Consistency…IN GOD:
David Himes
I have heard it said that in the Old Testament that God was a "vengeful" God, but that today we have a "loving" God. I suppose that this is said because in the Old Testament, God was always punishing the Israelites for doing wrong and so many people were killed. The writers in the New Testament describe God as a "loving" God who gave up his Son to die on the cross so that we might live. Does this inconsistent description of God bother you like it bothers me?
Has God changed? Has God come up with a new plan for us? Of course not. We have a consistent God, a God that has had a redemption plan for us since Adam and Eve. He has not deviated from that plan.
Our God is a loving God, but cannot tolerate sin of any nature. As it is stated in the Bible, the Old Testament was written for our learning. What is it that we can learn? First of all we can learn that God is all-powerful. Also, God will punish those that sin. We can learn the God will take care of his chosen people. We can learn that God has a plan, through Jesus Christ, to return us to a sinless state where we can live as Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Heaven).
God has shown us his vengeful nature, by showing his intolerance toward sin. He is capable of destroying the world, our possessions, everything that we hold precious. He is capable of destroying not only us, but also our soul. He has no reservations in removing the evil from this world. God will have His way.
In the creation of the Tabernacle, God told the Israelites how to worship Him. In the giving of the law (of Moses) and the Ten Commandments, God told the people how to live. It is interesting to realize that none of the principles given the Ten Commandments have changed today. And even if we do not keep the Sabbath day holy, we do set aside a day (the first day of the week) to worship Him. Jesus did not come to change the law. He did not come to establish new commandments. Jesus did come to correct the laws that man had perverted. The rules are consistent.
Although God established priesthood, and a method of removing sins through sacrifices that differ from what is required today, the concepts are still valid. Jesus is our priest today; He is our mediator to God. He is also our sacrifice for our sins. We can only understand and appreciate these concepts because of the actions of the Israelites in the Old Testament.
We can learn that the consistency of God includes the caring and love that God has shown toward the faithful. As God protected the remnant during the Babylonian captivity, and the Christians during the persecution of the early Church, God will protect the faithful today.
…IN THE CHURCH:
I heard once a fellow worker describe the Church of Christ as part of the "Restoration" movement. Not knowing of his background, I asked him what he meant by that. He stated that Church was ‘formed’ by Christ, ‘modified’ by man, ‘re-formed’ by intellectuals, and ‘re-stored’ by bible scholars. Thinking back on this as I prepared this lesson, I understood how the inconsistency in the Church could be brought about.
In restoring the church of the New Testament, we would not seek to be like the church at Corinth, Jerusalem, or Laodicea. Every congregation then as now was made up of human materials. While the design and blueprint of Christianity was conceived in heaven, the disciples that constitute a congregation are always human, and prone to sin (Rom 3:23). As a consequence, every congregation reflects that human weakness in imperfection. Some are good but others are average or poor. But the ideal is set forth in the divine plan and every Christian in every age should strive to measure up to it. If we dedicate ourselves to following the Bible in all matters of faith and practice, then we will be the same kind of Christians as were the apostles.
Surely, as God is consistent, the Church must be consistent. After all, the Church is the Bride of Christ and Christ is God. To have an inconsistent Church is to have an inconsistent God.
In Ezekiel Chapter 8, Ezekiel describes the detestable things that man had done to the temple. In Chapter 10, Ezekiel describes a scene where God departs from the temple because of the idolatry taking place in His Holy Place. A place of God is to be Holy.
In Mark 11, Jesus clears the Temple of the moneychangers. He quotes Isaiah 56-7; "My House will be called a house of prayer."
Do I expect that man will change? No. I believe that man will continue to sin. He will curse God. He will continue to displease God until one day, as describe in the book of Revelation, God will say that is enough! God will then cleanse the world and bring the righteous to Heaven and send the unrighteous to Hell.
We must protect against the Church becoming corrupt. We must remain Godly in our beliefs and in our actions. We need to be confident in who and what is taught here. We must fight against being influenced by the world and religious organizations that believe that they can alter God’s commandments and teach "modern" concepts. We must remain consistent with God’s will.
I have heard is said many times that the first century Christians wrote to a different culture of people. It has been said that we live in a different society today - a society where women have a major role in the world. Women are accepted as a man’s equal. The rules that applied in the first century do not apply now. After all the plan of redemption has not changed, even if women could preach and lead songs during worship.
These are strong arguments for change. But I am convinced that God knew what he had started 8000 years ago. God established in the Garden of Eden the original structure for men and women to follow. It was maintained through Moses, the judges, and the prophets. When Jesus came, he did not change the relationship between God and man or between man and woman. If today’s society is different, who changed it? – Man did! Who is to say that it is better? Can it be better if it is different from God’s will? – No! Where is the consistency?
I do not plan to stand before you and criticize any religious organization, but I would like to point out a couple of examples that should show how the "re-formed" Church can be.
I don’t know how many of you remember Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant. It is enough to say that he was an Alabama football coach that was extremely successful in the 60’s. He was so successful that stories of him arose that put him in the same category as Jesus Christ. In fact, there were pictures of him circulating that showed him walking on water. About 2 weeks after coach Bryant invested a considerable amount of money in a meat packing company, the Catholic Church announced that it was OK to eat meat on Fridays. While most of Alabamians were discussing the influence of the "Bear" on the Pope (which he didn’t), I was fascinated by the concept that the Catholic Church could just change their rules. I wondered about all the sinners who were going to Hell because they ate meat on Fridays. Was there going to be an announcement in Hell to the effect:
ALL PERSONS WHO ARE HERE BECAUSE THEY ATE MEAT ON FRIDAYS ARE HEREBY RELEASED AND MAY PROCEED ON TO HEAVEN. SORRY FOR ANY HARDSHIPS THAT YOU MAY HAVE ENDURED!
I think also of some denominations that allow Gay persons to be ministers. The Bible clear states that homosexuality is sinful. Members of the early Church were warned not to even associate with such people. How can one honestly say that such person can lead you to salvation? To lead others to Christ, we need to be an example of Christ.
1 Cor 11:1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. (NIV)
1 Tim 4:12 Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. (NIV)
Can we be this Christian example if we cannot control our sexual urges?
It is not within the power of the church to make laws or by-laws, to amend or change, to add to, or subtract from the revealed will of God. The church of our Lord is an absolute monarchy with Christ as King of kings, and Lord of lords. All power is vested in Christ the head of the church, and all authority is his both in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18-19).
Remember, it was our Lord who said, "In vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Matt. 15:9).
God through His inspired writers has told us what to do today. They have captured the teachings of Moses and the Prophets as well as Jesus and the Apostles. By studying both the Old and the New Testaments, we can see the plan for redemption. It is all neatly woven together. By studying the Bible and how it unfolds, we can see the beginning, the middle, and the end.
…IN THE CHRISTIAN:
I am reminded of a Biblical story of King Saul.
1 Sam 15:1-25
Samuel said to Saul, "I am the one the LORD sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the LORD. This is what the LORD Almighty says: `I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.'"
So Saul summoned the men and mustered them at Telaim-- two hundred thousand foot-soldiers and ten thousand men from Judah. Saul went to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the ravine. Then he said to the Kenites, "Go away, leave the Amalekites so that I do not destroy you along with them; for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt." So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites.
Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, to the east of Egypt. He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs-- everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.
Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel: "I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions." Samuel was troubled, and he cried out to the LORD all that night.
Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, "Saul has gone to Carmel. Here he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal." When Samuel reached him, Saul said, "The LORD bless you! I have carried out the LORD's instructions."
But Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?"
Saul answered, "The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but we totally destroyed the rest."
"Stop!" Samuel said to Saul. "Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night."
"Tell me," Saul replied.
Samuel said, Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel. And he sent you on a mission, saying, `Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; make war on them until you have wiped them out.'
Why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the LORD?"
"But I did obey the LORD," Saul said. "I went on the mission the LORD assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal."
But Samuel replied: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king."
Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned. I violated the LORD's command and your instructions. I was afraid of the people and so I gave in to them. Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD."
God demanded obedience from Saul. Does He expect anything else from us? We can explain away our sinful actions. We can blame others, but God knows the truth even if we don’t accept it. Saul had every reason for not doing what was right, but he was wrong. We can explain why the things we do are all right, but they are not. The commandments of God are consistent. How I wish we were.
We can see in the Bible how man walked with God, was tempted and sinned. How man was removed from association with God and see how man was punished. We see the struggle of man to return to a close relationship with God. We see how man turned back to God only to fall again. We see this time and again. We see how Jesus came to stir up man, to return not to the God’s law as men perverted it, but to the way God intended the law to be obeyed. We see how man accepts Jesus, and how man murdered Him. We see the rise of the infant Church. Then as consistent as man can be, we see how man begins to change the teaching of the Church and how discipline had to be established in the Church. We see how overseers (Elders) were established to promote a consistent pattern of worship and organization.
The God of Adam and of Abraham and of Paul is the God of today. He was our father’s God, He is our God, and He will be the God of our children. God was intolerant of sin. God is intolerant of sin and God will be intolerant of sin. Jesus was in the beginning, He is today, and He will be forever.
Do you know what is expected of you? Is God consistent in what He expects of us? Do you think God expects more (or less) from you than any character in the Old or New Testaments? Does God expect more (or less) from you than Moses or the prophets? Does God expect more (or less) from you than Peter, Paul, Timothy, or John? God has always wanted His people to live a life without sin, and a life that is respectful of others. God has always wanted us to realize that He is in control, not only in this world, but also in the under-world of demons and evil. God expected the early Christians to love one another. He expects the same of you and me. He expects us to share the Good News with others, as did the apostles. He expects us to respect our elders. He expects us to take care of our widows and our neighbors. God is consistent in what He expects of us.
It is in man’s nature to sin. God despises sin. Does this mean that God despises and rejects us? Not at all! Jesus has paid the price of our salvation. All we must do is accept it. We accept it by being baptized into Christ. We must allow the Holy Spirit to enter into us. We must allow the Holy Spirit to work within us in combating evil in our lives. We must acknowledge that God is what important in our lives. We must confess our sins and strive to do better. But we cannot do this by ourselves; we must ask God for help in overcoming sin.
As a part of the Church, we stand ready to help you in anyway possible. If you are ready to make that decision to accept Christ as our savior, we are ready to assist you. If you need our prayers on your behalf, we are ready to do so. If you are willing to learn more about God, Jesus, and the Church, we are ready to study with you. Please come as we sing the song of invitation.
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