OceanSide church of Christ

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QUESTIONS & ANSWERS (51)

Victor M. Eskew

 

INTRODUCTION

 

A.    There are a lot of websites you can go to in order to get your questions answered.

1.      Answerbag

2.      Yahoo! Answers

3.      Blurt It

4.      Anybody Out There

5.      Wiki Answers

 

B.      Or, if you prefer, you can just go to askthepreacher.com or askvic.com.  Just kidding.

 

C.     This is our Q&A night.

1.      We will get back on track in February.

2.      Tonight, we will look at three of your questions.

 

I.                   QUESTION #1:  James 5:14

 

A.    Please explain and make application of James 5:14.

 

B.      Answer

1.      Let’s read James 5:14-15

 

Is any sick among you?  Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:  and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

 

2.      There are several component parts within these two verses.

a.      The Case:  “Is any among you sick?”

1)      Man is feeble and frail.

2)      From time to time, sickness strikes his body and he is left very weak and feeble.

3)      In the first century, there was an action that could be taken that would bring miraculous healing.

b.      The Call:  “Let him call for the elders of the church.”

1)      Many religious groups do not understand the concept of elders.

2)      Elders are the overseers of the church.

a)      Two verses:

-          Acts 20:28  (NOTE:  Paul was speaking to the elders of Ephesus, v. 17).

 

Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers…

 

-          I Peter 5:1-2a

 

The elders which are among you I exhort, whom am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:  feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof…

 

 

b)      Basic facts:

-          Each church was autonomous and had a plurality of men who were the overseers of the congregation (Acts 14:23).

-          These men had to meet the qualifications found in I Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9.

-          They were known by six different terms:  elders/presbyters, overseers/bishops, and shepherds/pastors.

-          These men watched for the souls of all within the local congregation (Heb. 13:17).

3)      Since they are the shepherds, it is not surprising that James authorizes them to be called when one of the sheep is ill.

c.       The Cure:  “…and let them pray over them, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:  and the prayer of faith shall save the sick; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”

1)      Two actions:

a)      Pray over them

-          Prayer involves man speaking with God.

-          God asks us to come to Him and lay our requests at His throne (Phil. 4:6; Heb. 4:16).

b)      Anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord

-          This is a practice that was commonly understood in the first century.

-          The oil is olive oil.  This is clear from the Greek word that is used.

-          The sick person was to be anointed, but we do not have the specific instructions about “how” this was to be done.

2)      Two outcomes:

a)      And the prayer of faith shall save the sick

-          This appears to be an instantaneous healing of the sick person.

-          It would have been common in the first century, since that was the age of miracles.

b)      And if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.  Prayers would have also been prayed for the inner man.  Any sickness of the soul would have also been cured.

3.      The Application for Today:

a.      Christians still get sick today.

b.      It is appropriate for them to call the men who oversee the church they attend, the elders, in order for them to pray for them.

c.       The anointing was confined to the age of the miraculous. 

1)      It is not done today. 

2)      There are no specific instructions as to “how” this was to be carried out. 

3)      I challenge anyone to show us exactly how one who is sick is to be anointed with oil.

d.      Today, there will not be an instantaneous healing of the sick.

1)      We no longer live in the age of the miraculous (See I Cor. 13:8-12; Eph. 4:7-14).

2)      This does not mean that prayer is not effective.  There is power in prayer (James 5:16).  God through His providential power can still heal those who are sick.

4.      We should still be just as deeply concerned about the inner man when we pray for another.  We should ask for sins to be forgiven if they have been committed.

 

 

 

II.                QUESTION #2:  SUPPORT OF DENOMINATIONAL FRIENDS

 

A.    Stated:  Is it sinful or does it go against the Bible to celebrate an achievement of a denominational friend that occurred at their church?

 

B.      Answer:

1.      Let’s begin by looking at three verses of Scripture.

a.      Matthew 16:18

 

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

 

1)      Jesus is the builder of the church, not man.

2)      The church belongs to Christ.

3)      He promised to build only one church.

b.      Ephesians 4:4

 

There is one body…

 

1)      The word “body” is just another term for the church (Eph. 1:22-23; Col. 1:18).

2)      The word “one” means one, not two or three or four or a thousand.

c.       Matthew 15:13

 

But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.

 

1)      There are many kinds of religious plants that exist in our world.

2)      They spring from many different seeds.

3)      There is only one plant that grows from the seed of God’s Word, the precious church for which Jesus died. 

4)      If a church has not been planted by God, He promises that it will be rooted up.

2.      All churches that have been planted by man stand in opposition to the church Jesus promised to build and for which He died.

a.      They call themselves by unauthorized names.

b.      They adhere to creeds that stand in opposition to the New Testament.

c.       They teach different gospels.

d.      They teach people how to be saved contrary to the plan of salvation set forth in God’s word.

e.       They are not organized according to the pattern of the first century church.

f.        These churches are not allies.  They are enemies of the cross of Christ (Phil. 3:18-19).

 

(For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:  whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is their shame, who mind earthly things.

 

3.      The precious church cannot uphold and support any religious effort that stands in opposition to the truth and the holy bride of Christ.

a.      II John 9-11

 

Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God.  He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.  If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:  for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

 

1)      It is not easy for us to understand the magnitude of the sin involved in teaching error.

2)      We are often more sympathetic to sincerity than we are concerned for the purity of the doctrine of Christ.

3)      We fail to realize our connection to error if we support it.  We become a partaker of their evil deeds.

b.      Ephesians 5:11

 

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

 

1)      We are not to give our support to false religions in any way.

2)      Our obligation is to reprove them.

 

III.             QUESTION #3:  VISIONS, SUPERNATURAL OCCURRENCES

 

A.    Stated:  Can you see Jesus in a vision?  Some people have had spiritual, unexplained events.  What about such experiences?

 

B.      Answer:

1.      A vision involved one’s being able to see something that was unseen.

a.      They were seen in day as opposed to the night.

b.      The person was awake as opposed to sleeping and dreaming.

c.       Example:  John’s Revelation (Rev. 1:10-11a).

 

I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last:  and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia…

 

2.      Visions are miraculous manifestations.

The age of miracles has ceased.

Therefore, visions are no longer made available to mankind.

3.      Someone might ask:  “How do you know miracles have ceased?”  The Bible teaches that miracles would cease (I Cor. 13:8-13).

a.      A prediction they would cease (I Cor. 13:8)

 

Charity never faileth:  but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

 

b.      Point of time when they would cease (I Cor. 13:10).

 

But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

 

1)      The “perfect” is the complete revealed Word of God to man.

2)      The “in part” are miracles.

3)      LESSON:  When the Word of God was revealed in its entirety, the age of miracles came to an end.  All would agree that divine revelation was complete by the end of the first century.

 

C.     How do we explain the so-called “visions” and “religious experiences” that others claim that they have?

1.      Some involve self-deception.

2.      Some involve unique effects of the mind.

 

D.    Regardless of any “experiences” we have to the contrary, we must trust the Word of God in these matters.  God’s Word is always true.

 

CONCLUSION

 

A.    In this lesson, we have ventured into the realm of the miraculous and religious error.

1.      The prayer of faith shall save the sick

2.      Supporting the efforts of those in denominations

3.      Visions

 

B.      When we begin to seriously contemplate truth and error, we will find:

1.      There is just one truth.

2.      But, there are thousands of errors that combat the truth of God’s Word. 

 

C.     Satan is a master as deceiving individuals so they will not obey and adhere to the truth (II Cor. 4:4).

 

In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.