Truth Magazine

By Fred A. Shewmaker

A member of a certain college faculty reportedly made a habit of advising young men, who expressed the desire to become preachers: “Don’t preach, if you can keep from it.” By that advice he sought to do two things: Discourage those who were not driven by a compelling desire to win souls, and encourage those who were motivated by a true desire to win souls to make preaching their life’s work.

Today, when gospel preachers are in short supply, we may be tempted to encourage every man showing the slightest interest in preaching to become a preacher. It may require considerable restraint to overcome that temptation, but overcoming it will be worth the effort. Those not highly motivated by a desire to win souls may have the ability to become excellent speakers, but it is not reasonable to expect them to become effective gospel preachers.

If you are entertaining the desire to become a preacher, give careful consideration to the question: “Why do I desire to preach?” If your desire arises out of an observation that preachers drive late model cars, wear nice clothes, receive a good salary with no deductions taken out of their checks and receive many compliments on their sermons as they speak to those who are leaving the building: forget it! A careful examination of the work of preaching would have dispelled the idea that preachers live glamorous lives.

A member of a local church where I was preaching moved to another state to begin “full-time” work as a gospel preacher. A few months later he and his family returned for a visit. As we talked he tried to explain certain problems he was encountering. I was totally unacquainted with the church with which he was associated and could scarcely comprehend the enormity of the problems which he was describing. After listening for some time, I sighed, “It doesn’t take long for the glamour to wear off, does it?” I will always regret making that remark. I had encouraged that man to make preaching his life’s work, but at that moment a suspicion had formed in my mind that my encouragement had been given to a glamour seeker. In the years that have followed, his work as a gospel preacher has completely erase that suspicion from my mind.

Every child of God should encourage faithful men to preach the gospel (2 Tim. 2:2). Some who have received my encouragement are making preaching their life’s work. One of them is the dear brother mentioned above. Others are doing appointment or fill-in preaching. Before we encourage a brother to make preaching his life’s work, we should be convinced that he is driven by a desire to win souls.

As a preacher’s work takes him from place to place, it is not unusual for him to meet some brother for the first time and immediately be informed by his new acquaintance, “I would like to become a preacher myself.” Too often preachers with the best of intentions extend immediate encouragement, without knowing a thing about the brother’s motive or background. It might be that the preacher has not even caught the brother’s name.

A brother who, when meeting a gospel preacher for the first time, blurts out, “I would like to become a preacher, myself,” displays a lack of maturity. It is probable that he expects his declaration to be received with enthusiastic approval. Possibly he even has an unreasonable and unjustifiable expectation that the preacher will be transformed into a fountain of effervescent enthusiasm, gushing out encouragement.

A gospel preacher caught in such a situation should neither discourage nor encourage the expressed desire. Probably the most appropriate response that can be made is simply to ask: “Why?” That response avoids the discourtesy of ignoring the brother’s declaration while calling for the information one needs in order to determine whether to encourage or discourage him. At the same time it calls upon the brother to give some consideration to what it means to do the work of a preacher. Any brother, who cannot satisfactorily explain “why” he desires to become a preacher, should not be encouraged to make preaching his life’s work.

One brother, with whom I was acquainted in years gone by, frequently said, “Some can preach and some can plow; those of us who can’t preach need to be plowing and supporting those who can preach.” An older preacher said, “We need the small churches. They provide a great service. They cannot afford to have a full-time preacher working with them, but they are a great training ground for those who desire to become gospel preachers. When a man expresses a desire to become a preacher, they are willing to give him an opportunity to try. If he does a decent job, they will ask him to come back. If he continues to do well, other churches will hear about him and call him to preach to them. If he grows in knowledge and increases his ability to clearly present the word, his services will be in demand. On the other hand, if a man does not do well, he will not be asked back. He will have some opportunitites at other places, but after a while they will dry up and he can forget about becoming a preacher.”

So you still want to preach. If you are driven by a compelling desire to win souls and will humble yourself in the hands of God, it may be possible for you to become an effective gospel preacher. Men with very little speaking ability have become outstanding gospel preachers. It takes hard work and lots of it, but if you truly have a compelling desire to win souls, you probably will thrive on the work and most likely will have opportunities to scatter the precious seed far and wide.

Guardian of Truth XXXII: 20, p. 591
October 6, 1988

By Dennis Abernathy

Not too long ago there appeared a razor blade advertisement with the slogan: “Take it off; take it all off.” The advent of warm weather made many people apply this slogan with regard to their dress. As the weather warms and heats up, we begin to see the shorts and halters, tank tops, and scanty swim wear, which makes modesty a vanishing virtue. Perhaps this is to be expected from worldly people who either do not know the truth or who do not care what the truth is, but we should expect more from Christians. I’m afraid immodesty is creeping (running in some areas) into the church, and not too much is being done to check it.

The time was that the truth was preached plainly and forthrightly on this subject. Elders took a stand with regard to the matter. Church members who wore short shorts and such in public were not allowed to feel comfortable in doing so. It was frowned upon by good people and they heard about it from the pulpit. But today young people wear their shorts, majorette and drill team outfits, short tennis skirts, all clearly displaying the flesh for all to see, and it is done with the church’s blessings (or to say the least, with their silence). The public swimming pools and beaches are frequented by Christians or by their children where immodesty is rampant, ignoring the warning to “flee youthful lusts” (2 Tim. 2:22), turning a deaf ear to the admonition to “Pure thinking” (Phil. 4:8). How can a young person be an example of what a true believer really is in “conduct” and “purity” (1 Tim. 4:12) and ignore the principles of modesty?

It appears to me that when the children of gospel preachers and elders are seen in public places with shorts (to the mid-thigh and shorter) on, that the church is not going to hear much preaching on the subject of modesty. It is sad when you must put “No shorts allowed” on an invitation for a gathering where those who gather are Christians. Brethren, have we given up the fight? Have we grown tired of preaching on subjects so unpopular? Have we taken the attitude that “no-one will listen anyway”? Because some “will not endure sound doctrine” will we ignore the charge to “preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rubuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching” (2 Tim. 4:1-3)?

The Word still reads: “In like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety (shamefacedness) and sobriety. . . . But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works” (1 Tim. 2:9-10). The Christian who recognizes the destructive power of lust, the error of immodesty, and God’s view of sin, and who loves to please God will dress in a manner becoming of the gospel. He or she will try very hard to be separate from the world (cf. 1 Jn. 2:15-17; Jas. 4:4; Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 6:14-18). Brethren, God determines modesty (which stems from character) and not the world. The Christian who allows the world to set the standard for him has become worldly-minded. He has conformed rather than being transformed by the renewing of his mind. Think on these things.

Guardian of Truth XXXII: 19, p. 589
October 6, 1988

By Forrest D. Moyer

As Peter continued to list the characteristics that one must add, he named “patience” as being essential in our lives to keep us from falling and to insure us a part in the “everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior” (2 Pet. 1:5-11). James wrote: “Indeed, we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the purpose of the Lord, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful” (Jas. 5:11). Therefore, the Holy Spirit teaches us that we must have patience if we would walk in the favor of God. It is, in truth, a part of the fruit of the Spirit.

What Is Patience?

1. Let us look at the definition. It is from the word hupomone. Thayer defines it: “steadfastness, constancy, endurance; in the N.T. the characteristic of a man who is unswerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings” (Thayer, p. 644). The verb form means “to persevere, to endure, bear bravely and calmly” (Ibid.).

William Barclay says, “Hupomone is one of the noblest of NT words. Normally it is translated ‘patience’ or ‘endurance,’ but, as we shall see, there is no single English word which transmits all the fullness of its meaning. . . . It has one very interesting use – it is used of the ability of a plant to live under hard and unfavorable circumstances. . . . It is not the patience which can sit down and bow its head and let things descend upon it and passively endure until the storm is past. . . . It is the spirit which can bear things, not simply with resignation, but with blazing hope; it is . . . the spirit which bears things because it knows that these things are leading to a goal of glory; it is not the patience which grimly waits for the end, but the patience which radiantly hopes for the dawn” (William Barclay, New Testament Words, pp. 143-144).

2. Realizing what is involved in the word helps us to see that patience is greatly needed in our lives. It is needed that we might be complete. James writes: “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance (patience). And let endurance (patience) have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (Jas. 1:2-4). The word trials (peirasmois) can mean either inward temptations to do wrong or outward trials such as suffering or persecution for the name of Jesus. The context here indicates that he is speaking of the outward trials that would try to discourage us from faithful service to the Lord. These are the kind of trials of which Peter spoke in 1 Peter 4:12: “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal (trial) among you, which comes upon you for your testing.” We have not arrived at a state of completeness until we are able to endure these trials that will come. Observe that James is not speaking of sinless perfection but of one’s being a complete, full-grown person. It is the “perfection towards a given end, and for a given purpose” (Barclay). This patient, steadfast endurance causes us to be entire (holokleros) which carries the idea of having all that which belongs to us, like a baby with all of its parts and, therefore, normal. Patience gives us maturity and completeness and also causes us to be deficient in nothing. The man who has patience will not give up in the midst of the battle; he will keep on until the victory is won. Thus, we can see how vital it is to have patience in our lives. When trials come, we need to endure. When our Lord needs our service, we need to be mature, complete, and fully developed in order that we may serve him totally and without wavering. Let us indeed pray for patience.

We need patience in order that we might endure trials. The writer of Hebrews speaks of how terrifying it is to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb. 10:31). He then speaks of the former days when they endured a great conflict of suffering. Now he urges them not to throw away their confidence, which has a great reward (v. 35). Then he says, “For you have need of endurance (patience), so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised” (v. 36). “But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul” (v. 39). These Hebrew Christians had begun well. But now that Christianity had been declared an illegal religion by the Roman Empire, they are being called upon to undergo severe persecutions and even death. So the writer urges patient endurance – do not give up the faith; hold on; do not lose your reward. He gives them added motivation by saying, “But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul” (Heb. 11:29). We, too, must have this patient endurance in order that we may not shrink back but that we may receive everlasting life in Heaven.

We need patience in order that we might run the race. The Hebrew writer continued; “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounded us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance (patience) the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:1-2). Just recently the news media told of the running of the Boston marathon, a race of twenty-six miles. Very few of us would have the stamina to run such a race. The only ones who could do so are those who, by rigorous pre-conditioning, have prepared themselves for such an event. Even then it takes tremendous staying power to complete the race. There is some glory attached to completing such a race even if one does not come in first. They look forward to the glory of completing and thus finish the race. So it is in running the race of a Christian. We see our goal – everlasting life. We also see the one superb example – Jesus, and we fix our eyes on him. We also are aware that others are watching us and that spurs us onward. With these incentives, we exercise our patient endurance and run the race. The victory will be ours as we continue in patience. We dare not turn aside to destruction.

Patience And Its Connections

As we study about patience, we see that it is connected with several other godly attributes. In fact, often we cannot have one without the other.

1. Patience is joined with faith. Remember in James 1:3 how he said, “knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience (endurance)”? It is our faith that produces the motivation to endure. Because I believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that he is the only way to Heaven (John 14:6), then I will patiently do his will in order to please him. Because I believe that the Bible is his word and that every promise is true, I will be steadfast in order to receive the blessed promises that are given. John tells us that the victory that overcomes the world is our faith (1 John 5:4). When these two great traits are joined together faith and patience – then I will have victory in my life. I will exemplify the fruit of the Spirit in living for Jesus.

2. Patience is joined with hope. Paul wrote:

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance (patience); and perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Rom. 5:1-5, NKJ).

The whole spectrum of our salvation is viewed here. We are saved by grace on God’s part which was manifested in his sending Jesus. We exercise faith on our part which causes us to have a right-standing with God. Because of our faith and our hope we glory in trials because these trials produce perseverance or staying-power. This patience produces proven character – that which has been tested and found to be pure gold (1 Pet. 1:6ff). This in turn gives substance to our hope which causes us to exult and glory because of what God has done and will do in our lives. This kind of hope that is based on grace, faith, justification, patience, and character will never disappoint us because we know of God’s love for us. Because of patience and hope, we endure whatever is necessary knowing that the God of glory will give eternal glory to us.

3. Patience is joined with joy. “Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy” (Col. 1:11). You see, it is the strength that God gives us that helps us endure with joy. Jesus had to endure the suffering of the cross. Yet he did so because of the joy that was set before him (Heb. 12:1-2). It was by looking to the ultimate position that would be his that he was able to endure the cross. Since he looked forward with joy to what was beyond the suffering, he had the patience to remain steadfast in the midst of severe suffering. So it is with us. Only when we see beyond the sufferings of this present time will we really be able to patiently endure. Paul put it this way: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom. 8:18). By our looking to the joy that is to come, we can patiently endure any present sufferings or discouragements.

4. This leads us to say that patience is connected with the goal of glory. Paul spoke of the time when God “will render to every man according to his deeds” and said, “to those who by perseverance (hupomone, patience) in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life” (Rom. 2:6-7). When one is seeking for the true glory and honor (based on the knowledge of divine truth), then he will have the perseverance necessary to attain. God will render eternal life to such a contender. Patience is connected to the goal of glory. This is what the Spirit taught in Romans 8:25: “But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance (patience) we wait eagerly for it.” This is why Paul could pray, “And may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness (patience) of Christ” (2 Thess. 3:5). Most likely, he is referring to the patience which Christ can give to us as we walk with him. We see our goal – everlasting life.. We have the positive expectation and the earnest desire to attain it. Therefore, we steadfastly endure and persevere in order to reach that goal, and Jesus gives to us strength and encouragement all along the way. Thus, through him we expect to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for. a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen him, you love him, and though you do not see him now, but believe in him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls (1 Pet. 1:4-9).

Herein is the secret of endurance. They can endure with patience whatever is set before them because of what they are looking forward to. The trials only purify and strengthen the real faith so that it is able to persevere and look beyond to that inheritance that will never fade away. To me, this section is one of the most beautiful and powerful sections of Holy Writ. I can endure any trial or any temptation because I know that Jesus is going to come, and when he comes, he will take me to eternal glory with him. No momentary pleasure is worth it if I must give up my reward. I must, indeed, persevere. I am determined to do so. Someday we can look back and say, “It was really worth it all!”

The Great Example of Job and His Patience

James said, “Behold, we count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance (patience) of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings,’that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful” (Jas. 5:11). What a powerful example Job is!

There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God, and turned away from evil. There were born to him even sons and three daughters. He had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and very many servants; so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east (Job 1:1-3).

What a great and powerful man he was! Especially so, when we see that he was upright and feared the Lord! He had wealth and influence. But all of this changed very abruptly because of the work of the devil.

1. Job lost all of his possessions in one day, yet he remained faithful to God (Job 1:14-17). This is what James meafit when he spoke of the perseverance of Job. On the same day he lost all ten of his children to death (1:18-19).

What a staggering blow to this godly man! It would have been so easy for him to give up and to blame God for it all. Yet he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord” (1:21). His faith in God sustained him and he endured (exercised patience).

2. Job had horrible bodily affliction, yet hepatiently endured. His afflictions are described in 2:7-8. He had sore boils from the top of his head to the sole of his foot. He sat in the ashes and scraped himself with a potsherd. In 7:5 he described his suffering by saying, “My flesh is clothed with worms and a crust of dirt; my skin hardens and runs.” Yet he did not give himself over to the devil. He persevered.

3. Job’s friends turned on him (2:11-13), yet he did not deny hisfaith in God. Even his wife turned against him and urged him to curse God and die (2:9-10). Job had two options in the midst of all his difficulties: he could give up or he could handle his problems through faith in God and through patience (perseverance). Aren’t you glad that Job opted to handle his problems? What a beautiful example he is to you and to me. When it seems that problems overwhelm me and that it would be easier to give up, I can look to Job and see that he handled his problems and that he endured. This is the message James was giving to us as he spoke about the patience of Job.

We can further see that Job was rewarded for his integrity. As a result of his encounter with God (Job 38), he was able to put things in proper prospective. And God saw that his wealth and family were restored to him in an even greater capacity (Job 42). He says to us, “Don’t get yourself so wrapped up in material things. They may not endure.” He says, “While our family members are vitally important to us and we love them so very dearly, remember that all earthly ties must be severed.” He says, “When we lose our wealth, our health, or even our nearest and dearest of family loved ones, make sure that we do not lose our relationship to God. Nothing is more important than that. So set yourself to develop genuine patience that will allow you to endure and persevere in order that some glorious day God will take you to himself in that state of perfect glory where there will be no pain, no decay of spiritual riches, and no death.” My friend, resolve to grow patience as a great block in your spiritual life.

Guardian of Truth XXXII: 19, pp. 592-594
October 6, 1988

By William Safire

“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature,” wrote Karl Marx, “the spirit of unspiritual conditions. It is the Opium des Volkes – the opiate of the people.”

Opium at that time in Germany was known mostly as a painkiller; Marx’s point was that religion deceptively eased the painful symptoms of the exploitation of labor by capital.

To bring on the revolution, religion’s succor had to be removed, allowing the working class to suffer until the pain was intolerable; at that point, the permanent cure would come from communism. Marx made that a top priority: “The first requisite for the people’s happiness is the abolition of religion.”

V.I. Lenin adopted that doctrine as the new gospel, and condemned any party members for what he derided as a dangerous “flirtation with God.”

Ever since, Americans have been denouncing “Godless communism.” Dwight Eisenhower said in 1950: “Hundreds of millions behind the Iron Curtain are daily drilled in the slogan: ‘There is no God, and religion is an opiate.’ But not all the people within the Soviet Union accept this fallacy; and some day they will educate their rulers, or change them.”

The education of Moscow’s atheists is under way. Under the Gorbachev policy of “controlled openness,” letters from Russians have begun to appear in the Soviet press like this: “Unless you (the authorities) stop fighting religion, there will be no end to alcoholism.”

That hits home because vodka has become the spirit of unspiritual conditions. In the Soviet Union, drunkenness is more than ever a way of life, causing absenteeism at the factory and erosion of family ties.

People drink to excess to escape life’s oppressions, boredoms, responsibilities. In the Soviet Union, where communism turned out to be the god that failed to put bread on the table, booze is the pervasive opiate of the people, used to cope with the pain of living in a world of constant constraint.

Now we come to a crucial difference in the way the communist and Western worlds work. Escape from hopelessness in an officially atheist society has taken the form of obliteration of the senses. But in other societies that encourage religion, many people dissatisfied with their lives or frustrated in their dreams find not merely solace but strength in their faith – an engagement of the moral sense that can change lives.

A gulf exists between the escape of drunkenness and the engagement of religious commitment. One dulls, the other sensitizes; one runs away, the other runs toward; one wallows in despair, the other is inspired by hope.

Marx and Lenin, it turns out, were wrong about religion because they saw it as the result of economic despotism and not as the moral yearning that causes human beings to reject any form of tyranny. The truth about that fundamental mistake has begun to dawn on many Russians.

That is why three Lenin Prize laureates – all good communists, not dissidents – have been seeking a shift in the Soviet orthodoxy against religion. According to a Radio Free Europe report by Vera Tolz, one novelist questions the morality of his hero’s opponents from a frankly Christian standpoint; another writer claims that the present-day strength of many Russians is still based on Old and New Testament precepts; the third asks, “Who blew out the lamp of our conscience?” and remembers the time “there was a light in our soul,” charging that it was “stolen from us and. nothing was given in its stead. “

That turn toward religion – that communist heresy – was promptly derided as “flirting with God” by a house philosopher, and repudiated three months ago by Yegor Ligachev, chief Soviet ideologist. Those who dared “talk about the need to tolerate religious ideas,” said the leader second only to Mikhail Gorbachev, “forgets that it was not religion that developed the basic ethics adopted by mankind.”

What a perversion of truth. The religious spirit, not some class struggling, brought forth Mosaic moral commandments and nurtured mankind’s ethical sense. The stern Calvinists enshrined the “work ethic” underlying capitalism, which helped produce the shared prosperity that the world’s largest atheistic society so bitterly envies.

Don’t be surprised by a papal visit to the Soviet Union in 1988 to celebrate the millennium of its Christianization.

Safire, a Pulitzer Prize-Winning Columnist of the New York 77mes, is a former aide to President Nixon. (Reprinted from the Houston TX Chronicle [Jan. 4, 1987], sec. 1. p. 18.)

Guardian of Truth XXXII: 19, p. 590
October 6, 1988