Truth Magazine

By Earl Robertson

Courage is not always easily found even among the people who claim to be followers of the Lord. Though many of the Lord’s people were among the most courageous, at the same time others were fearful. The return of the spies from Canaan illustrates this point well. In the midst of the protests made by the ten spies with the evil report, Joshua and Caleb pleaded, “We are well able to overcome it.” Their faith and courage made them cry out saying, “The Lord will bring us into this land, and give it to us” (see Num. 13).

Being in the minority did not cause them to remain silent; they both believed God and had the courage to defy the people who has ceased to walk by faith. People today know many times what is true and right, but do not have the moral courage to act in harmony with their inward awareness. Many in the churches are following the current; their courage is not sufficient to cause them to stand and plead for what is right and then do it. I know people who not only know within themselves that their religious practices are not in harmony with the Scriptures but also express such feelings, but they do not have the courage to correct them or else get out and go where they can work for and worship God correctly.

Many Christians in the churches that give monetary support to human organizations such as missionary societies and benevolent societies, have been heard to say, “When this church gives money to the colleges I will leave it.” However, the progressive nature of apostasy conditions people to accept one apostasy after another. The time has come when this practice has become a regular thing among just such people, but they have not made the change! Get the courage to do what is right!

Truth Magazine XXIII: 45, p. 731
November 15, 1979

By Ron Halbrook

“For the truth’s sake, ” we must discern good from evil during the latter part of December and early part of January, a season of special activities in America. Some of the activities can be good for us; others are wrong at any time. Some people grunt “Humbug” and deny they participate in any of these seasonal activities, but we are all involved to some extent.

Some activities are religious. Others relate to business enterprise, government, and school. Many things that once had a peculiarly religious meaning have lost their original significance. Many of this season’s practices have become part of the secular customs, social traditions of American culture. To withdraw from all custom, social tradition, and cultural byways is to become a hermit – a thing our Lord does not expect (Jn. 17:15).

A Seasonal Sabbatical

Various terms describe this season. It is a “holiday” in more ways than one; “a religious . . . or holy day;” “a day of freedom from labor; day set aside for leisure and recreation;” “a day set aside by law or custom for the suspension of business.” This time is a “respite” – a temporary period of relief or rest, as from pain, work, duty, etc.” In some ways there is more work, but it is also a season of festivities and parties for families and friends. It is a “recess” from ordinary patterns, a sabbatical from everyday habits and tasks. Such periods can refresh both body and mind.

Discern Good and Evil

In view of the great variety of activities available, those who would please the Lord ask, “Which are appropriate to a godly life? To what extent should I get involved? Where shall I draw the line?” We must ask such questions at all times of the year, so this is not out of the ordinary. As God told Israel, “Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil.” We can join with others only up to a point: “have not fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. ” “Prove all things: hold fast that which is good.” At every season, we are to “discern both good and evil” (Ex. 23:2; Eph. 5:11; 1 Thess. 5:212; Heb. 5:14).

What Activities?

Here is a list of some things which take place at this time of year: (1) special offers and sales at stores; (2) family gatherings; (3) special baking, candles, desserts; (4) other diet delights: nuts, fruits; (5) singing and listening to season songs; (6) giving and exchanging gifts; (7) special vacations, trips, time off from work; (8) greeting cards and verbal expressions of good-will; (9) curtailment or closing of business activities; (10) household, business, and school decorations; (I1) various kinds of parties, visits, and get togethers; (12) vacations from school, and from government and civic agencies; (13) special bonuses from employers; (14) taking special pictures of children or family to give relatives and friends; (15) special religious “masses,” services, plays, and observances.

No Special Religious Practices Authorized By God!

This is certain: God authorized no religious observances peculiar to December and January! He does warn against “commandments and doctrines of men.” He said of those who “pervert the gospel of Christ,” “Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain” (Col. 2:22; Gal. 1:7; 4:10-11).

Children may decorate rooms at home or school with red and green paper, cut-out snowflakes, etc. But whether at home, school, or place of worship, they should not be taught to participate in plays presented to “observe the birthday of Jesus.” We might send greeting cards of various kinds. Not on our lawns, not in our houses, not on cards sent out under our signatures should there be “manger scenes” and admonitions to “Keep Christ in Christmas.”

Someone objects, “Religious observances at this season are meant as service to God; shouldn’t we serve God?” Yes, we should serve God, but these religious practices do not honor God because He did not appoint them. “To obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Sam. 15:22). Another objects, “If we reject seasonal religious practices, we must reject all social activities of the season.” No, to sing “Jingle Bells” does no honor to a Roman Catholic so-called holy day. If it does, then we should send our children to school though no one else will be there, we should reject all time off from work or special bonuses, we should eat no nuts or fruit, and we should engage in no family gatherings lest someone might think we are recognizing the Pope’s holy days. The truth is that we must simply discern between good and evil – between false, unauthorized sinful religious observances, on the one hand, and activities on the other hand which are social and seasonal, customary and traditional, harmless and innocent.

Truth Magazine XXIII: 45, pp. 730-731
November 15, 1979

By O. E. Watts

In a Bible class Col. 3:16 was read, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly . . .” The question was asked, “What does let mean?” One person answered, “Let here means permit or allow. ” An older man disagreed by saying, “In such expressions as this, let means, `It is commanded.”‘ He was correct. The instruction in the original Greek proves him right. The word construction is one which we do not have in English. It is the imperative mode in the third person. Such a form always expresses a clear cut command, not merely permission of consent. Every time it is used it gives a direct order.

English

Even without the Greek, careful consideration in our language will convince anyone that this is true. We note Eph. 4:28, “Let him that stole steal no more . . .” Are we thus told that we should allow a thief to stop stealing if he wishes? Is this saying that we should not stand in his way if he desires to quit his dishonesty? Or, is this an absolute command? Does the word let here direct that the thief definitely must stop stealing? A little reasoning will give us the answer. As the sign by the side of the road says, “Think!”

Different Meanings

Another factor which might lead to misunderstanding here is that our word let has several meanings. The one person answering (see above) mistakenly gave another one of these. That meaning is found elsewhere in the Bible as in Psalms 19:13-14. In our speech now we use let often. By it we never give a command. We say, “Let me do that.” “Let the children play not.” “We can let John be captain.” “Let them have some candy.” The word has come to mean permit, allow, give permission for, consent to. We are settled into this rut of usage. Perhaps we need something to jar us into the realization that in God’s instructions to us the word always means something else. We should remember that let always tells us, “It is commanded!” If we are going to “understand what the will of the Lord is,” we must do so.

New Testament Letters

Mere permission is never expressed by let in the Epistles. In every New Testament instruction for us which begins with, “Let,” and is followed by him, them, or corresponding nouns (third person), we have a command, a demand that something be done. Nearly all of this kind of directives are in the twenty books between Acts and Revelation. In these, dozens of instructions to Christians are worded this way. Some of these books do not contain even one such form. Four of them are in one verse, 1 Peter 3:11. The first chapter of James has seven. The book which contains by far the most “let commands” is First Corinthians.

Examples

Scores of illustrations are at hand. We give a few. We agree that brotherly love should continue. But the wording of Hebrews 13:1 commands that it do so. According to I Cor. 7:3, the marriage duty if not optional; it is mandatory. A Christian at the Memorial Supper is not required to do so. In Rom. 13:1, subjection to civil law is not recommended; it is demanded. It is not that women may keep silence in the churches (worship assemblies, I Cor. 14:34); it is that they must. Corrupt speech, bitterness, fornication, and guile are not only discouraged by the words, “Let . . .” They are forbidden.

Translations

Can it be that when some Christians read, “Let . . .” they are thinking, “We can do this if we like”? Need we be told constantly that these are requirements? Does our language lose here what God is telling us? While He is saying, “He must be,” are we “receiving” it as, “He may be?” Could a better translation make it clearer?

Indefinite as this rendering may be to some of us, it is due, perhaps, to our own limitations and to those of our language. At least that was the verdict of those scholars giving us the New American Standard Bible, which is by far the best of the modern speech translations. They used, “Let . . .” In some cases the New International Version is better. In most it is worse, too free, too far from the original. It renders this Greek construction in various passages in an even dozen different ways. But, in my opinion, when that committee used the word must they had it right. In Romans 13:1 (“Let every soul be in subjection . . .” ASV) the NIV clearly states, “Everyone must submit himself . . .” If one word need be used for clearness instead of, “It is commanded,” that word would be must. See how the following would be. “All things must be done decently and in order.” “He that stole must steal no more.” “Brotherly love must continue.” “Sin must not reign . . .” “Each one of you must lay by in store.” This expresses the thought with the demand of the imperative, and, by keeping the third person intact, is true to the original. We recommend it.

Reminder

To you as a reader: If you would like something to help you remember this and its importance we suggest the following. Open your Bible (KJV or ASV) to First Corinthians. In large letters in ink write across the top of the page, or of two facing pages, these words: “Let means it is commanded.”

Truth Magazine XXIII: 45, pp. 729-730
November 15, 1979

By Mike Willis

We have considered the worship of the New Testament church in reference to its program of teaching from the point of view of its distinctive message. Now, let us consider the worship through the program of teaching from the point of view of the members’ responsibilities during the presentation of the word of God.

Preacher Problems Which Cause Poor Reception

Sometimes the word of God is poorly received by the audience because of preacher problems. His presentation might be poor because of a monotone in speech, no facial gestures, no emotional involvement in the sermon, etc. His sermons might be too lengthy; he might not be presenting new biblical material to his audience (i.e., he preaches nothing but first principles). Each of these things make it more difficult for the audience to learn God’s word.

Sometimes the material is good but the preacher’s attitude is poor. He is sometimes vindictive, using the pulpit to till off every person who crosses his path. Some preachers are discontent with preaching and use the pulpit to gripe about all the things which a preacher has to give up. At other times, preachers fail to get involved with the members and, therefore, do not present lessons pertinent to the problems which face the members.

Still another thing that causes this part of the worship to be poorly received by the members is the preacher’s life. If the preacher is obviously not living up to the moral standards presented in God’s word, everything he says is drowned out by his manner of life. Paul warned, “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” (I Tim. 4:16). The preacher must “take heed unto himself” in order to be well received; his life must be exemplary (I Tim. 4:12).

Members Do Not Always Hear As They Should

Not all the problems with reference to this part of our worship are caused by the preacher; sometimes the non-preaching members do not act as they should when the word is preached. Even in New Testament times, members were not all that they should be in this regard. Some people wanted to hire preachers who would tickle their ears (2 Tim. 4:3-4). 1 see evidences of similar incorrect attitudes today when brethren look for a preacher who will entertain them with anecdotes and humorous stories; they seemingly want a sermon with few scriptures in it. They prefer that it be short (twenty minutes) and are very aggravated when the preacher preaches too long regardless of what the reason may be (a difficult subject or the presence of someone who might be ready to obey the word). These attitudes must be corrected.

That the ones who hear the message have some responsibilities is evident from several references in the Scriptures; the preacher is not the only person with problems with reference to communicating the word of God. Jesus, the world’s only perfect preacher, was not always understood and obeyed. He warned of improper attitudes toward hearing the word of God. His parable of the sower warned of several incorrect attitudes toward the hearing of the word of God; consider the following attitudes drawn from this parable (Matt. 13:1-23):

(1) The wayside hearer. This man was not receptive toward the word of God because of his hardened heart. He was like the wayside path which was hardened by people walking on it to the point that nothing could grow there. Some people’s heart is so hardened that the word of God cannot grow there. Sin has hardened their hearts (1 Tim. 4:1-3; Eph. 4:17-19; Heb. 3:13).

(2) The stony ground hearer. This hearer heard the word and quickly ,obeyed it. However, when persecution or tribulation came because of the word, he was offended and fell away. This hearer is the man who obeys the word without counting the cost of discipleship. When he first obeys the word, he is a “ball of fire.” Soon, however, this fire burns out. They are like the boys who are impressed with the soldier’s uniform and join the army but are dismayed when they find out that a soldier is expected to fight. Such a hearer needs to learn to count the cost (Lk. 14:25-33).

(3) The thorny ground hearer. This hearer heard the word and obeyed it but soon allowed the cares of this world to choke him out. Concern for riches, recreation, etc. continues to choke out the gospel in hearers today. We need to put Jesus first in our lives (Matt. 6:33) and learn that the things of this world are passing away (1 Jn. 2:15-17). Having this attitude toward the things of this world will prevent the cares of this world from choking out the word of God in the life of the Christian.

(4) The good ground hearer. This heart was good and honest (cf. Lk. 8:15). It received the word, understood it, and obeyed it. Consequently, it brought forth much fruit to the Lord. This is the kind of heart which each of us should seek to have. “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matt. 13:9).

Here are some things which prevent men from hearing in the manner that they ought to hear: (1) prejudice (Prov. 18:13); (2) envy (Acts 13:44-46); (3) Love of sin (2 Cor. 4:3-4; Acts 24:25; Matt. 19:16-22); (4) lack of interest in spiritual matters (cf. Festus in Acts 25:18, 19; 26:24); and (5) seared consciences (Eph. 4:18, 19; Heb. 3:12, 13; Acts 7:51). When we find the preaching of the word of God uninteresting to us, we should conduct a serious self-examination to see if the cause lies in us.

The Ideal Hearer

Of course, the ideal hearer is the hearer with an honest and good heart (Lk. 8:15). Let us notice some of the characteristics of such a heart. One of the things which comes to mind is his attitude toward the word of God. Those who obeyed the word of God on the day of Pentecost, “gladly received his word and were baptized” (Acts 2:40). Contrast the attitude of the ones who were pricked on their hearts on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:37-40) with those pricked by the words of Stephen (Acts 7:54-60). The good hearer will have the attitude which Samuel had when God called him; Samuel said, “Speak; for thy servant heareth” (1 Sam. 3:10). We, too, should receive the word with meekness (Jas. 1:21).

The conversion of Cornelius shows us a good example of the kind of hearer which every preacher likes to address. You will recall the miracles which preceded Peter’s arrival in Caesarea. God sent an angel to Cornelius to instruct him to send to Joppa to fetch Peter who would tell him words whereby he and his family could be saved (Acts 10:1-8; 11:13-14). In the meantime, Peter saw a vision from which he deduced that “God is no respector of persons: but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness is accepted with him” (Acts 10:34-35). Hence, when the Gentile messengers from Cornelius arrived at the house in which Peter was staying, Peter returned with them to Cornelius’ house. When he arrived in the house of Cornelius, he found that Cornelius had gathered together his kinsfrien and near friends (Acts 10:24). Cornelius explained this gathering in this way: “Now therefore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God” (Acts 10:33). This was the ideal audience! Notice its attributes:

(1) We are all here. How good it would be to address a congregation in which all of the members sought to be present at every service. Frequently, we find a goodly portion of many congregations who miss the worship services for any excuse they can think of. They attend only at the Sunday morning worship services in order that they might partake of the communion, as if it were the only part of New Testament worship which was important. The rest of the time, they forsake the assemblying of the saints (Heb. 10:25).

(2) Present before God. These hearers recognized that they were in the presence of God during the preaching of the sermon which Peter was going to deliver. If we had the same attitude toward the preaching of the word of God as these at Cornelius’ house had, we would not see some of the things happening in our worship services which happen. We would not see whispering, note passing, giggling, people clipping their nails, etc. Habakkuk said, “But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him” (2:20). We need to manifest a similar reverence for the worship of the Lord in the congregational assembly.

We show respect when the flag is raised; we show respect in the presence of the dead at a funeral home (note the whispered conversation when the body is lying in state). We should learn a similar respect for the worship of the Lord. We should recognize that we are in His presence.

(3) To hear. Cornelius’ family and friends assembled for the purpose of hearing. We should recognize that this is the purpose that we have come together. We do not gather to engage in social conversation, to see the new dresses which others are wearing, to discuss the weather, etc. We have gathered for the purpose of listening to the word of God. As this is our purpose, we should bring our Bibles, a pencil, and paper that we might make note of things delivered in the sermon which we need to study in more detail.

(4) All things that are commanded thee of God. This should tell us what we should want to hear. We are not interested in any new jokes which the preacher has learned; we are interested in the word of God. We want to hear what God has commanded us. We are hungering and thirsting after God’s word (Matt. 5:6; 1 Pet. 2:1-2). Furthermore, we want to hear all of God’s word and not just a part of it. We should expect the preacher to give us a message which we need to hear, not just a message which will tickle our ears. We do not want a man who will withhold from us any part of God’s word; we want all of it.

People with this attitude are not the type who sit and daydream during the preaching of God’s word. They sit trying to soak up every detail which the preacher might say. They are not the least bit bored by the sermon. Rather, they want to hear the word preached and make every effort to learn from each lesson.

Conclusion

Our worship would be considerably improved if each of us manifested the attitudes and actions of an ideal hearer. We would not see people trotting off to the rest rooms simply to find something to do while the preacher was preaching. We would not see day-dreaming, whispering, note passing, playing with the small children, and other things which distract people from worshipping. Let us resolve to have a reverent spirit when we assemble to worship God.

Questions – Lesson. XIII

1. What are some things about a preacher’s presentation that will cause the word of God to be poorly received by the audience?
2. What are some examples of wrong attitude on the part of the hearer?
3. Name the four types of hearers in the parable of the sower in Matt. 13:1-23. Which are you?
4. What are some things which prevent men from hear ing in the manner that they ought to hear?
5. If we find the preacher of the word of God uninteresting, where might the cause be and what should be done about it?
6. What are some of the characteristics of an ideal heart?
7. What were the attributes of the audience at Cor nelius’ house (Acts 10)?
8. Show the contrast between those pricked by words of Stephen (Acts 7:54-60) and those pricked in their hearts on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:37-40).
9. What did Cornelius say they were present to hear?
10. What actions during worship service have you seen which show that one does not have a reverent spirit and is not an ideal hearer?

Truth Magazine XXIII: 45, pp. 727-729
November 15, 1979