He Ate with Publicans and Sinners (Part 1)
One of the criticisms that Jesus’ enemies employed was that He ate with publicans and sinners...This criticism was leveled at Jesus because he associated with these people to teach them the gospel.
One of the criticisms that Jesus’ enemies employed was that He ate with publicans and sinners...This criticism was leveled at Jesus because he associated with these people to teach them the gospel.
There are not many actions that we can take that will have an eternal impact, because so much of what we do concerns the mundane. However, we should take advantage of every opportunity to be involved in spiritual events because we are affecting matters of eternal importance! Will you invite your friends to our gospel meeting this week? Will you attend the gospel meeting this week? Some soul out there may say in eternity, “The most significant event in my life was when I was invited to the gospel meeting at the church of Christ.”
We want you and all your friends and family to come to our gospel meeting beginning next week with Chris Hooten! This coming Saturday, we will be having our stew supper, and that will be an opportunity for you to get to meet Chris and know him a bit better.
The goal of this and all our efforts is to participate in God’s eternal purpose of building up His church (Ephesians 3:11)! God wants as many people to go to heaven as can possibly go, but He has left us responsible for taking the gospel to others (Matthew 28:18-20).
Because the kingdom of God is God’s people, we need to be busy serving God’s people. In my studies, I ran across Proverbs 18:1. The English Standard Version translates it like this: “Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.” Because the kingdom of God is people, we are not to isolate ourselves but be part of the citizenry of the kingdom by participating in its activities. We value God’s kingdom—Christians—by giving ourselves away to others!
Only the use of verbal communication when combined with spiritual words and an attitude of love can accomplish this task. Knowledge alone does not accomplish this task. Knowledge separated from love does not edify, it merely puffs up (1 Corinthians 8:1). However, biblical edification is the loving impartation of spiritual instruction designed to build up the wisdom, knowledge, and understanding of the student to the motivation of accomplishing the work of the kingdom.
For something to edify, it must have meaning. Not in the sense of emotion or feeling, but in the sense of the understanding. That is, if something is not intelligible or comprehensible by the intellect, then it cannot edify. True edification can only come through a situation where knowledge and instruction are imparted with the attitude of love.
However, when I looked into an English dictionary, I found the following definition. “Edify: enlighten, to improve the morals or knowledge of somebody.” Another dictionary said this. “Edify: to instruct or improve spiritually.” Does this surprise you? Do you think of being instructed as edification? Do you think of gaining new knowledge when you are edified?
There are some religious groups that practice foot washing. They take the example that Jesus gave in John 13:3-15 literally, and occasionally, they have a foot washing event. That wasn’t […]
Do you remember last year when the political campaigns were in full swing? (Maybe you don’t want to be reminded of that, and I would definitely understand if you didn’t. […]
The narcissist seeks to find validation in whatever will justify his lifestyle. He already has his mind made up as to how he is going to proceed through life, and […]
I have a program on my computer that does good work. I like it a lot, and it is helpful. However, this program also leaves behind some trash on my […]
Not too long ago, I saw on Facebook an article about an almost pristine Caddo canoe that was discovered in Louisiana. Archeologists were examining it, but it looked to be […]
Revelation 16 contains the story of the seven angels who poured out their seven bowls. These bowls represent God’s wrathful judgment on those that worship the beast. After the third […]
Everyone has narcissistic feelings, desires, and thoughts because narcissism is simply the unhealthy focus of self upon self; it is the basis of all sin. That doesn’t mean it need […]
In last week’s article, we learned that Christ’s sacrifice eliminates all guilt. If we are feeling guilty about our past forgiven sins, then we are doing so for irrational reasons. […]
There are two kinds of guilt in the Bible. There is the feeling of guilt when our conscience condemns us—subjective guilt. There is also guilt for doing something objectively wrong. […]
Phariseeism begins with seemingly harmless and very practical rules. What is wrong with washing hands before eating? That seems like a sensible thing to do, especially if you have dirt […]
The Bible presents a high view of the worth of each individual person. This view is two-fold. First, there is the fact of a person’s being made in the image […]
How intelligent are we really? Not very, if we are willing to sacrifice relationships for our own pride. Lack of love is the culprit.