The Bulletin
of the
Church of Christ at
New Georgia
Tim Johnson, editor
August 30, 2009
In
This Issue:
How
Men Act When They Repent
by
Steve Klein
Is
it Still a Mystery?
by
J.F. Dancer
How Men Act When They Repent
In Matthew 12:41, Jesus said, "The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here." According to Jesus, the men of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah.
You remember the story, don't you? God had commanded Jonah, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me" (Jonah 1:2). Now Nineveh was not only a city filled with wickedness, it was also the capital of the Assyrians, hated enemies of the Israelites. Jonah didn't want to go. He fled from God's presence. However, after being given some quality time in the belly of a fish to reflect and pray, Jonah decided to obey God. Jonah walked through the city proclaiming the judgment of the Lord upon these pagan people: "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" (Jonah 3:4).
The people of Nineveh repented. They "proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them" (Jonah 3:5). When word came to the king of Nineveh, "he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes." He decreed that "neither man nor beast, herd nor flock" were to eat or drink and that "every one" was to "turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hand" (Jonah 3:7-8).
The text says that, "God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them" (Jonah 3:10). God can read men's hearts. He knows more about what is going on in our heads than we do ourselves. But He did not need to read the minds of the Ninevites to know that they had repented. He "saw their works, that they turned away from evil". When the men of Nineveh repented, nobody was left to wonder whether or not their repentance was genuine. Nobody was left guessing about their intention to stop committing evil. Nobody would have doubted they had actually repented of their sins.
We really need to learn this lesson from the men of Nineveh. We need to learn how to act when we repent. Repentance isn't just saying "excuse me," "my bad," or "forgive me," and then going on with our lives as if nothing happened. Repentance should produce real change in our actions. We are to "bear fruits worthy of repentance" (Matthew 3:8). I am afraid that too many of us think that our repentance should go unnoticed. We are incognito repenters! And while God hardly asks us to don sackcloth and ashes today, He does ask us to "do works befitting repentance" (Acts 26:20).
Let's resolve to turn away from sin in our lives, and make sure that we behave in such a way that folks can tell that's what we've done!
-- Steve Klein
Some people read the Bible every day. Others read it once in a while, and there are others who never open it. All have some different views as to what it teaches. Do you think God had it written so we would "understand" it differently so that each of us could believe what we want to believe? I think not!
According to Ephesians 4:5, there is just "one faith." This means there is just one body of truth. Paul had earlier (Eph.3:4) told these people that when they read (studied) the things he wrote, they would have the same understanding that he had in regard to God's will. Later (Eph.5:17), he commanded them to be not unwise but to understand what the will of God is. All of this does not sound like God gave a revelation that He knew people could not understand, but that they would have the freedom to "understand" it as they chose.
There are times when one will need to pray for wisdom (Jas.1:5) so he can rightly divide (2 Tim.2:15) the word of truth. There may also be times when one needs to ask help from another who has more knowledge (Acts 8:30, 31). The personal study, the prayers for wisdom, and the seeking help from others are all part of God's plan for people understanding His will for us today. At one time it was a mystery, and rightly so, but now it has been uncovered. We just have to study.
How to become a Christian is something that can be learned quickly if one will take the time to read the book of Acts. This is what it is all about. One can learn how Christians are supposed to live if he will study the letters written to churches and individuals. God has revealed all things that pertain to life and godliness (2 Pet.1:3), but we have to study it to understand it.
Acts chapter 2 tells people what they have to believe and to do in order to be saved. But it will remain a mystery until one reads it carefully. Yes, the will of God for man today is still a mystery to many people simply because they don't study and rightly divide the word of truth. But God did not intend it to be so. That is why we have the New Testament. It is the mystery of God revealed!
Study is hard work (Eccl.12:12), and it is easier to let someone else tell us what God wants us to do. This was also true in the first century. 1 Jno. 4:1 tells those who are interested in learning the will of God to test the teachers because there are those who don't teach the truth. Let us search the Scriptures as did the people in Berea in Acts 17:11. We can know the truth and by obedience to it be made free from our sins. God's will for us today has been revealed and is there waiting for us to study and obey it.
-- J.F. Dancer
Via The Admonisher, Vol. 5, No.3, Jackson Drive church
of Christ, Athens, AL