By Buddy Hanson
This week concludes our four-part IF series of questions designed to remind our Christian friends that they are unintentionally overlooking some duties they agree that they and all Christians should perform. We hope you’ve enjoyed these 21 “IF’s” and that you will send any “IF’s” you may have thought of as you read this series. If we receive enough for a Part Five, we’ll print them.
IF
Our Bible teachers don’t trust-in God’s sovereignty to bless the faithful presentation of His Word, and instead think that they must dumb-down their messages so they won’t offend listeners, and if they imagine that the only way to gain credibility and acceptance with non-Christians is to compromise God’s ethical standards by seeking to build a consensus with their false beliefs, then why should we waste another minute listening to such a perverted Gospel?
IF
We continue to refuse to include a variety of examples on how to apply the truths in our messages, how will learners be able to view their Bible as a perfect resource guide to living in a God-honoring manner, instead of merely accumulating more and more knowledge about God, with no clear idea about what to do with it? Won’t such messages result in their turning God’s meaningful truths for living into meaningless Christian clichés, whereby more and more Christians become good talkers about God, but poor walkers with Him?
IF
We really believe that “anyone who is in Christ is a new creation,” with his old motivations and behaviors gradually “passing away” because “all things have become new,” (2 Cor. 3.4-6) why is the typical 21st American church apparently not concerned that the lifestyles of so many of our Christian brothers and sisters are virtually identical to that of their non-Christian neighbors?
IF
“The eyes of the LORD” really “run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him” (2 Chronicles 16.9), what are you doing to merit His loyalty? The question is: “Do you believe in God’s Word enough to trust your lifestyle to its counsel?”
(Scripture quotes may be paraphrases)
Buddy Hanson is President of the Grace & Law Resource Center, which helps fellow Christians provide a visual model of what a redemptive world will someday look like by assisting them to re-suppose what they pre-suppose by interpreting the Bible in terms of our present days, instead of according to the last days. www.graceandlaw.com, 205.454.1442
To send in more IFs, contact Buddy Hanson at bhanson@graceandlaw.com. If enough are received, Hanson plans to incorporate them into a Part Five.
No comments:
Post a Comment