Forsaking All

“So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). When we look up the word forsake we note that it means to “give up something formerly held dear; to renounce; to leave altogether; to abandon.” In the context of this verse we hear our Lord saying that unless we give up all that we have formerly held dear and leave it altogether, we cannot be counted among His followers. Let us look together at what we must forsake if we hope to please the Lord.

• I must forsake my church. Jesus said in Matthew 15:13 tells us that every plant which God has not planted shall be rooted up. The Lord promised to build one church (Matthew 16:18), and that is exactly what He did. If we want tobe saved, we must be a part of His church and not “My Church.”
• I must forsake my parents.  The Lord, in Matthew 10:37, tells us that if we love mother or father more than we love Him we are not worthy of Him. We cannot put anyone or anything before our love and service to the Lord. We must “seek…first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33), give Him our first-fruits, and not let anyone stand in our way of doing right.
• I must forsake the doctrines of men.  If we teach for doctrine the commands of men, then we are worshiping the Lord in vain (Matthew 15:9). The Word of the Lord was given to us “for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” so that we might be “completely” furnished with all that we need to do right (II Tim. 3:16–17). If we teach and preach anything else we will stand condemned.
• I must forsake all worldliness.  John wrote, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (I John 2:15). James said that if we are friends of the world we are the enemy of God (James 4:4). No man can serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). No man can serve God and the world, so we must forsake this world and keep ourselves unspotted from the it (James 1:27).
• I must forsake my way. Jeremiah said that the way of man is not in himself and that man could not direct his own steps (Jeremiah 10:23). There is only one way that leads to eternal life, and that Way is the Lord. No man can get to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). If you have not done so, will you not forsake all, and surrender to the Lord before it is too late?

Danny Box

"Mostly Faithful?"

It might be that some have a mighty strange view of the word "faithful." Have you ever heard a brother described as "mostly faithful," or a congregation as "fairly faithful"? How about this-"he is pretty faithful...most of the time."

The Bible records that Moses was faithful (Numbers 12:7), as was Timothy (I Corinthians 4:17) and Tychicus (Ephesians 6:21). Jesus used the word "faithful" to describe the five and two talent men who were prepared to give account to their Lord in a parable: "His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many things; enterthou into the joy of thy lord" (Matthew 25:23). Paul, through inspiration, set forth that "here, moreover, it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful" (I Corinthians 4:2). Research the word "faithful" and you will see that it carries the idea of those whoare "trusty...who show themselves faithful in the transaction of business, the execution of commands, or the discharge of officialduties...one who kept his plighted faith, worthy of trust...that can be relied on" (Thayer). In light of the meaning, how can one be "mostly, pretty, or fairly" faithful? Either one is, or he is not, faithful to God. (Of course we are not arguing for perfection-it must be understood that faithfulness in God's children is demanded of God (I Corinthians 4:2). This faithful condition is synonymous with walking in the light (I John 1:7) as we humbly bring our hearts and deeds into harmonywith the dictates of heaven.) What ambiguous spiritual condition isrepresented by the term "mostly faithful?" Could it be a term employed to represent a person, or a congregation, that does some, or even most of what God directs-but not all? Here are some examplesof those who fit in the category of being "mostly, fairly, or pretty" faithful:

1. The brother or sister that attends 9 out of 10 Sunday and Wednesday assemblies but forsakes one "every now and then" forTV, shopping, Boy Scouts, walk-a-thons, the Super Bowl, vacation, company at home, or because they're disgruntled with someone orsomething in the church is probably the person some have in mind when they say, "he's mostly faithful."
2. The brother who preaches the truth on the fundamental mattersof salvation, the distinctive nature of the church, and the errors of denominations, but teaches that baptism makes an adulterous marriage into a sanctified one, is labeled by some misguided brethren as "mostly faithful."
3. A congregation that demands soundness from its preachers and teachers, refuses to budge an inch in the face of new and noveldoctrines, but neglects to do what God commanded in the matter of restoring the erring and church discipline is one that many would call "mostly faithful."

The "mostly faithful" are "mostly sound" and "mostly obedient." They pick and choose when and where they will obey God. They will all, on the day of judgment, give answer for the lack of complete submission to Christ's will. "Mostly faithful" sounds "pretty good" until you realize that the "mostly faithful" will be "mostlylost." "Here, moreover, it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful" (I Corinthians 4:2).

Lynn Parker

The Gospel Plan of Salvation

HEAR the word of God; the Bible (Romans 10:17)

BELIEVE the word of God and that Jesus is Lord (John 8:24; Hebrews 11:6)

REPENT of sin (Acts 17:30)

CONFESS that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God (Matthew 10:32-33)

BE BAPTIZED in order to receive remission of sins (Acts 2:38); in order to have past sins washed away (Acts 22:16); in order to get into the body of Christ, the church (Romans 6:3-4; Acts 2:47); in order to be saved (Mark16:15-16; I Peter 3:21)

LIVE FAITHFULLY in accordance with God’s word (I John 1:6-9; Revelation 2:10)

Inner Light

With many the Word of God is not the power of God unto salvation; it is only a “witness” to God’s Word. They tell us that as they read the Bible the Holy Spirit gives them special light on the passage read. If this is true, then the reader becomes a Divine speaker for God. That is all the pope of Rome claims. He speaks for God. I had just as soon have the pope as some teenager who claims he or she has a special leading in a “call meeting” or “soul talk”—which some call a “personal encounter.” The Bible is set aside as a true guide and is made only a means of bringing a person into a “personal encounter.”

The doctrine of “inner light” gave us every major denomination among us. Let us remember that the Bible is right and that “it is not within man that walketh to direct his steps” (Jeremiah 10:23). God’s means of converting and leading man is the Word of God (Romans 1:16). The advocates of emotional religion talk much about the Holy Spirit and, at the same time, ignore what the Holy Spirit says in His Holy Word. The spirit that leads a man outside of the Word of God is not holy.

G. K. Wallace

End-time Backlash

We know that “of that day and hour” we are ignorant—and so forever shall remain right up until “that day and hour.” We are given no signs concerning its arrival, no warnings, no pre-indicators, nothing. He will come “as a thief in the night.” That being true, could it be that many, out of sheer exhaustion from fighting against the error of the prevaricating prognosticators, have grown careless in their watching? The fact that we have no signs or indications whatsoever in no wise means that He will not come today!

We do not know when He will come, but we do know that He is coming. It may be today. It could be tomorrow. It could be next week. It could be twenty thousand years in the future. We do not know. Our part is to live rightly. So living, it will not matter when He comes.

Equally important with the date of His return, and equally unknown to us, is the date of our death. We do not know when our natural life will end. It could be today. It could be tomorrow. It could be next week. It most certainly will not wait twenty thou and years! Still, we do not know when it will be. Now, if people ignorant of their own approaching death will not live rightly, is it any surprise that something that may yet linger twenty thousand years distant has failed to move them?

In the final analysis, it does not matter when He comes or when we die if we are living rightly. To be prepared for the one is to be prepared for the other. To live rightly is to die rightly, and that is to be with Him in Heaven forever. Are you living rightly? May God bless us all as we study and obey His Word.

Tim Smith

The Right Attitude for Congregational Unity

Not only must one believe the right thing to have unity but one must also have the right attitude and disposition of heart to have unity. Having the truth is no justification for having a haughty disposition. We must have lowliness and meekness with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love.

Of Diotrephes, the beloved John wrote (III John 9–10):

I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.

The sin that John charges against Diotrephes is that he loves to have the preeminence. The word here employed by John is a very rare one and means “fond of being first.”

Years ago A.T. Robertson wrote an article on Diotrephes. He set him forth as “a church regulator,” “a short-horn deacon.” He of course, never knew all the results of the article. But one thing he did learn was that twenty-five subscribers to the paper in which the article appeared, asked that their subscription be cancelled immediately. They did this as a protest against the personal attack that they thought had been madeupon them. These twenty-five men recognized themselves in the picture of Diotrephes whom the writer had painted. The shoe fit; the hit dog howled; the guilty conscience saw its owner in such a setting.

The church does not need men like Diotrephes. We do not need men who seek to rally parties about them. We need people who will follow Jesus and preachers who point people to Jesus and not themselves. Men heard John the Baptist preach, and they followed Jesus. This was great preaching. John was a great preacher. He was no Diotrephes. He said Jesus must increase, but that he himself must decrease. He could gracefully grant the preeminence to Christ, where it belongs, in all things.

Paul did not want the brethren at Corinth divided into parties with each following their favorite preacher. That is the wrong attitude. The glory in the church is not to go to the preacher who plants or the preacher who waters, but to God who gives the increase (I Corinthians 3:1–9). We should step out of selfishness and into the service of God. With the proper attitude among brethren all of the small things vanish away.

J. Noel Meredith

Observance of the Lord's Supper

OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

It is observed “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24).

It is observed “decently and in order” (I Corinthians 14:40).

It is observed in remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice (Luke 22:19).

It is observed in anticipation of Christ’s return (I Corinthians 11:26).

It is observed on the first day of each week (Acts 20:7).

It is observed upon self-examination (I Corinthians 11:28).

It is observed to proclaim Christ as the Savior of men (I Corinthians 11:26).