Truth Magazine

By Jim King

Christians in a local church must communicate with one another. They must communicate in order to teach, to edify, to rebuke, to express needs, and just to get along. They must also communicate in order to solve problems – problems between individual brethren and problems in the group as a whole. In the area of solving problems between brethren we are most vulnerable. Feelings are often hurt, resentments are nursed and allowed to smolder, imaginations run wild (giving rise to harsh and false judgments), and relationships are unnecessarily strained. This sad situation often occurs because offended Christians are indeed talking, they are communicating, but they are talking to the wrong people. They have neglected the plain teaching of Jesus about how to right wrongs among brethren.

In Matthew 5:23-24 and 18:15-17, Christ lays the foundation for dealing with a brother who has sinned against you or against whom you have sinned. His remedy is direct: you go and “be reconciled to your brother”; you “go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.” In his characteristic fashion, Jesus cuts through the confusion we often impose on relationships and leaves us with a disturbingly clear command: the obligation for solving problems with our brethren is squarely on us. Note that Christ has no different rules for the “offended party” and the “offending party.” Whatever side of the fence you are on, sinner or sinned against, Jesus says “you go.”

But there is more. Jesus says that we are to go to our brother. When I have a complaint against a brother, I must go to him, not to a third party. To spread my complaint among other brethren not only is a direct violation of Jesus’ teaching, but promotes my use of a loose, untamed tongue. To see what God thinks of such a tongue, one need only think of the following terms: meddler, talebearer, backbiter, whisperer, gossip, busybody, sowing discord among brethren, etc., all of which Scripture condemns. Such misguided tongue “sows strife and a whisperer separates the best of friends” (Prov. 16:28); “reveals secrets” (Prov. 11:13); says things it ought not (1 Tim. 5:13); and is characteristic of people who have forgotten God (whisperer, backbiter, Rom. 1:29-30). Paul had to deal with slander in Romans 3:8, and commanded that it be put away from Christians in Ephesians 4:31. Similarly, in 1 Tim. 3:11 and Titus 2:3 he commands that certain women not be slanderers or gossips, spreading harmful statements that damage a fellow believer’s reputation. Men, of course, fall under the same condemnation. Much of this destructive and unbridled communication arises because Christians are talking with everybody else but the one with whom they should be talking – the brother or sister with whom they have a problem. Sometimes such talk is unintentional and unpremeditated. It is always harmful. The peace of local churches requires that such speech be stopped and short-circuited.

The Christian who has a complaint with a brother must be taught how to biblically handle his complaint – privately with the brother. And other Christians need to refuse to listen to become involved with, and pass on matters which don’t concern them. To be sure, sometimes Christians are innocently caught up in this cycle by simply trying to help another disciple who seeks their advice. There may be times when we can give proper counsel to someone and thus help each other. Yet such help should often consist of turning the person in the direction of the brother or sister with whom they have a complaint. And the subject matter of these “counseling sessions” should never be passed on in the form of idle talk. Let us gently, yet firmly, stop the talebearing in its tracks.

Idle talk has a way of making the rounds. Even private thoughts and conversations may be carried by “a bird of the air” or “a bird in flight” (Eccl. 10:20). Elisha the prophet was accused of knowing what the king of Syria spoke in his own bedroom (2 Kgs. 6:12).

But our problem is not with gossiping birds or prophetic knowledge. It is with a human tendency to get around, or circumvent God’s way of solving problems. Let us determine that our communication with one another will be constructive. Let it be open, true, direct, frank, gentle, and sincere. Let it be “what is good for necessary edification that it may impart grace to the hearers” (Eph. 4:29).

I recently saw this message on a denominational signboard: “If you wouldn’t write it and sign it, don’t say it.” And that, brethren, is pretty good advice.

Guardian of Truth XXXV: 22, p. 691
November 21, 1991

By Donald Townsley

The Bible doctrine of divine providence has been neglected by gospel preachers of our generation. In days gone by this subject was given a more prominent place in the preaching and writing of brethren. I believe we have reaped some tragic consequences because of our ignorance on this subject. Extremes have arisen and found fertile soil in which to grow because of the ignorance that exists. I do not believe false teaching on this subject would have found such ready acceptance by some if they had understood God’s providential working. Another consequence of not understanding this subject is the gloom, depression and anxiety that afflicts the hearts of so many children of God. If people could only understand this Bible doctrine and have the conviction that the Lord is at hand (near, Phil. 4:5) and that he really cares for us (1 Pet. 5:7), it would do away with so much insecurity, fear, depression and despair that exists in the hearts of so many today.

In order to define what divine providence is, let us first point out what it is not. Divine providence is not a miracle. A miracle is an act of God superseding or suspending natural law. A miracle was a visible sign which indicated to all men that a super-human power was at work in that particular thing. An example of a miracle is the Lord feeding five thousand people with five loaves and two fishes (Jn. 6:814). Miracles were for the purpose of confirming the word (Mk. 16:17-20). The word was given in its completeness and confirmed, then miracles ceased (1 Cor. 13:8-13).

Providence differs from a miracle in that its ends are brought about by means of the established laws of God through ordinary channels. Providence is the preservation, care and government which God exercises over all things that he has created in order that they may accomplish the end for which they were created.

God’s providence does not eliminate the necessity of following the word of God in every detail. God, through his word, brings about conversion and edification of his people (Rom. 1:16; Acts 20:32). This does not eliminate our using all the care, sense and skill that we can exercise; neither does it eliminate the free-moral agency of man. God’s providence works with two kinds of wills -willing wills and opposing wills.

Good men suffer many times at the hands of evil men – evil men meaning it for evil but God in his providence can overrule it for the good of the innocent. Joseph, in the Old Testament, is a good example of God overruling the evil intent and actions of his brothers for good. Joseph said to his brother: “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive” (Gen. 50:20). The psalmist said: “He (God) sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant” (Psa. 105:17). This example of Joseph is a good commentary on Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. ” This verse does not mean that everything that happens to a Christian is good within itself, but that God, through his providence, can ultimately overrule even the bad for our good. He did this for Joseph, why deny he can do it for us today?

It is upon the belief in God’s providence that prayer is founded. We pray because we believe that God will hear our prayers and that he has the power to grant our petitions through his providence. He does not answer our prayers with miracles, but through his providence – working through his established laws and ordinary channels. We pray for doors to be opened through which we can enter to preach the gospel (Col. 4:3; 1 Cor. 16:9; 2 Cor. 2:12), and God opens these doors through his providence in answer to our prayers. We pray for our daily food (Matt. 6:11); we labor with our hands (Eph. 4:28), and God will provide our needs through his providence. We pray for the sick (Jas. 5:14-18), and God heals the sick – providentially. We pray that we may not be led into temptation and for God to deliver us from temptation (Matt. 6:13; 1 Cor. 10:13; Matt. 26:41); and God, through his providence, will make a way of escape in answer to our prayer (we must use the way of escape God will not deliver a man from temptation unless that man wills him to do so). We, as God’s people, need to have faith that the Lord is at hand, not afar off (Phil. 4:5,6; Jer. 23:23-24) and that we in everything can make our requests known to him and he will providentially answer our prayers (1 Jn. 5:14-15).

Jesus gives proof of divine providence to the Christian in Matthew 6:24-34. In verse 25 of this chapter he tells us to take no thought (or be not anxious) for our lives, about what we will cat, drink, or put on; God, who gave us our lives and our bodies, will give us food and raiment. Jesus is not teaching laziness here. We are to work, doing our best (Eph. 4:28), then leave the rest to God. In verse 26 Jesus tells us to “behold the fowls of the air”,- God feeds them, and we are of much more value than fowls, so God will feed and take care of us. In verse 27 Jesus says that worry will not add one cubit to our stature, so to worry about what we are going to eat, drink or wear is needless because God will provide it through his providence. In verses 31 and 32 he tells us that God knows we have need of food, drink and clothing, so we are not to worry about them like the Gentiles do because we know that God will supply them. Jesus then gives the Christian the proper course to pursue in verse 33: “but seek Ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” and God, through his providence, will supply our temporal needs. He said, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow” (v. 34), because God will providentially care for us.

Christian friend, faith in God’s providential care will take the worry out of our lives. All who walk by faith take God at his word and sincerely believe that the things he has promised he is able to perform (Rom. 4:21). Do you believe that God works through his providence today? Too many Christians have “little faith” (Matt. 6:30) in God’s providential care. We all need more faith that “his eyes are over the righteous and his ears are open to their prayers” (1 Pet. 3:12); that he is near us (Phil. 4:5), and that we can cast our cares upon him for he does care for us (1 Pet. 5:7).

Guardian of Truth XXXV: 23, pp. 707-708
December 5, 1991

By Mike Willis

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God (2 Cor. 1:34).

There is no life which is exempt from pain, adversity, and stress. All of mankind finds the need for comfort at one time or another. This passage reminds us that God is the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.

Paul’s Circumstances

Paul had just recently survived circumstances which gave him the experience to know that God indeed comforts man. He described his plight saying, “For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead” (2 Cor. 1:89). Exactly what those circumstances were is unclear.

Earlier he told the Corinthians that he “fought wild beasts at Ephesus” (1 Cor. 15:32), although commentators are divided over whether those “wild beasts” were literal beasts or a figurative description of wicked men (such as those who organized the mob at Ephesus, Acts 19:23-20:1). Others think that the problem which Paul had recently overcome was a physical illness which brought him to death’s door before the Lord rescued him.

Man’s body does wear out and become weak. Many very active men find accepting their physical debilities very difficult. A man’s spirit wants to go and do but his body cannot respond; this leads to depression. The Scriptures record Paul to have said, “But though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:16). Our outward man will experience this aging process which weakens us.

We should not despair as we face the sufferings of old age. We can learn a lesson about old age from nature. Henry Ward Beecher remarked,

Autumnal days are the most beautiful days of the year, and they ought to be the most beautiful days in a man’s life. In October things do not grow any more, they ripen, they fulfil the destiny of the summer, and the thought of autumn is that it is going down, going forth. When all things in nature know and feel that death is coming near, do they sheet themselves in black as pagan Christians do? They cry: “Bring forth our royal garments,” and the oak puts on the habiliments of beauty, and all the herbs of the field turn to scarlet and yellow and every color that is most precious; and the whole month of autumn goes tramping towards death, glowing and glorious (Great Texts of the Bible: 2 Corinthians 10).

As the autumn years approach for us, let us remember that “now is our salvation nearer than when we believed” (Rom. 13:11). Like the runner who is nearing the finish line in the race, let us look forward to the victor’s crown.

God’s Words of Comfort

God’s words of comfort sustain us through adversity and conflict. Paul tells us that God is the source of all comfort (2 Cor. 1:3). Here are some of his words of comfort:

1. God is ever present to sustain us through the adversity. The psalmist David said, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me” (Psa. 23:4). God promised, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Heb. 13:5-6).

In writing of God’s sustaining of William Cowper the poet, Joseph Larson said, “It was William Cowper on his way in a cab to the Thames River to commit suicide, who, when the driver could not find it for the dense fog, returned to his house and thanking God for the fog, wrote:

God moves in a mysterious way,

His wonders to perform;

He plants his footsteps on the sea,

And rides upon the storm.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,

And scan his works in vain;

God is his own interpreter,

And He will make it plain.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,

But trust him for His grace;

Behind a frowning providence

He hides a smiling face.

God saved this poet from despair of melancholia and he lived to write, ‘There Is A Fountain Filled With Blood,’ ‘O For a Closer Walk With God,’ and ‘Prayer,’ and other famous selections in our hymnals” (Christian Comfort 9).

2. The time of suffering is relatively short-lived. One reminded me that one of the most important statements in the Bible is “it came to pass.” Hard times do not last forever. The psalmist wrote, “For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favor is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning” (Psa. 30:5).

3. There is hope for man beyond earth life. Paul wrote, “For which cause we faint not; b~.it though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:16-18).

4. Earth things are relatively unimportant. Jesus taught us that spiritual matters are more important than temporal things. Many of those things which give us stress are relatively unimportant. What difference will these things which trouble me make 200 years from now? The only thing which will matter is whether or not I have obeyed the gospel and kept God’s commandments.

These comforting words of Scripture do help sustain us through the adversities of life.

Sufferings Drive Us To Trust In God

Paul said, “But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead” (2 Cor. 1:9). Adversity drives us away from our arrogant self-reliance to trust in God. Many a person has resolved in a time of personal crisis to devote himself to the service of the Lord. That which produces such a result cannot be all bad.

The only gospel to the poor and unfortunate, we are told, is the gospel of better wages, better homes, less work and more play. But there is more than that, and we simply rely on the evidence of the fact when we say that in the circle of each one of us some of the noblest and strongest characters we have known have been the product of very hard and, as it seemed, very cruel circumstances. These men were strengthened to serve by these circumstances.

Comforted to Comfort

Those who have received the Lord’s comfort become his agents to administer that comfort to others. God has “comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God” (2 Cor. 1:5). Those who have experienced sufferings are most qualified to comfort those who are enduring it. R. Tuck wrote,

The unstricken can find beautiful words, and be truly sincere as they utter them. But the stricken ones can express unutterable things in silence and look. Send the long-widowed woman to cheer the newly widowed. Send the mother who has children in heaven to comfort the mother who sits so still, with broken heart, bending over the baby’s coffin. The plant of healing sympathies grows and blossoms and fruitens out of our very wounds and tears and deaths. Then it will but be reasonable to expect that, if God has high places of work for us, and valuable influence for us to exert, he will need to bring us through great and sore troubles (The Pulpit Commentary: 2 Corinthians 31).

We are the Lord’s agents to administer his comfort just as he are his agents to carry the message of his salvation to others.

The poet Lula Klingman Zahn wrote the song “There Is A Sea” in which she compared the two seas – the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea – to two different attitudes toward life. The Sea of Galilee is fed by the streams from the north which empty into that body of water; it empties into the Jordan River which waters the valley southward. In contrast the Dead Sea which receives the Jordan River does not empty into anything. It is so full of brine that nothing can live in it. The poet therefore wrote,

There is a sea which day by day

Receives the rippling rills.

And streams that spring from wells of God

Or fall from cedared hills;

But what it thus receives it gives

With glad unsparing hand:

A stream more wide, with deeper tide,

Flows on to lower land.

There is a sea which day by day

Receives a fuller tide;

But all its store it keeps, nor gives

To shore nor sea beside;

It’s Jordan stream, now turned to brine,

Lies heavy as molten lead

Its dreadful name doth e’er proclaim

That sea is waste and dead.

Which shall it be for you and me,

Who God’s good gifts obtain?

Shall we accept for self alone,

Or take to give again?

For he who once was rich indeed

Laid all his glory down;

That by his grace, our ransomed race

Should share his wealth and crown.

We who are Christians have been comforted in order to comfort others. Let us take the healing and comforting words of God to those who need his comfort.

Those Who Suffer Teach Us

Some of life’s greatest lessons are taught by those who are experiencing suffering and who never say a word. “A father tries to teach his little son self-restraint, but it is a long task. One day that father’s pride and indignation are touched to the quick, and the boy looks on and sees the inward conflict, and that a strong hand is laid on the rising anger, and the evil conquered. He has learnt the lesson; the father’s sanctified suffering has taught what self-restraint is, when nothing else could. A mother tries in vain to make her child know what patience is. After a time she is in trouble, in which nothing is harder than to ‘stand still and see the salvation of God.’ But she does stand still, and in her trustful waiting she has taught what words could not. . . . Sufferers little know how much they are doing for the Master and His word! For myself I have learnt many of my best lessons in sick rooms where they thanked me for going, as though they were the gainers, and not I” (Great Texts of the Bible: 2 Corinthians 23).

Let us resolve to learn the lessons of suffering and then use the comfort with which God comforted us to help others who are walking through the storm and darkness.

Guardian of Truth XXXV: 23, pp. 706, 725-726
December 5, 1991

By Paul K. Williams

My attention was caught by the following item in the September 27, 1991 Zululand Observer, the weekly paper which serves this area of South Africa.

Church groups from all over Zululand will take part in a colorful ‘March for Jesus’ in Empangeni and Richards Bay on October 12 as part of a countrywide campaign to say to the nation that ‘Jesus is Lord’ and that His church is ‘one and undivided.’

Empangeni churches will be holding a prayer and planning meeting on Friday September 27 at the Church of Christ to make arrangements for the local march. All enquiries to be directed to Rev. Arthur Loans at 0351-26096.

The church of Christ in Empangeni is sponsored by a large church in Abilene, Texas and their preacher, Brian Lister, is a South African with a Masters Degree from Abilene Christian University. They have long been active in community affairs, being hosts for dinners and parties to various community clubs. When their building was opened about five years ago the Methodist preacher was one of the speakers who welcomed them at the afternoon tea. They have also been moving in the direction of observing religious holidays. On Easter morning the members brought lawn chairs and sat in the parking lot of the building watching the sun rise.

When I read the news items I phoned Mr. Loans, who is the Methodist minister in Empangeni, and asked him if the article correctly represented the purpose of the March. He said that the paper gave part of its purpose, but that it was also to pray for the land at this time. Brian Lister was not present at the prayer meeting at the Church of Christ because he was out of town, but Mr. Loans phoned him about the March and Brian was happy to announce it. A member of the Empangeni Church of Christ told me that it was announced as a “march for peace” and the members were invited to take part.

This sad affair illustrates two truths: (1) The liberal churches of Christ are becoming indistinguishable from the denominations. Their departure from the old paths while seemingly small in the 1950’s and 60’s set them on a path of further departure. We brethren who opposed that departure predicted exactly what is happening now. Once set free from the need to prove all things by the Scriptures they have been guided only by what the feeling of the people is. As a congregation becomes filled with denominationally-minded people there is nothing to keep it from denominational practices.

(2) The liberals have long been noted for their softness in condemning sin, especially denominationalism. It is important that everyone be happy in their services. At Emvanizeni those who have birthdavs durina the week are given a special badge to wear during the service on Sunday morning and “Happy Birthday” is sung to them. During the communion “spontaneous” songs are sung. Everything is saccharine-sweet. The amount of solid, scriptural explanation is very small and naming a denomination and showing from the Scriptures that it is in error is strictly taboo. Since the congregation is obsessed by a desire to be accepted in the community it leans over backward to be involved in community affairs. How then can it refuse to “March for Jesus”? The denominations are always trying to drag the Church of Christ into cooperating with them; nothing would make them happier. And after years of softpedaling opposition to their doctrines the congregation is ripe for taking its place as a sister to the rest of the denominations.

What a heartbreaking business.

But those of us opposed to the institutionalism and softness of the liberals need to keep our guard up. We need to hammer sin without mercy, especially the sin of denominationalism. Without constant teaching on this subject the future generation can easily succumb to the same sweetsounding spineless “gospel” that has seduced the liberals into complete denominationalism.

Further, we need to cry rut publicly so that all who are in the world will know of our stand against the denominations. When Mr. Loans learned that I opposed their March for Jesus he was astounded. I was the only person who had voiced any criticism of their unscriptural project! The world needs to hear our protests of denominationalism, no matter how unpopular it makes us. Pray for boldness, brethren.

Guardian of Truth XXXV: 23, pp. 705, 726
December 5, 1991