____________________________________________________ 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). ____________________________________________________ April 10, 1994 ____________________________________________________ Virtue by Harry L. Lewis Virtue appears in the Latin languages virtus and comes from vir, a man, a hero. It means, in its full sense, goodness that is victorious through trial, perhaps through temptation and conflict. There are several words which bear upon the meaning of virtue, and may be used to help define it. Words such as goodness is a familiar word which carries some of the meaning of virtue, but does not include the strength which comes from trial and conflict. This goodness in a baby is not considered virtuous. The word moral or morality describes attributes of a virtuous person. Certainly a person of virtue maintains a standard of morality which has goodness as a basic ingredient. Honesty, probity, integrity, honor, purity, duty, rectitude, righteousness, uprightness, and of course virtuousness are all words which hint at, and help present to the mind, the basic meaning of our word, virtue. This word is used in 2 Peter 1:5 to head a list of attributes of the true disciple of Jesus. We read in this passage ``And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;'' Here is a list of items of growth for the babe in Christ. (cf. 1 Peter 2:2). They are, when added to the life of Christians, (1 Peter 4:16) able to make a faithful, fruitful servant of the Lord (1 Peter 1:8-10). This list is not, however, ingredients in life which may be added one at a time, for with even one of these attributes completely missing our lives would not be according to the divine nature (1 Peter 1:4). The meaning of our word then can be summed up by the term good courage. We find this demonstrated over and over again in the lives of men and women who were willing to interrupt their own private lives, and take time out to serve Jesus. The life Jesus lived, and the things He taught instilled just such good courage in the heart of His followers (cf. 1 Peter 2:21,22). This will ever be the case if we do not allow ourselves to make of Christ such a being from never, never land that He can no longer be our example, our leader, our Lord. If we allow this to happen, the Christ will become such a being that all men will see the impossibility of ever walking in His steps. No man can be your example unless you have the accouterments necessary to do what he does in the area in which he is that example. Virtue, good courage, is demanded by the God of heaven, and one reason God demands it is because Jesus manifested it in his life and, as we said before, he is our example. In the Old Testament we find Joshua being told to be ``strong and of good courage'' (Joshua 1:6-9). The entire nation of Israel was also told to be ``very courageous'' in holding on to the land God had divided to them (Joshua 23:1-6). We find the same kind of behavior demanded in the New Testament as well. Please look at Matthew 10:28 where the disciples were told whom to fear, ``And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.'' Again, in 1 Corinthians 16:13 we find great and good courage being inculcated. The passage is pregnant with meaning along this line: ``Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.'' There is a beautiful passage in Philippians 1:27,28 along this line. It reads like this: ``Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.'' We need to understand that all this points directly at our word -- virtue (good courage). Without it we are sunk! Note, when Jesus came to Jerusalem He manifested great courage in entering the temple and objecting to the money-making which was going on there (John 2:13-17). Remember, this was the very first time many of these people had even heard of the man from Galilee. Most of them surely thought ``Who does he think he is?'' It took great courage to turn the money men against him the very first thing. It shows he was not after money, but souls of men (Luke 19:10). We need not to go into apostate churches and disrupt their activities, but we must oppose what goes on there if we are using Jesus as our example. Those who think they can be of good courage as they follow Jesus, and preach only goody, goody positive sermons are just barking up the wrong tree--it can't be done! There are times when open rebellion must be manifested even if we are ``a nobody from Galilee.'' You may be asking when is it right to manifest this good courage of the type shown by Jesus in the temple. Well it must be shown when we are called upon to reprove, rebuke, and exhort wrongdoers (2 Timothy 4:2-4; Galatians 2:11-13; Luke 17:3). Friends, this good courage must be manifested when under severe temptation. James 1:12 says all temptation is not bad for us, but we need good courage to overcome it or we are lost. We are told to rejoice when overcoming manifold temptations (1 Peter 1:6,7). Good courage is surely needed when carrying out Romans 13:1 for sometimes we must be courageous enough to disobey the ``higher powers'' in order to obey God (cf. Acts 4:19,20; 5:29; Daniel 3:16-18; etc.) Of all the times this good courage is difficult to maintain, I suppose, it is when what God teaches us to do is ridiculous to those in the world around us. When teaching the story of Abraham sacrificing his only son. When speaking of the need for God to sacrifice His only Son for my sin. When teaching the need to attend and study regularly with God's people. There are those who think actions like these are just crazy! Good courage is what is needed to calmly continue to teach the truth of them. ___________________________________________ WHO STARTED THE CHURCH OF CHRIST? by Vestal Chaffin Many times in discussing the subject of the church, the charge is made that Alexander Campbell started the church of Christ. This charge is made because: (1) People do not know the teaching of the New Testament. (2) They are ignorant of the facts of history. Campbell couldn't have started the church of Christ, because Paul, Peter, James and John were members of it (Matthew 16:18; Acts 2:47; I Corinthians 12:28; Romans 16:16; Hebrews 12:28). Campbell did not live during the days of these men. It was almost 1800 years after the church was established before Campbell was born. Go to the Cane Ridge meeting house, near Paris, Ky., and take a look at a grave marker there in the cemetery. This stone marks the grave of William Rogers, and has the following information on it: ``Born in Campbell Co., Va., July 7, 1784, removed with his father to Cane Ridge, Bourbon Co., April, 1798. United with the church of Christ at Cane Ridge, in 1807.'' 1807 was two years before Alexander Campbell came to America, and was three years before he preached his first sermon. How could he have started the church of Christ? ___________________________________________ WILL YOU HELP YOURSELF?? Someone remarked, ``I just can't get interested in Bible study.'' Another answered, ``No, some can't. It is like getting interest at the bank. You have to put something in first. The more you put in (time, prayer, work) the more interest can be expected to grow. If your interest is down in Bible study, etc., begin now to put more into Bible study and watch the interest grow!'' -- Selected ___________________________________________ WHAT WOULD BE YOUR NAME? The Indians used to give their children the name they earned. Thus some girl would become Laughing Water, Sunshine, or Timid One. A boy might be named Running Feet, Wise Owl, or Black Hawk. Suppose God gave His children the name they earned. Some would be Helping Hand, Faithful Teacher, Lively Stone, Generous Heart. But on the other hand there would be many wearing names such as Unreliable, Shirker, Evil Tongue, Black Heart, Luke Warm, Stingy Giver, etc. If God named you according to your life, what name would you have? -- Selected ___________________________________________ "But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ should suffer, He has thus fulfilled" (Acts 3:18). ___________________________________________ Find Out About Our Bible Film Slides ________________________________________ Tri-State CHURCH OF CHRIST 1314 Montgomery Avenue, Ashland, Kentucky 41101 Sunday: 10:00 A.M. Bible class 10:50 A.M. Worship 6:30 P.M. Worship Wednesday: 7:30 P.M. Bible study evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (606) 325-9742 e-mail: tedwards@zoomnet.net Gospel Observer web site: http://www.zoomnet.net/~tedwards/go ________________________________________