Here I go again, sitting at my desk, tapping away on the keyboard, watching as these words scroll across the screen. Another week, another article to write…but about what? Every week for the past year, I have submitted an article here, plus I write one every week for the bulletin at the Main Street Church of Christ in Lockney, not to mention new episodes for my online story on Kindle. And this is nothing new; I have written for newspapers, magazines, poetry anthologies, and even squeezed out a few books. But sometimes I sit here in front of the computer and cannot think of a thing to write…I guess that is what they call “writer’s block.”
As Christians, sometimes we fall into a similar rut. ‘Go to Church’ every Sunday and repeat the same motions through the same old service format. Sit in Bible class only half listening at best as our mind wanders to a hundred different thoughts, most of which have little to do with our pursuit of righteousness. Week after week, month after month, year after year, we muddle through our Christian walk, growing less and less conscious and nearly never giving it a thought. Eventually, we reach a state of apathy where we truly no longer care. We do not care any longer about truth and keeping to exactly what the Bible teaches about various doctrines and sometimes even the gospel itself. We have grown quite numb in our contentment to just go with the flow of whatever denominational traditions we have been sold…after all, to care otherwise would require one to take personal responsibility for their own soul and expend the energy to truly study the Bible deeply to gain perfect clarity on what is right or wrong and then equipped with such knowledge we would be required to take some form of action or a least own up to simply being okay with being wrong.
While there was a time long ago that ignorance of the truth and not conforming to it accurately was overlooked by God, that time is long past as Paul proclaimed on Mars Hill as recorded in Acts 17:30, “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent…” What does one repent of if it is not repenting of being wrong? We often think of repentance in terms of arduous sin and not inaccurate doctrines. But sin is simply disobedience, not doing what has been instructed the way in which it was instructed.
In what has been labeled as the great commission, the risen Savior commanded His apostles to get busy building the Church…aka making disciples. Note carefully what is spoken by Jesus as recorded by Matthew in Matthew 28:18-20.
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
While there is a lot that could be unpacked and discussed from this section of scripture, note what I bolded and underlined; the marching orders given to the apostles included passing on to those who were becoming disciples through the process of baptism all that Jesus had commanded with regards to His Church, which these individuals would be added to.
As the apostles began to execute this directive given to them by Jesus, one can see what Jesus instructed being followed. At the end of the first gospel sermon after the ascension of Christ, we read in Acts 2:41-42a this record recorded by Luke; “Then those who gladly received his word were baptized, and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine…” Verse 46 of this same section informs us that they were meeting daily. Thus, learning true, accurate doctrine from the apostles who had been instructed in them by Christ Himself was an immediate focus for those who were becoming disciples of Christ.
Many years later, when Paul was writing to the Christians at Corinth, he made the following statement in 1 Corinthians 4:17 regarding the reason for sending Timothy to them. “For this reason, I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every congregation.” Based on the Biblical account of the spread of the early Church, Paul is responsible for the vast majority of congregations planted throughout the region running from Jerusalem all the way to Rome and even possibly Spain. And from his statement above, one can understand that he taught each of them the exact same ways rooted in Christ, and considering much of what he discusses in both of the Corinthian letters, this included the doctrines that govern the Church and that most denominations dispute today.
Since it is very clear from the messages to the seven congregations in Asia Minor recorded in Revelation chapters two and three that an entire congregation can be removed from the Lord’s presence…the imagery of the lampstand being removed from where He walks in their midst…each of us must take personal responsibility to vigorously search the scriptures to determine if we and the congregation we are attending is walking in the ways of Christ and standing firmly and accurately in His doctrines. Ignorance and denial, and apathy will not make you a servant of the Lord who is acceptable and pleasing to God. Thus, the admonishment Paul gave to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15 and it’s inspired truth which has been preserved by God to this day in His Holy Word, speaks the same admonishment to each of us.
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the Word of Truth.
The bottom line is simple…given any area of doctrine, you are either right or you are wrong…you are either dead center of the bullseye or inaccurate. The only way to be sure is, to be honest with yourself as you take an honest, deep look into the Word of Truth.
(Carl Hartman is the Minister at Main Street Church of Christ in Lockney)
