A NEWSLETTER FOR THE MEMBERS OF THE GREENWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST

VOLUME 4 NO. 47                                        January 20, 2008

Understanding The War

By Steve Niemeier

Paul tells Timothy in I Timothy 1:18, “This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare.”  In II Timothy 2:3 Paul tells him, “You therefore must endure the hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” Paul also instructs him in I Timothy 6:12 “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life.”  Then in Ephesians 6:11 Paul tells the Ephesians “Put on the whole armor of God that you might be able to stand against the wiles (schemes) of the devil.”

We see by these and other scriptures that we are in a war.  It is a spiritual warfare between God and Satan and we are the battleground.  Nowhere better is this displayed than in the Book of Job.  God is righteousness and Satan in unrighteousness.  There is no in between.  We stand with God or we stand with Satan.  In His teaching on the Mount, Jesus states in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon.”

My friend do we understand the war we are engaged in?  We cannot sit out this war because sitting it out in our minds is a victory for Satan.  Jesus plainly teaches us in Matthew 16:24-27 that we are to take up our cross and follow Him.  This displays action!  He states in John 14:6 that no one can come to God except through Him.  Coming to God takes action.  No action – no taking up our cross and coming to God through Jesus – no taking up our cross and coming to God through Jesus – means we are then on Satan’s side in this war!

Many who profess to be on God’s side in this war are fooling themselves.  James 1:26 teaches, “If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.”  In Matthew 15:8-9 Jesus teaches about those who draw near to God with their mouths but their hearts are far from God.  Those were worshipping in vain because of teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.  In other words, our speech and our actions we think that are on God’s side can actually place us a soldier of Satan because of our heart not being right with God.

Do we understand this war we are in?  When we take action by deeds or by speech that even though seem good and right we can actually be against God.  I Corinthians 13:1-10  Paul states this by telling us that even though we may do the right action if our thoughts (hearts) are not right then we are just as a clanging cymbal.  That is what Satan wants us to be – a clanging cymbal – doing actions falsely with a heart that is not right.  If we do this then we are a soldier of his.

As we read the letters sent to the churches of Asia in Revelation 2 & 3 we see warnings of those who are loveless, those who were compromising, those who were immoral, those who were just sitting (dead in their works) and those who were lukewarm.  These were ALL individuals who seemed to think they were faithful and strong soldiers of God through His Son Jesus!  Yet they were instructed to repent – why - because they were actually traitors who were serving Satan.

All need to understand the spiritual war that they are engaged in.  If we fully understand this war then we would understand the necessity to have ourselves outfitted with the proper armor and be on the side of righteousness (Eph. 6:10-18).

Adding To Our Faith – Virture

By Steve Niemeier

In II Peter 1:5-7 Peter gives us an outline of what we are constantly to be growing in.  He states we are to grow by giving all diligence to add to our faith these things.  The first one he talks about is virtue.  Yet, many of us may not understand what virtue does for us.  In researching the subject of virtue I came across an old lesson plan by Bobby Thompson that is simple but profound on what virtue does for the Christian.

The Christian needs virtue to:

1. Remain true to Christ --- Mathew 13:21; 16:24; 26:69-75.
2. Resist temptation --- James 1:13-15; 4:7; I Corinthians 10:13.
3. Put Christ first --- Matthew 6:33; Luke 9:57-62; 14:26-27.
4. Contend for the faith --- Jude 3; I Corinthians 16:13; Ephesians 6:10-18; I Peter 3:15.
5. To judge righteously --- John 7:24; Matthew 7:1-6; Romans 2:1-3; Matthew 5:7; Colossians 2:16.
6. Be faithful unto death --- Revelation 2:10; Matthew 10:22; II Timothy 4:6-8.

We need to understand that we need desire and determination to add virtue – I Peter 2:2; I Corinthians 2:2.

For the next few Sunday evenings we are going to be discussing the list of things that we are to add to our faith that we find in II Peter 2:5-8.  We must look at what Peter states in verses 8 and 9 of the second chapter.  If we abound in these things we are neither barren nor unfruitful but if we lack in them then we are shortsighted and have forgotten our cleansing of sins.