What Do You Say?

            It is 11PM on September 10, 2013 as I am writing this article for our bulletin.  I wrote most of an article yesterday and I was going to finish it up today after dinner and have it ready for Wednesday night.  However, Becca said something to me, reminding me that Wednesday was going to be the twelfth anniversary of 9/11.  At that point, I immediately stopped what I was doing, sat down and began writing another article in the hope of interest by relevance.  That was two hours ago.  In that time, I did manage to write one article on the topic but, to be frank, it was impressively horrible, even by my own standards.  Finally, in frustration, I threw up my hands and asked the rhetorical question to myself: what do you say about 9/11 that hasn’t already been said a thousand times to the point where it seems like nothing more than a trite cliché? 

            It was during the contemplation of this question that I realized something: everything worth saying has already been said by much smarter people in much better ways.  And, that is when I realized something else: it didn’t matter if those things had been said a million times; if they needed to be said, then I need to say them.  It doesn’t matter that it’s been said a million times that the attack was evil and horrible.  It doesn’t matter that it’s been said a million times that the reaction of good people was amazing and wonderful.  It doesn’t matter; those things need to be said and repeated and repeated and repeated by those of us who still have a voice today.

            With that said, let me ask you this question: do you ever find yourself wondering what to say to someone who is lost in their sins because they are outside of Jesus Christ or because they are in unrepentant sin?  If you are anything like me (and, in this regard, I imagine that you are), then you’ve struggled with coming up with a different way to preach the Gospel of God’s Grace. 

            Friends, there is some flawed thinking in that and I’ll tell you why.  Jesus Christ is the same today as He was yesterday and will be the same into eternity (Hebrews 13:8).  Jesus doesn’t change and neither does His message.  The Gospel is about Man’s sin and the inevitable consequence of that sin, eternal separation from God (Romans 3:23; Isaiah 59:2; Romans 6:23a; Revelation 21:8).  The Gospel is about Man’s need for forgiveness and God’s willingness to give it (2 Peter 3:9; John 3:16; Ephesians 2:1-9; Romans 5:6-11).  The Gospel is about God giving Jesus to die on the cross as the perfect sacrifice which atones for all sin (Hebrews 9-10).  The Gospel is about Jesus raising from the dead to prove His victory over death (1 Corinthians 15:3-4, 56-57).  The Gospel is about Him ascending to the right hand of the Throne of God to reign over His Kingdom, the Church He built and purchased with His own blood (Acts 2:29-36; 1 Timothy 6:15; Matthew 16:18-19; Acts 20:28).  The Gospel is the Lord’s invitation to all of those who are lost in their sins to come and be found by God in Christ by humbly answering the invitation (Romans 6; Acts 2:38-47).  This is the same message which was taught on Pentecost (Acts 2), at the Temple (Acts 3), by Stephen (Acts 6-7), by Philip (Acts 8), to and by Paul (Acts 9), to Cornelius (Acts 10), and all throughout the New Testament and all throughout the world.  The message is the same and it is just as powerful today as it was the first time it was preached (Romans 1:16-17).

            My point is this: when we try to do something in a different way, we make it about us instead of about it.  This goes for 9/11 and this goes for the Gospel.  What the world needs is plain speaking, especially when it comes to the Gospel of God’s amazing grace.  So, let us plain speakers of this greatest of messages (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16).  May we pray for more laborers (Matthew 9:38) and for more open doors (Colossians 4:3) and may the Lord be glorified in what we say (1 Corinthians 10:31)!

 

~Curtis Carwile

Three Types of People

            It is very possible that you have heard that there are two types of people in the world (i.e., those who like Neil Diamond and those who don’t, those with loaded guns and those who dig, those who like Animaniacs and those who don’t, those who lie and those who lie about not lying, those who finish their sentences and those who…).  This is a very popular way to view the world because it allows us to place the people around us into nice little boxes without very much effort.  It also allows us to view people as one or two dimensional characters on a page (that is, not as real people, but as caricatures of who they really are) which makes it very easy for us.  And, since it is totally based on what we believe is important, we feel good by doing it.

            Now, please, do not get me wrong; I am NOT saying that doing this is a bad thing.  As a matter of fact, we NEED to do this because it is impossible to view everybody as the FIVE-dimensional people that we all are.  And, to prove that it is not wrong to do this, I encourage to you read what Jesus Himself on the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:13-27.  All that I am saying is that there are, in fact, more than two types of people in this world; in reality, there are three types of people.  And, Jesus discusses all three types of people in the Sermon on the Mount.

            The first type of person is the one who hears the words of Jesus and does what He says to do.  In Matthew 7:24-25, Jesus likens the person who hears and does what He says to a wise man who will endure through all of the storms of life.  Ultimately, this type of person is the only type of person who will be happy in this life and in the life to come, despite whatever hardships he may face (Matthew 5:1-12; 6:24-34; 7:13-14).

            The next type of person is the one who hears the words of Jesus and simply rejects what He says and does not do what Jesus says.  Instead, that type of person does what he wants to do.  In Matthew 7:26-27, Jesus likens this person to a foolish man who cannot survive, despite how well things seem to be going at a particular moment.  This type of person will suffer and worry about the wrong things (Matthew 6:24-34), he will hate and oppress his fellow man (Matthew 5:21-48), and ultimately, in his rebellion to the King, he will meet his eventual destruction (Matthew 7:13-14).

            The last type of person is possibly the saddest.  He is the one who hears the words of Jesus and does some of them.  The Sermon on the Mount (among other things) is about the hypocrisy of many of the religious leaders, such as the Scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 5:20; 5:21-6:18).  This is the type of person who, despite his claim of being the first type of person, is more like the second type of person than he would ever believe.  Jesus called people like this “hypocrites” (Matthew 7:5).  Unfortunately, this type of person will meet the Lord in Judgment and will feign (?) surprise and indignation when he hears the truth about his hypocrisy, that it was damnable sin (Matthew 7:21-23).

            While there are three types of people in this world, the only type of person any of us should be is the first type, the one who hears the words of Jesus and faithfully does them with all of our hearts.  So, let us be this type of people and never the rebellious fool or the self-righteous hypocrite.  And, let God bless us in this earnest endeavor.

~Curtis Carwile

Shine Brightly!

            In James 1:17, we read this: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of Lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”  James calls God “the Father of Lights.”  The reason why He is called this is because, simply put, He IS light.  In Revelation 21:23, John tells us about Heaven and how “The City has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it.  The Lamb is its light.”  And, since Christians are to be “sons of light” (1 Thessalonians 5:5), we have the responsibility to put on “the armor of light” (Romans 13:12) and “walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8) meaning that we are to live our lives according to His Holy Word (Psalm 119:1-5, 130).  We are to shine as lights in every aspect of our lives so that the world which is lost in the darkness of its sins will see the light of Jesus and glorify the Father of Lights who is in Heaven (Matthew 5:14-16).

            One additional thing we need to understand about all of this is that, while God’s light never varies (James 1:17), ours does from time to time; There are times when we shine as bright as the sun and, then, there are other times when we flicker or dim or go out altogether.  So, with all of that said, the question is this: what causes this variation in us?  What causes our lights to flicker or dim?  And, while there are a wide variety of things which can affect our light, I will mention just three.

            First, immodest apparel will effectively dim our lights.  Again, as Christians, we are to be different from the world; this is what being “saints” and being “holy” means (1 Peter 1:16)!  We are to be set apart from the world to God.  The way we present ourselves needs to reflect this.  Though given to women, the command is to adorn ourselves in modest apparel, in a way which professes godliness (1 Timothy 2:9-10; 1 Peter 3:3-4).  The way we present ourselves (specifically, in our dress) needs to draw attention to the Creator (God) and not to His creation (us) (Romans 1:24-25).  Likewise, our dress needs to not suggest anything immoral or indecent, but only that which promotes godliness.  It is a sad fact that too many (and one is too many) Christians purposely dim their Christian lights so that they can dress in a “trendy” or in a “cute” way so that they can look just like the world instead of looking like Christians.  And, when that happens, how can the world tell the difference between those claiming godliness and the rest of the world?  So, brethren, let us never present ourselves (or let our children present themselves) in any sort of hypocritical way, but only as those professing godliness with our whole beings (Romans 12:1-2)!

            Second, foul language will greatly affect the brightness of our lights.  As Christians, our speech is to be a beautifully woven tapestry of praise and thanksgiving (Hebrews 13:15), of truth and love (Ephesians 4:15), of evangelism and edification (Matthew 28:19-20; Ephesians 4:29), of wisdom and grace (Colossians 3:5-6), of meekness and tenderness (2 Timothy 2:24-26; Ephesians 4:32).  When we speak as we are supposed to, we brightly shine as lights in this dark world because this is not how the world speaks.  Yet, when we speak as the world speaks (that is, with bitterness, malice, wrath, profanity, with coarse-jesting, gossip, slander, and the like), we purposefully dim our lights to where the world cannot see the light of Jesus in us.  So, let us never speak like the fool (or allow our children to do so), but speak as the wise lights we are called to be.

            Third, evil companions will cause our lights to dim.  As Christians, we are to associate with other Christians (Acts 2:46).  Admittedly, that is not to say that we cannot have association with those who are not Christians (1 Corinthians 5:10); even Jesus sat and ate with “tax collectors and sinners” (Matthew 9:11).  So, I am definitely not suggesting that we sequester ourselves away from the world.  Yet, we are to be very wary of worldly relations.  In First Corinthians 15:33, Paul said that “evil company corrupts good habits.”  Another way of putting it might be “friendship with those who care nothing about God will influence you for the worst.”  If we are to remain righteous before the Lord, we need to “choose [our] friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads [us] astray” (Proverbs 12:26).  And, “friendship with fools” will lead to a person’s destruction (Proverbs 13:20).  James states all of this very plainly when he says that “friendship with the world is enmity with God” (James 4:4).  The point is this: evil companions will influence us to purposely dim our lights.  So, let us never be “the companion of fools” or have friendship with the world (or encourage our children to do so).  But, as Christians, let us always shine brightly to those in the world with whom we have contact so that their sins might be exposed and that they might glorify the Lord by turning from those sins and by turning to the Lord.

            We are to be lights in this world darkened by sin.  If we look and speak and act like the world around us, then how will they see our lights (assuming that it has not already gone out) and glorify God by coming to Him in humble, faithful submission to His will?  They can’t, at least, not because of us.  So, let us shine brightly by dressing so as to bring attention to God, by speaking as to direct people to God, and by behaving as to bring people to God.  And, may the Father of Lights bless us always in this endeavor!

~Curtis Carwile

"There Is Born To You"

            Earlier this week, William and Kate were blessed with a baby boy.  When someone told me about it, I believe that I said something like, “Oh, well, that’s nice.  I didn’t know they were even expecting... Who are William and Kate again?  Did I go to college with them?”  In case you are like me and have been living under a rock for the last “however-long,” we’re talking about Prince William of England and his wife Kate Middleton and their newborn child who will one day be the king of England.  And, considering the lack of monarchs today, this is truly a momentous event and a time of great rejoicing for all nations.

            Since the new prince was born, we have been bombarded with pictures and stories about it on television, in the newspapers, and on the internet.  People feel the need to share this good news.  And, it gives the world a very rare opportunity to rejoice together.

            I imagine that you all are like me and, when you heard that a new king was born, that your minds went straight to Luke 2 and the birth of THE King, Jesus.

            Oh, how His birth was different than the new prince of Cambridge!  While this new prince was born in a reserved hospital room to royal parents and greeted by the whole world, while this new prince doesn’t even have a name yet, Jesus’ birth was very different.  While Jesus was born to two loving parents, His earthly parents had not even “known” each other yet (Matthew 1:18-25).  While born to descendants of King David (Matthew 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-38), Jesus was not born to royal parents, but to a lowly carpenter (Matthew 13:55) and his young wife.  Jesus was not born in an “important” place, but the sleepy little town of Bethlehem (Luke 2:4-7).  He had no reserved place or hospital bed, but a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.  And, while this new prince doesn’t even have a name yet, Jesus was given His name by God: Immanuel which is “God with us” and Jesus which is “God saves” (Matthew 1:21-23).  And, while the world greeted this new prince, only lowly shepherds came to greet their newborn King (Luke 2:15-16).  Truly, there are some pretty big differences between the births of these two kings.

            With all of these differences, there is one greatest of all differences.  This newborn prince will inherit the throne and he will affect the course of western civilization for the next eighty-or-so years.  But, as is the case with all men, he will pass from this life and another will take his throne.  Jesus took His Throne after defeating humanity’s two greatest foes, Sin and Death (1 Corinthians 6, 15; Hebrews 2, 9-10); He ascended into Heaven to sit at the right hand of the Throne of God (Acts 2:32-36).  And, two thousand years later, Jesus is still sitting on His Throne, ruling over His eternal Kingdom forevermore (Daniel 7:13-14, 26-27)!  His Kingdom will not be passed to another.  Rather, at the appropriate time, it will be delivered to the Father in Heaven where those in it will be with our King and our God in eternity (1 Corinthians 15:23-28). 

            While this newborn prince will be a king of an earthly realm one day, Jesus is the King of all kings, over all mankind (1 Timothy 6:13-16) and, especially, over His eternal Kingdom, His Church (Matthew 16:18-19)!

            So, while we rejoice with the world at the birth of this new prince, let us all always remember the One who is reigning over us today and forevermore.  And, let us all always honor, magnify, and serve our King as long as we have life (Colossians 3:23)!

~Curtis Carwile

Driving Home In The Rain

             As I was walking out of the church building after services last Wednesday night, it started to drizzle.  And, in the thirty yards from the front door to my car door, it was pouring down torrential rain.  So, I got in the car, buckled myself in, started the car up, and took off for home.  I have to admit, I was eager to get home.  Not only had I been at the building all day, but my little boy was home sick with a cold and I really wanted to see him.  I was also thinking about how we were going to leave for Kentucky the next day and all the things I would have to do to get ready for that.  Well, by the time I got to the end of the church’s driveway, my windshield wipers going at top speed, making a ridiculous racket; huge droplets of rain were pummeling my car, sounding like a thrash drummer was performing on the roof of my car.  Now, I hate driving in the rain; it makes me nervous.  So, I turned on the stereo to make some of the noise enjoyable.  This, of course, was the moment that the phone rang.  And, while I was talking to the person on the other end of the line, over all of the commotion, I heard my stomach growl.  I got about a mile down the road when I just said, “This is ridiculous.”  So, I told the person on the phone that I had to go, I turned off the stereo and, despite all the other noises, I put all other thoughts out of my head and concentrated on getting home.  And, about twenty minutes later, as the rain was stopping, I pulled into my driveway.

            Now, why did I tell you all of that?  It wasn’t to fill space or to tell a somewhat amusing story.  Rather, it was to illustrate a very important point.

            While we all have physical homes here on earth, where we long to be at the end of the day, there is a greater Home awaiting us at the end of the day of our lives.  That Home is Heaven.  When Jesus ascended back into Heaven, He fulfilled His promise to His disciples to prepare a place for them in His Father’s House (John 14:2).  This is what God Himself has prepared for those who love Him (1 Corinthians 2:7-9).  This is the true Home of all who have called on His name with thanksgiving and who have become His saints through faith-filled baptism (Acts 2; Philippians 3:20-21).  This Home is a place of beauty and of peace (Revelation 21-22).  And, while our earthly homes age and decay, our heavenly Home never will (2 Corinthians 5:1).  This is the Home we desire (Hebrews 11:16).  This is the Home we seek (Hebrews 13:14) and faithfully march towards every day (Philippians 3:12-16).

            And, while this is the case, on our way Home, there are many distractions.  We can be distracted by a number of things like what’s going on in the political world or the weather or what’s happening in the wild world of sports.  We can be distracted by our failing health or the failing health of a loved one.  We most certainly can be distracted by financial issues.  Really, anything can be a distraction, making it more difficult for us to get Home safely.

            Well, when we are faced with distractions, what should we do?  First, we need to realize that things are distracting us (Mark 4:18-19).  Second, we need to refocus on our goal, Heaven (Hebrews 11:9-10, 14-16).  And, third, we need to get rid of every distraction that we can (Hebrews 12:1-2).  I understand that it is simple to say for us to do these things, but going Home really will be easier if we do these things.  So, let us walk the narrow way Home, joyfully encouraging one another to do these things as we go.

~Curtis Carwile

Sight

I would like to begin this article by thanking the Manslick Road Church of Christ for inviting me to come and do the adult class for their annual vacation Bible school.  We had great participation from the adults as well as the kids all week long.  I hope that a lot of good will come out of the work done last week.  I know it will.  I would also like to thank the congregation here at Northwest for allowing me the time to go and do that.  I am thankful to Chris for stepping up and taking my place last week.  It is such a blessing for a congregation to have not just men capable of doing the work, but men willing to do the work.  Praise the Lord for men like that!  I am very thankful for a number of things from last week.  And, with that said, I would like to share one more of those things with you.

            It was about a quarter until 10AM last Friday when a man walked into the auditorium where we were about to do the last adult class for the week.  I immediately noticed that a man (who turned out to be his brother) was leading him through the building to their seats.  I didn’t notice the gigantic black seeing-eye dog until a little later.  They took their seats right in front of the podium I would be using and we started talking.  In that short conversation, I believe that I learned more about real faith than in a lifetime of study.  Even though he couldn’t see it, I cried at how beautiful his faith was.

            His name was Dave.  He was in his late forties or early fifties.  He had lost his sight in an accident several years ago.  He didn’t say much more about how he lost his sight, but he said some things related to it that just blew my mind.

            One thing he said to me was that losing his sight was one of the best things that could have ever happened to him.  I don’t know, maybe he sensed my skepticism, but he continued to tell me why it was such a blessing.  He told me that, since he lost his sight, he realized that he never has to worry about the “lust of the eyes” (1 John 2:15-17) anymore.  He told me that this was a huge struggle for him throughout his life and that he was so very thankful that the Lord took that struggle away from him.

            Another thing he said to me was that, since losing his sight, he has met people who he would never have met otherwise, people who were in similar situations both physically and spiritually.  As such, he was able to tell them about Jesus, about the One who had the power to make lame men walk, make the blind to see, and to even raise the dead to life everlasting (Matthew 11:5; 15:31).  And, as a result of that, several of them have come to church with him on a regular basis.

            One final thing of which I will relate to you is this: right before class started and our conversation ended, he said something that made me tear up.  He told me with tears in his own blind eyes that he was excited that the next thing he would see would be the Lord God Almighty welcoming him home.

            Friends, THIS is REAL faith!  REAL faith understands things beyond the physical world (Hebrews 11:1-3).  REAL faith causes a person to walk by their faith and not by their sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).  REAL faith brings other people to Jesus’ healing hands (Matthew 9:27-31).  REAL faith allows a person to hear those beautiful words spoken by the Lord in the Last Great Day: “Well done, good and faithful servant... Enter into the joy of your Lord” (Matthew 25:21, 23).

            How beautiful it is to see faith like this!  Let us all strive for a similar type faith!

~Curtis Carwile

Three Types of Sin

            By my estimation, there are three types of sins.  No, I am not talking about those discussed by John in First John 2:15-17 (i.e., the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life).  No, I am talking about a different three.

            The first type of sin I’m talking about is the type of sin we most often think about as being sin: rebellious sin.  This is where a person says, “You know, God, I know that You have told me to do this or not to do that, but I’m going to do what I want to do and that’s that.”  This is what Eve did in the Garden (Genesis 3:1-6).  This is what Nadab and Abihu did at Mount Sinai (Leviticus 10:1-3).  This is what all Israel did in the Wilderness (Numbers 13-14).  They knew the will of God and did something else.  And, so often, people are guilty of this sin.  We say, “God, I know You don’t want me to drink any amount of alcohol, but I’m going to do it any way” (1 Peter 4:1-7).  We say, “God, I know that You don’t want me to engage in any form of fornication or even to lust after a woman, but she is just so good-looking” (Hebrews 13:4; Matthew 5:28).  We say, “God, I know You tell me to love my brother/neighbor and forgive him, but You just don’t know what he has done to me.  So, I’m not going to do it” (Romans 12:10; Luke 10:25-37; Ephesians 4:32).  We know that things like this are sin and deserving of everlasting punishment (Romans 6:23; Revelation 20:14-15; 21:8; Matthew 25:41).  But, there are two other types of sin to go along with this one.

            Another type of sin is accidental sin.  What I mean by that is this: a person is going about their daily business and rather carelessly falls into sin.  This is what happened with Uzzah when he touched the Ark of the Covenant (2 Samuel 6:6-7).  He knew that he wasn’t supposed to touch it, but it was a knee-jerk reaction to stable the Ark.  Some people might argue that it wasn’t sin, but God called it an irreverent error; it was just as much of a sin as if he had intended to touch it because it violated God’s Law.  It is interesting that the Old Law even made this point, that an unintentional sin was still a sin and that the sinner was in need to the Lord’s forgiveness (Leviticus 4-5; Numbers 15).  And, how many people are guilty of this today?  An example of this in today’s life would be something like stubbing your toe in the middle of the night and accidentally letting a curse word come out of your mouth (Ephesians 4:29).  Another example would be speeding when you don’t exactly know what the speed limit is (Romans 13:1-7).  And, another example would be a man going to the store for milk and noticing an attractive young woman and then realizing that he has lusted in his heart (Matthew 5:28).  In none of these examples do people set out to sin; it was never their intention to sin.  But, they did.  And, each one is just as much of a sin as if they had intended to sin.

            And, a third type of sin is the sin that we don’t even know is a sin.  This is one of the many sins Judah was guilty of at the beginning of Josiah’s reign (2 Chronicles 34-35).  They people were sinning in various ways, but one way they were sinning was in not keeping proper Temple worship.  And, when Josiah learned of this sin for reading the Law for the first time, he tore his clothes because he knew that they had been sinning.  The same could be said today for those who are trying to worship God, but in ways in which they shouldn’t.  For example, many people are ignorant of the fact that God wants them to partake of the Lord’s Supper every first day of the week (Acts 20:6-7).  Also, many people are ignorant of the fact that the only way for the local congregation to receive funds is through the freewill offering of the saints on the first day of the week (1 Corinthians 16:1-2; 2 Corinthians 8-9).  And, many people are ignorant of the fact that God wants us to sing praises to Him with our heart (Ephesians 5:19).  And, because people are ignorant of the Lord’s will, they take the Lord’s Supper only once or twice a year and they raise funds through raffles and bazaars and they “worship” with mechanical instruments.  All of these things are sin, regardless of a person’s ignorance of God’s will, and are just as deserving of punishment as accidental and rebellious sins are (Ezekiel 18:20).

            Sin is sin regardless of whether you intended to cross the line or not, regardless of whether you even knew there was a line or not.  Therefore, let us know the will of the Lord (Ephesians 5:15-17), let us always be sober-minded (1 Peter 5:8), and let us always humbly submit our will to His (James 4:7-10).  May the Almighty and All-Wise God aid us in our endeavor to “perfect holiness” (2 Corinthians 7:1).

~Curtis Carwile