The Company We Keep

   

Three of our sweet grandsons

 I love babysitting our grandchildren.  It gives me time to play with them, hug and kiss them and in general, spoil them!  However, if they have a cold, it has been my experience that I usually catch it as has been the case this week.  I think God is building my immune system along with theirs.
     While catching a cold is not fun, there are many other things we can catch from those around us that are more detrimental to our well-being.  For example, if we spend a lot of time with a negative person, we can easily pick up a negative outlook on life.  Attitudes, moods and worldly thinking can be quickly caught if we are not on guard.
     Proverbs, the book of wisdom, speaks to this issue in 13:20:  "He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will suffer harm."  We often read in the newspaper about some young person who has come from a good home but who happened to be in the company of others that committed a crime.  Because he was present, he is also charged.  This is a clear example of being a companion of fools.   Even in the church, this can happen as well.  It may not be a crime, but some aberrant teaching that a person catches from another begins to spread.
     In I Corinthians 15, Paul is addressing this church that had so many errors and problems.  This specific chapter dealt with this issue of the resurrection from the dead.  There were some in this congregation who claimed to have knowledge (I Cor. 8:1) but who denied the Resurrection showing their ignorance regarding the things of God.  Their ideas infected others just like a cold virus.  Paul warned in I Cor. 15:33:  "Do not be deceived:  'Bad company ruins good morals.'"  This is how false teachings get started and grow.  No matter how much we regard others (whether pastors, teachers, authors, philosophers etc.) we must always consider what they say in line with God's Word.  I have a healthy respect for the Bereans who carefully looked into the Scriptures to see if what Paul was preaching was correct (Acts 17:11).  We also ought to do the same.
     Obviously, we live in a fallen world where we daily rub shoulders with all sorts of people and many ideas.  We are not meant to hide away, but we can be proactive in how we can avoid becoming infected with bad attitudes and worldly thinking.
     1)  The best vaccination in the world is reading and knowing your Bible.  Having the knowledge of God's truth allows the Spirit to bring to our remembrance God's own Words when we are confronted with wrong ideas.
     2) Daily put on God's full armor so we are ready for the battle of ideas that confront us.  God has given us all we need for life and godliness but we must be prepared. (Ephesians 6:10-18).
     3) Be prayed up!  Daily spend time in conversation with God that He might deliver us from evil.  Jesus is our example here as He spent large amounts of time alone with the Father.  He even gave us a pattern for prayer (Matthew 6:9-13).

Two more of our sweet grandchildren

     4) Do spend quality time in fellowship with other believers in worship to God and instruction through preaching.  Other believers can stimulate us to grow and encourage us to correct errors in our thinking.
     5) Avoid spending long periods of time around those who are always negative, worldly in their thinking or foolish in their actions.  While we are to share the Gospel with those outside the faith, we
are not to spend more time with them than with the fellowship of believers.  We must remember that the company we keep is crucial to our outlook on life and how we grow as a Christian.
     I will eventually get over this cold.  It takes time, and I am doing all I can (vitamins, lots of water, rest) to get better.  In the same way, if we DO get infected with some wrong thinking, negative attitudes or sinful actions, we also have some remedies and the first is to repent (I John 1:9).  Then, we must start to make some changes by considering what happened that led to this.  Course corrections should be a way of life for Christians because we are not perfect yet.  Let us become proactive in our relationships rather than reactive remembering that those we spend time with will influence our lives either for good or for evil.  Keeping Christ the center of all we think, do and say will help us to glorify Him.  Selah!

Contending for the Faith

 

My dear husband standing in front
of the statue of Ebenezer Erskine in
Stirling, Scotland

      From the earliest days of the Christian church to the present, there have always been those outside the faith who have set themselves against believers.  However, we often forget that there are also enemies from within the church, and it takes strong men and women to contend for the faith and stand for truth.  Jude addressed the issue of false teachers in his letter to believers (vs 3-4):  "Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.  For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ."  Since human nature has not changed except by the grace and blood of Christ, we still face these struggles today.  The question is, "Will Christians step up and contend for the faith once for all delivered to us or will we allow worldly ideas and techniques to slowly decay the faith?"
     In the history of the church, there are two preachers (among the many that can be named) who contended for the truth at some expense to them.  One example comes from the history of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in the person of Ebenezer Erskine.  Having been to Scotland two years ago, we walked in the church in which he preached as well as visiting his grave.  Ebenezer and his brother Ralph, both pastors in the Church of Scotland became involved in what was called the "Marrow Man" controversy.  Edward Fisher, a layman theologian, had written a book entitled "The Marrow of Modern Divinity" in which he tried to write about the atonement in such a way as to guide believers away from Neonomianism (a belief that the Gospel is a "new law" replacing the Old Testament laws and that faith and repentance must come before a person could have salvation).  When this book became popular with a pastor Thomas Boston, it was introduced to believers thus stirring up the members of the Presbytery who claimed it was an antinomian work (meaning it was against the law).  Thus the controversy began.  The "Marrow Men" contended that grace comes before salvation and that a man cannot forsake sin until he comes to salvation.
     Over a period of time and various contentious debates with the Church of Scotland, Ebenezer Erskine and others who objected to this neonomian perspective of the ruling body took a stand and broke with the church forming "The Associate Reformed Church".  The entire controversy boiled down to this:  The Neonomians believed in conditional grace and that a man must forsake sin before he can come to salvation while the "Marrow Men" believed in the free grace of God to those whom He calls.  Because the heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that of free grace, was being held captive through a type of legalism, these twelve men stood against this teaching and contended for the faith.
     Another example of a man who stood for truth is found in "The Prince of Preachers", Charles H. Spurgeon.  In March of 1887, Charles Spurgeon published the first of two articles entitled "The Down  Grade" in his monthly newsletter "The Sword and the Trowel".  The articles were published anonymously but it was Pastor Robert Shindler along with Spurgeon that had input in the writing.  Basically, the theme was that church was going "down hill at breakneck speed."   The author noted

The Church of the Holy Rood in Stirling
where Erskine preached

that after a period of sound teaching and growth in evangelicalism, there came a time of falling away from sound doctrine.  Indeed in the churches of their day, there were those who introduced heretical preachers, associates and assistants into their churches even though they seemed to be orthodox in thought.  The rise of Arianism (a belief that Christ was a man and not divine) and Socinianism (they did not believe in the Trinity)  in Exeter led to many Presbyterian churches there being infected with this teaching.  Thus the influence of the Puritans, holy living, sound Bible teaching was waning and giving way to dry, listless apostate teaching.  Churches began to give church membership to the unregenerate and even allowed them to take leadership positions.  Likewise these people chose pastors like themselves who did not stay faithful to the Gospel.
     In a second article, Spurgeon himself wrote with strong conviction that the church was quickly going on the down grade and his pleas for clarity and faithful teaching were unheeded.  Ultimately, he broke with The Baptist Union over this disagreement after trying in every way possible to turn things around.  The Union censored him and ignored his warnings.  "No Creed but Christ" was their battle cry ignoring the sound creeds developed in the church to guide her teaching.  The Baptist Union tried to compromise with the modernists in their theology which only accelerated their down hill slide as Spurgeon had predicted.
     Charles Spurgeon never got over the sorrow for the break with the Baptist Union but he indicated he would have done it again for the sake of the truth of the Gospel.  As Shindler wrote about the "Down Grade",  he stated:  "[At the end of the Puritan age] by some means or other, first the ministers, then the Churches, got on "the down grade" and in some cases, the descent was rapid and in all, very disastrous.  In proportion as the ministers seceded from the old Puritan godliness of life, and the old Calvinistic form of doctrine, they commonly became less earnest and less simple in their preaching, more speculative and less spiritual in the matter of their discourses, and dwelt more on the moral teachings of the New Testament, than on the great central truths of revelation.  Natural theology frequently took the place which the great truths of the gospel ought to have held, and the sermons became more and more Christless.  Corresponding results in the character and life, first of the preachers and then of the people, were only too plainly apparent."
     Both Spurgeon and Erskine paid a high price by standing up for the truth.  Lost relationships, heavy hearts, and much prayer over matters was their daily struggle, but neither of them could stand idly by while truths from God's Word were being trampled in favor of the popular ideas of the day.  So deceitful is the heart of man that it is easy to fall into some aberrant philosophy or worldly concept introduced by a teacher who loves to tickle the ear.
     When we look back at the verses in Jude, we notice that he indicated that the false teachers had crept into the church.  They didn't come trumpeting their false ideas.  They came quietly in and gained a foothold.  Jude called the believers to contend for the faith and not lose the moorings on which the foundation of the church was built.  The same is true in our churches today.  We must be on guard, in the Word, and in prayer that God will give us wisdom to discern between what is false teaching and the solid rock of Jesus Christ.  Likewise, pray for pastors, church leaders and teachers that they may not slip into a "down grade" as happened in Spurgeon's day.  As long as we walk in this world, there will be those who will lead others astray.  This is why God calls us to be "contenders" for the faith once delivered.  May we do so to His glory even as Erskine and Spurgeon did.  Selah!



I encourage you to read more on these controversies as there is not enough time or space to dig deeply into them here.
   

Challenged to Search the Word

Fall in FL

     If life were easy, would we ever depend on God?  Sometimes it takes someone to stimulate our thinking, push us to make a move or confront us with Scripture before we are ready to make some changes.   In my own life, God used various people to challenge my thinking that ultimately worked for the good of my husband and I as well as for God's glory.
     When we went to a friend's house 42 years ago to run an errand, we heard a fellow talking about the return of Jesus Christ to our friends.  He had come to talk to them, but we heard what he was saying and wanted to know more.  We made an appointment with him, and he shared the Gospel with us.  God opened our hearts to the Word and we responded in repentance to the message of Christ.  It changed our thinking and our lives.
     Then, in 1986, I began to homeschool our children because a friend challenged me to think about this important avenue for educating them.  She had planned to do this for her children and told me to think outside the box.  My husband and I prayed earnestly, looked into the Word and talked with others before making a commitment to this.  Many, at the time, thought I was crazy and I would not last, but God had changed my heart.  We lasted 21 years and saw all our children through high school.  It took a friend to challenge me so we went to the Word and sought God's wisdom.  I have no regrets for the time I devoted to them, and I am ever grateful for the messenger (my life long friend) who  brought me fresh insights that drove me to the Bible to see what God would do.
     In recent days, there has been a good deal of controversy in the Body of Christ over "The Strange Fire" conference held at John MacArthur's church in California.  Some have taken offense at his teaching and what the other speakers shared.  I listened to this conference but did not take away some of the perceptions that others had.  However, I can understand how easy it is to be concerned when ideas are challenged that we accept and believe.  Yet, how can we grow unless at times we are challenged in our thinking.  Let me suggest two responses we can glean from all the turmoil that has been swirling around on the internet.
     First, Jesus told us to love others even if they persecute or despitefully use us.  In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:43-48), Jesus said:  "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.  For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.  For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?  Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  (vs. 43-46).    There will always be people in this world with whom we disagree and quite often they belong to our family.  The Christian family is made up of many parts and not all see eye to eye on issues.  If we are to be like our heavenly Father, we are to love even those who say things that may upset us.
     Secondly, all of us must remember that it is God's Word that changes hearts and minds.  His Word was preached at the conference, and God promises that His Word will not return void but will accomplish His purpose (Isaiah 55:11).    We do not know how many people needed to hear those messages that were given.  We cannot know all of God's will and His plan.  Therefore, we have to trust in His sovereignty over all things.  If any of those messages offended us, then, we must dig into the Word and find out why.  Is God trying to tell us something?  If not, can we not trust Him to apply His Word as He sees fit?  Our confidence and our foundation must be His Word - Sola Scriptura.  Apart from His Word, we can drift into dangerous territory so we all need to learn to be Bereans when we hear anything preached.  This is how the Bereans behaved after hearing Paul deliver his message of the Gospel to them.  They were mentioned in the Bible because of their faithfulness to look into the Word to see if what he said was so.
     Finally, we have to remember the original premise of this piece.   When I was challenged by hearing that Christ might return, I was intrigued.  However, I wasn't

Yellow flowers blooming in Fall

searching for God that night.  He was searching for me to open my heart to receive Him.  Likewise, I had no intention of homeschooling our four children, but it was the challenge of a friend who encouraged me to look into the Word and seek God's wisdom that ultimately led my husband and I to teach our children.  We do not know because we cannot see all that God is doing or has planned.  This is why it is so important to take a deep breath, get into God's Word, and take time to respond in love rather than react in anger when someone presents a perspective for us that is different than ours.
     I close with this thought.  Right after the Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, discusses the gifts and how we are one body (especially since this church was very divided over this), he follows with I Corinthians 13 verses 8-13:  "Love never ends.  As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.  When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.  When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.  For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.  So now faith, hope and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love."   Let us live in the love of Christ and accept the challenges that come our way for God is in control,  Selah!