____________________________________________________ THE GOSPEL OBSERVER "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19,20). ____________________________________________________ August 20, 2000 ____________________________________________________ The Goal of Longsuffering by Steve Klein A housewife sits alone in the kitchen late at night. Her husband comes in after midnight. Drunk again. He is sour and abusive. It upsets her to see him this way. Her hope and prayer is that he can get help, turn his life around, and be the good man she knows he can be. In the morning she'll be up early to fix his coffee -- strong and black. And maybe she'll plead quietly with him to attend an AA meeting. Or maybe she'll just sit in silence and weep. A parent is at the end of his rope. His teenager has broken curfew again. So many nights, waiting up late, wondering if this could be the night an automobile accident occurs, or the night his child falls in with evil companions, or the night fornication is committed. Wondering where the child could be. Then, the child comes in. Maybe there's a quiet talk about the importance of getting home on time. Maybe there are heated words, lame excuses, revoked privileges and another sleepless night for all. Why does the housewife put up with it? Why doesn't the parent just take away the keys permanently!?! What motivates their longsuffering? Is it not love for the one who is doing wrong and hope that the person will change? In 2 Peter 2:3 we learn that ``The Lord is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.'' God is longsuffering toward us, not because He is ``overlooking'' our sins and shortcomings, but because He wants us to repent -- to change our minds and our lives! God's forbearance and longsuffering are designed to ``lead to repentance'' (Romans 2:4). When we continue in sin, we are showing great disrespect for God's goodness. Like God, Christians are to be longsuffering (Colossians 3:12; Ephesians 4:2), but few of us probably have a very clear idea about what longsuffering is and why we should practice it. Longsuffering is not overlooking sin and error or pretending that they don't exist. It does not involve failure to rebuke and reprove sin, for these things are to be done ``with all longsuffering'' (2 Timothy 4:2). Nor is longsuffering some kind of Chinese water torture that God has devised to see how much pain His children are willing to endure for no good reason. Longsuffering has a goal, a purpose. The reason we show longsuffering to others is the same reason God shows it to us -- We are patient in dealing with the sins and faults of others because we love them and we want them to change for the better. Even when we know what longsuffering is and why we are to show it, it is seldom easy to do so. Paul prayed that the Colossians would be ``strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy'' (Colossians 1:11). Indeed, we all need to pray for God's strength that we might be longsuffering with others, in the home, on the job, at school, at play, and in the church. -- The Exhorter, July 23, 2000 ___________________________________________ The Lamb's Bride by Jim R. Everett ``Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready'' (Rev. 19:7). The figure of the ``bride'' (wife) stresses chastity, while the color white suggests cleanliness (v. 8). There is, here, an obvious contrast between the wife in her purity and the ``harlot'' in her lewd seductiveness attired in red (17:4). But when is she clothed with clean, white linen? The answer lies in other scriptures. For instance, Ephesians 5:25 says that Christ shed His blood for His church which made sanctification and cleansing possible. But note that the cleansing was made possible by the washing of water by the word (v. 26). This happens whenever one hears the gospel and responds in faith and repentance to be baptized (Acts 2:38; 22:16; 1 Peter 1:22-25; 3:21). In this way men are washed by the word of God -- the word is not only the good news of Christ's death, burial and resurrection but it also contains conditions by which, when men are obedient to the Master, they can experience cleansing from sin. Everyone who has been washed of sin is clean, because he has been forgiven. The bride (every Christian) is made clean by the blood of Christ in reality at the point of obedience to the head of the church, Jesus Christ. The church is composed of people who have been made clean -- ``That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish'' (v. 27). This is not some future time when the church will go through a purification process apart from being made righteous by forgiveness. Paul is affirming that the cleansing process is the means by which the church becomes a glorious church without spot, wrinkle, etc. And, while that cleansing begins with forgiveness, the ``fine linen is the righteousness (literally, `righteous deeds') of saints'' (Revelation 19:8b) -- It is their own righteous acts and lives in Christ, not some so-called ``imputed righteousness of Christ'' by which they are only accounted as being righteous. Saints are to be holy (I Peter 1:14-16). They are to let their lights shine in order that the world might see their good works and glorify their Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16). In fact, ``We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them'' (Ephesians 2:10). Individual saints make up the bride of Christ. They are to be as pure as a ``bride'' is and their attire is called the ``righteous deeds of the saints'' (Rev. 19:8). This is the whole of the saints' godly behavior and development into the pure character of Christ. On the other hand, ungodly behavior is that which taints the spiritual garments of the Christian and would identify him more with the harlot and not the pure bride. Jesus once said, ``He that is not with me is against me...'' (Mt. 12:30). In the figure of the two women, we are either identifiable with the chaste bride or the harlot. ___________________________________________ What Is Relevant? by Robert F. Turner When the Pharisees continued to doubt the divinity of Christ, despite obvious proof, the many who had been blind said, ``Why herein is a marvelous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes'' (Jn. 9:30). Somehow these words came to mind recently when I was told that the church, baptism, Lord's Supper, etc., were no longer ``relevant.'' And what is ``relevant''? ``Just be a follower of Christ, worship and obey Him.'' Why herein is a marvelous thing!! The church one reads about in the New Testament consists of those who follow the Lord. The ``called out,'' ``set apart'' people (1 Pet. 2:9), who have been separated from the world by virtue of this very distinction--that they are followers of Christ. And how did they become followers of Him? They obeyed the call of His gospel (2 Thess. 2:14; Acts 2:37-41). These are the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus: ``For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ'' (Gal. 3:26,27). When someone answers, ``I mean, just practice the sermon on the mount,'' I simply turn and read some of that sermon (Matt. 5,6,7) and find out immediately that the excuse-maker doesn't like that any better than he likes baptism or other things Christ asks His followers to practice. "Worship and obey Christ'' are very empty words in the mouth of one who really means, ``Worship your self, and obey your own inclinations.'' How can one obey Christ without giving heed to the things Christ commands? This means we have an external authority--something outside our own feelings on a given subject. We must turn to the words of Christ, the revelation of His will, and become subject thereto. What ``worship'' is this that consists of things that tickle MY ears, and please MY feelings? The Lord says to partake of the bread and fruit of the vine ``in remembrance of me'' (I Cor. 11:23-f.). So--we ignore the memorial He requested and set about establishing some sort of ``Easter'' festival--''because we love Him so much, and wish to worship Him.'' To worship--whom?? The Pharisees could not see the truth because they did not want to see anything contrary to their selfish hypocritical ways. Following some pointed remarks by our Lord on this subject, they asked, ``Are we blind also?'' (Jn. 9:40-41). And Jesus replied, ``If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.'' It is an ultra-conservative modernist (?) who makes ``follow Christ'' relevant today, meaning only to reduce Christ's teachings to what he thinks important. His more modern brothers have long since dropped the idea of divine authority, and proclaim ``God is Dead!'' (Bro. Keeble said, ``That's strange; I was just talking to Him this morning, and He wasn't even sick!'') Better give attention to His word that will judge us. THAT'S RELEVANT! -- Plain Talk, March 1968 ___________________________________________ Free Bible Courses Are Available Upon Request ___________________________________________ Compartmentalized Faith by Andy Diestelkamp Polls reveal that an overwhelming percentage of people believe in God. Several years ago (1993) I did some unscientific polling of our community on a variety of subjects. It revealed that 94% of the citizens of Pontiac (a Midwestern town of about 10,000) believe in God. Of those believers in God, 89% said they believed the Bible was inspired by God and 88% said they believed that Jesus was the Son of God. While national figures are not that high, it is still the majority that say they believe in God and His word. So why does our nation appear to be getting increasingly godless in its behavior? There is probably no one specific reason, but there is a general reason. For many, faith in God is something that is readily compartmentalized. Compartmentalize means ``to separate into isolated compartments or categories.'' The key words in that definition are ``separate'' and ``isolated.'' For many, faith is something that is snugly tucked into a cubbyhole in one's mind. It is only retrieved upon entering a church building. Otherwise, it remains rolled up and out of public view and has no practical use except in cases of emergency. Often, when probed about personal faith, many will admit to having it but refuse to disclose its practical application in their lives. ``That is private,'' we are told. -- Think on These Things, April-May-June, 2000 ___________________________________________ Brief Exhortation #29 by David Riggs ``And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance...'' (Rom. 5:3) In the pictures of the ancient Roman method of threshing grain, one man is always seen stirring up the sheaves while another rides over them in a crude cart equipped with rollers instead of wheels. Rough bits of iron were attached to these cylinders to help separate the husks from the grain. This simple cart was called a ``tribulum'' from which we get our word ``tribulation.'' When great afflictions come, we often think of ourselves as being torn to pieces under the cruel pressures of adverse circumstances. Remember, no thresher ever used his tribulum for the mere purpose of tearing up the sheaves but to disclose the precious grain. Likewise, God tries the righteous, but He never puts them under the pressure of sorrow and disappointment needlessly. Let us be patience in tribulation. ________________________________________ Avondale CHURCH OF CHRIST P.O. Box 421 1606 Glen Willow Rd., Avondale, PA 19311 (610) 268-2088 Sunday: 10:00 A.M. Bible class 11:00 A.M. Worship 6:00 P.M. Worship Wednesday: 7:00 P.M. Bible class evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (610) 925-3567 e-mail: tedwards@onemain.com web site: http://www.mypage.onemain.com/tedwards/avondale ________________________________________