Monday, 13 June 2016

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