My friend, I am so happy to welcome you to our Bible study. We are In Search of the Lord's Way. We believe the Bible is God's revelation of His way for our redemption-- and for the best way to live this life that mankind has ever known. Thank you for joining us. We pray we will all be blessed by our study today.
You probably know we are presented here-- and nationally-- by cooperative efforts of more than a thousand churches of Christ-- and several thousand members, individually and personally. And since you are interested in religious matters, you probably know also that many religious groups are struggling today with discord within their own belief systems. You hear about some of it in your radio news casts and you see reports of it in the TV evening news. And only a few days ago, it made headlines in the Religion Section of the Oklahoman, our state's largest newspaper. It seems that one of the old line denominations was trying to heal some of the wounds that were created by differences over some moral issue they had. Several of you have mailed me copies of some of those reports in national magazines even. Such strife is over major moral-- and sometimes doctrinal issues like abortion, the gay lifestyle, approval of same-sex marriages, women in church leadership roles, worship styles--"contemporary worship" as opposed to "traditional worship forms"-- and, well, many other things. It would surprise you, I’m sure, if I denied that sort of thing prevails also among churches of Christ, wouldn't it? Well, I won't do that. I can't do it. I would like for it not to be so, but it is so among us, too.
Most of, if not all of that is due to methods of interpretation of the Scripture. And that is what our study will be about today. If you think you might want a free printed copy or a free CD or a free audio cassette tape of the program today, simply address your request to In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. Our e-mail address is searchtv@searchtv.org. Or you may use our toll-free telephone number to request it. That number is 1-800-321-8633. Ken Helterbrand will lead us now as we sing. Then I will be back for Bible reading and prayer-- and then eventually the lesson.
Our scripture reading today is found in the book of Hebrews and it is the first four verses. “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.” Now let us go to God in prayer. Our Father in heaven, we are so thankful to You that You are still speaking to us today; and that just as everything else is in the book of Hebrews that you have spoken to us in a far better way than you have spoken to men in the past. You have given us your message and your word and we are thankful, Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Almost 20 years ago, in August 1987, the Speaker of the State House of Representatives in Oklahoma caused a state-wide debate of sorts when he tried to prove the legality of his use of the state's airplane for commuting between his home in Eastern Oklahoma and the State Capitol in Oklahoma City. He reasoned that the law said nothing about the Speaker's use of the aircraft; therefore, it authorized it. He pointed to the governor's use of the plane, and he reasoned with all the responsibilities of the Speaker of the House that he should have the privilege, too. The law said nothing about anybody's use of the plane other than the governor. Was the Speaker right in his interpretation of the law? The law didn't specifically forbid any Oklahoman its use. So maybe with that reasoning, I, having been born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, could have used the state owned aircraft for my travels, too. What do you think of that? Such argument is absurd, isn't it? I have mentioned it only to illustrate the conflicts that sometimes arise in interpretation of the Bible. It is like the Supreme Court's decision on Roe v Wade. Since the First Amendment to our Constitution is totally silent about a woman's right to an abortion if she chooses, it gives her that right. And on that reasoning that became the law of the land.
Well, there are those who interpret the Bible that way. Since the Bible doesn't specifically forbid some things, many things, as a matter of fact-- well, I will just give a specific example. Some churches-- some people in some churches-- believe and teach that since the Bible nowhere says, "You shall not worship with guitars, keyboards, drums and other forms of mechanical music," their use of them in their worship has biblical approval. Others believe just as strongly that since the New Testament is totally silent about the use of mechanical music in Christian worship, they are not authorized by the Lord as acceptable in His worship. The issue is very much like the Speaker of the House of Representative's attempt to justify his use of the state-owned airplane because the law didn't specifically forbid the same. Isn’t that the same reasoning?
The early 15th Century reformer Martin Luther embraced that interpretation, too-- not specifically about instrumental accompaniment, I’m sure, but to worship in "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs" particularly, but in interpretation of the Scriptures about anything. So it is nothing all that new in religion, you see. Luther held the view that we can have and do in religion anything that isn't expressly forbidden in the Scripture. Ulrich Zwingli was a contemporary with Luther, and was actually said to be more "thorough-going" in the reforms that he advocated. Pike's Encyclopedia of Religion and Religions also says of Him that he "insisted more strongly [than Luther even] on the supreme authority of the Bible." And Zwingli was committed to preaching "nothing but what he could prove from the Scriptures, as the only rule of faith and practice." That is a quote from Schaff’s History of the Christian Church, Vol. VIII, p. 40. According to the encyclopedia that I quoted, it is Zwingli from whom the "Reformed Churches" in America still draw much of their encouragement and support. And Luther, of course, was the father of the denomination that bears his name today. So, is the silence of the Scriptures permissive or prohibitive? To ask it another way: could God's silence be permissive at times and prohibitive at other times? If so, how are we to know the difference? Well, that's the task before us today.
Our very first essential then in such a situation must be, please notice, love of the truth. Second Timothy 2, verse 15 says God's word, Scripture, is truth. We must value God's word above every other word. In Proverbs 23:23, God says, "Buy the truth and sell it not." The price of truth is beyond our ability to estimate, friend. The absence of "truth" in any relationship renders that relationship paralytic. That is why a witness in a court of law is sworn (or he promises) to "tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth." Christians, of all people, should value truth very, very highly and earnestly seek it. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verses 9 and 10 God says, "The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved." Now in spite of the fact that modern thought is to the contrary, there is such a thing as absolute truth; and God's children must develop a love for that truth. Without it, even the child of God cannot be saved. "Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17).
Secondly, we must love one another. First Peter chapter 2, verses 15 to 17 says, "This is the will of God (the will of God. What is the will of God? This is the will of God) that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men-- as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood...." (Oh, I love that word "brotherhood!" The church of Jesus Christ is the great brotherhood of Christians.) "Love the brotherhood." Well, if Christians "love the brotherhood,” they will not drive out from among themselves some of the brothers with some kind of teaching or social or cultural adaptations of the church, which are admittedly "non-salvation issues" with them. On the other hand, if a person really does love the brotherhood, he will not drive out some of those with needless contentions and quarrels over mere personal likes or dislikes. The apostle Paul wrote the Christians at Corinth about relationships in times of their troubles. He said, "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful (King James says expedient, not all things are expedient, even though they are lawful); all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify (or build up)" (1 Corinthians 10:23).
With those thoughts as a preface or as an introduction, let's notice first that God's silence may sometimes be prohibitive and sometimes permissive. Now, what do I mean by that? No, I'm not being compromising. Please follow me closely now. I think you will agree with me if you will do that. A mother says to her fourteen-year-old daughter, "I'm preparing a cake for dinner and I'm out of milk. Would you run out to the market (a block away) right quickly and get me a half gallon of milk? I don't have anything smaller than this twenty dollar bill; but you may use as much as a dollar of that change for a treat for yourself for helping me, and bring back to me what is left." Well, her first request was both specific and restrictive, wasn't it? The daughter is to get a half-gallon of milk. If she returns with a half-gallon of milk, a bottle of vanilla, a dozen eggs and three oranges, why did she do that? She was not told specifically to buy a half-gallon of milk and all those other things in addition. She was told only to buy the half-gallon of milk. Why would she buy more than she was told? The second part was permissive. Though she might have seen a sign over a candy counter and she got hungry for the candy and she was allowed to spend part of that. She saw that sign that said, "Three candy bars for a dollar," so she bought them-- three Baby Ruth bars for a dollar. Well, Mother didn't say specifically buy candy; she didn’t say buy fruit or buy cookies for your trouble. She could choose whatever she wanted; just keep it within the dollar. So she chose candy.
When God speaks prohibitively, it is the whole duty of man to "keep silence before Him." Habakkuk chapter 2, verse 20 declares that to be so. There are many, many examples of it. I won't have the time to mention but two or three, possibly another; we will have to see.
One of the most-used and simple examples that comes to my mind is God's command to Noah to build an ark. He said, "Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. And this is how you shall make it. The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits (that would be 450 feet or about); its width fifty cubits (or 75 feet); and its height thirty cubits (or about 45 feet)." That is Genesis 6, verses 14 and 15. Had Noah disobeyed God and built the ark of another kind of wood or, to other dimensions, he would have been in disobedience to God. Such disobedience to God's specific command is considered "rebellion" (1 Samuel 15:23 in the King James Version). In that sense then, God's command to Noah to build an ark was "prohibitive." Noah must not build the ark of any kind of wood but gopher wood. OK?
But notice now that God also said, "...make rooms in the ark." How many rooms, God? He didn't say. What size are these rooms to be? God didn't specify that. Must all the rooms, well, be the same size? God didn't say. So, God permitted Noah to choose to build a large room for the elephants if that is what he decided to do and a much smaller room for the chimpanzees. In doing so Noah would not have been in disobedience.
Another example of such a command of God is in the New Testament book of Mark chapter 16, verses 15 and 16. After He had proven Himself to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead (Romans 1 and 4), Jesus said to the apostles, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned." The command is fourfold: "Go-- preach the gospel-- to every creature-- baptize." It isn't a choice to go or not to go. It is a direct command to "preach." There is a difference between a speech and a sermon. And if you don't know the difference, you don't need to be in the pulpit. The message is to be "the gospel, not stories and fables and fairy tales for amusement and laughter or the applause of men. The original word for "baptize" simply means to immerse or to plunge. Therefore, the command to "baptize" is a specific command which forbids sprinkling. The person who is being baptized must be a believer; therefore, the command does not authorize the baptism of babies and other unbelievers. But, Christ was not as prohibitive about how to "go." We may go two-by-two up and down the streets. Or, we might go by the sail boat or as they did in those days or by steam ship to lands beyond the sea. Or, we may go into millions of homes with a gospel message by TV or radio or the printed page. "Older women" must teach the "younger women" (Titus 2:34); in their own homes they may do it or, but they must teach the younger women and they are commanded to do that, and they may do it in their homes or they may do it in the church-owned property in a room provided. We have no choice but to do it; but we have choices in how and where we may do it. God says in His word: "Pure religion undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world" (James 1:27). That is a specific teaching of God. Christians have no choice about doing it. To not do it constitutes disobedience to God. God says in James 4:13, "To him that knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." But God didn't specify "how" to do it. Some of us have taken homeless children into our homes to bring them up in the teaching and admonition of the Lord. Some have taken more of them than others. Still others may build a facility for caring for a much larger number of the elderly or the widowed or the orphans and arrange for a faithful Christian servant to assist them. In the how and how many God has been permissive. You have been kind to listen to me. Don't go away. I have a very important conclusion, yet. Let us pray. Holy Father, thank You for your blessings upon us and for your teaching in your word. Help us to apply it as you would have us do so. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Churches of Christ are known for striving to speak where the Bible speaks and remaining silent where the Bible is silent. It has been our purpose here today to explain "why," and “how,” and to lay a foundation for some teaching in upcoming messages-- not necessarily immediately, though. Sometimes God speaks prohibitively; and where He speaks thusly, Christians have to obey or be found in disobedience and sin. That would be alienation of themselves from God and his redeemed body, the church.
Sometimes God speaks permissively. And in such cases we do have choices. Ways and means of doing specific teachings may differ, and God loves us all. However, because a Christian loves the truth and because he loves the brotherhood, he does not legislate his personal choices as God's law and thereby alienate others who have also been redeemed by the blood of Jesus.
We are glad you were with us. We pray you have been blessed by the study. Be with us again next week, will you, at the same time? God bless you now. We love you.
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