The Word of God for our Guidance
The Word of God gives light on every step of our way and in every department of our lives. We do not need to say, “I think,” when God has given us His thoughts in His Word. Happy is the child of God who can say with David, “How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God!” (Psalm 139:17).
God gives us clear guidance in all areas of our lives. In family affairs, the various responsibilities and privileges of husbands, wives, parents, children, masters and servants, are described in Scripture (Ephesians 5:22-6:9; Deuteronomy 6:5-7). A cause of disorders and troubles in many families and in the workplace is the neglect of these plain instructions. God expects our obedience in these everyday things, and even in the way in which we dress, modestly, not ostentatiously (see 1 Peter 3:2-5 and 1 Timothy 2:9-10).
The Word of God also tells us plainly how we should conduct ourselves in relation to others in our social and secular lives. Our duties to those in authority and government (Romans 13:1; 1 Peter 2:13-14), our behavior among the unconverted (Colossians 4:5; 1 Thessalonians 4:12 and our attitude towards our enemies (Romans 12:20) are all clearly described for us, so that we know what God wants us to do.
For a description of life in the local church or assembly, the Word of God is very full and plain. The first epistle to Timothy was written to show how “to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God” (1 Timothy 3:15).
Many churches are guided by men’s words. Men sit in councils or committees to make laws and edicts, creeds and confessions, legislating for the various sects to which they belong. But the “church of the living God” must be governed by the Word of the living God and be subject to Christ, its living Head, for it bears His name before the world. God has never changed His Word on any single point described in the New Testament. What was written over nineteen hundred years ago is still our guide today.
God’s people should really take their Bibles and compare the churches of the present day with what God declares in Scripture. They might then feel like young king Josiah when the long-lost book of the Law was found. He brought religious things to the test of what he found written there. He found that “our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do after all that is written in this book” (2 Chronicles 34:19-21). At once he began to set things in order according to that book, the Word of God.
We should do the same today. Confusion and disorder are around us everywhere in christendom, but God and His Word remain the same. We cannot restore the church to what it was on the day of Pentecost when “all who believed were together” (Acts 2:44), but we can follow the New Testament teaching about the church. We can gather to the name of the Lord Jesus and enjoy fellowship with all whom He has received. Let us search our Bibles and see what the church of God is, its fellowship, order, rule and discipline. We will learn there what worship is and who are worshipers; what God says about baptism, and who are to be baptized; what the Lord’s Supper is and who are to partake of it. Times and customs have changed, but God and His Word abide forever.
God gives us clear guidance in all areas of our lives. In family affairs, the various responsibilities and privileges of husbands, wives, parents, children, masters and servants, are described in Scripture (Ephesians 5:22-6:9; Deuteronomy 6:5-7). A cause of disorders and troubles in many families and in the workplace is the neglect of these plain instructions. God expects our obedience in these everyday things, and even in the way in which we dress, modestly, not ostentatiously (see 1 Peter 3:2-5 and 1 Timothy 2:9-10).
The Word of God also tells us plainly how we should conduct ourselves in relation to others in our social and secular lives. Our duties to those in authority and government (Romans 13:1; 1 Peter 2:13-14), our behavior among the unconverted (Colossians 4:5; 1 Thessalonians 4:12 and our attitude towards our enemies (Romans 12:20) are all clearly described for us, so that we know what God wants us to do.
For a description of life in the local church or assembly, the Word of God is very full and plain. The first epistle to Timothy was written to show how “to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God” (1 Timothy 3:15).
Many churches are guided by men’s words. Men sit in councils or committees to make laws and edicts, creeds and confessions, legislating for the various sects to which they belong. But the “church of the living God” must be governed by the Word of the living God and be subject to Christ, its living Head, for it bears His name before the world. God has never changed His Word on any single point described in the New Testament. What was written over nineteen hundred years ago is still our guide today.
God’s people should really take their Bibles and compare the churches of the present day with what God declares in Scripture. They might then feel like young king Josiah when the long-lost book of the Law was found. He brought religious things to the test of what he found written there. He found that “our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do after all that is written in this book” (2 Chronicles 34:19-21). At once he began to set things in order according to that book, the Word of God.
We should do the same today. Confusion and disorder are around us everywhere in christendom, but God and His Word remain the same. We cannot restore the church to what it was on the day of Pentecost when “all who believed were together” (Acts 2:44), but we can follow the New Testament teaching about the church. We can gather to the name of the Lord Jesus and enjoy fellowship with all whom He has received. Let us search our Bibles and see what the church of God is, its fellowship, order, rule and discipline. We will learn there what worship is and who are worshipers; what God says about baptism, and who are to be baptized; what the Lord’s Supper is and who are to partake of it. Times and customs have changed, but God and His Word abide forever.
from Focus On The Word Of God, Ritchie Bookshelf Nº1, John Ritchie Ltd, pages 9-11
