THE TRENTON BULLETIN

THE TRENTON BULLETIN

Trenton Church of Christ, Trenton, Florida

I would have loved to have seen the Garden of Eden. When God plants a garden, it has to be something awesome. I've seen some pretty good gardens cultivated by men and women, but I'm sure they could not compare with Eden. But because man messed up, Eden no longer exists.

God still has a garden, though. Paul said that the Corinthian church was God's husbandry (1 Corinthians 3:9). The footnote says, "tilled land." The Simple English translation says, "God's farm." Interesting, isn't it, that God's people would be compared to a farm?

Jesus made a similar comparison in the parable of the sower. Different kinds of soil represented different kinds of hearts in the reception of the seed, the word of God (Luke 8:11). The Corinthian brethren would be those with good and honest hearts who received the message as preached by Paul and had become a part of Christ's body, his building, his farm. God was still working with the Corinthians, as a farmer would continue to work long after the seed had been sown and the plant coming on. It is not enough for the seed to germinate in our hearts; fruit has to be borne and a harvest to take place.

It's amazing how that even good soil can be a pain to work with. There are the bugs, nematodes, weeds, bad weather, etc., that can make fruit bearing a challenge even for the best of soils. The farmer, or gardener, is challenged to keep up with all the adversaries and it is no small task. It is one of the reasons I gave up on having a vegetable garden - - too much work for too little return. I'm leaving that up to the professionals and gladly pay for the fresh fruits and vegetables that come from people who know what they are doing and don't mind doing it.

Gail and I have been doing some landscaping lately in the back yard. I think it's called the back yard because it puts your back out of whack. I don't mind hard work, I'm just not used to it! What we've put in will require on-going attention and work. Weeds will have to be pulled, the plants will need watering and fertilizing. But the reward should be great. We've even found ourselves glancing at patio furniture in the stores.

But back to the point. God was working through men like Paul and Apollo to continue to "work the land." While Paul was the first to plant the seed at Corinth, Apollos continued the work of preaching to nourish the new growth (1 Corinthians 3:6). While the farm belonged to God, and all the glory would be His, it was men who would work the field - fellow workers with God (1 Corinthians 3:9).

In God's garden, the church, there is a lot of work that needs to be done. There are weeds and thorns to pull. These represent the cares and affairs of this like and bad habits that need to be gotten rid of. Christians need to hear and heed sermons on worldliness -- this "worldness" -- that reminds them that there is a better world awaiting us. We don't need to invest all our time and energy in the things of this life. It's okay to make a living, but our life is preparing for our true home. When we let what's down here choke out our vision of what's up there, we've lost our bearings.

We have to do some serious weeding. Let weeds represent the sinful attitudes that invade God's garden. These must be pulled out by the root so they won't keep coming back. Weeds keep us from being as fruitful and productive as we need to be. Sins allowed to grow and flourish can eventually sap our strength.

God's farm needs to be fed and watered. Christians have to have a steady diet of the "water of life." Studying had hearing the word of God gives the nourishment so desperately needed. You can become a shriveled up plant by ignoring your spiritual needs. If some folks ate no more physical food than they do spiritual food, they would be dried up and die.

Occasionally, God's garden may have to be thinned out. God doesn't want weak and spindly plants removed, but that they be nourished and encouraged. But diseased plants have to be removed for their good and for the good of the rest of the garden. In God's garden in Corinth, there was a brother who was involved in gross immorality.. He had to be removed from their fellowship in hopes of saving his soul to keep the rest of the church from falling into sin. Paul exhorts: "Know ye not that a little leaven leaventh the whole lump? Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump. Put away that wicked man from among yourselves." (1 Corinthians 5:6,7,13)

The evidence is that the Corinthians followed through with this "thinning out" process and the result was as hoped. The brother repented and it was urged that he be forgiven and restored to his place in the garden (2 Corinthians 2:5-11). When God's plan for the church is followed in every detail, nothing but good will come. Even if a soul is not rescued from perdition, at least the purity of the church is assured. Anyone who has even the slightest interest in the things of God would not want to see the church become a "weed patch" or a garbage dump.

Just as Corinth was, we are God's farm. God is still working the ground, working with us, patiently waiting see the fruit that we will bear. Let us do all we can to make ourselves a beautiful Eden-like garden. Let us get the weeds and thorns out of our own lives and encourage others to do the same. Let us work at making our garden a pleasant and joyful place for others and for our Lord who died giving us life.

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out (Romans 11:33). God owes nothing — to anyone — anytime — anywhere! He is God and is beholding to none of His creation.

No less than eighteen times in the King James version of the book of Exodus did God want His creatures — Israelite and Egyptian alike — to know, I am the LORD. As God was dealing with Moses in getting him to go down to Egypt to liberate the Hebrews, God reminded Moses of just who he was dealing with. As Moses went into Egypt with his brother Aaron, God wanted both captor and captive to know, I am the LORD.

God did not seek permission of the Pharaoh of Egypt to bring about the plagues upon that nation. He is sovereign and answers to no one. The Bible record makes quite clear that Jehovah God can humiliate even the most powerful emperor upon the face of the earth. He did so time and time again. Consider the Egyptian Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king.

The Pharaoh of Egypt brought upon himself and his nation ten plagues. In each case, God demonstrated His undeniable power in bringing horrendous circumstances upon the human population in Egypt. We need to also understand that innocent people suffered because of the hardheartedness of one man. Notice the ten plagues (Exodus 7-11): (1) Water turned to blood; (2) Frogs; (3) Lice; (4) Flies; (5) Diseased livestock; (6) Boils on man and beast; (7) Hail; (8) Locusts; (9) Thick darkness; (10) Death of the firstborn. Nebuchadnezzar was “driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws” (Daniel 4:33). Nebuchadnezzar suffered such a fate in order that he would “know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will” (Daniel 4:32).

God is omnipotent, i.e., He has all power. Hebrews 4:13 says, “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” In the two instances cited above, God demonstrated that He has power to carry out His word. No mortal can deal secretly with any other mortal in any way and escape God’s notice. God has ways of exposing that which we think is in secret. One of the things he told Moses to tell the Israelites was, “be sure your sins will find you out” (Numbers 32:23).

King David had all the security he needed to protect the palace in which he dwelt as well as the nation of Israel. The security he did not have was to keep his heart from doing evil. Just for a small window of time, David allowed Satan to have his way with him as he lusted after Bathsheba. David heaped misery upon misery in an effort to cover his adultery with Bathsheba. Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, became the object of David’s plots.

At last, God’s prophet Nathan made David keenly aware that his actions had not escaped God’s notice. Through Nathan God said, “Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.' Thus says the Lord: 'Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.” And not only that, but the child born to the adulterous union of David and Bathsheba died to add even more anguish to the misery of David and Bathsheba. Even though it was God’s decree that the child would die, still David fasted and prayed in hopes that God would change His mind. David said, "While the child was alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, 'Who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?' But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." (2 Samuel 12:22-23).

After all, Moses was able to change God’s mind through prayer. God had determined to destroy the Israelites. His plan was to take Moses and raise a new nation of people to serve Him. Israel was preserved as a result of Moses’ pleading (Exodus 32:7-14).

David did plead with God to save the baby boy but God carried out the sentence as pronounced. Only then, did David accept the finality of the loss and go forward with his life. By reading Psalm 51 one can see the great anguish and suffering David heaped upon himself as a result of his sin.

There is another instance where the king of the city of Nineveh did not accept the sentence of God until the last pawn in the game was moved. God had pronounced a sentence of destruction against the Assyrian capitol city of Nineveh. God tapped Jonah to go there and preach a message of deliverance. Remember that Jonah took an unplanned underwater detour in getting to Nineveh but ultimately did go and preach repentance to the citizens of the city. God gave them forty days to make a u-turn; otherwise Nineveh would be history. Jonah went into the great city of Nineveh preaching the message from God. The king issued this decree: “Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish” (Jonah 3:7-9). This Assyrian king, like Moses and David, apparently knew of the sovereignty of God. God’s mind and intention can be changed. Unlike the situation with David, however, God did change His mind with this great city because there was a wholesale turning from wickedness. Jonah 3:10 says, “Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.”

“For the Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness; His countenance beholds the upright” (Psalm 11:7). Even in our personal lives, a resolution to live righteously gives God reason to change His plan for chastisement. After all, chastisement is for the purpose of changing behavior. And if, as a result of His chastening, we learn to refrain from evil and do righteousness, His discipline has accomplished its purpose (cf. Hebrews 12:4-13).

The Set Of Our Sails

(Ella Wheeler Wilcox)

One ship drives east and another west,

With the self-same winds that blow;

Tis the set of the sails and not the gales

That determines where they go.

Like the winds of the sea are the ways

Of fate, as we voyage along through life;

Tis the set of a soul that decides its goal

And not the calm or the strife.

§ I never behold them (the heavens filled with stars) that I do not feel I am looking in the face of God. I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist - but I cannot conceive how he could look up into the heavens and say, “There is no God." (Abraham Lincoln)

§ If you cannot understand the gospel, you cannot obey the gospel. If you do not obey the gospel, you will be lost. (Frank Andrews)