Forthright Magazine http://www.forthright.net Straight to the Cross The email list has exceeded 820 active subscribers. Let's drive it to 1000. Here's how you can help: http://www.forthright.net/editorial/lend_a_hand.html COLUMN: FIDELITY How Does Your Garden Grow? by Mike Benson Church work is like gardening (2 Timothy 2:6), without the bib overalls and straw hat. The seed is the Word ( Luke 8:11). Preachers are patient laborers (James 5:7), seeking to bring their produce to harvest (Matthew 9:37-38; Matthew 13:30). Making a good garden is dependent upon several factors--the right seed, proper fertilizer, sufficient water, warm sunshine, insect control and periodic weeding, etc. (1 Corinthians 3:6). Joel Neal Pinion, my old gardening buddy over in White, Georgia, used to laugh and say, "Mike--growing a garden isn't just about pulling weeds." His humor had a point. Having spent considerable time in my own vegetable garden and having observed other growers and their produce, I can attest to the truthfulness of his statement. Pulling weeds is but one aspect of what a gardener must perform. Respectfully, I wish some of my fellow "gardeners" could learn that lesson. To read from the pen of some of my brethren, you would think that weed pulling-- i.e., exposing false teachers and false teaching--is a preacher's sole responsibility; it is THE gospel. Virtually every issue of their bulletin or paper is devoted to "weed-pulling" and little--if anything--is written from the vantage point of optimism or encouragement. Please don't misunderstand here--left unchecked, the weeds of false doctrine can choke a congregation and MUST be pulled up (Titus 1:10-11; Romans 16:17, 18; 2 John 9-11; Matthew 7:16-18) in order to ensure the garden's growth (2 Peter 2:2; 3:18). However, a preacher-writer who devotes 98% of his energies to condemning wrong will never produce the kind of soul-harvest the Master husbandman requires (Hebrews 5:14). It is impossible to grow a garden by simply pulling up weeds. Yes, weeds can choke plants and rob the soil of important nutrients, but if the full range of garden tending efforts are neglected, the herbage will eventually wither and die. And if somehow it survives this imbalanced treatment, it will be incapable of yielding fruit (John 15:16; Romans 7:4). Where are the articles about the joy of Christian service? Where are the lessons about the blessings of our fellowship? Where are the sermons addressing the good things about the Lord's church? Where are the literary treaties on what is positive about the Christian life? Where are the essays concerning basic, Bible doctrine and how to be saved? (If a preacher isn't careful, he can prefer condemning to saving-- Jonah 3-4; Luke 15:25-32). The Bible says the "sum" (not some) of God's word is truth (Psalm 119:160 ASV). It is not a matter of "either or" brethren, but "both and." The sole purpose of teaching through the printed page and internet should not be merely to denounce and attack denominational error and or liberalism. This is to be but a part of the whole commission we are to fulfill (Matthew 28:20). Paul himself said that his gardening efforts involved a complete balance. "For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God" (Acts 20:27; cf. 2 Timothy 3:16). Those of us who preach through the printed media and internet might do well to heed the advice of one Christian educator of the past who challenged his young students to leaf through their Bibles and underline those passages which they seldom or never addressed and then preach on them. Note Paul's example, "...I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you..." (Acts 20:20). Joe Neal was right--good gardening requires a comprehensive approach. It's not just about pulling weeds. May God help us to keep this in mind as we declare the wonderful word of God. ---- Read this article online, write your reaction, and read others' comments as well. Click here: http://tinyurl.com/ck4py4 COLUMN: RESTORATION HISTORY Alexander Campbell (1) by Michael D "Mike" Greene "Upon these principles, my dear son, I fear you will wear many a ragged coat," said Thomas Campbell to his son Alexander. Of what principles was the father speaking? Alexander, having been in America only a short time, had just refused a salary of $1,000 a year to take charge of a school in Pittsburg. Alexander had read his father's Declaration and Address. He had determined to dedicate his life to the advancement of the principles contained therein and to take no monetary compensation for his labor. He further purposed to "divest himself of all earthly concerns, take up the Divine book and to make it the subject of his study for six months." Thomas' remarks expressed a father's concern for the well being of a son./1 But time would disprove Thomas Campbell's dire prediction of his son's future. Alexander Campbell was born September 12, 1788 in Antrim County, Ireland. He was the eldest child of Thomas and Jane Corneigle. Under the tutelage of his well educated father and uncles, he was raised in a home where he was exposed to the scriptures and the classics. His later education at Glasgow University provided him a level of education enjoyed by few, especially on the frontier of America, a nation itself barely three decades old when he arrived on her shores. Thomas Campbell had left his family in Ireland and migrated to America in 1807. Some months later, he sent for his family. A shipwreck which the family survived and a smallpox outbreak kept the family in Scotland until they were able to emigrate in 1809. It was during this time that Alexander Campbell was able to attend Glasgow University. In the 300 days he spent at the university, he was exposed to various reformation efforts led by such men as John Glas, Robert Sandeman, and James and Robert Haldane. A more intimate acquaintance was made with a man of reformation sympathies named Greville Ewing. In small meetings at Ewing’s home religious issues of the day were discussed. Changes that Ewing called for were weekly communion, exclusion of human creeds, congregational autonomy, plurality of elders in each church and others. Ewing also held the view that faith is based on testimony rather than being a gift from God./2 No doubt we see the influence of these men and others in Campbell’s later work including his writings, sermons, and debates. It was also during his time at Glasgow that his increasing knowledge of the Bible and exposure to reformatory ideas led him to break with the Presbyterian Church. His father's break was much more formal, involving letters and interaction with the presbytery and the synod. Alexander’s was the more sublime act of simply refusing communion. Thus the stage was set for that fateful meeting between Thomas and his family on the National Pike in Pennsylvania in October, 1809. It was shortly after that meeting that Alexander made his resolve to dedicate his life to the proclamation of God’s word and the principles contained in the Declaration and Address. When the Campbell's returned to Western Pennsylvania, they established the Washington Association as Thomas had proposed in the Declaration and Address. A church was established near the Brush Run Creek which flows near the farm later owned by Alexander. It had no denominational name. It was simply called the Brush Run Church. It was the only church to hold membership in the Washington Association. Alexander then begins his lifelong quest for truth. During 1810 he preached 106 sermons on the fundamental basis of Christianity. His faith in creeds, the clergy and Protestantism had been shaken. On July 15, 1810, Campbell declared the independency of the church of Christ. As with other pioneers of the Restoration Movement, Campbell had no idea of where his commitment to the principles he had pledged to preach would take him. But he never relinquished his desire for truth. In 1830 he wrote in the Millennial Harbinger; "Often I have said, and often I have written, that truth, truth eternal and divine, is now and long has been with me the pearl of great price. To her I will, with the blessing of God, sacrifice everything. But on no altar will I offer her a victim. If I have lost sight of her, God who searches the hearts knows I have not done it intentionally. With my whole heart I have sought the truth, and I know that I have found it [Italics in original, MG]."/3 By the time Alexander reached the age of 22 years, he and the Campbell family found themselves among that unnamed throng of immigrants who came to the shores of the new land known as America. Thomas came due to health concerns. Alexander and the others came to be re-united with their beloved Thomas. Some of that multitude of immigrants came to America seeking a better life and so carved out of the wilderness a thriving new nation. Others came seeking religious freedom and brought with them a mindset of independence in religion as well as politics. The Campbells found a ready home among them as they put down roots in soil much to their liking. But their consuming purpose was not a better life, although they found such. It was not simply freedom to exercise their religion, which they also found, but a quest for something on a higher plane. Theirs became a search for a purer form of Christianity. They sought a reformation that would go far beyond the trappings of Protestantism and Catholicism all the way back to the Bible. They sought a restoration of New Testament Christianity. Theirs became a "search for the ancient order of things." _______ 1/Richardson, Robert, Memoirs of Alexander Campbell, Vol. I, 1897, Reprinted by Religious Book Service, Indianapolis, IN., 274-75. 2/Foster, Douglas, A., Ed., The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement, 2004, Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI, 118. 3/ West, Earl Irvin, The Search for the Ancient Order, Vol. 1, 1974, Gospel Advocate, Co. Nashville, TN., 54. ---- Read this article online, write your reaction, and read others' comments as well. Click here: http://tinyurl.com/cdxgqv COLUMN: HANDS-ON FAITH The God Created Community by Barry Newton Thinking they had seen it all before, curious Israelites gathered to investigate an unusual sound. At the center of the commotion a group of men were speaking loudly and boldly. Certain individuals from the crowd suddenly became surprised as they recognized the wonders of God being proclaimed in languages from their own distant homelands. What did all of this mean? A man called Peter unraveled their bewilderment. In essence, he explained that God had been and was at work. Peter’s message revealed that what had interrupted their activities celebrating the first fruits of the spring harvest involved God pouring out his Spirit as God had foretold years earlier through his prophet Joel that he would do. But that was not all. God had also been at work through that man called Jesus who had been killed some fifty days earlier at Passover. Through miracles God had accredited Jesus. It was God’s plan that Jesus would die on the cross. But even more amazing, through king David, God had foretold about a millennium earlier that the day would come when he would raise this one from the dead to enthrone him. God had made Jesus to be Ruler and Messiah. God had created new possibilities for their lives. If they would reject evil to truly serve God and if they'd be baptized, their sins would be forgiven and they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. On that day those who responded to the message were baptized. And the first harvest made possible by Jesus' death and resurrection was gathered by the Lord into his newly formed community. In a world filled with cynicism about institutions, entrenched with human opinions regarding cause and effect and racked with fear over what will be, disciples would do well to remember who their Ruler is and to whose community they pertain. The agendas, creative thinking and cultural tastes of humanity did not create the church; God did. ---- Read this article online, write your reaction, and read others' comments as well. Click here: http://tinyurl.com/b83gbh You can help get the word out. Here's how: http://www.forthright.net/editorial/lend_a_hand.html