What We Should Know

  

John 6:45 "It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.

From the time we are born, our lives are a learning process. It is an amazing thing to realize the amount of learning each of us accomplished in the first five or six years of our lives. Often in the Bible our spiritual lives are compared to our physical lives. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
¹³ For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.
¹⁴ But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (Hebrews 5:12-14) 1 Peter 2:2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby. So what are some of the spiritual things that we should have learned as we have grown spiritually?

There is only one way to salvation. Jesus in comparing himself to a door said, "I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. (John 10:9) Peter in preaching about salvation says of Christ, "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12) By following Jesus’ teaching and the examples of conversions found in the Book of Acts, we have that one way to salvation.

We must be honest about ourselves and our relationship to Christ. Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? --unless indeed you are disqualified. (2 Corinthians 13:5) Sometimes the hardest thing we have to learn in our spiritual life is self-examination. Can we look at the standards as put forth by God’s word and apply them to how we are living our lives? Are we willing to make those changes in our life styles that will keep us from being “disqualified”?

Just as we grow in our physical lives, we need to grow in our spiritual lives. We must gain knowledge of what is in the Bible. We must be producing the fruits of the spirit—love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)  We should be able to bear one another’s burdens and not grow weary in doing good. We should always try to be a good example to the people we have contact with, especially our families.

As we grow to old age in both our physical lives and our spiritual lives, we get closer to that time when  death shall end the knowledge we can accomplish. Then as we read in Daniel 12:2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt. You don’t want to have everlasting shame and contempt because you did not grow spiritual! Think about it!

Harold

THE GLORIOUS CHURCH

In Ephesians chapter 5, the church is compared to the relationship between the husband and wife and the husbands are told to “love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,
²⁶ that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,
²⁷ that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.” (Verses 25-27) It is Jesus plan to have a glorious church without spot or wrinkle. What are some of the things that we do that might detract from the church’s glory?

Indifference—Revelations 3:16 "So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.” Have we become complacent in our worship and our work in the Lord’s kingdom? Is it just something we feel we have to do on Sunday? Have we lost that zeal to please God in all we do? Have we become indifferent of how the church is viewed by others?

Worldliness—1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
¹⁶ For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world.
¹⁷ And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” Do we think more of the pleasures we think are in this world than living the Christian life? Can our acquaintances see in us a difference in how we live our lives?

Division—1 Corinthians 12:25 that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. Are we unhappy when we do not get our way about something and try to cause division? Are we looking out for the common good of the congregation rather than the way we want things to go? Do we pick sides and go with what one person wants all the time?

Irreverence in worship—1 Corinthians 11:20-22 Therefore when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper.
²¹ For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk.
²² What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you. We need to realize the purpose for which we assemble. The primary reason is to worship God. We do this by showing respect and honor to Him by our actions and our attitude.

Irregularity—Hebrews 10:25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. What does it show about our commitment to Christ in the faithfulness we show in our attendance to all the services of the church? If we had the same level of attendance at our jobs or school, would we be praised or criticized?

Are we contributing to the church so that it will be a “glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle” or by our lack of contributing will it not be acceptable to God? Think about it!

Harold