Congregational Notes
Elders:
Mike McGuire
815.657.8507
Ronald Moore
217.727.1077
Ministers:
the congregation
Kenny Chumbley
217.493.8905
Sunday:
8:00 : WGCY
9:00 : Worship
Wednesday:
7:00 : Bible Study
gibsoncitychurchof
Christ.com
This Past Week:
Worship–25
Wednesday–
Contribution–$
For meditation:
Psalm 94
How does disdain
for God express
itself? Do we see
any such behavior
in our society today?
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Special Series: The
Truth of Christianity
Christ Makes God Understandable
No one has seen God at any Ɵme. The only
begoƩen Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. John 1.18
In 1799, a soldier in Napoleon’s army
found a large black stone (45" x 28" x 11")
on which were found three scripts: hieroglyphics, demotic, and Greek. Known as
the Rosetta Stone, it was believed that the
trilingual writing was three versions of the
same text. Scholars could already read
Greek and demotic, but they had never
been able to translate hieroglyphics. The
Greek and demotic scripts, it was thought,
would enable linguists to decipher the
Egyptian pictographs (hieroglyphics).
Twenty years after it’s discovery, a
Frenchman, Jean-Paul Champollion, finally
succeeded in translating the hieroglyphics ,
thus opening up the history of Ancient
Egypt.
Just as the Rosetta stone furnished the
clue to hieroglyphics, making it possible to
decipher ancient Egyptian lore, so Jesus is
the clue that enables us to understand God.
The word John used for “declared” is the
word exegete; in other places where this
word is used in the NT, it means to tell or
narrate. The visible Jesus, therefore, is the
One who tells us about the invisible God,
who reveals to us what God is really like.
As a little boy said, “Jesus is the best photograph that God ever had took”—a statement Hebrews 1.3 endorses when it says
that Christ is “the express image” of God.
If we want to understand God, we need
to know Jesus (Jn. 14.9).
kenny
Gibson City church of Christ
Highway 47 South, Gibson City, IL
The rosetta stone
—see back page—
Sermon:
Loving Our Neighbor
15 January 2017
Getting to Know the Minor Prophets
Zephaniah 1
Preaching a message of judgment at a time of national religious
reformation would not be easy; but a true prophet not only sees
farther, he also sees deeper.
I will consume (1–7). God’s wrath will consume His creation
(vv 2–3) and the hypocrites in the land (vv 4–6). It will be a
sacrificial feast, prepared for Babylon (v 7; Jer. 46.10, Rev.
19.17–21).
I will punish (8–11). Starting at the royal palace, the prophet
walked through the city and invited the people to lament with
him. The merchants would be especially grieved because their ill
-gotten wealth would be seized.
I will search (12–13). The people of Jerusalem would try to
hide, but the invading soldiers would find them and slay them.
The complacent would discover that their theology was all
wrong. What a rude awakening!
I will bring distress (14–18). Note the words that describe this
day, among them: bitter, trouble, devastation, darkness, and
alarm. People will be treated like refuse.
Behind the literal fire that destroyed Jerusalem was the fire of
God’s jealous love over His people (v 18; Nah. 1.2). Because of
that love, He accepts no rivals and permits no rebellion.
Judge Not
Despite the fact that Christ said, “Judge not, that you be not
judged” (Matt. 7.1), many people ignore Christ and continue to
judge those around them. “Judge not,” of course, doesn’t mean
we are to suspend our critical thinking skills; nor is Christ saying
that there is never a time when judging called for. In Matthew
7.5, Christ says we are to judge ourselves; in verse 6, He expects
us to have enough discernment to recognize people who behave
like dogs and hogs; and in verse 20, He tells us false teachers can
be known by their fruits, which implies at least enough judgment
to distinguish good men from bad men (“fruit” refers to one’s
life, one’s behavior). As the context shows, what “judge not” forbids is hypercritical or hypocritical judgment. Christians are not
to nitpick. We are not to use a double-standard (one for ourselves,
another for everybody else). And we are always to scrutinize our
own life before turning our sights on anyone else.
Why is it, then, that the prohibition “judge not” is so frequently ignored? I can think of at least two reasons.
First, the critic tells himself that what he has to say is for the
good of the one criticized. Second, the critic gets a feeling of selfsatisfaction from thinking himself superior to the one he criticized.
The Pharisees thought it was their moral duty to correct people
by criticism. Sometimes their criticism was verbal (e.g., Matt.
9.11); sometimes it was nonverbal—they would give a cold
shoulder to those they didn’t think were living right; I guess you
could call this “conversion by avoidance.” After all, sin separates
a man from God, and what better way to drive that home to a sinner than to act like they don’t exist. I’ve seen this sort of arrogance in practice and there are few things that are uglier.
I read about a preacher who was speaking in Malaysia. When
he referred to the Pharisee, his interpreter stopped him and asked,
“What sea was that?” Although the preacher didn’t say this, a
good answer would have been, “the Dead Sea,” for the Pharisees
were dead, blind, and hypocritical. If anyone was to be avoided, it
was they (Matt. 15.14). If anyone’s lifestyle and teaching were to
be refused, it was theirs (Matt. 16.6). Their criticism, regardless
of the form it took, was largely ignored, for people applied to the
Pharisees the same standard they applied to others—”For with
what judgment you judge, you will be judged” (Matt. 7.2, 23.3–
4). The Pharisees couldn’t even live up to the standard they expected everyone else to live up to.
We most help others when we lovingly serve them and suffer
for them—not when we stand on the sidelines and throw stones.
kenny
News about us
Dave had a defibrillator inserted this past Thursday moring and came through in fine shape.
 Lea Mosby begins chemo treatments tomorrow; please
keep her in your prayers.
