The Bulletin
of the
Church of Christ at
New Georgia
Tim Johnson, editor
October 11, 2009
In
This Issue:
Condemning
Yourself
by
Steve Klein
Heaven
-- A Rest
by
Greg Litmer
Condemning Yourself
Citizens of the state of Arkansas recently voted to have a state run lottery to fund college scholarships. Several colleges and universities with religious affiliations are now announcing their policies regarding allowing their students to participate in the lottery. According to an Associated Press story last week, Harding University will allow their students to play the lottery, even though it officially prohibits students from gambling. The AP article quotes Harding University spokesman David Crouch as saying, "We're not encouraging participation in the lottery, but we're not disciplining students who do play." The article goes on to report the following:
"Harding, a liberal arts Christian school in Searcy affiliated with the Church of Christ, prohibits students from gambling on or off campus. But Crouch said administrators in August decided to allow students to play the lottery."
Anyone knows that playing the lottery is gambling. The Encarta Dictionary defines a lottery as "a large-scale gambling game, usually organized to raise money for a public cause, in which numbered tickets are sold and a draw is held to select the winning numbers." A college that condemns gambling, but allows the lottery, condemns itself. It makes one wonder if the administrators who made the decision to allow students to play the lottery think that blatant hypocrisy is better than the clever, more subtle form of hypocrisy that most people practice.
It also makes one wonder if perhaps the lure of lottery money for scholarships may have influenced school administrators. Money certainly motivates a lot of rationalization and compromise. The love of it is the root of all kinds of evil (1 Timothy 6:10). I'm reminded of the story I heard about a Financial Interest and a Moral Principle who met each other crossing a narrow bridge. Neither could pass by the other, so the Moral Principle laid itself down and allowed the Financial Interest to walk right over it.
In teaching about living true to our convictions, and allowing others to do the same, the apostle Paul observes that "Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves" (Romans 14:22). Surely the folks at Harding cannot be happy, for they have condemned themselves in what they have approved.
But how often do we do the same in our own lives? Rationalization leads to compromise and compromise to hypocrisy, and in the end we find ourselves in the worst of spiritual conditions. Perhaps the strongest words of condemnation Jesus uttered while on the earth were aimed at hypocrites. He called them "serpents" and a "brood of vipers" and He asked, "How can you escape the condemnation of hell?" (Matthew 23:33). He told His disciples, "Do not do according to their works, for they say and do not do. For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers" (Matthew 23:3-4).
Happy lives result from living true to our convictions. Let us each look hard at ourselves to make certain that is what we are doing.
[NOTE: The week after this article was written, Harding College reversed itself and decided to forbid its students to play the lottery. We rejoice.]
-- Steve Klein
"And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove. For then would fly away and be at rest" (Psalm 55:6).
Who among us has not had thoughts simi-lar to those expressed by David? Truly among the deepest longings felt by man is the fervent desire for rest. We long, not only for the cessation of our toils, labors, and trials, but also for the enjoyment of the bountiful blessings to be found in sweet repose. For the Christian, just such a rest is promised, and indeed it serves as an "anchor of the soul, both sure and stead-fast." And that rest is heaven.
A wonderful treatise on this rest is found in the first eleven verses of Hebrews 4. The Hebrew writer speaks of the time in which God rested from His labors of creation, that being the seventh day. He intimates man's part in this rest through the weekly Sabbath instituted at Mt. Sinai and given to the Jews as a symbol, or a type, of something yet to come. The Hebrew writer also speaks of a fuller realization of that longed-for rest in the land which flowed with milk and honey - Canaan, the promised land. Yet, even as the new generation of God's chosen people entered into the land of Canaan, it but foreshadowed the rest yet to be obtained. Then came our Lord Jesus had His promise of rest found in Matthew I 1:28-30, which He said, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: And ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." As the Hebrew writer said, "We which have believed do enter into rest." Followers of Jesus Christ do enjoy rest now; rest from the guilt and the burden of sin, rest from the anxieties that plague us in this life. But even that does not truly satisfy all our desire, all of our longing for that rest. Indeed, our life with Christ stirs within us an intense and deep longing for the rest that it foreshadows - heaven. I am reminded of the apostle Paul's words in I Corinthians 15:19: "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." But thanks be to God "there remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God" (Hebrews 4:9).
There are two different words that are used to describe this rest. In verse 3 of Hebrews 4, the emphasis is on cessation. The idea there is from the negative standpoint expressing things that will end. In verse 9, the word for rest indicates a Sabbath rest, which implies considerably more than just cessation.
Let us consider some of the things with which we will no longer have to deal with when we enter into that promised rest: (1) Heaven will be a place of rest from all forms of suffering. John expressed it so beautifully in Revelation 21:4 when he said, "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." (2) In heaven, we will rest from the constant struggle with sin and the trying association with sinful people Again, from Revelation 21:27, we read, "And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." (3) Heaven will be a place of rest from our toils of life, and it will be a place where at last we will lay our burdens down.
Our promised rest, however, will not be a state of total inactivity, for there will be bounti-ful blessings to be enjoyed and service to be joyfully rendered. Think about it, my friends. When we enter into that promised rest, we will be forever and consciously in the presence of God. John said in verse 3 of Revelation, "And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God." This rest will be a time of continual service to God, freely and joyfully given. From Revelation 22:3,4 we read, "And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and the Lamb, shall serve Him: and they shall see His face; and His Name shall be in their foreheads." The faithful children of God, with their robes washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb, shall reign forever and ever.
The longing for heaven sometimes grows so intense as to be painful. It will be ours to enjoy. "Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief" (Hebrews 4:11).
-- Greg Litmer
Via Manslick Road Speaker, Louisville, Kentucky