What next?  Read and weep…

The Abilene Reporter News published a story last week with the headline: ACU Changes Alcohol Policy - Sanctions To Be Removed Against Legal-Age Drinking Off Campus. The article said taht the change came as a result of discussions and input received from student organizations and the university board of trustees.

Jean-Noel Thompson, vice president of student life and dean of students said that this new approach is supported by Scripture, but he expects some alumni and members of the Churches of Christ to disagree with the policy.  He further said that he didn’t want this to turn into a “theological debate.”

Royce Money, President of ACU said that this new policy does not represent a “backing away of our historic prohibition of the use of alcohol by our students.”  Instead he argued that the former policy, which prohibited alcohol consumption by students, “was not enforceable and was unrealistic in its scope.”

For further information, you can read much more of this change in direction in an article from Brotherhood News.

This past week, I had the privilege of preaching for the good people at Groveport, Ohio.  Groveport is located just east of Columbus, Ohio.  David Stevens has been the preacher there for nearly two decades.

The last time I preached in Groveport, the church was meeting in an old brick building in the heart of town.  As I remember it, they didn’t have much parking.  However, in 2001, they moved to the edge of town and built the building shown in the picture.  It is a really nice facility, has more than adequate parking, and they also have acreage for growth and activities.  The work is going well there, and they are soon going to have to make some changes to create additional classroom and auditorium space.  That’s a good problem to have.

If you’re ever travelling in the Columbus, OH area and looking for a congregation with which to worship, make your plans worship with the brethren at Groveport.

For three days this week, we’ve had the opportunity to hear several lesson from Dale Jenkins (http://www.dalejenkins.blogspot.com/).  Our meeting was one of the best attended meetings in the 19 years I have been in Glasgow. 

Dale’s lessons presented several challenges and thoughts that need contemplation and implimentation.  Instead of jotting some of those thoughts down in this blog, I thought I would just do a little audio editing and allow you to hear several soundbites of Dale, himself, as he spoke to us.

Enjoy!

 

 Excerpts from Dale Jenkins [11:35m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I just wanted to share a few thoughts that have been going through my mind since early this morning.  Our church secretary took our weekly contribution to the bank to make our deposit as usual.  However, one of the tellers told her that our deposit slip was incorrect by $10.00.  She explained that the reason for the discrepancy was because someone had placed a $10.00 bill in the collection plate that had been torn in half, and the bank couldn’t accept it.  The teller went on to explain that because of the amount of the $10.00 bill that was missing, the money could not be spent.

Now, I know that whoever gave this torn-more-than-in-half $10.00 bill may not have known that.  I understand that possibility, and therefore am not going to charge anyone with intentionally doing wrong.  That gets me to the point where I’m just “thinking out loud.”  “What if…?”  What if someone dropped money in the collection plate to pass along a problem to someone else.  What if someone gave to God what was useless to them, while at the same time feeling justified in their own mind in that they “contributed” to the cause of Christ?

Again, while I will never know the answer to that question, I can say with assurance that it wouldn’t be the first time it happened.  Consider the words of God… “Where is my reverence?…You offer defiled food on my altar, but say ‘in what way have we defiled you?’…And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil?  And when you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil?  Offer it then to your governor!  Would he be pleased with you?  Would he accept you favorably?…But cursed be the deceiver who has in his flock a male, and takes a vow, but sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished.” (Malachi 1:6,8,14).

While I was “thinking aloud” today, I also couldn’t help but think of how many people assembled to worship God yesterday, but who will not be seen again until Christmas.  Grant it, I am thankful for the opportunity to speak to and with so many people.  They are where they need to be.  But at the same time, I can’t help but wonder how many people think assembling on “Easter” and “Christmas” fulfills their obligation and is acceptable to God. 

As I think out loud today, I am reminded that God is not mocked, and that he is not pleased with our “lame” sacrifices and our uncommitted service.  God deserves more than a $10.00 bill that cannot be spent and two Sunday mornings a year.

Yesterday I read an excerpt from a new book that is due to be released by Leafwood Press.  The book is entitled, “One Church,” and it asks if “churches of Christ” will join the 21st Century Restoration.  Personally, I’m all in favor of restoration.  My problem with the excerpt I read is that the author is not calling for “restoration,” but rather “digression.”  Restoration puts something back in its original state, but the changes this author calls for were never a part of the original state of Christianity. 

For example:

• To speak of a “new worldview” that reduces the “church of Christ” to a small part of the “larger body of Christ” is not a restoration of the church of the Bible.  Rather it is a sectarian view of the ”church of Christ” and such terminology is never employed in Scripture.  Nowhere does the Bible speak of or view the “church of Christ” as a small part of the larger body of Christ.  This isn’t a “new worldview” but rather “old sectarianism.”
• To say we are “called to unity with all Christians everywhere who call Christ Lord” confuses the concepts of brotherhood and fellowship.  Certainly, all who have obeyed the gospel are brothers in Christ and should be acknowledged as such.  But that acknowledgement doesn’t mean that we can “fellowship” all who call Jesus Lord.  Jesus, Himself, does not even practice that (Matthew 7:21).  Again, this is not “restoration,” but “digression.”
• Calling people to abandon “stagnant thinking” such as debating others who teach a different plan of salvation and who substantively worship differently is not a call to “restoration,” but a digression away from the doctrine of Christ.  Treating people who are “like Christ” as though they are “in Christ” is not a restoration of anything biblical.

Friends, I’m in favor of restoration.  I continually want and call people to go back to the Bible and follow the instructions of our Savior.  But to call people to extra-biblical teachings, and call that “restoration” is a misnomer.