The Silence of the Scriptures

 From a book entitled A Short History of Christianity by Stephen Tomkins I quote as follows:  "The basic difference between Zwingli and Luther was in their attitudes to the Bible.  Zwingli saw it as a precise blueprint for church life.  For Luther, what is not forbidden is permitted; for Zwingli, what is not permitted is forbidden." (page 141)  Both Zwingli and Luther lived in the Age of Reformation, often referred to as the Protestant Reformation, and both men were leading figures in its beginnings.

The subject of this article is the issue that separated Luther from Zwingli, namely, the silence of the scriptures.  While I will be concentrating primarily on issues related to worship practices in this article the principles enunciated extend beyond what happens inside the doors where we meet for worship weekly.  Does the silence of the scriptures permit a practice or forbid it in Christianity?

This can only be answered by an appeal to the scriptures to which we will go but before doing so it would be good to make the point that some have answered this question without an appeal to scripture at all.  Authority within the Roman Catholic Church, for example, resides in the church itself, the Magisterium, not in scripture.  However, I suppose, if one was forced to put them in either Luther’s camp or Zwingli’s camp they would have to be placed with Luther.

When one takes the position Luther took one cannot complain too much, and be consistent, about wild innovations in the church.  If what is not forbidden is permitted then pretty much anything goes.  On what basis could you forbid it? 

But what do the scriptures teach for those desiring to know?  If there was only one passage one could use to settle this debate as it relates to worship it would be for me John 4:24, "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." (NKJV)  It is easy to overlook a very important word in this passage, the word "must."  That means neither you nor I have any choice in the matter.  It is we "must."  It is the only worship God will accept, that which is in spirit and truth, or else the word "must" is a word without meaning.

We know what is meant when we are told we must worship in spirit.  I think we all agree about the meaning of that part of the passage.  That leaves only the word truth and the question about that only revolves around what is truth, where it’s found, and how you can know it.  The Bible tells us. 

"Truth came through Jesus Christ." (John 1:17 NKJV)  Whatever Jesus spoke was "truth."  In prayer to the Father, Jesus said, in John 17:17, "Your word is truth." (NKJV)  The words Jesus spoke, whatever, wherever, to whomever were truth.  He spoke the words the Father had given him.  Hear Jesus, “I have not spoken on my own, but the Father himself who sent me has given me a command to say everything I have said.”  (John 12:49 CSB)  And, again, “I speak just as the Father has told me.” (John 12:50 CSB)

All the words of the New Testament, red letter or not, are the words of Jesus, the words of God the Father, the words of truth.  After Jesus’ death and ascension, when the Holy Spirit was given to men, the Holy Spirit did not speak independently of Jesus and the Father.  Jesus referred to the Spirit calling him “the Spirit of truth.” (John 14:17, 15:26 NKJV)

Jesus further speaking of the Holy Spirit said, “He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.  He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.  All things that the Father has are Mine.  Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.” (John16:13-15 NKJV)

To worship in truth, then, involves worshiping by the word of God.  That means, and it seems so obvious that I do not see how men overlook it, that if there is no word from God there is no truth in matters religious.  If God has not spoken on a practice how does man practice that thing, whatever it be, and say he is worshiping in truth?

Additionally, how can we have faith in a worship practice if there is no word from God when “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Rom.10:17 NKJV)  And, again, “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Col. 3:17 NKJV)  If there is no word from Jesus (God) how do you practice an activity in worship “in the name of the Lord Jesus”?  Perhaps it would be more accurate to say we are doing it in our own name.

There is such a thing as the teachings of men.  Listen to Jesus again, "Hypocrites!  Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: …'And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' " (Matt. 15:7-9 NKJV)  Paul says in Titus we are to not give heed "to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth." (Titus 1:14 NKJV)  A worship practice that does not have a book, chapter, and verse for it in God’s word is a commandment of men, an invention of men, and is certainly not worship in truth for if it was book, chapter, and verse could be provided.

Now I know many are with Luther on this—if a practice or act is not specifically forbidden then it’s permitted.  If he was right then truth, God’s word, does not matter and one can on his own authority, manmade and man-given, institute worship according to one's desire.

Paul's rebuke of the Corinthians regarding the Lord's Supper provides further evidence that what is not clearly revealed in scripture is prohibited.  The Corinthians had been taught about the Lord's Supper or else they would not have been observing it, correctly or incorrectly.  Furthermore, Paul comes right out and tells us they had been taught when he says, "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you." (1 Cor. 11:23 NKJV)  That is past tense.  Since he had last met with them they had obviously made some changes in the way they were partaking of the supper.  I ask—on whose authority did they do so? 

Note the principle Paul is establishing.  He is telling the Corinthians to do what you are told to do by inspiration and do not make changes, or additions, or subtractions.  To do so is to change the word of God and is to go outside of truth for one's worship.

In the book of Deuteronomy, we find Moses addressing the children of Israel, acting as God's spokesperson.  Hear what he has to say, "You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you." (Deut. 4:2 NKJV)  Upon what evidence do you think that principle has changed today?  Do you think that today God does not mind us adding to his word or taking from it?

We recognize the principle of silence being prohibitive in human wills and legal documents.  Why do we not recognize the same principle in the last will and testament of our Lord and Savior, the New Testament?  What was left out of that will was left out for a reason.

If a doctor writes you a prescription for drug X then you cannot use it to get drug Y in addition to drug X.  The silence of the prescription prohibits that.  And there is no substitution unless it is specifically written on the prescription that is allowed, normally to a generic.  Silence has meaning.  Silence prohibits and does not authorize.  It is impossible to gain authority from silence.

The police need a search warrant to search your home.  That warrant does not give them the legal right to search your neighbor's home.  Why not?  Because the warrant is silent, it does not speak about your neighbor's house.  You cannot have faith in silence no matter how strongly you may feel about what ought to be.  Our faith must be in what is written, not in the unsaid.

We cannot change what is written in the New Testament (the guide for Christians and Christ's last will and testament).  If we add to it we do so without having the authority to do so and thus do so as men using man's authority, not God's.  If we take away from what is written, ignoring it, then we may as well take a pair of scissors and cut it out of the biblical text.  Who would dare do that?  There is a Day of Judgment when men must stand before God and tampering with his word is not something you want to do when you contemplate that fearful day. 

A practical application of all of this, because it is such a widespread practice, is that of the use of instrumental music in worship.  It was allowed under the Law of Moses.  Why?  Because there was word from God commanding it (see 2 Chron. 29:25).  It is prohibited, even though commonly practiced, under the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2, 1 Cor. 9:21) under which we live today.  Why?  There is no command for it.  The scriptures are silent.  You can only bring it into New Testament worship by adding to the words of Christ.

The secular history of the church is such that it can be proven instrumental music was not used in the New Testament church for a few hundred years after the first century.  Most historians date it to the late seventh century.  The Jews were a people well versed in the use of harps and other musical instruments.  One must ask why Jewish Christians did not use them in the earliest years of the church.  I think the answer is self-evident. 

I close this by reiterating what I have already said.  If the silence of the scriptures allows freedom to do as we please there is no end to the man-made innovations that men can dream up and bring into the church.  Who can believe we can do anything and everything with God’s approval?

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Confirmation Sunday No Bibles Required

Our local paper has an article in it this week by a woman pastor/preacher from one of the nearby denominations entitled, "What is Confirmation?" which she wanted to explain since they have a confirmation Sunday planned. Needless to say, since I have never read of such a thing in the Bible and have known many people in this particular denomination over the years I ended up reading the piece knowing all the while that the silence of the Bible on a subject has never stopped a denomination from its own inventions and desires as pertains to its faith, worship, and practice.

After reading the article I went to my e-sword concordance and searched on the word "confirmation." I did find it in 2 locations. Paul spoke about "confirmation of the gospel" in Philippians 1:7 and the writer of the book of Hebrews spoke of how an "oath for confirmation" (Heb. 6:16) is for men an end of all dispute making an observation about secular matters among men to make a greater point about the confirmation God has made to man. Another search on the word "confirm" only brought up 2 hits (Rom. 15:8 and 1 Cor. 1:8), and like the references above, neither has relevance for the practice of a "confirmation Sunday," a thing unknown in scripture.

So what are we doing here? Are we free to just make up worship practices to suit ourselves? The lady says in her article, and I quote directly from it, "Confirmation is a rite done in the church during worship." You cannot find such an animal in the New Testament, but you can find it in this denomination which went outside the New Testament for its practice and authority. Who has such authority? I would think it would take a bold person to say I'll bring into the worship whatever I want whether I can find it in the New Testament or not.

Jesus himself said, "God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:24 NKJV) Since God's word is truth, "your word is truth" (John 17:17 NKJV), and I "must" worship in truth, it seems to me I need a little truth (word of God) for what I practice in worship to God. Where is this truth, confirmation, found in God's word? I looked for it but could not find it. Am I to assume this group does not care about finding any word of God for their practice?

The lady attempts to give the history of confirmation so people like me can get a handle on it, but guess where she starts with that history. Are you guessing the New Testament and the first century? Better guess again. She starts not in the first century but in the third, approximately 200 years after the New Testament was signed, sealed, and delivered as God's new covenant or law for man "once for all delivered to the saints." (Jude 3 NKJV) She thus goes outside the word of God to the word of men to get her “confirmation Sunday.’’ Of course, I already knew it was not in the New Testament, as you also know if you have ever read it.

The lady says in the early church, early perhaps but not in the first-century church, not in the New Testament church, confirmation was associated with baptism. I understand from what she wrote that a bishop would confirm a new convert after his/her baptism, and sometimes quite a long while after that baptism. Confirmation consisted of some formula of words a bishop would utter in some kind of formal church setting or service, according to her, to symbolize the presence of the Holy Spirit in baptism and says it involved laying on of hands and anointing with oil.

I did a ChatGPT search on the topic and it seems to agree with what she said. I quote it: “The sacrament of Confirmation involves a person, often a young adult, receiving the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands by a bishop or a priest, usually accompanied by anointing with chrism (sacred oil).’’ The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “It increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us.” At a site called aboutcatholics.com, I found this, “It is the full outpouring of the Holy Spirit as once granted to the apostles on the day of Pentecost.”

No, it is not. Confirmation does not grant you the power to speak in tongues, perform miracles, or teach infallibly, let alone raise the dead.

The lady goes on to say, "Up until the Reformation the Church retained Confirmation as a sacrament but gave, over the centuries, many explanations." Amen to that. I doubt not the truth in that. When you invent ways to worship unknown to the word of God many explanations as to what you are doing and why are likely. God is owed an explanation as well as man. If you are giving many stories (explanations) how do you decide which one to give to Jesus on the Day of Judgment when he asks you what this was all about and why?

The lady preacher (???) goes on to say that in her denomination that confirmation has become an educational event. It is a rite done in worship she says. I ask by whose authority, man's or God's?

The Bible says, “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Col. 3:17 NKJV) It is a little hard to see how one can do things in the name of the Lord Jesus about which the Lord Jesus said nothing. Can we invent things to do in the name of the Lord Jesus? Can we just make up things in our worship and say we are doing those things in the name of the Lord Jesus and have his approval? Is that how it works? It is certainly clear historically that Confirmation was a man-made invention. It did not come from scripture. However, if you can just make things up and claim you are doing them in the name of the Lord Jesus I guess anything goes. Perhaps we can have Christian ballet or Christian pantomime and who knows what else.

She says it is a public expression reconfirming the baptism received as an infant. Book, chapter, and verse, please? Don't hold your breath waiting for scripture. You will die of old age before you ever get scripture for this, for it does not exist in the word of God.

As for infant baptism, it is another topic for another day. If an infant can be baptized scripturally I do not see why Tator, my basset hound, cannot be baptized as well, for there is as much Bible authority to baptize him as there is an infant who can know no more than Tator does about what is going on and why. The Bible says, "Without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him." (Heb. 11:6 NKJV) The infant cannot go to God in faith or act by faith nor does he/she need to as one is accountable for sin only when he/she has sinned.

The infant is born sin-free, not born in sin. If you say the baby is a sinner, name the sin. Sin is not inherited. “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father.” (Ezek. 18:20 NKJV) An infant can inherit a lot of things, but sin is not one of them.

There is sin involved in baptizing the infant, but not on the infant's part. It is on the part of those who put the infant through this and then allow him/her, when they come to an age of accountability, to be deceived into thinking they obeyed God in baptism. You lie to them. The child never obeyed anything as an infant, nor could he. It was impossible, and what is impossible God does not require. Yes, God requires baptism but not of babies.

I have no idea why people want to be in a denomination that has no more respect for the Bible than this one. The reality is they do not need a Bible for they have created their own religion and just adopted as much of the Bible as they want, leaving the rest alone, and have added the commandments of men to what they have adopted.

As for the lady preacher, Paul said (but does it matter with them?), "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man." (1 Tim. 2:12 NKJV) Yes, everyone is entitled to their own religion but just be truthful about it. Don't say it is Bible based when it is not. At least the Catholics were honest enough to try and burn Bibles and those who translated them, or in some cases those caught with them. There is some consistency there. As for me, I want nothing to do with either the denominations or the Catholics. "And in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men." (Mark 7:7 NKJV)

(This was written many years ago, revised just a tad, a little added, but still as applicable today as when it was first written.)

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Mary of Bethany--Doing What You Can

Sometimes even when we do well we receive criticism and blame as though what we did was evil rather than good.  Such was the case with Mary of Bethany, a friend of Jesus and one whom Jesus loved (John 11:5).  If you are not familiar with the story of Mary who anointed Jesus with some very expensive oil of spikenard not long before his arrest, trial, and crucifixion you can read the account in Matt. 26:6-13, Mark 14:3-9, and John 12:1-8.

I will summarize the story for you briefly.  A supper had been made for Jesus (John 12:2) in the home of Simon the leper (Mark 14:3).  Jesus was there as the invited guest along with others which included his disciples (Matt. 26:8), and Martha, Lazarus, and Mary (John 12:2-3), the latter three being a brother and his two sisters.  This was the same Lazarus that Jesus had raised from the dead (John 12:1, 9).  While Jesus was reclined at the table, according to the custom of the time, Mary came up behind him with a flask of fragrant oil (John 12:5), opened it, and anointed both his head and feet with the oil (Matt. 26:7, John 12:3).

This angered some among them.  "When his disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, 'To what purpose is this waste?  For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor.'" (Matt. 26:8-9 NKJV)  Mark says, "They criticized her sharply." (Mark 14:5 NKJV)  Jesus intervened on her behalf saying, "Let her alone.  Why do you trouble her?  She has done a good work for me. … She has done what she could.  She has come beforehand to anoint my body for burial.  Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the whole world, what this woman did will also be spoken of as a memorial to her." (Mark 14:6-9 NKJV)  Is that not what we are doing even now as we bring up this story and seek lessons from it?

Mary of Bethany loved Jesus deeply and had "sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word" gladly (Luke 10:39 NKJV) at an earlier time.  On that earlier occasion, Jesus said of her, "Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her." (Luke 10:42 NKJV)  Mary was still choosing that good part which would not be taken away as she poured the oil onto the Lord's head and his feet wiping his feet with her hair (John 12:3).  The oil was not cheap.  A footnote in the New Living Translation of the Bible at Mark 14:5 says that the 300 denarii cost of the oil would be the equivalent of 300 day's wages.

What lessons can we learn from this account?  There are several.  (1) When you love someone money doesn't matter.  If you have it you are more than willing to give it whether little or much.  Mary was not alone in this.  Remember the poor widow who gave "all that she had, her whole livelihood?" (Mark 12:44 NKJV)  Remember the churches of Macedonia of whom Paul spoke of their "deep poverty" (2 Cor. 8:2 NKJV) how that Paul says, "I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability they were freely willing, imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints?" (2 Cor. 8:3-4 NKJV)  Loving God means we long and desire to give to him and his work.

We cannot bestow our goods on Jesus directly as did Mary of Bethany but we must remember that the church is the body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23, Col. 1:18, 24).  When Saul of Tarsus was persecuting the church and Jesus met him on the road to Damascus he said to Saul, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" (Acts 9:4 NKJV)  When we give to the church (notice I said "the church," not a denomination) we are giving to Jesus.  Saul was persecuting the church yet Jesus associated that with being persecuted himself.  Why?  Because, the church is Christ's body.

It is understood that in giving to the church the funds given will be used for the purposes God would have them be used for else they are not being given to God at all.  One cannot take out of the church treasury funds to take a group to a recreational site to enjoy themselves and say "It is God's work."  God's work is to preach the gospel, help the poor, and do the work God's people are supposed to do.  Entertaining ourselves is not a part of that.

I was recently watching a travel show on television showing some of the exquisite cathedrals of Europe, inside and out.  Words fail one in speaking of the beauty of some of these man-made monuments.  Words like amazing, awe-inspiring, breathtaking, incredible, stunning, all seem to fall short as descriptive terms for some of the most magnificent.  Yet, God never meant money contributed to the church to carry on his work to be used to satisfy man’s vanity in building such structures.  Their appeal is to the carnal, fleshly man, not to the spiritual man.  It was the sinful side of man that built them, not the spiritual.  Those vast sums of money spent to build these monuments should have been used in preaching, teaching, and benevolence.

(2) Another thing we can learn from the account of this story about Mary of Bethany is that worship of God is as important as good works.  I would call what Mary did an act of worship on her part.  No doubt those complaining about what they considered a waste of money were right about the fact that much good could have come from selling this expensive oil and using it to help the poor.  God is all for helping the poor (a good work) but helping the poor is not all there is to being a disciple. 

Should we stop worship services saying it is a waste of time and the time could be better spent out in the community helping the poor keep up their houses, doing errands for them, etc.?  Let every member cease assembling together for worship and use the time instead to do good works and no doubt much help could be rendered but God is to be worshipped.

It is not wrong to worship God because you are taking time away from helping the poor.  If all of our time, all of our money, all of our effort was used to simply help man and we exclude God from it all we end up with is a social gospel of sorts, one that pertains to this world only, and that benefits man only on a temporal basis.  One cannot exclude the spiritual replacing it with the material and hope for the eternal.  We must have and must be continually building a spiritual relationship with God. 

(3) One must accept the fact that one will be criticized even for doing good on occasion.   Read your New Testament and see how many times Jesus was criticized for doing good.  It would be interesting to add the total up.  Anyone who has ever read the New Testament knows this happened to him time and time and time again.  If it happens to a follower of Christ why should we be surprised? 

"A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.  It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household!" (Matt. 10:24-25 NKJV)

Do not misunderstand, I am not comparing the disciples who criticized Mary of Bethany over the oil with those who criticized Jesus during his ministry but I am only saying we need to expect criticism while doing good and learn to live with it.  Our real problem comes when we never receive criticism.  "Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets." (Luke 6:26 NKJV) 

(4) Finally, this is the point I have been wanting to get to.  The text (Jesus speaking) says of Mary, "She has done what she could." (Mark 14:8 NKJV)  What more could be asked of a man or a woman?  What more does God ask of any man or woman?  When a person has done all they can do that is it, it is the end of the line; they have gone as far as it’s possible for a man or woman to go and have done all God expects from them.  God does not expect of man more than man is capable of doing.  What a great epitaph this would make at one's passing from this life into the next.  He/she has done what he/she could do.

Every man and every woman is capable of obtaining just such an epitaph from God.  I would like to mention three of whom I believe this could be said.

The Poor Widow.  I have already mentioned this poverty-stricken woman but one who was rich spiritually.  As you recall Jesus was sitting opposite the treasury watching people putting money into it.  The Bible says, "And many who were rich put in much.   Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans.  So he called His disciples to himself and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood." (Mark 12:41-44 NKJV)  She had done what she could.

Tabitha or Dorcas.  Of this lady, the Bible says, "This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds which she did." (Acts 9:36 NKJV)  As you recall the Bible story Tabitha died.  Peter in a nearby town was sent for and when he came raised her from the dead.  Just before he raised her from the dead the Bible says, "And all the widows stood by him weeping, showing the tunics and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them." (Acts 9:39 NKJV)  Tabitha was a Christian lady who had done what she could while living.

Lazarus the beggar.  Of this man the Bible says, "But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.  So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom." (Luke 16:20-22 NKJV)  You may well be wondering why I would include Lazarus in a list of those who had done what they could.  The answer is we need to realize that no matter how desperate a man's plight is, no matter how little it seems he has accomplished, no matter how great a failure he seems to be to other men still it matters none to God if he has done what he could in his life.  This ought to be encouraging to us for it ought to give the lowliest of us hope.

You may be saying how do I know this man had done what he could?  Because God saved him.  God will not save a man who will not try, who does not care, who is indifferent.  We are not saved by works.  If we were Lazarus would probably have little to show.  His condition was such as to not be able to help himself let alone help others.  Yet, he did all he was capable of and if that consisted only of faith then that was all that was required of him. 

There will come a time most likely, if we live long enough, where we will be unable to do a lot in God’s kingdom.  People often get to the point physically where they can no longer assemble with the saints which would under normal circumstances be sinful for we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together (Heb. 10:25) but do we think God is going to hold that against those too frail and aged to attend, some even confined to nursing homes?  No, for they have done what they can everything else being equal.  God is not a God without mercy and understanding.  No doubt Lazarus was a condemned man in the eyes of many a man but not in God's eyes.

I have deliberately picked the 3 people I did here as examples because of their station in life.  None held positions of importance.  None were well known or known at all outside the immediate area.  One suspects that two of them were hardly spoken to during a normal day (the poor widow and Lazarus) and yet we have three saved people who as little as it might have been had done what they could.

We must remember there is no partiality with God.  Our station in life is inconsequential to him as far as our eternal destiny is concerned.  His ways are not our ways (Isa. 55:8-9) and he does not see as man sees ("for the Lord seeth not as man seeth" I Sam. 16:7 KJV).  "Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him?" (James 2:5 NKJV)  "Not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called." (1 Cor. 1:26 NKJV)

The person who is saved is the person who has done what he or she could do (read the Parable of the Talents).  We can all obey the gospel if we will.  There is no reason the epitaph "she has done what she could" needs to be reserved exclusively for Mary of Bethany.  God would have us all have that epitaph.

One final admonition, do not say it is too late for me; I have not done what I could.  None of us has done so one hundred percent.  Surely, none of us think the poor widow, Tabitha, or Lazarus always lived sin-free.  If so why did they need Jesus?  Mary of Bethany was not sin-free.  Those who wrote about Mary--Matthew, Mark, and John--were not sin-free.  Jesus came into the world to save sinners (1 Tim. 1:15).  "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Rom. 3:23) 

The question is not about the past but the here and now and now on.  What are we going to do here and now and now on?  While we will never be perfect we can do what we can. 

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The Failure of Faith—Lessons Learned from Solomon—Part II

The loss of faith begins with being drawn away by one's desires.  We know Solomon was led into sin by the influence of his wives but they were women he had no right to.  "But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites--from the nations of whom the LORD had said to the children of Israel, 'You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.' Solomon clung to these in love." (1 Kings 11:1-2 NKJV) 

Solomon's first sin was not idolatry.  It was marrying foreign wives of the nationalities mentioned.  His desire for these women led him into sin.  "Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations there was no king like him, who was beloved of his God; and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless pagan women caused even him to sin.  Should we then hear of your doing all this great evil, transgressing against our God by marrying pagan women?" (Neh. 13:26-27 NKJV)

I would like to list here some things we can learn from Solomon about how to maintain our own faith and guard against losing that faith.

(1) Beware of the company you keep for it will influence you despite yourself.  The New Testament teaches this principle.  "Do not be deceived:  "Evil company corrupts good habits" (1 Cor. 15:33 NKJV) or as the NIV phrases it, “Bad company corrupts good character.”  Even Solomon, speaking by the Holy Spirit, confessed this earlier in his life when he said, "The righteous should choose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads them astray." (Prov. 12:26 NKJV)  I might add the closer a person becomes to you the greater their influence will be.  We can develop a love or fondness for people who can turn us from God.

The loss of faith is a gradual process.  It takes time to lose one's faith, it doesn't happen overnight, and it often takes outside help which the Bible clearly teaches that Solomon got from his pagan wives.

Here is the problem, the wicked do not at first appear to be wicked.  The women Solomon married did not appear to him to be wicked, not at all.  I would say the chances were great that they treated him with all respect, honor, and kindness, and chances are many of them truly loved him.  Most certainly Solomon did not go out looking for wicked women to marry.  They were most likely the class of their cultures.  There was only one problem with them—they were wicked by God's standards, they were idolaters.

We have the same problem today.  The world is full of good people, good to us, we consider them good, but with God they are wicked.  They may be the most outstanding people you would ever meet but outstanding by the measures used by one human being to measure other human beings.  They may be very likable, have great personalities, are friendly, kind, considerate, thoughtful, helpful, compassionate, honest, hard working, the kind that would not mistreat a mouse, and some of them may even be religious folks and yet in God's eyes, by his standard, they are wicked.  All it takes to fit into that category is to reject God's word.   

These are the kinds of people that destroy, even if unknowingly, those who could otherwise have been saved had they not fallen under their influence.  These are people who themselves either do not have faith or if they do have faith it is not a faith based on the truth of God's word.  Their faith is in what they believe, not in what God’s word says. 

We become close friends with people like this, grow fond of them, and get to thinking so highly of them that we get to the point where we cannot allow ourselves to see anything but good in them whether they have any religion about them or not.  We get to seeing them as so good that a just God could not possibly condemn them.  If they are lost we want to be lost too.  Man thus becomes the standard of what a man ought to be, forget what the Bible says for we consider them to be too good to be lost.  Unfortunately, often such people are family members.

The most dangerous people in the world are not those that appear wicked to us.  We run from them.  They are no danger to us.  Those of the kind I have described above are the ones who take us down for they often appear to us as ministers of righteousness of a sort, the righteousness this world has to offer, the self-made righteousness of man. 

Again, some of these may even be quite religious people but they hold to false doctrine with the thinking often being that the Bible just cannot be interpreted for our generation the way the word of God was for the first generation of Christians.  It is a liberal Christianity they hold to that will not allow the Bible to mean what it says.  They lead well-meaning people astray by what appears to most men to be righteous lives.

 (2) A second lesson we can learn from Solomon’s experience is to obey God whether you want to or not, whether you can see the reasoning behind his commands or not, whether you think his commands are wise or not.  We are not told Solomon's reasoning process that led him to disobey God and marry these pagan women but disobedience always leads to trouble with God.  One problem with sin is that it is likely to lead to even more sin.  It is likely to compound and even multiply once it gets started in one’s life.  Sin repeated time and again eventually leads to the hardening of one's heart.  We get to the point that our desire for the sin outweighs our desire to do what is right which is to say we cannot repent because we do not want to repent and that is a sad state to get in.

Faith does not grow by being disobedient.  Sin will lead one to flee from God as Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden when they tried to hide from God.  We know God does not approve of sin thus when we commit sin we prefer not to be in God's presence (say worship services, prayer, Bible reading, etc.), we begin the process of withdrawal, unfaithfulness, and of losing our faith.  Faith in such circumstances torments us rather than comforts us.  We feel better without it.  We become more comfortable away from God rather than with him.

We may attempt to justify our sin, our unfaithfulness.  Solomon found new religions that would allow for what he was doing although I cannot say that was his motivation for turning to them but only that it had that effect.  Certainly, his new religions did not condemn him for marrying the pagan wives or worshiping multiple gods.

With men today it is often that way.  It is not hard to find a body of religious people who will not only not condemn your sins but justify them and make the claim that no sin is involved at all.  Just change your religious affiliation.  You can always find someone more liberal than you who will accept more departure from God's word than you without calling it sin.  They will not condemn your sin and in fact will declare it to be no sin at all.  Churches today, for example, are full of people involved in adulterous marriages.  I know of one that has a lesbian couple and a transsexual man who I am told came to services around Veterans Day with his old army jacket on while wearing high heels and a skirt.

There is no indication from the Bible that Solomon ceased his idolatry even after God spoke to him the last time.  We can get to the point, evidently, that even God talking directly to us would no longer turn us away from our evil passion.  But I ask the question, what if Solomon had just obeyed God and never started down the path of marrying pagan women?  Would it have made a difference in his faith in his old age? 

There is a lot to be said for just obeying whether you want to or not.  Obey and in time you will find you are obeying not because you have to but because you want to.  It has become your life, who you are. 

(3) A third lesson one can learn from Solomon is to beware of religions that are based on appeals to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life for they will lead you from the faith of God's word.  Solomon may have been drawn to one or more of these idolatrous religions because some of them enticed by the nature of their worship.  In at least some of them sexual activities were involved as a part of their worship.  It was an appeal to the lust of man’s flesh.  I do not accuse Solomon of being guilty for I cannot know.  I can only know there was an appeal to the lust of the flesh in many pagan religions of that era. 

A lot of religious bodies today appeal to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life in one way or another and it has its appeal to the fleshly man, not the spiritual man, and is certainly capable of drawing people away from biblical faith into false doctrine and away from God.  Something drew Solomon into idolatry and we know with certainty that it was not logical argument or miracles or signs or wonders.  The appeal was, without doubt, an appeal to the flesh, to the lusts of man.

In our own time, there are some religious bodies calling themselves Christian whose drawing card is an appeal to wealth.  God wants you to be materially wealthy is the claim.  Clearly, the appeal is to the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.  It is all about the contribution.  The more you give the more wealth God will give you in return and in the meantime the finer home the evangelist can live in and the more expensive the car he can drive.  

Big costly buildings, robes, rituals, choirs, drama performances, musical entertainment, trips to amusement parks, ball teams, golf outings, and other such outings, etc. are not found in the pages of your New Testament in the first-century church but they have an appeal to modern man.  Some groups have built worship facilities that include gymnasiums for basketball, snack bars, rooms for pool and/or badminton, choir and band rooms, etc.  Were these things built to appeal to the spirit or the flesh?  One can be drawn away from the things of the spirit by the things that appeal to the flesh.  Can you imagine the apostle Paul soliciting funds from the brethren to build and provide for such things?  Was his interest in athletics, entertainment, and food and drink?

(4) A final thing I would list for our consideration as a lesson we can learn from Solomon's unfaithfulness and loss of faith is that one must beware of our human tendency to desire peace rather than war.  I speak here of arguments and debates and all the unpleasantness that goes with that.  Solomon should have been at war against these idols.  As it was he had peace but not a peace pleasing to God.

I am far from certain that Solomon ever gave up his original religion fully.  There is some indication he did not based on 1 Kings 11:6, "Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not fully follow the Lord, as did his father David." (NKJV)  I emphasize the word "fully" in that passage which makes it sound as though he did follow the Lord but only up to a point.  It could be he simply added these idolatrous gods to the Lord God he worshipped becoming a polytheist.

If that is the case is that not also what the denominational world today has done as well?  They have said one religion (denomination) is as good as another, it makes no difference.  And, yet, they each consider the other to be teaching some error they do not hold to in their own denomination.  But does error really matter at all if you can be saved practicing the error?  To ask is to answer.  Of course, error does not matter in the denominational world if you can be saved in any denomination despite the error they hold to in that denomination.

So, did Solomon get to where we are in America today where one religion is as good as another?  But you say wait a minute.  All denominations believe in the same God and the same Savior.  Solomon was worshiping multiple gods.  That argument sounds good until you examine it.  What is wrong with it?  Just this much—is the God of denomination A the same God as the God of denomination B if he is teaching one thing in one place and another in another place?  It sounds like two different Gods.

Solomon did not wage war with the other religions or other gods.  He sought peace with them all.  In doing so God was not pleased.  We ought to learn from that.  God is never pleased with a departure from his word, never.  Our job is to seek out the truth and hold to it.  If the rest of the world wants to believe and practice error so be it but we do not have to run after those gods.

A slow continual drip of water will eventually erode rock.  A steady diet of withdrawal from the things that make up the Christian life will eventually erode and destroy faith.  We may not do like Solomon and change religions or as his case may have been just add other religions to his Jewish religion.  We may simply cease to have any religion at all. 

Some think faith can be turned back on at will.  It didn't work with Solomon so why should we think it would work with us and bear in mind God even spoke to Solomon concerning his unfaithfulness, whether directly or through a prophet, but it did not cause him to repent and turn back to God.  We can get to the point where we just cease to care.  When we reach that point it is all over.  We are done.  We need to nurture faith and keep it.  Let us learn from Solomon and move toward God and not away from him.  Let us learn from his mistakes.

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Psalm 8:3-4—"What is Man That You Are Mindful of Him?"

"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you visit him?" (Psalm 8:3-4 NKJV)

Here we have one of the toughest questions in life to answer, what is man?  Then the follow-up, that you, God, are mindful of him.  There was a time when you and I did not exist.  Birth is like a person who has been in a deep dreamless sleep and suddenly he is awakened.  We are thrust into the world; we have no choice in the matter.  How did we get here?  Why are we here?  What is it we are supposed to do or be?  All is a mystery but at that early stage of life, at birth, we are spared from having to think of such things.

We enter the world naked, helpless, in poverty, having no knowledge or understanding, and unless someone has pity upon us and shows us mercy and gives us care and assistance we cannot live but briefly.  Someone must care for us. 

Man comes into the world a frail creature made of flesh and blood and in a body that is destined for only a limited number of years of life on earth at best.  “The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.” (Psalm 90:10 NKJV)   Man can no more prevent his death than he could have prevented his birth.  This is the story of human life but the question remains, what is it all about; what is life about? 

God made man out of dust (Gen. 2:7).  In speaking to Adam, after the fall, God says to him, "In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return." (Gen 3:19 NKJV)  David, the Psalmist, says, "For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust." (Psalm 103:14 NKJV)

Yet, God gave to man a spirit, not just a body.  "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness."  (Gen. 1:26 NKJV)  "So God created man in his own image; in the image of God he created him." (Gen 1:27 NKJV)  Jesus said, "God is Spirit." (John 4:24 NKJV)  So man has a spirit in the image of God, or like God, but enclosed in a frame of dust.    

In the Psalm at hand, Psalm 8:3-4, David the Psalmist in thinking about man and his frailty could look up into the heavens and stand amazed, awestruck, at what his eyes beheld.  Comparatively few people living in America today live in an area where they can get a clear view of the heavens on a cloudless, moonless, night.  City lights, smog, and just the atmosphere itself obscures what is in the heavens to be seen but when you do get a chance to see the sky on a perfectly clear night it leaves you speechless.  What do you say when you look up and see millions to billions of stars?

"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows his handiwork.  Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.   There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.  Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world." (Psalm 19:1-4 NKJV)

What you see is what God meant for you to see—the glory of God declared.  The New American Standard Bible (1977) starts Psalm 19 verse 1 as follows:  "The heavens are telling of the glory of God."

On a perfectly clear night when you look up into the night sky how many stars do you see?  Here is a report from a website called ESA Space Science:

"Stars are not scattered randomly through space, they are gathered together into vast groups known as galaxies. The Sun belongs to a galaxy called the Milky Way. Astronomers estimate there are about 100 thousand million stars in the Milky Way alone. Outside that, there are millions upon millions of other galaxies also!"

From a site called wiki.answers.com I got this answer when looking for the number of stars that exist:

"The newest estimates gained by the Hubble space telescope places the estimate of 500 billion Galaxies each with about 300 billion stars for each galaxy."

And yet the Psalmist said of God, their creator, "He counts the number of the stars; he calls them all by name." (Psalm 147:4 NKJV)

David could look up into the night sky and see the stars so vast in number as to overwhelm the mind.  It is more than the human mind can take in and comprehend and we are left awe-struck.  Figuratively speaking it brought David to his knees by its magnificence and the glory and might it portrayed—the glory and might of God.  What was, what is, man to such a God?  God is God Almighty truly and beyond doubt!

Have the heavens man can see failed in telling the story of the glory of God?  No!  "For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse." (Rom. 1:20 NKJV)

Paul by inspiration in this passage teaches that man knows there is a God which does not mean, however, that he is willing to admit it or accept it.  There are reasons for not accepting the fact that your child is causing problems in school, or that your spouse is cheating on you, or that your smoking may well lead to cancer, or a hundred other things.  Likewise, there are many reasons people have for not wanting to believe in God and thus not allowing themselves to do so despite clear evidence of his existence.  There is enough evidence that God has shown to man to prove his existence that God said, "They are without excuse." (Rom. 1:20 NKJV)

So what is a man to such an astounding God?  Human reasoning might well conclude that to such a mighty God we would be nothing, no more than the equivalent of a mite on a leaf, but that is not God's view of the matter.  Man is the object of God's love.  This was the thing David was puzzling over.  How can such a great and mighty God care about something as lowly as a man?  It is a thing we may never understand but we must come to believe and accept it and what a wonderful thing it is whether it is understood or not.

God's love for his creation was such that even before creation he determined that man would have eternal life.  "In hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began." (Titus 1:2 NKJV)  "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world." (Eph. 1:3-4 NKJV)

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16 NKJV)  It is true that eternal life, in the sense of awareness, can be found both in heaven and hell but, "The Lord…is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9 NKJV)  God wants us with him in heaven where "God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." (Rev. 21:4 NKJV) 

In John 17 Jesus prays.  He starts out praying, so it seems, for the apostles but then he says in verse 20, "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word." (John 17:20 NKJV)  Jesus goes on in prayer, "Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which you have given me; for you loved me before the foundation of the world." (John 17:24 NKJV)  God's desire is that all men be with him in heaven and live there with him throughout eternity.  God "desires all men to be saved." (1 Tim. 2:4 NKJV)

Jesus was sent into the world not to condemn the world but to save the world (John 12:47).  Jesus is off now preparing a place for God's faithful children (John 14:2-3).  What we learn from all of this is that God created man, God loves man, and God's intent or desire is that all men be saved and join with him in heaven for eternity.  Who can understand or explain the love of God for man? 

"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom. 8:38-39 NKJV)

Man was made to love and be loved by God, created a spiritual being in a body of flesh with the plan being to transform at the proper time into a heavenly body.  "And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man." (1 Cor. 15:49 NKJV)

That is the future that God has decreed for those of his human creation who choose of their own free will to follow God and obey his commands by faith.  Not only did God create us but he has also told us why.  There are certain things he wants out of us.  This may not be an exhaustive list but it comes close to being a good summary.

God wants man's love.  "'And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'  This is the first commandment." (Mark 12:30 NKJV)

God also wants man to love his fellow man.  "'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Mark 12: 31 NKJV)

This love God desires of man demands obedience to God.  "If you love me, keep my commandments." (John 14:15 NKJV)  "'He who does not love me does not keep my words.'" (John 14:24 NKJV)

God wants man to have faith in him.  "But without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him." (Heb. 11:6 NKJV)

God desires man's worship.  "'But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth; for the father is seeking such to worship him.  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.'" (John 4:23-24 NKJV)  Note the phrase "the father is seeking such to worship him" thus God desires that of man.  "'You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only you shall serve.'" (Matt. 4:10 NKJV) 

God desires that man glorify him in both body and spirit.  "For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." (1 Cor. 6:20 NKJV)  The great sin of the Gentiles that Paul talks about in Romans 1 was that "although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful." (Rom. 1:21 NKJV)

To glorify God demands that man treat God as God which means, among other things, reverence, thanksgiving, and giving praise to his name.  It demands a holy and reverent life of faithful obedience from a humble and a thankful heart.  It has to be from the heart.  It must be that my heart drives me to it.

Perhaps we could add to this list but I think for the most part everything that God desires of us could be put in one or the other of the above categories I have listed.  God wants our love, our faith, our obedience, our worship, and our reverence or respect.  He wants to be treated like God and honored as such.

What is man that God is mindful of him?  Man is the creation of God's love and because of that love, God is mindful of him.  If God has loved us so much should we not reciprocate that love?  Does not our heart drive us to do so?  I hope we never harden our hearts against the love of God for that would be cruelty against one who cares for us.  In reference to God’s children the scripture declares “he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7 NKJV)  “He himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’” (Heb. 13:5 NKJV)  God is not willing that any perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).  Who could be so cruel as to harden his heart against such a God, our God?

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