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The Cornerstone
This is the Stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the Chief Conerstone." Acts 4:11
Pulbished to Support the Work of the West End Church of Christ, Richmond, Virginia
Volume 9 * Number 24* June 17, 2007
Putting Away or Cleaving Together?
Marriages are a dime a dozen these days. If you don’t like the first one just try another until you find a keeper. Divorce has become a way of life here in the United States and divorce has affected most every family in recent years.
Moses because of the hardness of the Israelites hearts allowed them to put away their wives. “But from the beginning it was not so.” Matthew 19:8 God never intended for man to put away his wife “except it be for fornication” Matthew 19:9.
What I would like for us to notice in the text of Matthew 19 is the opposite directions being taken.
The Pharisees tempting Jesus said “Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?” verse 3.
Note Jesus’ reply “Have you not read, that he which made them at the beginning made the male and female, and said “For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and the twain shall be one flesh?” Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” Verses 4-6.
While the Pharisees’ were inquiring about putting away, Jesus was teaching on putting together and staying together. He answered the question by talking about cleaving together as husband and wife and not the pulling apart of a marriage. Men were thinking about putting away and God wanted man to know about the importance of putting husband and wife together and letting no man pull them apart. What a great truth from the mouth of Jesus.
Stacy Crim
You Expect Me to Believe That?
Phil Grear
Ø In the beginning there was nothing. And suddenly for no reason nothing exploded and created everything. You expect me to believe that?
Ø At some point, by chance the right chemicals happened to float together at just the right moment to be struck by an electrical charge and become life. You expect me to believe that?
Ø Somewhere two non-human mothers each gave birth to a human child. They were born at the same time and in the same place, one was male and one was female. These two new "humans" gave birth to the human race. You expect me to believe that?
Ø One of the descendants of these first humans was born with a knowledge of right and wrong. No longer driven by instinct, this person suddenly was making decisions based on a morality for which there is no real explanation. You expect me to believe that?
I'm sorry. I don't have that much blind faith. It's all just too farfetched to be anything more than a fairy tale. I can't believe intelligent people claim it is "science" (cf. I Timothy 6:20).
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1: 1). I can believe that without stretching my imagination into the realm of the impossible. The universe was created by an all-powerful, all-knowing God. That I can believe.
Taken from the Electronic Beacon
IMPROPER COMPARISONS
Joel Williams
Barney Colson was an elder for University City Church of Christ in Gainesville, Florida, for thirty-three years until his death in 1998. During World War II at the age of twenty-one, Barney Colson was a skipper of an amphibious ship in the South Pacific. His and three other ships had unloaded their cargo on an island near the end of the day. They backed away from the shore and dropped anchor as the sun was setting. An anchor watch was assigned to make sure the ships did not drift. Everyone else went to sleep. When morning light came, all four ships were within sight of one another but the island was no where to be seen.
During the night with the limited light available on the dark ocean, the watch had been able to discern the nearby ships. He did not think they were drifting, because the other boats were nearby all night long. What he did not realize was that all four ships had drug their anchors and were drifting together. They drifted over twenty miles, so that the island was completely out of sight over the horizon. By comparing themselves with one another instead of a fixed point such as the island, they were able to drift all night long while thinking they were securely anchored.
When we as humans compare ourselves with one another, we are likely to be deceived into thinking we are doing well. If we are at least average, we think we are making progress, even though we may be drifting away from the standard. If we compare ourselves to a reprobate, even the lukewarm person will be deceived with a smug self-satisfaction.
Paul warned against such comparisons: "We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another, and compare themselves with one another, they do not show good sense" (2 Cor. 10:12). If we are going to compare ourselves with others, we ought to pick the very best, the holiest, and the most devout persons we know. This will show us where we need to improve and grow. Best of all, we ought to compare ourselves with God and Christ. We ought to strive to be "perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Mt. 5:48; cf. 1 Pet. 1:15-16). Beware of improper comparisons with an inadequate standard.
6/10/07 Sycamore, Illinois &
THERE HAS TO BE A LINE
W. Frank Walton
"If anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules" (2 Timothy 2:5).
A football player takes the opening kickoff, starts down the middle of the field, cuts to the outside, and races down the sideline for what appears to be a touchdown. The home fans go wild. The players are jumping all over the scoring player.
However, back on the thirty-five yard line, a sharp-eyed official is pointing to the ground and telling his fellow officials that the ball carrier had stepped out of bounds. The touchdown is canceled, and the play starts back at the thirty-five. That one errant step out of bounds might be the difference winning and losing the football game. Yet, the rules must be followed or soon, without following the rules, playing football properly becomes impossible. A line has been drawn to mark what is in bounds and what is out of bounds. Without rules no one knows what is proper or improper, what is allowed and what is disallowed. Without going by a common set of ground rules, chaos breaks out and the game breaks down into anarchy.
In the church, we need to be reminded of a lesson here. God has spoken in Scripture. It has become the responsibility of every Christian to live within the guidelines of His Word. God does not permit a little deviation here, a little unfaithfulness there, a little immorality here. We cannot presume God has given us a self-determined margin of error beyond His Word. How can you assume God will tolerate your deviations from His revealed will? Why try to always run as close to the line as possible, assuming God will automatically forgive our "little deviations" or our little "misdemeanors" or little "white lies."
Why not learn the concept of wholehearted obedience and competing according to God's rules? In the OT, spiritual chaos ensued when "every man did what was right in his own eyes" (Judges 17:6). If we respect and love God, we will seek to do what is clearly right as laid down in God's complete guidelines of the NT. "But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does" (James 1:25).
Tucson, Arizona
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