No. 22, February 1997

 

GOD’S BIRTHDAY GIFT TO HIS CHILDREN

 

            God’s birthday gift to His children is unusual as gifts go, such as one not knowing whether he or she has the gift. Or never unwrapping the gift to see just what it is. Or simply not wanting it, fearing its implications.

 

            I speak of course of the gift of the Holy Spirit which is promised to all those who believe in Christ and obey him in baptism, according to Acts 2:38 and other passages. It is an incontrovertible gift, a free gift from God, specifically referred to as “the promised Holy Spirit” in Eph. 1:13.

 

            When we are “born from above,” which is a better rendition than “born again,” we become new creatures in Christ. When we are “born of water and of the Spirit” (In. 3 :5) it is our spiritual birthday. We are newly-born babes in Christ, and we receive a birthday gift from God. It is for all who believe in Christ, repent of their sins, and are baptized for the remission of their sins “and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).

 

            It is not for a special few who receive “a second blessing” (not a biblical phrase) sometime later, perhaps after years of “seeking.” The idea of seeking or waiting or praying for the Spirit is not biblical. We do not have to wait for, plead for, seek after what is already a promised gift. We simply accept the gift by making a faithful response to the gospel.

 

            All of us, beginning on our birthday, “drink” of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12: 13), are “filled” with the Spirit (Eph. 5: 18), and “baptized” in the Spirit (Acts 1 :5). These are metaphors drink, filled, baptized - that mean we receive the Holy Spirit when we become Christians.

 

            The Spirit is a gift that we gladly accept and implement in our lives, or it is a gift that is ignored, neglected, or rejected and so lies dormant and useless. But it appears to be a gift, God being as gracious as He is, that can be claimed at anytime.

 

            Might we have this gift and not know it? It appears so, for to some Christians the apostle Paul wrote, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” (1 Cor. 6:19)

 

            Paul said the Spirit was in them but they didn’t know it! Their bodies were temples that housed the Spirit, but they didn’t realize it!

 

            Yes, of course, just as one can be rich and not know it, one can have the gift of the Holy Spirit and not know it. We’ve all heard of farmers who died dirt-poor who all along had gold or oil beneath their humble abode and never knew it, or poor folk who were heirs to great wealth but never aware of it. Such misfortune is insignificant when compared to the tragedy of having “the gift of the Holy Spirit” and yet living as a spiritual pauper.

 

            And the Spirit may be a gift that we don’t want, not really, even if we give lip-service to the idea. This is because with the gift comes the fruit (not fruits, plural), and we are not ready (we may even fear) to bear the fruit. The fruit is Christlikeness namely love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal. 5:22-23).

 

            Loving like Christ! Good like Christ! Kind like Christ! Gentle like Christ! These are the fruit of the Holy Spirit within us, once the gift is received.

 

            Do we really want such a gift? Do we really want to be like Jesus? Seriously, I mean? It is a gift with enormous implications, not unlike the gift of a crown that makes one the king. Many a prince or princess has donned the crown with great trepidation.

 

            That is why the promised Holy Spirit is only for those who are truly born from above, and they only are prepared to receive it. Their hearts are made new. They have put to death the likes of pride, greed, selfishness, and they are ready for love, kindness, and “the meekness and gentleness of Christ.”

 

            This is why the modern church is the greatest mission field in the world, for it is made up of many who are only marginally devoted to Christ and who are bereft of the fruit of the Spirit.

 

            The Holy Spirit’s mission is to the church, to conform believers more and more into the image of Christ. How tragic that such a rich and precious gift so often goes unclaimed and unwanted! - Leroy

 

WORKS OF CARL KETCHERSIDE

 

            I have written an extended “Prefatory Essay” for the 12 volume edition of The Works of Carl Ketcherside, which is to be published this spring. They will include virtually all of Carl’s writings since 1957, and some from earlier years, including his autobiography and all of Mission Messenger for those years. These will be beautiful, matching, hardbound volumes running several hundred pages. The pre-publication price of $185.00, postpaid, is possible only because the project was underwritten by interested parties. It is not too early to place your order with us, and you need not send a check now.

 

WARTS AND ALL

 

            Oliver Cromwell, the brilliant British soldier who became in 1658 the Lord Protector of England, must have been a special kind of person. A unique chap, as the British would say. He must be the only person in history who refused a crown when it was offered to him. He in fact staged a revolution that dissolved the monarchy for a time. When the reigning king, Charles I, offered resistance Cromwell said, “We will cut off his head with the crown upon it.” And so he did.

 

            Cromwell also had his quarrel with the established church over its intolerance of dissenters. “I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, to consider that you may be mistaken,” he wrote to the church authorities. Once he ruled the British Empire as a dictator he provided freedom of religion for all - except the Roman Catholics!

 

            When the great painter Horace Walpole did a portrait of Cromwell, he considered it judicious to remove all pimples, warts, and roughness from the Protector’s face. When Cromwell saw Walpole’s handiwork, he growled out those words that have lived on: “Paint me as I am, warts and all!”

 

            Perhaps he was trying to be true to one of his rules of life, “A few honest men are better than numbers.” He was saying that if his likeness was to be placed upon canvass for posterity let it be an honest one.

 

            Not many of us are likely to be Cromwellian in this sense. When folk look at us we had just as soon that they not see our blemishes. These are, after all, the days of cosmetic surgery. A plastic surgeon can give one not only a facelift but even a tummy tuck!

 

            Walpole had a virtue that Cromwell may have missed. It was grace. Yes, the warts were there, the painter realized, but why not be wart-blind? Another Englishman, the poet Alexander Pope, put it this way in his “Universal Prayer”: “Teach me to feel another’s woe/To hide the fault I see/That mercy I to others show/That mercy show to me.” And in his love hymn we hear the apostle Paul say, “Love keeps no score of wrongs.”

 

            Perhaps it works the other way too. Like Cromwell, we are to see ourselves as we are, warts and all, and not indulge in self-deception. Another poet, the Scottish Bobby Bums, reminds us that it is very difficult “to see ourselves as others see us.” It is too painful for most of us, our blemishes being what they are. But Cromwell was right. We should do it, however painful. Repentance demands it and humility implies it.

 

            We escape such self-scrutiny by comparing ourselves to others. William Barclay tells the story of a man on a morning train into London who was impressed with the whiteness of a cottage against its drab background. The man returned in the evening after it had snowed all day, and he was startled to see how dingy the same cottage looked in its snow-white setting. How different it is when we compare ourselves to Christ rather than to each other!

 

            In viewing others, however, we should be more like Walpole and let love hide a multitude of sins, as the Bible puts it. Love sees others in the most favorable light, and it puts the best interpretation on what they do. We are gracious when we accept others as they are, unconditionally, warts and all. This we can do without approving of the warts, whatever they may be. People are more likely to overcome their blemishes when they are loved and accepted for their own sake.

 

            This is the gospel of the grace of God. He knows all our sins, weaknesses, and blemishes all too well, but still He loves us. He even pursues us, being “the Hound of Heaven” that He is. We don’t have to be good or right or proper for Him to love us. It is that kind of love that works on the blemishes and changes us.

 

            Since God loves us like that we are to love Him like that, and this we do by loving others, just as they are. It starts with those at work, at church, and at home. They should not have to keep all the rules, be successful, or make the honor roll for us to love them. Unconditional love is really the only kind of love there is. Now the warts are there, now they aren’t. That is what God’s love does! – Leroy

 

REDEEMING THE PAST

 

            I’ve just returned from visiting an aged couple here in Denton, and I thought I’d tell you about it. They are both 88, have been married 68 years, and have been lifetime members of the Churches of Christ. They have had good health until recently, and they are thankful for all their good years together. It is heartwarming to see such gratitude for blessings received.

 

            The aged brother recently suffered a stroke, which has radically changed his life. He now needs help in dressing, his memory fails him, and he can no longer read or drive, even though he has good eyesight.

 

            It is when one can no longer drive that hope begins to give way to despair. Their automobile sits in the garage unused (“The children can use it when they come”).

 

            The dear old sister has an alert mind, but her vision has of late been impaired. Glaucoma. She has just enough peripheral vision to see that someone is beside her, but not to recognize him or her. She is scheduled for surgery, which offers only a chance that it will improve her vision, and it might further impair her. Courageous as she is, it is a risk that she dares to take.

 

            They badly need someone to live-in and watch out for them. They are hopeful that an Hispanic lady will soon be available, someone they can trust. This rather than a nursing home.

 

            I prayed with them in reference to the upcoming surgery and their need of a live-in, and we praised God for their gratitude for so many blessings for so long. They appreciated the Scripture that I recalled from Rom. 14: “No one lives to himself and no one dies to himself. If we live we live to the Lord; if we die we die to the Lord. So whether we live or die we are the Lord’s. To this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the living and the dead.”

 

            I was reminded of the frailty of life, especially in old age. Here was a couple who had good days, decade after decade, and suddenly reverses came. I recalled the complaint of “the ‘Preacher” in Ecc. 10:14: “No one knows what is to happen, and who can tell anyone what the future holds?”

 

            Before I made my departure something else happened that put their story in a different perspective, and brought me even closer to the doleful cry in Ecclesiastes, “All is vanity and a striving after wind.” When she told me of her years in the Churches of Christ, I saw that life had not been so good for her after all.

 

            “When I came home from church I was so depressed. I was left to wonder how anyone could make it to heaven. They made it so hard that I was always discouraged, for there was no way for me to be good enough to make it,” she quietly told me, summing up fourscore years of church-going. She added, “And why did we have to preach against the other churches? I never saw the need for that.” While she sees some improvement in recent years, she remembers most of the years as oppressive and discouraging. Church was her burden when life was otherwise good to her.

 

            When I returned home I told Ouida that I had the urge to weep right there on the spot. My thought was, “My, God, what have we done to our people!” I knew that her experience was not an exception. It is a story that can be told ten thousand times over.

 

            What did I say to the dear soul? I told her I knew where she was coming from, that I was not all that much younger than she, and that I had experienced the same thing. Moreover, I was guilty myself, in my younger years, of that legalistic, sectarian spirit. She seemed both surprised and pleased with my “confession,” as she called it.

 

            We were sincere, I went on to tell her, and we thought that was the way to preach the gospel. We were wrong. We were ignorant of the grace of God. We didn’t understand and we didn’t preach about the God that Jesus told about in the story of the prodigal son.

 

            I told her that it grieved me terribly to see what we have done to our people, people who are among the earth’s finest. Her joyless life in the church all those years was a grim testimonial of the price we have paid for our legalism. We see what religion, bad religion, does to people. And we did it to her - and countless others. Lord, have mercy!

 

            The good news, I told her, is that we are learning better. While we have not yet fully overcome, we are getting there. Maybe it helps to realize that this problem is as old as religion itself and that it afflicts virtually every church, all the way back to the Pharisees. Legalism and sectarianism were the sins that crucified Christ.

 

            The best news of all is that Christ is nonetheless there for us. He loves us and accepts us unconditionally, just as we are, and we don’t have to be right about everything. He bears with us and sees us through until we are free in his love and compassion.

 

            There is an answer to our aged sister’s tale of despair. We are to confess boldly that we were wrong in what we did to our sisters and brothers in the Churches of Christ, and with even greater intensity bear witness of the gospel of the grace of God. By the empowerment of the Spirit we can turn things around

 

            We don’t have to be legalistic and sectarian! The answer is in being truly biblical and in being a Christ-centered and Spirit-filled people. We can thank God that we have begun to move more in this direction. We can redeem the past.

 

            This is why I have not in all these years and will never in my remaining years leave the Churches of Christ. God is doing and will continue to do glorious things among us, and I am staying around in hopes that I can help make a difference. And those who choose legalism can’t run me off. I love them too much for that! Besides, the Churches of Christ is where the Lord planted me. Any of us should think twice before becoming a transplant. – Leroy

 

OUR CHANGING WORLD

 

            We told you in our last newsletter of how the Ponds Spring Church of Christ in Austin is reaching out to the churches in its own neighborhood - “local unity” I called it. There are now four churches that rotate quarterly in praise services called “New Day.” They hope that in time they can have joint Communion and baptismal services and reach out together in ministering to the needs of the community. The Preston Road Church of Christ in Dallas is also reaching out to other Christians by hosting the Bible Study Fellowship, the first Church of Christ to do this that we know of. My brother Bill, a member at Preston Road, is a leader in this and is excited to see men of various denominations studying the Bible together at his congregation. A new thing under the sun (Son!) for him.

 

            It should encourage us in Churches of Christ toward “renewal from within” when we see it at work in other denominations. There is “The Confessing Movement” within the United Methodist Church which seeks to reclaim and reaffirm “the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints,” which they quote from Jude 3 (One of our texts, right?). They also speak of recovering “the apostolic faith.” They go on; “Not a human contrivance, this faith centers on Jesus Christ.” They call themselves a “Movement” within the church. Sound familiar?

 

            At work among the United Presbyterian Church is “Presbyterians For Renewal,” which is concerned that many have “failed to find in the Church the abundant spiritual life which Christ has promised.” They have proposed a nine-point renewal plan “Under the Leadership of the Holy Spirit.” This includes a call to repentance and personal faith in Christ, to rely confidently upon Scripture, to live a holy life, pursue social justice, and obey the Great Commission in seeking to make disciples among all peoples.

 

            Who will draw up a covenant of renewal for Churches of Christ? I am persuaded that those who venture to do so will find a groundswell of support and encouragement. A renewal movement! That is what “Restoration” is supposed to mean - and ongoing, right?

 

            The Random Road Chapel Church of Christ, Arkansas City, Ks., is celebrating its 40th anniversary June 11-12. I was on the program for its 20th, as was Larry Bradshaw of ACU. We’ll both be back for the 40th, along with Kregg Hood of Sweet Pub. Co., Larry Sullivan of Manhattan Christian College, and others. You are tendered a warm welcome. This church has been avant-garde for unity and freedom all these years. Call Dr. Max Foster at 316-442-5034 for information.

 

            Ouida and I are pleased to report that life continues to be abundant in our advancing years. We celebrate our 53rd this month. Ouida likes her new breadmaker, with which she regularly inundates our home with the aroma of freshly-baked bread. She also walks the neighborhood, studies for her class with “the girls,” and rides herd on our mailing list. I run around our nearby golf course in early a.m., try to catch up on correspondence (not yet accomplished after 45 years), and take calls from all over the country. Together we visit churches (two in Dallas and one in Oklahoma since our last report), call at nursing homes, teach at our congregation and serve on visitation team, do Meals on Wheels, post books, host lots of welcomed visitors from far and near (67 signed our guest-book in 1996), and travel here and there (Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee, South Carolina, New Mexico, Indiana are on our agenda so far in 1997, besides points in Texas). Oh, yes, we spend at least an hour each day reading to each other, including the Bible. Old-age blessings, right?

            BOOK NOTES

 

            Traditional belief has it that hell is unending conscious torment. Most Christians assume this to be biblical teaching. The Fire That Consumes by Edward Fudge persuasively challenges this popular assumption. Examining every relevant biblical passage with rare insight, the author concludes that hell is not a perpetual flame of torture but a consuming fire that destroys, like the Bible say, “The wages of sin is death.” This book will get your attention. $14 postpaid.

 

            Those of us who have read Tom Olbright’s Hearing God’s Voice: My Life with Scripture in the Churches of Christ give it high marks. It is several things. It is a study of biblical hermeneutics, with suggested rules of interpretation. It is autobiography in that it tells of one’s man’s struggle with the Bible in a church environment that was not always encouraging. It is church history in that it tells a lot about the Churches of Christ in the 20th century. $13 postpaid.

 

            Years ago in Restoration Review I commended Leon Gibson’s Christian, You Were Baptized in Water and Spirit. Now that the author has made it available again, I want our current readers to know about this book that contends that water and Spirit baptism occur together, that we were all baptized of the Holy Spirit when we became Christians. But he does not argue for tongue-speaking. It is rich in biblical interpretation and scholarly reference, $8 postpaid.

 

            The Stone-Campbell Movement: The Story of the American Restoration Movement by Leroy Garrett is available at $25 or 2 copies for $45. This book not only covers the beginnings of our heritage, but tells how the Stone and Campbell movements united to become a unity movement on the American frontier, and eventually divided.

 

            We still have five bound volumes of Restoration Review, covering ten years of publication 1983-92. These are handsome, hardbound, matching, library volumes with dust jacket and table of contents. $65 postpaid. Loose copies that go back earlier are 20 for $5.00, but no full sets.

 

            Cecil Hook selected what he considered the most representative writings of Carl Ketcherside and Leroy Garrett and published them in Our Heritage in Unity & Fellowship, along with his own interesting introduction. The articles selected are both doctrinal and historical. We will send you a copy for $9.00 postpaid.