September 16, 2001 Volume 2 Number 37
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The Bible warns us that the future is unpredictable. We do not know if we will see tomorrow. For many American citizens and military personal tomorrow will not come. Their families grieve and the nation grieves. Their lives like ours are vapors, here for a while then vanishing forever. Our prayers must certainly be offered on their behalf. Events such as the ones we have seen today are grim reminders of the uncertainty and vulnerability of our existence. The stories keep pouring out as the smoke from the World Trade Center complex continues to pour out. One woman said, “My husband works in the towers but stayed home later than usual today. I knew he was safe when I heard the explosions;” still others recounting how they had left the building just minutes before the attack. Solomon writes, “The race is not to the swift, Nor the battle to the strong, Nor bread to the wise, Nor riches to men of understanding, Nor favor to men of skill; But time and chance happen to them all” Eccl 9:11. Time and chance indeed. It is moments such as these that make us reflect on other passages as well. Matthew writes, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” Matt 6:34. This is our Lord’s conclusion to His previous points. Starting in verse 25 He warns against materialism, and, at the same time, against anxiety about our needs. He does this by presenting four arguments, which demonstrate our dependence on God. The First… The "first" is stated in the latter part Matt 6:25: "Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” Jesus charges his disciples to not worry or be anxious about their needs. He illustrates this by arguing that “life” is a greater blessing that food. God who has created us will take care us. He will surely take care of that which He like a potter has taken the time to create. The Second… The second argument for our trust in the providence of God is derived from a beautiful reference to the birds. Matthew writes, “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they (Vs. 26)?” Jesus uses the birds of the air to illustrate their lack of anxiety about the supply of their needs. They are fed regularly, they are sheltered, and they are taken care of. Of how much more value are we? The Third… The third argument is taken from the viewpoint of our extreme weakness and helplessness. With all your care you cannot increase your stature by one cubit. God has ordered your height. Beyond this we have no power to increase our height. God has so ordered it. Fourth and Final… The fourth consideration is taken from the care, which God bestows on lilies. “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” Matt 6:28-29. Notice the growing lily. It does not toil, nor spin; yet night and day it grows. It grows and its beauty is more splendid than the apparel of any king. Not only does it appeal to the eye but it also fills the air with fragrance. Yet this beauty is of short lived. Soon it will fade, and the beautiful flower will be cut down and burned. Since he is so mindful of a mere flower how much more is he of His children? He adds that we are not to worry about what we shall eat, drink or wear (30-32). We are not to worry. We are to trust our way to God. The trouble of each day is sufficient. Don’t burden yourself by worrying about the cares of another day. God will be the same Father then as today, and will make then, as he does now, proper provision for your wants. Though you will have needs, yet God will provide for them as they occur. Do not, therefore, increase the cares of TODAY by borrowing trouble from the FUTURE. Do your duty faithfully NOW, and depend upon the mercy of God and his divine help for the troubles, which are yet to come. Follow God’s pattern for success as found in verse 33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” and you will be successful in this life and in the life to come.
"Ye Are
Witnesses" Samuel could do so. "Whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or of whose hand have I received any bribe....And they said, Thou has not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken ought of any man's hand” (1 Sam. 12:3, 4). Likewise, men testified to the unimpeachable character of a Roman centurion in Luke 7:4, 5, and some said the same of the sincere centurion, Cornelius (Acts 10:2, 22). Weeping widows testified to the Spirit's assessment of the devout disciple, Dorcas (Acts 9:36, 39). Of course, it is not the testimony of men that will secure and sanctify our souls (1 Cor. 4:3-5). Observe that both Samuel and Paul appealed to the Lord as witness of their goodness and godliness–"Ye are witnesses, and God also” (1 Thess. 2:10; Cf. 1 Sam. 12:5–"The Lord is witness” ). Sadly, I confess, not everyone can point to me as an example of what a child of God ought to be. How about you? Let us, therefore, resolve that we shall seek to do better, to live better, to be a better example before a watching world. "Let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ” (Phil. 1:27). "Having a good conscience; that, wherein ye are spoken against, they may be put to shame who revile your good manner of life in Christ” (1 Pet. 3:16). Be ye fishers of men - you catch them & He'll clean them. Questions From The
Web
Editor’s Note: From time to time during correspondence courses and through our “Ask The Preacher” page on the World Wide Web we receive questions. It is our intent to share these in the bulletin along with the answers given. The following was from our “Ask The Preacher” feature on the website with reply by Carlos Aguilar. RDT,sr Why could David pray for his enemies' destruction but we as Christians we are to love our enemies and pray for them? Thanks for the question. I’ll try my best to give you an answer. This very question came up in our Wednesday night class in the book of Psalms recently. First of all, we must understand that God wants all men to be saved as is stated in 1 Timothy 2:3-4, “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” and 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” During the OT times Gentiles came to be in God’s covenant by becoming proselytes and of course in the NT by obeying the Gospel. The key to the question is found in the Old Testament/New Testament difference. In the NT God has given authority to the civil governments to execute punishment on evildoers. Romans 13:1-7- “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience' sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.” As Christians we are to obey the laws of the land and not be a law unto ourselves. God has not given us the authority to execute punishment on evildoers. Instead, we are to… Matthew 5:44-46- “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” By the demonstration of our love, blessings, doing good, and prayer we are behaving the way God wants us to behave. It is not our role to be the judge, jury and executioner. Also Peter tells us in 1 Peter 2:11-12, “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.” By our good conduct we may turn evildoers to Christ and give God glory in the day of visitation. As for David praying for his enemy’s destruction we find a different time and a different role. First of all, David’s enemies would be God’s enemies. David was God’s anointed king over the children of Israel---God’s people. He was also everything that Paul mentions in Romans. He was the authority to execute punishment on evildoers. It was the duty of the king whether it was Saul, David or Solomon to carry out this grave task. When David’s enemies rose up to destroy him (God’s anointed) it was appropriate for prayer to be offered so that God would involve Himself in their destruction. These would people who rebelled against God and tried to destroy the children of Israel and His anointed. That changed matters. Every nation and every king that opposed himself to God met up with God’s wrath. In some ways I think we can pray for our enemies to be destroyed. Certainly we cannot pray that they be destroyed physically but we can pray that their evil deeds be hindered. We can pray for the activities of the ungodly to be stopped. We cannot take it upon ourselves, as some who would bomb an abortion clinic in the name of God would do, but we can ask for God’s intervention in this and other matters. I’m afraid if I write anymore I’ll never get a response to you. I hope this provides some information on the subject. Let me know if I can help in any other way and thank you for asking, it means a lot to me. September 11th In light of this weeks events it is critically important that we understand the difference between the role of individuals and the role God has assigned to the governing powers. Rom 13:3-4 “For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil” God IS in control, Trust Him! RDT,sr The Spirit Expressly Says
... Hope in God If there is ever a time when hope is important, it is in the hour of death. Death is a certainty for us all. Only the time of death is uncertain. Some of us will be among those whose graves are decorated on Memorial Day next year. What hope do you have for after death? "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after that the judgment” Hebrews 9:27. The Bible is filled with precious promises for those "who die in the Lord” Revelation 14:13. Death is not the end. The grave is not our goal. Our first concern is about your hope and ours. We want to go to heaven. We want to see you go to heaven. How about you? "For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it” Romans 8:24,25. Food For Thought We should pray for God's wisdom that His will be done, while we should be careful to not unwittingly hope that God will approve of our own wisdom to do as we please. We
hope you find this bulletin useful in your Bible study. 2
Sam 22:31
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