Churches of Christ -- Sermons; Sermons, American -- 20th century
3. Other examples of generic commands of a slightly different form are
these: “Therefore, all things ye would that men should do to you, do ye
even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets” (Matt. 7:12).
“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live
soberly, righteously and godly in this present world, looking for that
blessed hope, and the glorious appearance of the great God and our
Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:11-13). “Pure religion and undefiled
before God and the Father is this; to visit the fatherless and widows in
their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world” (Jas.
1:27). All of these are general commandments governing Christian
conduct. They announce certain general principles that should guide us
in our behavior. We must use our own best judgment in applying these
principles to the various questions that arise, and we should pray for
wisdom to make the proper application. (Jas. 1:5).
IV
Important Conclusions
1. There are certain important conclusions which should be drawn from
what has already been said. First, in a sphere where God has made
specifications we must heed them. We must not ignore them. We must not
change them. What he specifies _must_ be done. In executing a command we
must heed these specifications. To do otherwise would be an act of
disobedience to God Almighty.
2. Second, where God has made no specifications we should not make any
and try to bind them on others. To do so would be to add to the word of
God, and to violate the principle taught in Revelations 22:18-19 and at
many other places in the Bible. God had a good reason for leaving
certain commandments in a general form. For me to work out
specifications concerning how those general commandments should be
obeyed and undertake to bind my inventions on others would be a very
grievous sin.
In the execution of a general commandment, each individual and each
congregation is left to make its own choices. It’s just as much harm to
make specifications where God has made none, as it is to ignore those
specifications that he has made. It would be just as wrong to specify
that the Lord’s supper must be eaten at 7:30 P.M. as it would be to
ignore the specification that music used to worship God must be vocal.
3. Third, in the execution of these general commandments, we should use
wisdom. Someone has said that there are three kinds of sense: revealed
sense, common sense, and nonsense. Where there is revealed sense we must
follow it; but where there is no revealed sense, where God has given a
general commandment and left us free to execute it according to our best
judgment, we should use common sense and not nonsense. In all matters,
wisdom should be exercised.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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