THE TRENTON BULLETIN

THE TRENTON BULLETIN

Trenton Church of Christ, Trenton, Florida

Election Day has passed and the nation has elected a new president. Every four years our country is subjected to the grueling process of selecting a candidate to fill the job of President. He now takes the reign of leadership for this country. A great deal of people will be disappointed in the selection; more will be pleased. Save the coming of the Lord the sun will rise upon a new day and life will go on. Life is funny that way. When the year 2000 herald the coming of a new millennium people thought the world was going to come to an end. During this political year many believed that with the election of the president the country would disintegrate into a whirlpool of chaos. Life goes on.

After the flood the Lord proclaimed, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22). The circle of life goes on regardless of the political, economic or social upheavals of our time. This election will change the country as much as any election. At the days end man still has the same needs. The view one has of the President, his view of himself and his view of God will determine what life will be like.

Peter commanded through the Holy Spirit to “fear God and honor the king” (1 Peter 2:17). Rome did not have elections like we do so the king under consideration (probably Nero) was not the most wholesome person to have in power. However because governmental authority is established by God (Romans 13) then we have an obligation to be subject to the king; or President as in our case. The wise man wrote, “Fear the Lord and the king” (Proverbs 24:21).

Peter wrote in the context the manner of life of the Christian should be a model for others to follow. “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. Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men—as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God” (1 Peter 2:11-16).

Whether we like the one elected President or not we are to be subject to them. People of God do not revile and bring accusation against those in authority (2 Peter 2:10,11; Romans 13:1-7). “Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor” (Romans 13:7). Jesus taught the same lesson in Matthew 22:21.

The election of a President does not change our obligation to serve the true and living God. Peter proclaimed this truth in Acts 5:29 – “We ought to obey God rather than men.” We are to offer up “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior” (1 Timothy 2:1-3). This is what is important in life. Welcome, Mr. President. All our prayers are with you. God bless America.

“I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15).

When Jesus prayed for His apostles, He prayed that they might have the help they needed to survive the attacks of the evil one. Christianity was never meant to be a detour around the world -- instead it is a particular path through the world, the only one that finally turns out to be safe. So Jesus prayed that while His apostles lived "in the world" (John 17:11) they might not be "of the world" (John 17:14). Would He not pray the same for us? Since the world is the environment in which we must live, there is nothing much we can do about that. However, we must do what we can do, and that is to reject the spiritual values of the world. We can refuse to give these principles any place in our hearts. As an old sailor would say, a ship's place is in the sea, but if the sea gets into the ship then there is serious trouble.

Devotion to God does not mean that we dispense with any regard for the world that God has created. The more reverent our regard for God, the higher will be the quality of our connection to the world. "Far from turning us away from the world, Christ directs us to it. He awakens within us an altogether new concern for it" (Paul Tournier). As we live in the world without being of the world, we will look more respectfully upon all things that God has made, even upon those that have been broken and marred by sin. Like our Lord Himself, we will be moved by compassion to enter the world on our own missions of mercy.

Let us also remember that "sanctification" does not require secluding ourselves in private, though it would surely be a good idea for us to do that more often nowadays. To be sanctified, or "set apart," does not mean physical separation as much as it means moral separation. Even more than that, it means separation from any use of ourselves other than the Lord's use. To be His people, we must be distinct from the world, but it is in the world, after all, that the Lord intends to make use of His people.

“Consecration is not wrapping one's self in a holy web in the sanctuary and then coming forth after prayer and twilight meditation and saying, ‘There, I am consecrated.’ Consecration is going out into the world where God Almighty is and using every power for His glory. It is taking all advantages as trust funds” (Henry Ward Beecher).

What is your attitude toward the lost; toward those separated from God because of their sin? As Christians, we are in hot pursuit of righteousness (2 Timothy 2:22); we "abhor what is evil" and "cling to what is good" (Romans 12:9). Our attitude toward sin is that we "hate every false way," no matter what form it takes (Psalm 119:104). And to be quite honest, this approach to sin--which, frankly, is the right approach--sometimes affects the way we feel about those engrossed in sin. We get to where we not only despise the sin, but we also despise the sinner.

This clearly was the attitude of the self-righteous Jew in Jesus' day. The Pharisees were particularly bad about trusting "in themselves that they were righteous," while they "despised others" (Luke 18:9). You can almost hear the contempt in their voices as they referred to certain "types" as "tax-gatherers and sinners" (Luke 15:1-2; cf. 7:39).

Is that the way we see sinners? Oh, we may not be self-righteous like the hypocritical Pharisees, but do we sometimes look down our noses at those who are drowning is sin? Hopefully not! But what should our attitude be toward the lost?

As with almost everything for the Christian, the answer lies in the example of our Lord... am so amazed at the attitude Jesus manifested toward those who were lost. On at least two different occasions, Jesus looked out over a multitude of lost people and yet He did not see them as rebellious, vile sinners, deserving of eternal damnation. That certainly may have been what they really were, but that definitely is not the way Jesus saw them! Instead, the text says that, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd" (Matthew 9:36; cf. Mark 6:34). He saw them, not as despicable sinners who were getting their "just deserts," but as people weighed down with the heavy burden of sin; as folks who were beat up and scared; as frightened sheep without direction – lost - hopelessly lost.

Now that is the way you and I ought to see sinners! We ought to feel compassion for them and be sympathetic toward their condition because, after all, we too are sinners! Forgiven, yes, but sinners, none-the-less. And that compassion ought to move us to respond to them in exactly the same way Jesus did. He didn't back away from them in disgust or turn from them apathetically. Instead, "He began to teach them many things" (Mark 6:34).

Man, how impressive is that! No scolding! No saying, "I told you so!" No beating them down further when they were already as low as it gets. Just teaching giving them what they needed to lift them up out of their distress and out of their lost and undone condition. Folks, when you and I begin to see sinners the way Jesus did, maybe then we too will begin to teach. Maybe then, we too will hunger for lost souls and make diligent efforts to spread the message of salvation.

It is for this very reason that you and I need to adopt the same attitude that Jesus had toward sinners--not just because it's the right way to think--but also because it is the attitude that will help motivate us to greater evangelistic efforts (Matthew 28:18-20). And after all, isn't that why Jesus came to earth in the first place--"to seek and to save that which was lost" (cf. Luke 19:10)? You know it is! And thank God He did, for without that attitude without His kind compassion and loving care we would all still be lost - hopelessly lost!

"And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: if this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah." (1 Kings 12:26,27)

Whether or not Jeroboam's fears were well founded is uncertain. However, of one thing we can be sure. He was more concerned about the people's loyalty to him than to God. To accomplish his aims, he shrewdly baits his trap with something that entices most all men — the lure of the easy way. He told them, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem." Little did it matter, apparently, that he gave them idols, pretended priests and pagan worship. The important thing was that he provided them with an easy religion — and that overshadowed all else. They became victims of the easy way.

Many are the mortals who have succumbed to the lure of the easy way, both spiritually and otherwise. Our advertising agencies have learned the devil's sales pitch well. They tell you how to lose weight — the easy way. They offer easy ways to quit smoking, to achieve physical fitness or financial independence. People haven't changed much since Jeroboam's day. They still fall for the same old bait, "the easy way"; and in doing so have filled the prisons, swelled the welfare rolls and lengthened unemployment lines (Not to mention the irretrievable waste of time, talent and potential).

And, as in Jeroboam's day, the easy way is still a popular way in religion. The prospects of having to "go up to Jerusalem" (or even across town) is still too much for too many. They would take the denying self out of following Christ; the giving diligence out of seeking approval; and the striving out of entering in at the strait gate. Such would have the benefits without the bother. As Jesus says of others, "They have their reward."

As might be expected, even the Lord's church has been touched by the lure of the easy way. It is felt in our teaching program when preachers and teachers find it "too much" to make adequate preparation of their lessons and when Bible class students find it "too much" to study and prepare assigned work. It affects our visitation program when members find it "too much" to leave their comfortable homes and TV programs to call on the sick or unfaithful. It affects our personal evangelism program when brethren think it "too much" to try and teach others the way of salvation. It affects the purity of the church when we think it "too much" to finally discipline the unruly among us. Of all things that contribute to the weakening of the church, none is more influential than taking the easy way.

The narrow way can never be the easy way. Not only are the ways different, they lead to different destinations (Matthew 7:14). "Going up to Jerusalem" may require self-denial, sacrifice and hard work but it's the way of the cross — and that leads home.

A missionary in Jamaica was once questioning some little boys on the meaning of Matthew 5:5 – “Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth” - and asked, "Who are the meek?" A boy answered, "Those who give soft answers to rough questions."

We shall do well to remember this child's definition. The one who has wisdom in his head and heart does not need to shout at others. Wisdom speaks softly and persuasively, instead of impelling and forcing. Through the use of our tongues people will know whether we are wise or not.

As that great theologian, Charles Hodge, said, "The doctrines of grace humble a man without degrading him and exalt him without inflating him."

· The rod and rebuke give wisdom, but a boy sent off causes shame to his mother.

· When the wicked are multiplied, sin increases; but the righteous shall see their fall.

· Correct your son, and he shall give you rest; yea, he shall give delight to your soul.

· Where there is no vision, the people perish; but he who keeps the law, he is blessed.

· A servant will not be corrected by words, for though he understands, he will not answer.