Can We Be Content?

Could God's statement, "Godliness with contentment is great gain," have been written for our day and  time? If there has ever been a statement of principle that runs counter to the world's philosophy today, this is it. In our dog eat dog culture the secret to the success many advocate seems to be an unholy discontent. The way to get ahead is by hook or crook. Anything goes as long as it advances one's drive to gain power, popularity and material prosperity.  

In our no holds barred culture, the end does often seem to always justify the means. The rungs of the ladder to the top are comprised of the backs of the less ambitious and less ruthless. Honesty and fair dealing are qualities to be sneered at and pitied in those weaklings who stumble along in an un-enlightened world of principle and integrity.  It seems that success has been defined in the terms of materialism. That the more things a person accumulates the more contentment and happiness will bless his days. Excessive acquisition seems to be the name of the game. Success has somehow become synonymous with selfishness and is symbolized by covetousness. slogans such as "He who dies with the most toys wins." These seem to epitomize the foundation principles of such a culture. All this in spite of the fact that everyone knows that even the richest and most opulent fortunes are left behind when man meets his Maker in judgment. No one takes such seeming success to the scene that's seen beyond the shedding of the shell of this mortal vale. How much does he leave? He leaves it all. After all, have you ever seen a hearse pulling a trailer?  

Could it be that our culture's redefinition of success and the basis of real contentment is a prime factor in the overwhelming increase of moral pollution and social ills we see all around us? Could it be that the tremendous increase of such indicators of .discontent as the so-called sex revolution, drug culture and the terrible youth suicide rate, can be attributed to a great degree to the false concept that contentment can only be found in fleeting popularity and material prosperity?  The greatest challenge in the Christian's life today is to live in opposition to this philosophy. To reject the crass materialism that underlies it. To simply live in Godly contentment. To live in the light of the selfless cross rather than the shadow of the selfish floss and froth of our materialistic world today. To be able to say with Paul, "I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."  

Dr. Paul Goodwin in his monograph, "Learning To Be Content," had this to say: "Paul writes of the best of all states, the state of contentment.... He had learned a heart lesson at the feet of Jesus and in the school of experience. Contentment is not found in a place or circumstance nor in a change of places or circumstances. Contentment is of the spirit. It comes from within and not from without. A contented spirit is like a watch which is moved up and down and around but is not disturbed on the inside. Rather it keeps on telling the correct time.”  

The Christian can expect change. We live in a changing world, but we should not live under the changing circumstances. The word translated "content" means to be master of the situation, to be victor, conqueror of the circumstances. Paul lived contentedly in changing and contrasting circumstances. Contentment is one of life's greatest victories. Contentment is not a natural disposition. Paul stated he learned to be content. To be content requires effort and much discipline on the part of the one who wills to be content. We can learn a lesson from nature. Weeds, sometimes undesirable, will grow without cultivation, but flowers require cultivation. Contentment is worth cultivating. One does not get up some morning with a superb education. An education requires effort, intense application and concentration. Likewise, contentment does not suddenly appear in a mysterious and magical way. One does not go to bed complaining and wake up the next morning in a holy state of contentment. Paul learned to be content by working on his discontent. If we are ever to be content, we too will learn to be content.   

Pastor John White

Change For The Sake Of Change?

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the rapid and ceaseless change going on around you? Does all the new technology constantly bombarding our senses and demanding our attention, ever seem just too much for your comprehension or coping capacity? Does the contemporary emphasis upon the necessity of those who wish to be with it to be hooked up and tuned in, sometimes leave you bewildered and bemused? After all, it seems if you are not on-line and surfing, you are missing the main thing in life these days! To those of us whose lives have spanned the eras of the invention and development of most of the major modern technologies taken for granted by their grandchildren, it can all be more than a bit confusing.  But is change for the sake of change necessarily a good thing? Have all the gadgets and gizmos spelled success and happiness for members of modern day communities? 

As we see the cracking of the moral foundations of our society, the functional breakdown of our traditional institutions and the tearing apart of the very fabric of our culture, we are made to wonder if the much heralded blessings of change have become curses instead.  Many recognize that in the midst of the changes designed to attract the attention and procure the patronage of a materialistic consumer society, it is necessary to test, try and prove new products and procedures to determine if they are really beneficial or worthwhile. This is true simply in the sense of getting value for money. If we are going to spend hard-earned money we do not wish to squander it on inferior products of little reputation or worth. For this reason, many of us usually go for the tried and true, especially after we have suffered a few so-called bargains.  If we are to be cautious about change in our secular life, we should be doubly cautious in spiritual matters. 

In our Christian endeavors we are also surrounded today by what many of us feel is change just for the sake of change. It is not just new methodology we must examine to determine it's efficiency, effectiveness and efficacy, but organizations and movements, obviously based upon principles of compromise, are vying for the attention and support of those who once were known as fundamental, Bible-believing Christians.  I tend to want to stick to the tried and true, especially in matters of eternal significance. As the old saying goes, "Give me that old time religion." If it was good enough for Paul and Silas and our forefathers in the faith, it is good enough for me. If I am going to spend my time and energy contending for a faith, I want it to be the faith of our fathers as it was once delivered to the saints. If I am going to pay the price of real committal, I want to purchase the approval of God, not the praise of men. If I going to preach a gospel, I want to ensure I only proclaim the powerful gospel of Christ.  As we examine this proliferation of what might be termed bargain basement type religions, and listen to the extravagant claims that press in upon us from all sides, we must make a maximum effort to examine the scriptural compatibility of their claims and the Biblical basis of their boastings. But how are we to know? In what crucible can we analyze them? In what test tube can we test them? 

In considering the myriad of claims being made today, just exactly what tests will assure us we have the right stuff?  Just one test will suffice. The very Word of God is the only sufficient rod, rule and measure of faith and practice. Only the sharp and powerful Sword of the Spirit has the capacity to dissect and analyze every claim and counter-claim and ascertain scriptural validity. Our standard must always be the grand old Book of the grand old faith.  When Paul tells young Timothy to rightly divide the Word of truth, he uses an expression that implies the need for exhaustive testing and analysis. An analysis based upon the principle of let God be true and every man a liar. It should be thus saith the Lord before we even entertain it. 

When Paul spoke to the Galatians about the determination of the validity of the gospel, he emphasized that neither he, men nor angels be exempted from a scriptural testing of the truth.  John said we should test every teacher and spirit by the Word of God to determine the origin and connection of their claims. So it should be amidst the clamor for change in our so called modern age. - Pastor John G White

God's Practical Joke On The Evolutionists

The Platypus is a small creature unique to Australia. There is not another like it on God's green earth. It lives in freshwater streams and billabongs all over Australia. It seems to be an odd mixture of a reptile, bird, and animal. It is the sort of weird creature that you might think was created by a committee. Although it lives in water, it breathes air. It has webbed feet with which it swims, much like a duck. These webbed feet have claws. Its body is covered with loose fur. It has a quaint duck like bill as well.

These outward features are not as odd as the inward ones. Its heart is that of a real animal, but its reproduction organs are practically the same as a reptile. It reproduces by laying eggs that very much resemble lizard eggs. During hatching the mother broods much like a hen. When her eggs are hatched, she feeds her young by milk, as mammals do, but she has no teats. The babies get their milk by sucking it through the pores of the mother's skin.

This small animal has confounded evolutionists since its discovery by Sir Joseph Banks, who came to Australia with Captain Cook on his voyage of discovery. It contradicts nearly every tenant of the theory of progressive evolution as imagined and proposed by those who deny God spoke this universe into existence. Who knows? One might easily imagine our great Creator God laughing at their confusion! (See Proverbs 1:18:23) - Pastor John G White

Video Sermons

You are invited to view my messages under the Video Sermons Heading. These are messages I prepared and presented as Founder and Pastor of Hinterland Baptist Church, Gold Coast, Queensland, for some 20 years. We have some forty messages to eventually post. Your response and comments are welcomed. 

Pastor John White

The Problem With Islam, Is Islam

It seems many of our politicians and journalists are either abysmally ignorant of the teachings of the foundational books of Islam as well as with the early brutal and violent history of its spread throughout the world, or could they be deliberately avoiding telling the truth about the matter based upon the misguided idea that doing so might somehow diminish the danger posed by violent extremists operating under this banner?   It is especially disconcerting that so many refuse to understand that until the nature of a problem is truly understood no effective solution will likely be found.

The extremists who are terrorizing our world today are correctly and aptly designated, “Islamic Fundamentalists.”  I am a Christian fundamentalist. Tens, perhaps hundreds of millions of us, exist in our world today. A Christian fundamentalist is just that. He believes his basic guide book, the New Testament, and the teachings of Christ are God-given and should strictly form the basis of his life philosophy and inform and guide his every day action.

Just what is the difference in the Christian fundamentalist and the Islamic fundamentalist and how do their views about the validity of the use of violence to advance their faith differ?  The central theme of the New Testament is love: God’s love for mankind as revealed by Christ on the cross and the Christian’s love for God, his brother and his neighbor. Jesus said that such love would be the primary identifying characteristic of His true followers.. Conversely, hate and hateful action, especially gratuitous violence, are clearly proscribed and condemned.

It should be clear then that a Christian fundamentalist could never validly use violence in any form to spread a gospel of love and win true converts to the cause of Christianity. The coercion involved in such action would violate the first great commandment on love given by Jesus and deny the principle of free will and be a contradiction in concepts.

Who is a Islamic fundamentalist? Could he be correctly characterized, as is the Christian fundamentalist, as one who strictly follows the teaching of his founder and prophet, as found in his source book(s)? Are politicians, journalists and even the ordinary man in the street, correct in labelling those of that faith who advocate hatred and even destruction of those who will not convert to their religion as Islamic fundamentalists?

Is it wrong to call those who have, over the past decades, slaughtered thousands of innocents in the name of their religion, Islamic fundamentalists? Is it incorrect to call those who proudly claim that identity and use their fundamentalist teachings to recruit new fodder for the deadly war of terror they are waging, Islamic fundamentalists? Is it inconsistent to call those who decry Islamic moderates as apostates because they have departed from the fundamentals of the faith, as they see it is revealed in their book, Islamic fundamentalists?  Could this be one of the difficulties moderates and others face in combating the phenomenon of jihad? Could it also be true that one thing that makes the appeal of Jihadism effective to young Muslims is that the Jihadist can correctly say that so-called moderate Muslims have departed from the true faith as taught in their holy book(s) and by their prophet? Is the Islamic fundamentalist a legitimate Moslem, as defined by his book and by the history of his religion? If so, how can leaders and nations refusing to correctly identify their sworn enemies hope to combat such an insidious threat? 

- Pastor John White

The Power Of One

Have you considered how our lives influence and effect the lives of others? Not only our family, friends and the contemporary world around us, but should the Lord delay His coming, our offspring and their future world for generations to come. It can be easily calculated that if a set of parents and their descendents average four children, twenty-thousand descendents could easily exist within one hundred years of the death of the first parents.  

Numerous anthropological and sociological studies irrefutably confirm the Biblical principle that a single set of criminal parents often beget generations of criminals and a single set of Christian parents very often beget generations of decent and law-abiding citizens. Christian parents should be encouraged in their well doing by the evidence that the power of God in even one life can bring a good harvest in due season.  

Our living and dying is given added dimension and meaning by the power and influence our lives can have upon our present and future world. A poet once said, "No man is an island." But God really said it first when He had Paul to say, "For no man lives to himself, and no man dies to himself." (Ro. 14:7) He concludes our life either counts for or against God and His eternal purpose.  It is in this context that he indicates that the basic criteria for judging the Christian’s life at the Judgment Seat of Christ will be whether it has been positive and spiritually productive or negative and spiritually fruitless. If for no other reason, this fact should inspire one to keep on keeping and finish the Christian race well. Thus, I continue trying to share articles and messages that might be helpful to others. In our marvellous day of mass worldwide communication I can do no less!  

The prideful propensity for one man to strive to attain influence and power over others has its most cruel confirmation in the lives of such men as the Caesars, Khans, Alexanders, Napoleons, Hitlers, Stalins and Maos. Who can come close to estimating the destructive power the lives of these individuals, who were directly responsible for the murder and misery of many millions, have had upon the generations of mankind? 

To be honest, this is one of the factors involved in my efforts to warn against selecting a man as leader of the free world who openly and unashamedly displays the power hungry self-seeking characteristics of arrogance, narcissism and egotism But if we are seeking to identify the person whose lives have had the most powerful negative impact upon our world, we must look even further back. Paul’s simple statement, "Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned," (Ro. 5:120 leaves no doubt about the matter. This has to be the ultimate example of the decisive power of one solitary act in one solitary life bringing great harm to future generations.  But thanks be unto God that this is not the end of the story. The familiar poem, "One Solitary Life," tells of the powerful influence for eternal good of the simple life of One who Paul describes as the Second Adam. As the verses of this poem assert, His power and influence upon man and his history is unique and beyond quantifying.  But the power of this One finds its greatest and most gracious expression in the eternal salvation and justification of those who truly trust Him.

 It is truly as one theologian said, "Just as the race was condemned on the ground of the imputation of Adam’s one sin, even so the race of believers are justified upon the ground of the imputation of one man’s righteousness - Jesus Christ" .   What an impact! This the basis of such inspiring statements as: "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Ro. 5:1) And again, "He has made Him to be sin for us, He Who knew no sin, that we might we might be made the righteousness of God in Him!" (II Cor. 5:21)

Oh, the power of One! - Pastor John White

Is It Time For A Dress Code

-By Dr. O. H. Griffith

Most parochial, and several public schools, have established dress codes for the students. Some of the benefits claimed are: school uniforms are less expensive; there is no rivalry, jealousy, or feeling of inferiority because some students are dressed more glamorously; and uniforms create a better learning environment; plus there are fewer disciplinary problems. Is it time for churches to establish some dress codes? Many churches seem to encourage, not just informal dress but actually encourage "sloppy dress". The argument is, "The main thing is get them in church." The end does not necessarily justify the means. Must a church act like the world and provide worldly entertainment to get the unsaved into church? If so, has it really accomplished anything for the glory of Christ?

One church's mail out bulletin regularly proclaims the slogan, "Here to Glory God". I like that. But do sloppy dress, sensual music and worldly entertainment glorify God? The world will not be won to Christ by church members living and acting like the world. The Apostle John wrote, "Do not love the world or the things in the world....  The world is passing away, and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever" (1 John 2:1517). Paul advised the Corinthians, "Therefore come out from among them, And be ye separate, says the Lord" (2 Cor. 6:17).

How did disciples of Christ come to bear the designation, "Christian"? It most certainly was not by conforming to the ways of the world. (See Acts 11:19-26.) Followers of Christ are supposed to be different. If church members live, act and look like the unsaved masses, how do they expect to attract the unsaved to Christ? Paul wrote, "In like manner also, that the women [and by inference, also the men] adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation" (1 Tim. 2:8).

How should church members dress for worship? According to Paul, in one word, modestly. To dress modestly, does not require a $500 suit. A person can dress modestly in everyday work clothes.  How one dresses is largely determined by the occasion. Not for a moment would any self-respecting man expect to attend a Presidential Ball dressed in T-shirt, slouchy cutoff jeans, with hairy legs showing. (A greater than the President is present every time a true church meets.) No self-respecting woman would think of attending a formal occasion wearing tight fitting, revealing jeans and tank top. Why? Because such attire would show disrespect to the hostess and the guest of honor.  The host and guest of honor at all true worship services is the Lord Jesus Christ. Propriety and Christian decency demands that worshippers respect Him and dress accordingly.

THINK ABOUT IT: If a dress code creates a better learning environment in a school, 'isn't it reasonable that modest dress in church creates a better worship atmosphere?

Editor’s Note: O. H. Griffith was a highly respected writer and commentator published in the Sunday School and Baptist Training Course materials of the American Baptist Association. This article was first published many years ago.   One can only imagine his view of the immodesty prevalent in some worship services today.

An Upward Look

Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to have lived in the first century and been one of those disciples who walked with Jesus? One of those who heard His stories as they fell from His lips and personally witnessed His marvellous miracles? One of those who walked with the resurrected Saviour on the road to Emmaus? One of those who stood and watched Him as He slowly ascended into the heavens in the presence of two angelic beings in white apparel?

Or, what would it have been like to have been caught up into the third heaven, as Paul, into the very presence of the Lord? Is it any wonder those who had been with Jesus, were said to have turned the world upside down? Surely Paul’s special insight into the sights and sounds of that other world, had a profound effect upon Him and radically changed His outlook upon this mundane world in which he lived.

Yes a glimpse of other places can sometimes change our outlook or up-look. Until I had the privilege of staying a few weeks with a pastor friend and preaching in a number of rural churches in the pristine and beautiful mountains of West Virginia, I could not appreciate the words of John Denver’s beautiful song, "Almost heaven, West Virginia..." Until my daughter and her family moved to North Carolina, the history, geography and contemporary nature of the place were of little interest to me. But now I find the place has a special attraction and fascination for me. Perhaps it’s because I have loved ones there.

Until I was sure God was calling me to plant churches in the great land down under, I knew very little of the place; nor did I have any particular desire to make a twenty-four hour plane trip to see it and find out more. But now, since I have so many loved ones in Australia, both in the physical and spiritual sense, the Lord has given me a deep love and affinity for the country.

Although there are many beautiful spots on God’s green earth, none could compare to the marvellous wonder and beauty of heaven. Even so, the main attraction of heaven for the Christian is not the place but the people and the main Person Who draws us heavenward is Jesus Christ. In heaven we shall see Him face to face. Just as our roots sometimes tug at us, drawing us back to the places and people of our origins, so does our heart draw us heavenward and homeward. The presence there of loved ones who have gone before add to this upward pull.

It is said that the homing instinct of certain Arctic birds placed in zoos always compel them to look northward or homeward. We who are merely temporary colonisers of planet earth, have a strange, other-worldly attraction as well. We are focused on another place. Our affections are set there. Our mind-set is in tune with our Master who resides there. We are looking for that other city whose builder and maker is God. Through Christ, we as Paul, have been given a peep into that eternal city that is our eternal destiny, and it draws us ever onward and upward.

But is heaven a real place or, as some say, just a figment of a fertile imagination? Is it pie in the sky by and by, or the ultimate dwelling place of God with His people? I am convinced that heaven is a real special place. Heaven is not a figment of an overworked imagination. Nor is it just pie in the sky by and by.

Although heaven is a real place that will be populated with real people, it is still beyond the keen of the mind of mortal mind to begin to comprehend its magnificence. Paul could not even utter the sense of awe he felt about it. He could only quote, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."

Can you imagine the amazement of our rural forefathers would experience if they could see the wonders of modern civilization today? Heaven is a place designed and built for the people of God by the Divine Architect of this vast universe. Look at the beauty of this world and multiply that beauty by infinity and we might have an inkling of the beauty of that other land. Imagine a place without any of the terrible effects of sin and the fall of man. Imagine paradise restored in all its perfection and completion. Such is unimaginable and unspeakable!

 - Pastor John White

Note - As I draw ever closer to heaven’s shore, I think more and more about those who have gone before. My older brother was with my father when he went home to heaven. He said that when my Dad was taking his last breaths he began to smile. My brother asked, "Do you see Jesus, Dad?’ My Dad smiled and said, "Yes."- Pastor John White