| March 5, 2000 |
Vol. II, No. 45
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I had been in the Army Air Corps just long enough to complete my basic training, and that means I could go “off base” for the first time. I could hardly wait to go into town and worship with the local church. A buddy went with me, and after Sunday morning worship, we were invited to eat Sunday dinner with one of the families. On our way back to the Air Base, my friend asked, “Who are these people, anyway? They seem different from church people I have known; they do things differently and seem to have different ideas about things.” That was the first of many such conversations we had, and only the first of many times he attended church with me. But that conversation started me to thinking about what makes us different from other religious groups. “Who are these people?”
“THESE PEOPLE” BELIEVE THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST. Jesus, after His death and resurrection, told the apostles, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:15-16). The apostle Paul wrote later, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16). “These people” firmly believe that the Bible is the word of God: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God”; “Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:21). That simply means that the Scriptures are from the mind of God and not from the mind of man, and thus the Scriptures reveal the will of God. Paul wrote HOW the Lord gave His word to man through the apostles: “Which things we speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth”; “When ye received from us the word of the message, even the word of God, ye received it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God” (1 Cor. 2:13; 1 Thess. 2:13). “These people” believe that!
Because the Scriptures are actually the word of God, “these people” accept the Bible as authority, and refuse to accept any other authority. We are warned by inspired apostles, “Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach unto you any other gospel than that which we preached to you, let him be accursed”; “That in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written”; “Whosoever goeth onward and abideth not in the teaching of Christ, hath not God” (Gal. 1:8; 1 Cor. 4:6; 2 John 9). God reveals in His word what He wants us to believe, what He wants us to be, what He wants us to do. If it isn’t in His book, God doesn’t reveal it, for that is the only way God speaks to us: “Hath in these last days spoken unto us in his Son”; “He that heareth you, heareth me” (Heb. 1:2; Luke 10:16). Because of faith in Jesus Christ, and in His word, “these people” reject all other religious guides and authorities. The Bible is respected as a sufficient guide for salvation, for worship, for manner of life.
“THESE PEOPLE” WORSHIP AS GOD AUTHORIZES. The Bible tells us that God “created man in his own image” (Gen. 1:27), “that he should seek after God” (Acts 17:27). Man worships. Wherever man is found, man seeks to worship. God created us that way. But worship has often alienated man from God because it was the wrong kind. The worship of “these people” is very simple. There is no pretentious display designed to feed the ego, nor to entertain and amuse. The worship is designed to please God, not man; and the plan for it is found in the word of God, not in the councils of men. “These people” meet “on the first day of the week to break bread” just as the Lord’s people did 1900 years ago (Acts 20:7). In that Lord’s Supper, they “eat the bread and drink the cup” in memory of the death of Christ which purchased their salvation (1 Cor. 11:23-26). Also “on the first day of the week” these people “lay by in store” (1 Cor. 16:1-2), giving liberally and cheerfully to the Lord, 2 Cor. 9:7.
The music of “these people” is not the hot band or soloist who may entertain, but congregational singing. Jesus says, in His word, “Speaking one to another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord” (Eph. 5:19). Many religious folk think “these people” are just trying to be different by refusing to use instruments of music, but the truth is, instruments are not authorized by the Lord in His word. And scholars in every denomination know this. For seven centuries after Christ, believers never used instruments to praise God. “These people” do as people did 1900 years ago, they make melody with the heart as they sing. The prayers are not ritual, but from the heart, expressing gratitude to God and asking His blessings: “In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Phil. 4:6). Just as the early Christians “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching” (Acts 2:42), “these people” give a prominent place to the Scriptures in all of their public services: “Till I come, give heed to reading, to exhortation, to teaching”; “Preach the word” (1 Tim. 4:13; 2 Tim. 4:2).
‘THESE PEOPLE” TRUST THE BIBLE FOR SALVATION. Believing that the gospel is “the power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16), “these people” look to the word of God for all their belief and teaching on salvation. Knowing that they cannot save themselves, they firmly believe that we all must be “saved by grace through faith” (Eph. 2:8). That means recognizing that Jesus Christ died for us: “That he by the grace of God should taste of death for every man” (Heb. 2:9). They believe that the only “cleansing agent” for sin is the blood of Jesus Christ which He shed on the cross, 1 Pet. 1:18-19; Heb. 9:22; 10:4. As Paul wrote, “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being justified by his blood shall we be saved from the wrath of God through him” (Rom. 5:8-9). The preaching of the cross, necessary in the day of the apostles, is also necessary for today.
Because “these people” believe in the death of Christ as the means of their salvation, they also believe that baptism is necessary to that salvation. “Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” (Rom. 6:3-4). Only by the death of Jesus can we be “reconciled to God” (Rom. 5:10), only by His blood which He shed in His death can our sins be washed away, Eph. 1:7, and thus we are “baptized into his death” (Rom. 6:3). This is just what the Lord instructed Ananias to tell Saul: “Arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins” (Acts 22:16). In the great commission, Jesus said, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:15-16). “These people” believe that!
“THESE PEOPLE” STRIVE FOR UNITY OF ALL BELIEVERS. While many people seem to revel in the denominational confusion of the present religious world, “these people” deplore and oppose religious division. Jesus, just before His death, prayed: “Neither for these only [the apostles] do I pray, but for them also that believe on me through their word; that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they may be one in us” (John 17:20-21). Jesus did not want His people divided, but “one.” He still does. Through His apostle Paul, Jesus commands, “That ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Cor. 1:10). “These people” believe that, and constantly strive to help bring about the unity that will answer the Lord’s prayer.
The apostle Paul wrote, “Give diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. For there is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all” (Eph. 4:3-6). Many today claim that denominationalism is fine with God and offers many advantages, that each can have the church of his choice. But read Eph. 4:3-6 again: How many Gods are there? How many Lords? How many bodies? You see, Christ “is head of the body, the church” (Col. 1:18). There is no more authority for 300 churches than there is for 300 Gods! “These people” believe these passages, and thus they believe that one can become a Christian and faithfully serve God without ever being in a denomination at all. Therefore, “these people” strive to be just Christians: nothing more, nothing less. And they plead with all others to be the same.
Who are “these people,” anyway? Friend, 1900 years ago they were called “Christians” (Acts 11:26). They still are. In the first century, “The Lord added to the church daily such as were being saved” (Acts 2:47). He still does! You see, 1900 years ago, “these people” were the church that Jesus built. Today, they are the church that Jesus built. The same as it was 1900 years ago, with the same teaching and authority, serving the same Lord in the same way, this church exists in your community. And “these people” encourage you to join with them to “search the Scriptures, whether these things be so” (Acts 17:11). “These people” welcome your questions and your investigation. “These people” don’t claim to be perfect. They realize they often fail to measure up to what they should be. But they are trying. And they are trying to do it the Lord’s way. May God help us all, always, to “contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).
--Clem Thurman, via Gospel Minutes
When Herod the tetrarch heard reports about Jesus, he “said to his servants, ‘This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him’” (Matt. 14:1-2).
It is significant that while John was alive and in his public ministry, he worked no miracles, John 10:41. He did nothing to draw undue attention to himself. He taught people to look for another who was coming after him, “whose sandals,” he said, “I am not worthy to carry” (Matt. 3:11). Of Jesus, John had said, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). And again, he drew attention to Jesus by saying, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29, 36).
About six months after John began preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 3:2), Jesus came, preaching the same message, 4:17. Sometime later, Jesus sent out His 12 apostles with the same message, and still later, an additional 70 disciples, all promising that the kingdom or reign of heaven would begin soon, and seeking to turn people back to God, Matt. 10:7; Luke 10:9.
As John’s ministry was decreasing and the ministry of Jesus was increasing, King Herod Antipas arrested John the Baptist and executed him. This explains why Herod thought of John when he heard about Jesus. This is almost certainly why he attributed to John things John had never done, even when he was alive. Herod’s conclusion about the identity of Jesus had been produced by a guilty conscience. Herod had murdered John. In another lesson, we will look at the details of the arrest and execution of John.
From Mark we learn that Herod was not the only one who had reached a wrong conclusion as to the identity of Jesus. “Others said, ‘It is Elijah.’ And others said ‘It is the Prophet, or like one of the prophets’” (Mark 6:15).
The Jews had misunderstood a prophecy of Mal. 4:5-6 and looked for the appearance of the literal prophet Elijah before the coming of the Messiah. That Old Testament prophecy was actually fulfilled by John the Baptist who came “in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:17; Matt. 11:14). Some thought perhaps Jesus was “the Prophet” Moses wrote about in Deut. 18:15-18. They were correct about that, Acts 3:22-24, but they still failed to recognize that “the Prophet” was the same as the Messiah that the other Old Testament writers had foretold. Others recognized Jesus as a prophet, but perhaps no different from Amos or Jonah or others. Of course, in a sense, this was better than most of the religious leaders who rejected Jesus altogether -- but it was not enough. We must believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, indeed “God with us.” He said, “If you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24).
--CRJ