____________________________________________________ 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). ____________________________________________________ October 14, 2007 ____________________________________________________ Contents: 1) The Importance of Doctrine (Steve Klein) 2) Effective Workers (Gary Patton) 3) Works and Salvation (Greg Gwin) ____________________________________________________ -1- The Importance of Doctrine by Steve Klein This past week, I noticed that the sign in front of the Presbyterian Church in Rogersville said, "Love God. Love others. The rest is doctrine." The message was plain. Loving God and loving others are essential things, but doctrine is not essential. In other words, it doesn't matter what you believe or teach, as long as you love God and love others. This sentiment, implied in the message on the church sign, reflects what a lot of religious people in America believe. Now I am second to no one in my conviction that loving God and loving others are the greatest commandments. Jesus Himself said so explicitly (Matthew 22:37-39). If we get those things right, we will get everything else right as well, because "on these two commandments hang all the Law and the prophets" (Matthew 22:40). However, when doctrine is relegated to the status of non-essential, unimportant and not relevant to man's salvation, there is a lack of understanding concerning the nature of love! If a person really understood what it means to love God and others, he would know that believing and teaching sound doctrine is an essential part of loving God and others. In John 7:16, Jesus said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me." Now if doctrine is unimportant, why would Jesus bother to inform us that the Source of His doctrine was His heavenly Father? Does anyone really believe that Jesus could have taught any doctrine He pleased and still laid claim to being God's loving and obedient Son? His love for God bound Him to teach His doctrine. Doctrine matters! * Obeying the right doctrine frees us from sin. The Romans obeyed a specific form of doctrine in order to be freed from sin. "But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness (Romans 6:17-18). * Teaching the wrong doctrine invalidates our worship. In Matthew 15:9 Jesus said, "And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men." The fact that so many denominational groups teach as doctrines the commandments of men no doubt explains why they want to convince us that doctrine is unimportant. Most denominational groups must get everything from the names of their denominations, organizational structure, manner of worship, titles of church leaders and programs of work from MEN, because they sure can't find them in the Bible. * Following the wrong doctrine results in departing from the faith. "Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons" (1 Timothy 4:1). * Whoever does not stick with the doctrine of Christ, does not have God. "Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son" (2 John 9). To summarize, following the right doctrine frees us from sin, but having the wrong doctrine makes our worship useless, causes us to depart from the faith and separates us from God. What attitude will we have toward doctrine if we love God? If we love others, how concerned will we be about teaching them only doctrine that is correct and sound? The apostle Paul told Timothy to "charge some that they teach no other doctrine" (1 Timothy 1:3). Maybe Paul didn't understand that doctrine was unimportant. Or maybe, Paul loved God and man so much that he wanted only the one true doctrine to be taught. -- Via The Bulletin of the Church of Christ at New Georgia, August 26, 2007 ____________________________________________________ -2- Effective Workers by Gary Patton The business world is constantly scanning the work force for those people who will make them effective workers. An effective worker is one who not only does his job well, but can be counted on to be loyal and diligent in his relationship to the company. When a business consists of this kind of employees, it will be successful for years to come. The same is true when one enters the Lord's labor force. Upon obedience to the gospel, not only do people become children of God but also laborers in His kingdom. For one to be an affective worker for the Lord, that is to "be the best he can be," certain things are necessary. Conviction Being convinced or believing in what one does will have a great deal to do with one's success. The belief that the church is right and the most important area of work for mankind is most essential. Only when we truly believe there is one true church (Ephesians 4:4; 1:22-23) in which salvation is found will it mean something to us. This conviction will also help to keep us from going along with denominations of man. A lesson some, who claim to be members of the Lord's church, have not learned. Their actions of acknowledging those outside the body of Christ as brethren in the Lord and worshipping jointly in ways not authorized in God's word, bears fruit of a lack of conviction as the rightness of the church of our Lord. When we are truly convinced "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:5), and that Christ is the Savior of the body the one church (Ephesians 5), will we cease our half-hearted service. Aggressiveness The aggressive worker is the one who gets things accomplished. He is aggressive because he believes the work must be done and that he must do all he can to see he does his part fully. The lack of aggressiveness in our work for the Lord tends to develop the attitude of letting someone else do the work. Such a disposition can cause us to become lazy and slothful workers. We must be aggressive in preaching and teaching God's word. Aggressively means without fear or favor, uncompromisingly, yet frankly and kindly -- "But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ" (Ephesians 4:5); "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted" (Galatians 6:1). We can privately teach those we come in contact with as well as aggressively support the preaching of the gospel both with our presence and money. The New Testament Christians were effective workers because they were aggressive in their work (Acts 8:4): "Therefore, they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word." Sacrifice A major attribute in becoming a successful worker is being willing to sacrifice. It is easier sometimes to believe in something and aggressively pursue it as long as it doesn't cost us anything. But the most effective workers are those who willingly sacrifice for the good of the company. So it is with the Lord's work: we can only be truly effective workers when we sacrifice. We must make sure that we can give up worldly connections that would interfere with our work in His kingdom. We are informed in James 4:4, "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." Jesus warns in His teaching about the danger of temporal and material things that can interfere with our being effective workers. He tells us that one is an effective worker only if he is willing to sacrifice all and follow Him (Luke 9:57-62; 14:5-24). The motto of the effective worker in the church, the body of Christ, must be "... seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness" (Matthew 6:33). Then we can hear our Master say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant...enter thou into the joy of the Lord" (Matthew 25:21). -- Via The East Florence Contender, Florence, Alabama. ____________________________________________________ -3- Works and Salvation by Greg Gwin Those who believe in salvation by "faith only" are quick to recite Ephesians 2:8,9 whenever a discussion of baptism arises. They assert that baptism is a work, and this passage says: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast." Think with us for a minute about their claim. If this text precludes baptism because it is a "work," then what would we say about: * Repentance? Repentance is clearly necessary for salvation (Luke 13:3), but it involves work (see John 3:1-14). * And, what about confession? It is a prerequisite of salvation, and it obviously requires work on our part (Romans 10:9,10). * But the real clincher is that faith itself is termed a work by Jesus. Note: "Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent" (John 6:28,29). And so, if we are going to throw out baptism because it is a "work," then we must also reject repentance, confession, and even faith! Look again at Ephesians 2:8,9. Careful examination shows that the works being denounced are those that would serve as a basis for "boasting." In other words, Paul is saying that there are no meritorious works that we may do to "earn" our way into heaven. He explains that salvation is a "gift." But do not forget that conditions are often attached to gifts. In this case, the conditions are faith, repentance, confession, and baptism (Acts. 2:38, Mark 16:16, 1 Peter 3,21, etc.). -- via The Beacon, 5/31/05 ____________________________________________________ MYRTLE STREET CHURCH OF CHRIST 1022 Myrtle Street Denham Springs, LA 70726 (225) 664-8208 Sunday: 9:15 AM, 10:00 AM, 4:00 PM Wednesday: 7:00 PM evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (225) 667-4520 e-mail: tedwards@onemain.com web site: http://home.onemain.com/~tedwards/go ____________________________________________________