Basic HTML Version
life that produces, as its fruit, peace
of mind, happiness, contentment.
How?
Listen to Jegus. First, Jesus
deelared that it is not sufficient to
call him "Lord," as many do. Mak–
ing a "decision for Christ" and
reciting the "sinner' s prayer" is not
enough. "Why call ye me, Lord,
Lord," asked Jesus, "and do not the
things which 1 say?" (Luke 6:46).
He is not. looking for lip service.
"Jesus is Lord,"
~11
plaques
and bumper stickers advertise. "He
is Lord .of my Iife," many proclaim
publicly. But is all this talk accom–
panied by
action-by obedience?
The word
lord
means "master,"
"boss," "ruler." A lord is one who
gives orders that are to be obeyed.
It is useless for a person to call
Jesus "Lord" if that person does
not do what Jesus said in the Bible
to do. So stated Jesus himself!
What does obedience to God's
Word have to do with peace of
mind and ability to cope? Jesus
went on to explain, in the next.
three verses, a vital principie. To
the degree a person follows the
precepts of Jesus he receives
strength to stand unshaken against
the storms of life. The reason is,
he both hears Jesus' words and
does them (verse 47) .' His durabil–
ity is comparable to that of a
house built on a firm founda–
tion- a rock. Contrast this with
the kind of Christianity most
people unwillingly follow- the
kind that does not involve living
the way of life Jesus laid out for
us. Those who do not put Jesus'
Word into practicé have great dif–
ficulty coping with the problems
and trials of daily existence. Like
houses built on sand, when the
tempests come, they collapse.
The Holy Splrit
What a paradox! The Bible says
anyone who is a true Christian–
without exception- must have the
Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:9). By defini–
tion that is essential to being a
Christian. Nevertheless, many
people, even after a lifetime of
churchgoing, are not aware of what
the Holy Spirit's function is nor do
they know how to utilize it.
The Holy Spirit is the "spir–
it ... of power" (11 Tim. 1:7). Yet
so many professing Christians are
20
powerless. They are overwhelmed
and defeated by events in their
lives. They are unable to deal witb
the pressures in the world around
them. They lack the power to over–
come wrong habits, or to master
their own feelings and drives.
The Holy Spirit is the "spir–
it ... of lave" (same verse) . Yet
there are supposed Cbristians who
harbar grudges, who refuse to for–
give, who spread gossip and engage
in back-stabbing. Through the cen–
turies Christians have even fought
each other on battlefields, Chris–
tian kílling G::hristian, both sides
praying to tbe same source for
divine help in doing away with
their brethren. (Other religions
have done similarly.) Where is the
"spirit of !ove" in all that? If that's
Christianity, why should any non–
Christian want a part of it?
The Holy Spirit is the "spir–
it ... of a sound mind" · (same
verse). Yet the Western, supposed–
ly Christian, societies are plagued
with what amounts to an epidemic
of mental problems. Confusion,
psychoses, depression, hang-ups,
complexes and scores of other man–
ifestations of mental illness are
rampant even among professing
Christians. Ho.w can tbis be?
Instead, in sorne churches the
emphasis is on temporarily arous–
ing emotions during religious ser–
vices. In other churches various
forros of reality-denying "positive
thinking" or "spiritual science" are
promoted. Jn still others forro and
ceremony are stressed; little actual
etfort is made to address spiritual
matters.
All this is very ditferent from
the biblical description of true spir–
ituality. The characteristics of
G'od's Spirit are "!ove, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faith–
fulness, gentleness, self-control"
(Gal. 5:22, Revised Standard Ver–
sion) . Is this what the Christianity
you have known has made available
to you as a definite force in your
Iife?
Understanding t he Bible
The Bible is the basis of the teach–
ing of Jesus-a book of vital infor–
mation concerning the meaning of
life and the proper relationship
with God .
lt
contains instructions
and guidelines for successful living.
It is the Word of God- God's mes–
sage to his people.
How can it be, then, that so
many professing Christians know
so little about the Bible? Few make
a serious etfort to read it and fewer
yet claim to understand it. To most
it is dull reading; they get very lit–
de out of it. Those who have any
real interest in the Bible at all
would often rather read what sÓme
human beings have written about
the Bible than the Bible itself.
Even theologians have a problem
understanding the Scriptures. Ob–
viously this is so, or there wouldn't
be so many different church
denominations making contradicto–
ry declarations about what the
Bible says!
lt
is popular to play
down the contradictions by claim–
ing that most churches are united
in spirit on the "essentials." But
when you get right, down to what
those "essentials" are on which
they agree, they are limited and
narrow indeed. The truth is, unity
of view among the churches as to
what the Bible says is wishful
thinking, not reality.
Such statements as "we have our
fellowship in Jesus, not in doc–
trine" are clever attempts to gloss
over the fact that ditferent denomi–
nations cannot agree on what !Jod
says. But God doesn't speak with a
double tongue. His
one
Holy Spirit
cannot lead two churches to under–
stand and teach the Bible ditferent–
ly .
Jesus declared truth in doctrine
to be extremely important-so
important that he stated that if a
person doesn't have doctrines right,
it is possible to worship him in vain.
Those are his words (Mark 7:7)!
How about you? Has today's
Christianity made the Bible clear
and understandable to you? Can
you read it on your own and grasp
its meaning? Can you substantiate
your beliefs from the· Bible?
What ls Sin?
While mos t denominations in
Christendom teach that Christians
should avoid sin, who can explain
exactly what sin is?
Sorne say sin is merely going
against one's conscience. But that's
no definition, because everybody's
conscience is different. What seems
wrong to one person may seem
The PLAIN TRUTH