Faith Not Form

By Tom Rose

I’m not sure that Edward Gibbon had our generation in mind when in 1788 he finished his classic work on the fall of the Roman Empire, but his words are timely for life in these times. (The History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon) He proposed five major reasons why the Roman civilization crumbled, and at the top of his list was the decay of religion.  In that society "faith faded into mere form and lost its touch with life and the power to guide its citizens to a higher level."  In other words, faith became empty, artificial, and even contemptible.

As we shake our heads and ponder how these things came to be, listen to a modern sociologist, Os Guinness, as he looks at our current culture.  He observes, "Look at it from the point of view of the religious believers.  Religion to them was once life’s central mystery, its worship, life’s broadest canopy of meaning as well as its deepest guarantee of belonging.  Yet today, where religion still survives in the modern world, no matter how passionate or 'committed' the individual believer may be, it amounts to little more than a private preference, a spare-time hobby, a leisure pursuit."  Secularization, working from within the system, has accomplished its goal of neutralizing Christianity and is quickly becoming the dominant world view of the West.

We keep ourselves so busy that we cannot or will not take the time to understand life from a Christian perspective or integrate Christian principles into our daily lives.  Our journey through life becomes increasingly fragmented and out of control, which in turn produces mega-stress. Alexander Whyte summed up our problem when he said, "We cannot look seriously in one another’s faces and say it is want of time. It is want of intention. It is want of determination. It is want of method. It is want of motive. It is want of conscience. It is want of heart. It is want of anything and everything but time."

Busyness, the curse of our culture, robs us of the things that are of the greatest importance, including our souls.  If we are too busy to study the Bible, attend church, encourage and pray for others, and enjoy the simple things of God’s creation, then we are simply too busy!  Indeed, Satan has taken us captive and has us just where he wants us.  The more we struggle and the faster we go, the tighter the snare becomes.

Anytime our relationship with Christ does not go beyond the superficial level, we are in serious trouble.  Christianity is a religion of the heart, based on a personal relationship with the Creator of this universe. It is between us and God – one on one.  Worship of an impersonal God is little more than idol worship. Yet familiarity with religious things and concepts by no means constitutes a relationship.  Note carefully the words of the prophet Isaiah as restated by Christ in Mt. 13:14-15.  “You will be ever hearing, but never understanding; you will be ever seeing, but never perceiving.  For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.  Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.”

Jesus is the single most complex character who has ever marched across the stage of human history. Indeed, the Jesus of the Gospels is a living, vibrant, dynamic, forceful personality, and the world has never experienced any other individual like Him. Today, gather your courage to go beyond the superficial and begin to find the rewards that an intimate relationship with Christ can offer. Consider your familiarity with Christianity as a blessing, not a curse, for the study and pursuit of Christ should yield growth and allegiance, not contempt and indifference. While you have time and opportunity, seek the sacred scriptures and allow His Word to sink into your being and breed contentment, for in them you have eternal life (Jn. 5:39).

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

By Paul Earnhart

When Jesus went to Jerusalem for the first time after the beginning of His personal ministry, we are told that He visited the temple and found merchants who were selling oxen, sheep and doves.  There were also money changers exchanging the money which the people ordinarily used into the kind of money that was accepted for offerings in the temple.

Jesus was greatly disturbed by what He saw.  John tells us that “He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, ‘Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a house of merchandise.’  His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for Thy house will consume Me.’” (John 2:15-17)

God does not have a material house today, such as the temple was in those days.  But the church is His house as Peter wrote to Christians in 1 Peter 2:5 saying, “You also, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house.”

But most churches today have virtually lost their spiritual emphasis.  In some cases, they have again become houses of merchandise; they seem to exist to make money.  In some other cases they have become country clubs with all kinds of recreation equipment and dining facilities.  Church funds are used more for social purposes than for spiritual activities, and more emphasis is placed on entertainment than on worship and Bible teaching.

I wonder what Jesus would do if He should visit a modern church.  I wonder if He would not again engage in a general house-cleaning.  If we are like Jesus “consumed with zeal for our Father’s house” (John 2:17), we will look again at God’s plan for His house and make certain that the church of which we are a part is what God intends for it to be, not what men want it to be.

Did Jesus Approve of Drinking?

By Paul Earnhart

According to John 2:1-11, the first miracle that Jesus performed was turning water into wine.  Many people have used this fact to defend the practice of drinking alcoholic beverages.

Wine, in the Bible, was not necessarily alcoholic.  It refers to all grape juice, whether fermented or unfermented.  Isaiah 65:8 refers to the wine while it is still in the cluster.  At that point, grape juice is certainly not alcoholic, yet the Bible calls it wine.

They used the word wine in those days in much the same way that we use the word cider.  Cider may be either freshly squeezed apple juice, or it may be fermented hard cider.

What did Jesus make?  The word wine does not tell us.  It is a fact that the headwaiter called the wine that Jesus made the “best” wine.  But there is evidence that people in those days did not judge wine by its potency, but by its sweet taste.  Obviously unfermented grape juice is the sweetest of all.

The Bible clearly condemns drunkenness.  Galatians 5:21 states that those who practice drunkenness cannot inherit the kingdom of God.  If the wine that Jesus made was intoxicating, He made enough of it to make everybody at the feast drunk.  Who can believe that Jesus actually did that?

When is a person drunk?  One of the first effects of even a small amount of alcohol is to impair one’s moral judgment.  This is the most serious consequence of alcohol, and it occurs long before one begins to stagger or speak with slurred speech.  The best policy for a true disciple of Jesus is to avoid alcoholic beverages altogether.

By all means, Jesus must not be cited to encourage drunkenness or even the use of strong drink.  The Bible universally condemns them both.

The First Miracle

By Paul Earnhart

The first miracle of Jesus was performed at a wedding feast.  He and His five companions left Judea and came to Cana in Galilee just in time for a wedding.  Apparently, more guests came than were expected and perhaps Jesus and his companions contributed to the problem.  But the supply of wine gave out before the feast was finished.  You can imagine the embarrassment.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, seems to have been involved in the serving, because she came to Jesus with the news that the wine was exhausted.  He told her that the time was not yet right for Him.  She believed, however, that He could help, and she told the servants to do whatever He said for them to do.

Jesus instructed the servants to fill some large waterpots with water.  The fact that they were filled with water meant that nothing could be added to make the water taste like wine.  The servants knew they had placed only water in the pots, but when it was drawn out it was wine, and the master of the feast pronounced it better than the wine they had previously drank.

Jesus could have used His powers to do many amazing things which would have had no real value to anyone.  Instead, Jesus chose to use His powers to do things that were beneficial.  In this instance, He relieved the embarrassment of the host.  But the temporal physical benefits were not the primary reason for the miracles.  John said that His miracles were recorded “that you might believe that Jesus is the Son of God.” (John 20:31)  Turning water into wine is something which God does every year as water from the ground passes through the vine and becomes grape juice, but man cannot do it.  Jesus accomplished it without a vine and in a moment of time, proving that His power was more than the power of any man or natural process…it was the power of God.

Turning the water into wine fulfilled its purpose.  John 2:11 says, “This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.”

Nathanael’s Confession

By Paul Earnhart

The accounts of the life of Christ are filled with testimonies concerning Him.  John the Baptist called Him the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (Jn. 1:29)  Andrew called Him the Messiah (Jn. 1:41), and Philip spoke of Him as the one of whom Moses wrote in the Law and the prophets. (Jn. 1:45)

Some people today dismiss such testimony as mere superstition among primitive people who wanted to believe in a divine messenger.  But many of those who ultimately believed in Jesus were at first skeptical.  When Nathanael was first informed about Jesus he asked, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?”  Philip did not argue with him.  He simply said, “Come and see.” (Jn. 1:46)

John 1:47-49 tells of Nathanael’s meeting with Jesus.  Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him and said, “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.”  Nathanael said to Him, “How did you know me?”  Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”  Nathanael said, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the king of Israel.”

Many people in our time who are skeptical of the claims about Jesus have never really met Him.  Now, of course, they cannot meet Jesus in person as Nathanael did.  But the gospels are written to provide us with evidence equal to what Nathanael observed.  John wrote in his gospel, “Many other signs therefore Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”  (Jn. 20:30-31)

When people question the divinity of Jesus, the best thing we can say is, “Come and see.”  Read with them the inspired records of the life of Jesus.  Millions who have read have exclaimed as Nathanael did, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God.”  Those who will not read, must admit to dishonest prejudice.