The Missing Link in Some Conversions Today

David Sproule

A form of the word “repent” is found over 60 times in the Bible.  We may think about it strictly as a New Testament term, but 10 of the 60+ uses are in the Old Testament.  So, “repentance” is certainly a Biblical concept from beginning to end.

Generally speaking, we know what it means to “repent.”  The basic meaning of the term is to “change one’s mind.”  It is, essentially, a change of mind that leads to a change of life.  Most have probably heard sermons on the subject and certainly have heard the step of “repentance” included in God’s plan of salvation.  But, is it possible that we have neglected to emphasize this God-given responsibility as much as God would have us to emphasize it?

Repenting is a command of God.  John the Baptist’s preaching could be summarized with the command that he issued to “Repent” (Matt. 3:2).  Jesus came and preached the same sermon to “Repent” (Matt. 4:17; Mark 1:15).  It is a “command” that “all men everywhere” must obey (Acts 17:30).  Even Christians who have sinned are commanded to “Repent” (Acts 8:22; Rev. 2:5, 16; 3:3, 19). This is not something optional that we can ignore.

Repenting carries with it great rewards when obeyed.  Repentance can lead one into “the kingdom of God” (Mark 1:15), lead to “remission of sins” (Luke 24:47; Acts 2:38; 3:19; 8:22; 2 Cor. 7:10), lead to “joy in heaven” (Luke 15:7) and can lead to eternal “life” (Acts 11:18).

Repenting carries with it severe consequences when neglected.  Choosing to not repent leads one to be “rebuked” by the Lord (Matt. 11:20), to be “removed” by the Lord from His sight (Rev. 2:5, 16), and to “perish” (Luke 13:3; 2 Pet. 3:9).

Repenting from sins should be motivated by the presence and consequences of sins in our lives (Acts 8:21-22), “godly sorrow” for those sins (2 Cor. 7:9-10) and by the “goodness” and “longsuffering” of God toward us (Rom. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9).

Here is a concern.  Is it possible that we are sometimes so eager to convert someone to Christ by getting them baptized for the “remission” of their sins that we do not spend enough time emphasizing the meaning, obligation and urgency of repentance from those sins?  Is it possible that some people are not actually “converted to Christ” because we skipped this all-important step?  Is it possible that more new converts would remain faithful if they truly understood the nature of sin and the personal responsibility to repent of those sins?  Is it possible that more Christians would continue to repent of sins throughout their Christian life if they had learned that lesson before becoming a Christian?  Is repentance a “missing link”?

The Commitments Involved in Saying, “I Do!”

David Sproule

Have you ever been to a wedding, and—while the preacher was going through the “Do you promise to…?” and the “Do you promise to…?”—have you ever thought, “Did I really commit to all of that when I got married?”  For those who are married, a wedding can be a great way to be reminded of what marriage is and what commitments are inherent in the Divinely-ordained union.  If you’re married and if you haven’t been to a wedding recently and witnessed a living reminder of the vows you made (or even if you have been to a wedding recently), consider carefully the commitment that you were making when you said “I do!”

Husbands, here is what you committed!  You committed to “leave father and mother” and “cleave” to your wife (Gen. 2:24); to be the “head” of the home, to “love” her, “nourish” her, “cherish” her (Eph. 5:23-33); to “provide” for her (1 Tim. 5:8); to “render the affection due her,” “to please your wife” (1 Cor. 7:2-5, 33); to “dwell with her with understanding” and to “give honor” to her (1 Pet. 3:7).

Wives, here is what you committed!  You committed to “love” him, “obey” him (Tit. 2:4-5); to “submit” to him, to be “subject” to him, to “respect” him (Eph. 5:22-33); to “manage the house” (1 Tim. 5:14; Tit. 2:5); to be “chaste,” “adorned” with a “gentle and quiet spirit” (1 Pet. 3:1-6); to “render the affection due him,” “to please your husband” (1 Cor. 7:2-5, 34).

Husbands and wives, here is what you both committed to each other!  In addition to the Divine instructions above, you committed to “increase and abound in love to one another” (1 Thess. 3:12), have “compassion for one another” (1 Pet. 3:8), be “like-minded toward one another” (Rom. 15:5), “consider one another” (Heb. 10:24), “give preference to one another” (Rom. 12:10), “submit to one another” (Eph. 5:21), “be kindly affectionate to one another” (Rom. 12:10), “bear with one another” (Eph. 4:2), “forgive one another” (Eph. 4:32), “receive one another” (Rom. 15:7), “encourage one another daily” (Heb. 3:13), “serve one another” (Gal. 5:13), “bear one another’s burdens” (Gal. 6:2), “comfort each other” (1 Thess. 5:11), “admonish one another” (Rom. 15:14), “confess trespasses to one another and pray for one another” (Jas. 5:16) and “have the same care for one another” (1 Cor. 12:25).  You committed to do “nothing… through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind” to “esteem” your spouse as “better than” yourself (Phil. 2:3).

Maybe you don’t remember committing to all of that, but that is what God expects of husbands and wives “until death do us part.”  May God help us keep our vows!

Four Things We Can Do To Be More Fruitful

Wade Webster

The Lord wants us to be fruitful.   In fact, He wants us to bear much fruit.  On one occasion, Jesus declared, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples” (John 15:5-8). I’m afraid that many of us fall far short of the production that the Lord wants.  Some of us are producing little to no fruit.  Very, very few of us are producing much fruit.  Seeing that this is the case, we should be asking what we can do to become more fruitful. Let me suggest a few things.

Cultivation - In the Parable of the Fig Tree, the husbandman offered to dig around the fig tree to try to make it more productive (Lk. 13:6-9).  Digging around the fig tree would break up the soil and soften it.  Digging around the fig tree would root up the weeds that were stealing vital nutrients from the fig tree and that were trying to choke it out.  Digging around the fig tree would also have aerated the soil.   Perhaps, our hearts have become hard and need to  be softened (Mat. 13:15).  Maybe, we have allowed worldly thoughts to infiltrate our hearts and to rob our lives of heavenly things (1 Pet. 2:11). The weeds of worldliness may be slowly choking out our love and zeal for God.  Maybe, our spiritual lives have stagnated and we need for God to breathe new life into us (Hab. 3:2).

Fertilizer - Also, in the Parable of the Fig Tree, the husbandman offered to dung or fertilize the fruitless fig tree to get it to start producing (Lk. 13:6-9).  Maybe , that is what we need.  Perhaps, we are running low on some vital nutrients like faith, zeal, and love (Rev. 2:4; 2 Pet. 1:5-8).  Maybe, they have been depleted over time and need to be replenished. 

Water - As you know, plants need water.  This is especially true in a dry and thirsty land like Palestine (Psa. 63:1).  Trees and plants that don’t receive enough water will wilt and stop producing fruit.  Trees that get sufficient water won’t have these problems (Psa. 1:3). Maybe, we need some water.  Perhaps, we need the water of encouragement.  We need the refreshment that comes from Christian fellowship (Rom. 15:32; Phile. 1:7).

Pruning - Sometimes trees, vines, and plants need pruning to produce more fruit.  In discussing the vine and the branches, Jesus declared, “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:2).

If pruning doesn’t take place the tree or the vine may produce all plant and no fruit.  It can become nothing but leaves (Mark 11:13).  Maybe, we need a little pruning.  Perhaps , there are some things that need to be cut back in our lives to make us fruitful again.  For example, maybe we need to cut back on some of the time that we are spending on earthly things that we might use that time to bear fruit for God (Eph. 5:16; Col. 3:1-2; Hag. 1).

 We all need to examine our fruit production.  If we are not producing much fruit for God,  then we need to consider what we can do to become more productive. Perhaps, the four things mentioned in this article can help.

A Father Who Makes You Want To Come Home

Wade Webster

Some suggest that the Parable of the Prodigal Son should be called the Parable of the Loving Father.  Often, in studying the parable, we spend our time talking about the son going away.  However, the parable is really about the son coming home.  The chapter is not about getting lost, but about being found.  The coin, the sheep, and the son were all found. There is a key difference between the first two parables (coin, sheep) and the final parable (son).  In the first two parables, that which was lost was sought and brought home.  Coins and sheep don’t come home on their own.  However, prodigal sons sometimes do. What was it about the prodigal son’s home that drew him back?  What were the recollections of the father that paved the way for him to return? The text makes clear that the attitude of the son changed.  Luke records, “And when he came to himself…” (Lk. 15:17).  He left saying, “Give me…” and he returned saying, “Make me…” He left feeling entitled, and returned, feeling indebted.  “I am no more worthy…” (Lk. 15:21).  This was the turning point of this young man’s life. The prodigal son remembered that even the servants in his father’s house had bread and to spare (Lk. 15:17).  It was the remembrance of the father’s goodness that brought him to repentance (Rom. 2:4). Hopefully, our children will never go astray.  However, if they do, and they certainly can (1 Cor. 10:12; Gal. 5:4), we want their recollections of home to be such that they will want to come home.  As fathers, we want them to remember us in a positive way.

A Father Who Will Give You A Warm Embrace Rather Than A Cold Shoulder - The prodigal son requested his inheritance. Distribution of the inheritance was usually made at the death of the father.  If made earlier, it should have been at the father’s suggestion and not at the son’s request. The prodigal son’s request shows ingratitude and disrespect.  It was as if he couldn’t wait for his father to die. Although the prodigal son showed ingratitude and disrespect for the father, the father showed great love for the son.  Rather than a cold shoulder, the son received a warm embrace.  Luke records, “And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him” (Lk. 15:20). The father was watching for his son to come home.  He had not given up on him. The father had compassion, and not contempt, in his heart for his son. The father ran to meet his son.  He was ready to forgive (Isa. 65:24).  The father fell on his neck or embraced his son.  He didn’t keep his son at arm’s length.   The father kissed his son.  The tense of the verb suggests that he kissed him again and again.  Some have pictured the prodigal son as knocking on the pig farmer’s door in the far country and handing him back the slop bucket.  As the son handed the bucket back, he declared, “I’m going home.” The farmer answered, “When your father sees and smells you, he’ll send you back.”  “Mister,” the prodigal said, “You don’t know my father.”  

A Father Who Will Give You A Son’s Robe When You Ask For A Servant’s Towel - The prodigal son headed home with the intention of declaring that he was no longer worthy of being called the father’s son.  He was asking merely to be treated as one of his hired servants (Lk. 15:18-19).  After the son confessed his sin, and before he could request to be a servant, the father called for the best robe, a ring, and shoes (Lk. 15:22).  The returning son was received not as a servant. The robe was the kind worn by kings.  The far country clothed him in rags, the father in the best robe (cf. Isa. 61:10; Zech. 3:3-5). The ring was a symbol of authority.  The ring revealed that the son was not going to serve as a slave. The shoes or sandals were also significant.  Slaves did not wear shoes.

A Father Who Will Give You A Place At The Table Instead Of A Seat In The Corner - The elder brother thought that his brother should be punished, not pitied.  He thought that he should be rejected, not received.  He thought that he should be flogged, not fed.  The elder brother was angry and wouldn’t go into the feast (Lk. 15:25-28).  The elder brother wouldn’t even speak of the prodigal as his brother.  He said to his father, “Thy son” (Lk. 15:30). The father corrected him (Lk. 15:32). The elder brother rejected the reasoning of his father (Lk. 15:28; Isa. 1:18; Hag. 1:5, 7) and charged his father with favoritism (Lk. 15:29-30).  His attitude must have dampened the father’s joy.  The father had to leave the celebration to deal with his eldest son.  The elder brother’s reaction dampens the parable.  The same father that ran to meet the prodigal son left the party to meet him.  It reminds the Bible student of Jonah (Jonah 4). The elder brother seems not to care that his brother has repented and that the father has forgiven him.  He brings up his brother’s past as if it were still his present condition.  His brother has been forgiven, but he would not be because of his attitude (Mt. 6:14-15).  He declared his brother’s sins, but missed his own (Mt. 7:1-5; Lk. 18:9-14).  He said he had done nothing wrong, but at that moment he was not obeying his father’s pleading for him to go into the party and rejoice.  Furthermore, he charged the father with not giving him a fatted calf when the father had already given him a double portion as the firstborn.  It all belonged to him (Lk. 15:31).  He could have had a party with his friends anytime he chose.  Imagine what would have happened if the elder brother had met his returning brother before the father.  Likely, he would have sent him away. Unlike the elder brother, the loving father would in no wise cast his penitent child out (John 6:37).  The father would show his son mercy (Psa. 103:10-14).  The father commanded the fatted calf to be killed and for there to be a celebration at his son’s return (Lk. 15:23).  The father understood the significance of the occasion.  His son, who was dead, was now alive.  His son, who was lost, was now found (Lk. 15:24).  He told his eldest son that it was “meet” or “right” for them to celebrate (Lk. 15:32).  Everyone in the chapter finds joy except for the elder brother.  Everything the prodigal son hoped to find in the far country, he found at home – fine clothes, jewelry, friends, feasting, love, security, etc.

Let’s all try to be fathers that make our children want to come home.  Our heavenly Father is certainly that kind of Father.

Lessons from a Lawnmower

Wade Webster

Likely, with all the recent rain, we are having to cut our grass every week. Have you ever thought of some lessons that your lawnmower can teach you?

First, tall grass is harder to cut.  Perhaps, you have had to take a step and stop when cutting grass to keep the lawnmower from going dead.  Maybe, you have had to raise the mowing deck or to cut much narrower rows to get your grass cut.  I have had to pushed down on the handle on the push mower so that I could push it forward and slowly lower it on to the grass. I have had to go over the same areas more than once to gradually get  my yard back into shape.  Take my word for it, tall grass is harder to cut. The same holds true for things that we let go in our lives.  For example, if we put off dealing with problems with our spouse,  bitterness develop (Col. 3:19).  If we put off disciplining our children, bad things may put down deep roots into their hearts (Prov. 19:18; cf. 5:22; Rom. 6:17-18). If we put off dealing with problems with our brother or sister it may hinder our worship (Mat. 5:23-24).  The Bible warns us not to let the sun go down on our wrath (Eph. 4:26) or to wait for a convenient season (Acts 24:25).

Second, a dull blade won’t cut very well.  Some folks use a lawnmower year without sharpening the blade.  Over time normal use takes the edge off the blade.  Gravels, sticks, stumps and other objects left in the yard hasten the process.  Dull blades don’t cut very well.  The same thing can happen in our spiritual lives.  Living in the world can dull our edge.  Temptations and trails can and do hasten the process.  We must sharpen our spiritual lives by spending time in God’s word (2 Tim. 2:15; Acts 17:11).  Spending time with good friends and brethren can also help us to stay sharp.  Solomon wrote, “As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend” (Prov. 27:17; cf. Heb.10:24-25; 1  Cor. 16:18).

Third, a flooded lawnmower is impossible to crank.  Have you ever flooded a lawnmower?  If you have, then you know how frustrating it is.  You pull and pull on the cord , but nothing happens.  A flooded lawnmower is impossible to crank. The same is true in our spiritual lives.  The cares of life and the things of the world can choke us out or drown us (Mat. 13:22; 1 Tim. 6:9). We must cast our cares on Christ (1 Pet. 5:7). We need to lay aside that which is weighing us down (Heb. 12:1).  We must redeem or buy back as much time as we can (Eph. 5:16).

Fourth, trash is easier to pick up before you run over it.  Pieces of paper and other trash sometimes blows into our yards.  If you have ever run over it, then you know what a mess it can make.  It is much easier to pick up before it is cut into a thousand pieces and spread all around.  The same is true in our spiritual lives.  How we handle things matters.  For example, the idle talk that we hear about others needs to be handled properly and not spread around (Lev. 19:16; Mat. 12:36). The tongue can kindle a great fire and cause a lot of destruction if it isn’t handled properly (Jam. 3:5).

No doubt, there are many more lessons that our lawnmowers can teach us, but if we will learn these four things, we will be off to a great start.  Who knew that our lawnmowers had so much to teach us?