” you are actually improving their state of being. Yet it can as easily be claimed that there is no credible evidence that life does not survive the death of the body. But one thing is certain about death — it is irreversible.

In living there is always hope. In dying, destiny is sealed. You may not believe in God, but no human being has the right to play God. Assisting a person to commit suicide is murder because it irreversibly seals the eternal destiny of the dead person. Whether they awaken or sleep, Mr. Kevorkian, you may not know. But the dying person finds out — too late to change his mind.

To the Christian who is contemplating this chilling choice to die:

God’s word is true. Jesus suffered and died for all your pain and affliction. God’s solution is available to you. It only requires a simple, childlike faith. The same Christ who calmed the storm for the disciples on the Sea of Galilee can calm the storm in your life. Remember that Job’s suffering ended and the Apostle Paul finished his course. Before you choose to die, believe that God is able.

Daily Devotions

Literature, , , ,

by David E. Moss

In 1828 Noah Webster defined the word devotion with a religious connotation. He said the word devotion means,

  1. The state of being dedicated, consecrated, or solemnly set apart for a particular purpose.
  2. A solemn attention to the supreme Being in worship; a yielding of the heart and affections to God, with reverence, faith and piety, in religious duties, particularly in prayer and meditation: devoutness.
  3. External worship: acts of religion; performance of religious duties. As I passed by and beheld your devotions, Acts 17.
  4. Prayer to the Supreme Being. A Christian will be regular in his morning and evening devotions.
  5. An act of reverence, respect or ceremony.

Apparently, devotions is a word that for a very long time has referred to a person’s time spent alone with God in reading and studying the Bible and praying. But is the idea of having a specified time each day for reading the Bible and praying a biblical concept? If it is, are there any biblical guidelines for what should be involved in such an exercise?

The Biblical Basis For Daily Devotions

The Bible indeed teaches the imperative of reading and studying God’s Word and praying.

I Timothy 4:13 – Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.

I Timothy 4:15 – Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.

2 Timothy 2:15 – Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Proverbs 15:8 – …the prayer of the upright is his [the LORD’s] delight.

The Bible also teaches that these things should be done regularly.

Romans 15:4 – For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

Colossians 3:16 – Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and
admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Titus 1:9 – Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by
sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.

Romans 12:12 – …continuing instant in prayer.

Colossians 4:2 – Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving.

I Thessalonians 5:17 – Pray without ceasing.

In fact, the case can be made from Scripture for doing these things on a daily basis. In the Old Testament, under the Jewish system of sacrifices, God called for devotional sacrifices to be made every day, both in the morning and in the evening. In Exodus 29:38, God prescribed that the Israelites offer on the altar two lambs of the first year, day by day continually. One was to be offered as the morning sacrifice and the other in the evening. God explained that this shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD: where I will meet you, to speak there unto thee (verse 42). By this, God instructed His people to prepare themselves on a daily basis to meet with Him and hear from Him.

Later, in the life of Daniel, we see the practical application of this principle. In fact, Daniel considered his daily times with God to be so important, that he knowingly put his life at risk rather than skip them. Daniel 6:10 says, Now when Daniel knew that the writing [forbidding prayer to anyone but the king] was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime. Daniel also spent time studying the Scriptures. This is indicated by his knowledge of Jeremiah’s prophecy concerning the 70 years of captivity (Daniel 9:2).

Then there are several direct statements in Scripture regarding the virtue of daily times of prayer and Bible study.

Psalm 61:8 – So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever, that I may daily perform my vows.

Psalm 86:3 – Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily.

Acts 17:11 – These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

This is reinforced by Jesus’ own instruction to His disciples on how to pray. In Matthew 6:11, Jesus said that a believer’s prayer should include the following: Give us this day our daily bread. If the request is to be for daily bread for this day, the obvious implication is that this request, and therefore prayer, should be offered to God every day.

Finally, the Apostle Paul recognized the importance of a daily committal of oneself to God. He said in 1 Corinthians 15:31, I die daily. No doubt, he learned this from Christ Himself who had previously told His disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me (Luke 9:23).

Some, of course, like to insist that daily devotions ought to be done in the morning, and some even insist that the earliest hours of the morning are the most spiritual time of the day. But the Bible shows men devoting themselves to God at all times of the day and night.

Psalm 55:17 – Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall
hear my voice.

Psalm 5:3 – My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.

Mark 1:35 – And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.

Daniel 6:10 – Daniel kneeled and prayed three times a day.

Psalm 119:164 – Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments.

Psalm 63:6 – When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.

Psalm 42:8 – Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.

Psalm 119:148 – Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word.

Joshua 1:8 – This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein…

Matthew 14:22-23 – And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.

The Biblical Reason For Daily Devotions

The daily sacrifices in the Temple were intended to be a sweet savour unto God (Numbers 28:24). But they turned sour when the Israelites began offering them for the wrong reasons (Isaiah 58:1-5). In recent times, having “daily devotions” has become a part of the expected routine of a professing Christian.

Supported by the printing of daily Bible reading schedules and monthly devotional booklets, some Christian leaders have been insisting that “daily devotions” are as much a part of the required activities of believers as Church attendance and tithing. But the danger of pressuring Christians to have their devotions out of some sense of obligation is that they may completely miss the point.

Daily devotions should be an exercise by which an individual believer cultivates his own personal relationship with the Heavenly Father. With genuine heart felt praise, the individual constantly affirms his real devotion to God. As Hebrews 13:13-15 expresses it, Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

And Psalm 61:8 says, So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever, that I may daily perform my vows.

Then with diligent meditation upon the Word of God, the Christian grows in his knowledge of Christ and in his approval with the Father. 1 Peter 2:2 is the starting point, saying, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.

1 Timothy 4:13-16 takes it to the next level: Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

2 Timothy 2:15 then brings the process to a conclusion: Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Finally, prayer provides a means for the devoted Christian to practice the ministry of intercession. 1 Timothy 2:1-8 instructs us to intercede for all men. James 5:16 directs us to intercede for believers with special problems. And many other Scriptures reinforce the importance of intercessory prayer.

Too many Christians go through the motions of daily devotions and are satisfied with a sense of accomplishment from simply doing them. But when devotions become nothing more than a ritual, they can be as sour to God as the daily sacrifices of the wayward Israelites.

A story is told of a man who regularly spent time with the Lord in prayer. To make the process a little easier, he decided one day to write down all his prayer requests. As time went on, instead of thoughtfully praying for each matter on the list, it became much easier to read the list. Day by day, the wording of the list became more familiar to the man and gradually he was able to read it faster and faster. Finally, one night this poor man was too tired even to read his prayer list quickly and so he tacked it to the end of his bed and sleepily whispered, “Here are my prayer requests God. Please read them for yourself.” On the one hand, this story sounds silly. But on the other hand, it sounds all too real as an illustration for the meaninglessness of many a Christian’s daily devotions.

Following a prescribed plan for devotions may have some merit, especially for those who are just starting out. The reading schedules and devotional booklets that are available may help some establish the discipline of spending time with the Lord on a regular basis. But caution should be exercised in becoming dependent upon these things as an end in themselves. In our western modern cultural mind set, we tend to package our lives in neat little boxes so that we can check things on our to-do list assuring that we can fit everything into our demanding schedules.

Too often, the result is that everything on our list gets done, but very little of real substance is actually accomplished, especially when it comes to spending quality time with the Lord.

Having daily devotions is not about fulfilling some practical obligation we have to God. He is not concerned about whether we spend 15 minutes, or 30 minutes, or one hour in reading the Bible. He does not measure our spirituality by how long our written prayer list has become. He does not preserve a special crown for those who arise at 3:58 AM everyday to have their devotions. He is primarily concerned about developing a personal relationship with us. If that means a regular time every day in the early morning hours, then do it. But if that means shorter moments several times a day, or if it means spending two hours one day and 15 minutes another day, or if it means constant meditation and prayer throughout the day as moments are available, then pursue your relationship with God by whatever plan is meaningful and consistent for you as an individual. But pursue Him in a relational way and not by means of ritual exercises. If you do, you will surely find Him to be a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).

Some Advice For Preparing Yourself For Daily Devotions

  1. Determine to give yourself wholly to God and to the things of His Word (Romans 12:1-2; 1 Timothy 4:15). The daily sacrifices in the Temple consisted of burnt offerings (Numbers 29:6). Burnt offerings were sacrifices that were totally consumed on the altar. None was kept back for food. As we relate to God on a daily basis, we should devote ourselves wholly unto Him and hold nothing back in reserve for selfish or worldly interests.

  2. Practice praising God throughout the day to prepare your heart for the personal times you will spend with Him. Praise is an exercise in acknowledging God. Not only does it please Him to receive compliments, but it provides a sense of connection for our hearts to His Spirit. Note the words of the following Scriptures,

    Psalm 50:23 – Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.

    Psalm 86:11-12 – …unite my heart to fear thy name. I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore.

    Psalm 104:33-34 – My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the LORD… Bless thou the LORD, O my soul. Praise ye the LORD.

  3. As you prepare to spend time with the Lord, try to let your spirit become quiet. Some people like to call their devotions quiet time. This is because quietness is related to a sense of sacredness and reverence. After a stormy trial involving the wicked Jezebel, the prophet Elijah was very unsettled. God had to take him to a far away place and help him calm down so that he could hear the “still small voice” of the Spirit of God (1 Kings 19:12). In the midst of Job’s turmoil and suffering, Elihu, the young man who sought to give Job some perspective of his sufferings, exhorted him to “stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God” (Job 37:14). Daily life is entirely too noisy for most of us. It is not easy to go from the chaotic sounds of our busy lives into the quiet presence of the Divine and conduct ourselves reverently. We must take a deep breath, exhale a few deep sighs and prepare ourselves to be quiet before the LORD. Psalm 4:3-4 says, But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him. Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still.

Some Hints For Having Effective Devotions

  1. Think of devotions as the cultivating of a relationship with a person, remembering that devotions are not about winning prizes but about getting closer to God.

    Philippians 3:10 – That I may know him…

    Isaiah 58:13 – …call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD… honour him…

  2. Realize that a formalized devotional pattern is not an end in itself. It can become an empty ritual as meaningless as the Old Testament sacrifices in Israel if the heart is not kept properly tuned to the purpose for which it was designed.

    Isaiah 1 :11-15 – To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me?

    Hosea 6:6 – For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

  3. Do not block yourself into a packaged formula that becomes restrictive. There very well may be special times for devotions but there may also need to be spontaneous times for devotions. Remember that relationships with persons are not rigid regimentations but require responses involving flexibility, diversity, spontaneity, sacrifice, submission, charity, faith, hope, and commitment.

    I Corinthians 7:5 – …give yourself to fasting and prayer…

    Proverbs 3:5-6 – …in all thy ways acknowledge him…

    I Corinthians 13:1-13 – …and though I have all faith… and have not charity, I am nothing.

  4. Understand that “to read the Bible and pray” is an over simplification of the biblical instructions to “praise, meditate, and intercede.”

    I Timothy 4:15 – give thyself wholly to them…

  5. Read the Psalms frequently and regularly with the purpose in mind of learning how to praise God. Then practice praise throughout the day to keep your heart prepared for spontaneous devotions.

    Psalms 61:8 – So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever, that I may daily perform my vows.

  6. Establish challenges for your mind always having a purpose in your meditation. Set realistic goals that can bring reward by being accomplished within a reasonable period of time. For example, in meditating upon a particular book of the Bible, determine to assign a descriptive title to each chapter, then to each paragraph, etc.

    Joshua 1:8 – …meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein…

  7. Keep an active list of people’s names and needs for the purpose of intercession. But do not just read your list to God, pray from the heart.

    James 5:16 – …pray for one another

    Colossians 4:3 – Withal praying also for us…

Conclusion

Every believer ought to be cultivating a personal relationship with the Heavenly Father. He is the one who opened Himself up to us in a familial way (2 Corinthians 6:18). He is the one who made the ultimate sacrifice to make such a relationship possible (Galatians 4:4-7). He is the one who graciously grants us the wonderful privilege of being His children (John 1:12). Is it really too much for Him to ask that we spend a little time with Him to get to know Him and to let Him mold our lives into His image?

Christianity was never intended to be a religion. Don’t let it become that for you. Let it be what it should be, a relationship with the Divine Person. Have devotions every day, but have them in a way that will be meaningful for both you and God.