<BrethrenVoice> <GLEANINGS-FOR-THE-DAY> <19 August 2002> Contents: --------- (1) <Exhortatory> "The inevitable question" - Ravi Zacharias (2) <Testimonial> "The story of the shoe-shine boy" (Pt-1)- C.E.Wigg (3) <Doctrinal> "To what should we be loyal?" (Pt-4)-William MacDonald (4) <Prophetical> "The Redeemer's Return" (Pt-7)- A.W.Pink (5) <Exhortatory> "Out of sight/out of mind believers" - Connie Giordano (6) <Poem> "Jesus, wonderful Lord!" - Paul White (1) <Exhortatory><Slice-of-Infinity> THE INEVITABLE QUESTION Ravi Zacharias According to Albert Camus, death is philosophy's only problem. But a giant one it is, I might add! How quickly one's philosophy may be swept away with one word: Death. How does one make sense of life when it's haunted by this specter? Many anti-theists think that the idea of God is what has prompted this fear. Let us check their claim Agnostic philosopher Bertrand Russell admitted that his life was built on unyielding despair. Perhaps that is why he issued a statement with Albert Einstein-just two days before Einstein's death-confessing that "those of us who know the most are the gloomiest about the future." With the belief that there is nothing beyond our world, "gloominess" is a reasonable response. Though denying God may leave us free to abolish the past and decree the future, nonetheless, what hope do we find in human decrees? The removal of God does not alleviate the fear of the future does it? Archibald McLeish reiterates this: There is, in truth, a terror in the world, and the arts have heard it as they always do. Under the hum of the miraculous machines and the ceaseless publications of the brilliant physicists a silence waits and listens and is heard. It is the silence of apprehension. We do not trust our time, and the reason we do not trust our time is because it is we who have made the time, and we do not trust ourselves. We have played the hero's part, mastered the monsters, accomplished the labors, become gods-and we do not trust ourselves as gods. We know what we are. In the old days when the gods were someone else, the knowledge of what we are did not frighten us ... But now that we are gods ourselves we bear the knowledge for ourselves. Like that old Greek hero who learned when all the labors had been accomplished that it was he himself who had killed his son. (Footnote 1: McLeish, "When We Are Gods," Saturday Review, 14 October 1967.) Fear of death does not prove or disprove theism. But it is also true that the removal of God from reality does not remove our fear of death. This is a question we cannot kill. For one's philosophy of life to be complete, the question of our destiny must be answered or the inevitable intrusion of death will haunt our ability to secure meaning. By contrast, understanding death is what makes the Gospel of Jesus Christ so resplendent with hope. --- Copyright (p)(c) 2000 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. _______________________________________________________________________ (2) <Testimonial> THE STORY OF JOHN CHAUBEY, THE SHOE-SHINE BOY Charles E. Wigg .... On Easter Sunday 1988, I had been speaking at a Convention held by East Fort Assembly in Trichur Kerala India. I had been invited to speak at a Gospel meeting in Ernakulam, 75 KM's towards the south. As there were other speakers at the convention, I asked leave of the organizers, so that I may speak at that Gospel meeting, and they kindly, but reluctantly consented to release me. I decided to go by Parasuram Express, that comes to Trichur about mid-day, and bought a first class ticket, thinking that I would travel in a little more comfort, however when the train came, it was absolutely packed, as Indian trains often are, and though having a first class ticket, I could not get a seat in the first class. Having paid the extra money for the ticket, I decided that I would go first class, so sat outside the compartment, near where the toilets are, and the doors for entering or leaving the carriage. There was no seat there, so I sat on my case, and complained to myself that I had wasted the Lord's money, buying the dearer ticket. I did not know that the Lord Jesus whom I serve had a purpose in all this. As I sat while the train continued its journey, two beggar boys sat on the floor in one of the doorways, they were gambling with the coins that they had obtained through begging. Then the train stopped at a station called Puddukkad, this is only a small station and express trains do not normally stop there, but the signal was against our train. It stopped only for two minutes, but the gambling boys left and went to another carriage, but another shoe polishing boy came and sat in the doorway. He saw that my chapples (sandals), were rather dusty, and he asked if he could clean them, I replied in Malayalam "Vendah!" which means "I don't want". He then replied in clear English, "Sir if you give, I will nicely polish, and when I give it again it will be like a new chapple", I was surprised and asked him, "you are knowing English?", yes he replied, "Where did you learn English?", "In my school", he replied. "You are educated then?" and he told me that he had studied up to tenth standard and had passed. When I asked why he was polishing shoes, he replied, telling that there was a step-mother in his house, that she was cruel to him, and that he could not stay there any longer, that he was staying at Palghat, near the border of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Then I asked his name, and he told me that it was John Chaubey, hearing the name John, I asked him if he was from a Christian family, and he replied that he was, and that his father was a Pentecostal preacher. [To be continued...] ______________________________________________________________________ (3) <Doctrinal> TO WHAT SHOULD WE BE LOYAL? (PART-4) William MacDonald .... ALL BELIEVERS ARE MEMBERS A second great truth for which we should stand is that all true believers are members of the body of Christ and therefore members of one another (I Cor. 12:12-26). This being so, it is necessary for us to recognize all Christians as our brothers and sisters. It is not always easy to do this. Men have erected fences. People are more loyal to their own denomination than they are to the body of Christ. They do not recognize the unity of the Spirit. But the trouble is not all with other people. Even in our own hearts, there is often the desire to be distinctive, to think of ourselves as having a cover on church truth or some other truth. We often find it difficult to befriend those who do not see exactly as we do. Instead of rejoicing when others are led into a certain measure of divine truth, we are apt to magnify the ways in which they are still different from us. And too frequently we quarrel most bitterly with those whose church order is strikingly similar to our own. How then can we give practical expression to the truth that all genuine believers are members of the body of Christ? First of all, we should love them because they belong to Christ (I John 4:11). The fact that they may differ with us in various areas of doctrine or practice should not prevent our loving them. We should pray for them (I Sam. 12:23). This is a debt we owe to all men, especially those who are of the household of faith. Third, we should seek to share with them the precious truths which God has shown us from the Word (II Tim. 2:2). This does not mean that we should adopt a deliberate policy of sheep-stealing, that is, moving into other evangelical groups with the specific purpose of leading people out to "our own fellowship." Nowhere in the Bible are we called to this divisive ministry. Rather, in our individual contact with others and as led by the Holy Spirit, we should minister Christ to them as the gathering Center of His people. We should "teach everyone we can, all that we know about Him, so that, if possible, we may bring every man up to his full maturity in Christ" (Col. 1:28, Phillips). Not only should we love other believers, and pray for them, and seek to edify them, but we should also learn from them (I Cor. 12:21). It is a mistake to think that we have all the truth and that we cannot benefit spiritually from those outside "our own fellowship." Every member has something to contribute to the rest of the body. Any man-made barriers that hinder believers from helping other believers are contrary to the will of God. Also we should refrain from criticism, jealousy, gossiping, backbiting or judging (Luke 6:37). Each believer is a steward of the Lord. We are distinctly forbidden to judge others before the time, that is, before the Lord comes (I Cor. 4:5). Paul asks, 'Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? To his own Master he standeth or falleth" (Rom. 14:4). And when Peter became concerned about John's service for the Lord, Jesus said, "What is that to thee? Follow thou me" (John 21:22). We should rejoice whenever Christ is preached, whether or not we agree with the methods and motives. Paul wrote to the Philippians: "Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will; the one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds; but the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel. What then? Notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice' (Phil. 1: 15-18). The fact that we thus recognize all true believers as members of the body does NOT mean that we will adopt their policies and practices. We are responsible to obey the Word of God as He has revealed it to us. We can love people without loving the system in which they are found and without becoming a part of it. As far as our own pathway is concerned, we must be uncompromisingly obedient to the Bible. As far as other believers are concerned, we should be patient and tolerant. [To be concluded...] _______________________________________________________________________ (4) <Prophetical> "THE REDEEMER'S RETURN" (PART-7) Arthur W. Pink .... VII. THE REDEEMER'S RETURN IS NECESSITATED BY THE PRESENT DEGRADATION AND DESOLATION OF THE WORLD Here is a reason which ought to carry conviction to every mind. If there is anything which imperatively needs our Redeemer to Return it is surely this poor sin-cursed world of ours! Look at it and what do we see? A world everywhere racked with suffering and out of joint. A world convulsed with misery entailed by the Fall. A world now in its very death-throes, with hope almost completely gone. Everything that man could devise to better conditions and make this world a happier place has been tested and proven a failure. Every possible form of human government has been tried, each new one being as unsuccessful as the previous ones. Theocracy, democracy, and mobocracy (the French Revolution, and Russia today) have each been weighed in the balances and found wanting. Legislation, education and civilization have all been built upon, only to find in the day of testing that they were merely foundations of sand. Look where you will, on land or sea, in the air or beneath the waters, and you will witness sin and death holding high carnival. The world is dying for want of a competent Ruler. On all sides iniquity is abounding more and more. Crime is increasing, morality is decreasing; godlessness and lawlessness are growing apace; while over all, hangs the dreadful pall of the world-war. In the physical world, despite all our enlightenment, modern discoveries and the organized activities of medical science, disease is carrying off an ever increasing multitude year by year. The educational world is mainly under the control of infidels and agnostics, under whose leadership the rising generation is taught that the faith once for all delivered to the saints is an idle superstition, or at best a religious garment which we have now outgrown. In the economic world, greed and dishonesty are rapidly eating out the very vitals of commercial stability, while the fight between capital and labor threatens a revolution such as this world has not witnessed since the days when the streets of Paris ran with blood. In the political realm there is so much chicanery, and "graft" and "party" principles are so selfishly pursued, that the self-respecting man is becoming loath to get mixed up with such filth and rottenness. Each "party" is as corrupt as the other, and the believer in Christ who is subject to God's Word will not hesitate to separate himself from that which offers his Lord no place and has no concern for His glory. In the moral realm, decay and putrefaction are witnessed upon all sides. Temperance Reform Societies, Purity-campaigns and Civic-righteousness Leagues are powerless to stem the tide of evil. The Drink-Bill of every civilized (?) nation is growing heavier every year. Immorality, both among the masses and those in high places, prevails to such a fearful extent, that our large cities are modern Sodoms and Gomorrahs. In the religious world, we gaze upon an apostate Christendom. Our Theological Seminaries, with very rare exceptions, are teaching Darwinism and Higher Criticism, while our pulpits are busily occupied with "echoing" these God-dishonoring and Scripture-denying heresies, and on all sides the Gospel is supplanted by political harangues or moral essays. The majority of our churches are more than half empty, while the mid-week prayer meeting is almost entirely a thing of the past. The few faithful servants of God that are left on earth are boycotted, maligned and persecuted. The Lord's Day has become a day of pleasure-seeking and now, Sabbath-desecration, in the form of seven days a week work on the farms and in the munition factories, has been legalized by every nation that is now at war. And, as we have said, over all hangs the dreadful pall of this World War! Literally millions of men in the prime of their manhood have already been slaughtered, while millions more have been maimed for life in the vain effort to destroy militarism and establish a lasting peace. Innumerable homes have been plunged into grief, and there is no guarantee or even prospect but what millions more will suffer a like fate. To-day the world stands helpless before the inrushing tide of evil which threatens to decimate almost half of the human race, and in its impotency a grief-stricken humanity is everywhere lifting up piteous hands to Heaven as it cries for a Deliverer. True, the cry may not always be articulated, yet it is audible nevertheless. True, the world, as a whole, is blind to its spiritual wretchedness and apostate condition. True, the canal mind is still enmity against God, yet, intelligent men realize that the present order of things is a complete failure and are ready and longing for a New Order. The world cries for deliverance, what shall be Heaven's response? Again we say that only one answer is possible. While the Holy Scriptures reveal the fact that the severest of God's judgments have not yet been poured upon this world, which has for so long lived in pleasure and wantonness; while the Holy Scriptures reveal the fact that the darkest hour of the night of earth's sufferings and sorrows has not yet arrived; yet, they also teach, that at the close of this night, the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings (Mal. 4:2). "Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; He will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dump sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there: but the redeemed shall walk there: And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away"(Isa. 35:4-10). That will be Heaven's response to earth's agonized cry! Therefore we say that the present degradation and desolation of the world necessitates our Redeemer's Return to take the government upon His shoulder and to rule and reign in righteousness, for then, and not till then, will every world problem find its final solution. [to be continued...] _______________________________________________________________________ (5) <Exhortatory> OUT OF SIGHT/OUT OF MIND BELIEVERS Connie Giordano "But in vain do we hear God's word, and look into the gospel glass, if we go away, and forget our spots, instead of washing them off, and forget our remedy, instead of applying it. This is the case of those who do not hear the Word as they ought." - Matthew Henry James 1:23-24 - "For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass; For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was." In these two Scriptures, the Apostle James addresses the issue of being a hearer of the Word and not a doer. He uses the very common illustration of our viewing ourselves in a mirror. When we look into a mirror, we see things exactly as they are. If there are any defects, blemishes, scars, deformities, or unpleasant features, we notice them. For those things that can be corrected such as spots, smudges, or blemishes; we most readily attempt to remove them through washing or covering them through makeup. By using this particular depiction, the Apostle James is demonstrating that the Word of God can also be likened unto a mirror. It exposes any defects, blemishes, scars, deformities, or unpleasant features in our moral character. In other words, it exposes any areas of sin, compromise, ungodliness, or simply any thing contrary to God's nature. Just as we would take measures to rid ourselves of any physical blemishes and marks, we are expected also to rid ourselves of any spiritual blemishes that are shown up by the Word of God. The measure we would be expected to take would be repentance from all wrongdoing and the washing of the Blood of Jesus from all sin. Yet the Apostle James addresses a problem here among believers. We are told that in the mirror of the Word, we behold ourselves. We consider attentively our moral state in the eyes of God. We fix our eyes and our mind on the picture that the Holy Spirit is presenting to us of our true state before God. We see that there are things that need to be corrected. However, instead of amending the wrong, we go aside from the Word and forget. We must notice the descriptive words that the Apostle James uses. We go off on our way, and "straightway" forget what we just saw. It happens immediately. As soon as we go aside from the Bible, whether it be a personal time in study or sitting under the preaching and teaching of the Word, we immediately forget. We no longer care about what we just saw in the mirror of God's Word. We have shirked off any and all conviction of the Holy Ghost at this time. This is what the Apostle James terms "the hearing-but-not-doing" man. As Phillips points out in the Wycliffe Commentary - "He sees himself, it is true, but he goes on with whatever he was doing without the slightest recollection of what sort of person he saw in the mirror." He is an "out of sight / out of mind" believer. Dr. Manton, as quoted in Matthew Henry's Commentary, says - "The word of God discovers how we may do away our sins, and deck and attire our souls with the righteousness of Jesus Christ...Our sins are the spots which the law discovers; Christ's blood is the laver which the gospel shows." Matthew Henry then concludes - "But in vain do we hear God's word, and look into the gospel glass, if we go away, and forget our spots, instead of washing them off, and forget our remedy, instead of applying it. This is the case of those who do not hear the Word as they ought." What would cause us to be so negligent? I believe that the answer is indifference. And this indifference is caused by living "at ease in Zion." Amos 6:1 - In fact, the Prophet Amos warned us - "Woe to them that are at ease in Zion..." Isaiah 32:9 - Isaiah refers to those that are at ease as "careless daughters" Isaiah 47:8 - "...that are given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly..." When we are intoxicated with pleasures and the lusts of this world, we become like those whom God spoke of to the Prophet Ezekiel - Ezekiel 33:31-32 - "And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as My people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after covetousness. And lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not." In closing, we are admonished in the Old Testament as well as in the New to "take heed" to what we hear from the Word of God and what we see in God's Mirror that He holds before us - Deuteronomy 4:9 - "Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart..." Hebrews 2:1 - "Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip." The next time we sit before the mirror of God's Word, may we consider diligently what is being presented to us by the Holy Spirit - the true state of our spiritual being before a Holy God. May we then make amends and correct whatever needs to be corrected and not walk away and forget with an unconcerned attitude. Let us also beware of the "carefree/at ease" attitude that reflects the walk of so many so-called "Christians" today. May God Bless His Word. Connie --- Copyright 2002 by Connie Giordano _______________________________________________________________________ (6) <Poem> JESUS, WONDERFUL LORD! Paul White [For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6] Born among cattle, in poverty sore, Living in meekness by Galilee's shore, Dying in shame as the wicked ones swore: Jesus, wonderful Lord! Weary, yet He is the world's only rest, Hungry and thirsty with plenty has blest, Tempted He promises grace for each test: Jesus, wonderful Lord! Friend of the friendless, betrayed and denied, Help of the weak, in Gethsemane cried, Light of the world, in gross darkness He died: Jesus, wonderful Lord! Chorus: Wonderful, wonderful Jesus! He is my friend, true to the end; He gave Himself to redeem me-- Jesus, wonderful Lord! ____________________________<BrethrenVoice>____________________________ [which seeks to be guided solely by the New Testament Biblical pattern, facilitates free flow of Christian information. To God be the glory!] Contact Moderator/Gleaner, eMail: <brethrenvoice-owner@...> Subscribe, eMail:<brethrenvoice-subscribe@...> Unsubscribe, eMail:<brethrenvoice-unsubscribe@...> FAQs & Statement of Faith, eMail:<brethrenvoice-faq@...> "BrethrenVoice" Home: http://associate.com/digests/brethrenvoice/ eFellowship Home: http://groups.msn.com/BrethrenChristiansForum/ ["Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith." 2 Cor 13:5] ["You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Jn 8:32] _______________________________________________________________________