The Preacher

The Final Word

Posted 1/15/2014 Page 8

Hal Hammons

thepreachermag.com

The Preacher
Hal Hammons

The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly. Ecclesiastes 12:10

Posted 2/16/2014

thepreachermag.com

Selfie

I miss Robert Turner

I had occasion to actually correct Robert Turner during the publication of this volume. It was an insignificant thing, a misspelling. I take no pleasure from the mistakes of others certainly not men whom I deeply respect. But I will confess a certain perverse pleasure in getting something right, however insignificant in the big picture, that he had gotten wrong. It s not a sensation to which I am expecting to become accustomed. My relationship with Robert Turner is something I absolutely took for granted growing up. He was just another older preacher my father respected, the man who mailed out that plain white flier that Mom and Dad always read and my brother, sister and I always ignored (except for Stuff About Things on the back page that was sometimes interesting). But it wasnt the first time (or the last) my parents had a much better grip on things than I did. Now I regret not coming up with some kind of excuse to visit Burnet and Rocky Roost 2 from time to time, just to try to pick up some tidbit of understanding, some study technique, some anecdote that would bring a particular aspect of Gods word to life. Perhaps it is just as well. I tend a bit toward hero worship, and thats not a healthy attitude. Bro. Turner would be the f irst one to caution me about putting a human being, including himself, on too high a pedestal. Barnabas hero steered him wrong, and his hero was an actual apostle (Galatians 2:11-13). If it can happen to Barnabas and Peter, it certainly could happen to me and Robert Turner. That said, its important for us to have human role models to emulate (1 Corinthians 11:1) and just as important, to pick them well (Philippians 3:17-19). And Im thrilled to have Bro. Turner as one of mine particularly with regard to my writing. His PLAIN TALK, from which I shamelessly steal every month on page 3 of this publication, displays the characteristics to which I aspire in The Preacher. Brief but not shallow. Humorous but not irreverent. Personal but not egotistical. Pointed but not rude. And always, most importantly, rooted in, focused on, and inspired by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The people at Miriam-Webster have made it official: The word of the year for 2013 is selfie. And a more appropriate choice they could not have made. (I have my left thumb up as I take a selfie of me typing. Or pretending to type I only have the two hands, after all. You know what? Forget I mentioned it.) In the Sandra Bullock flick While You Were Sleeping, Ms. Bullocks would-be boyfriend, played by the wonderfully smarmy Peter Gallagher, has pictures of himself all over his apartment. Thats the best encapsulation of egotism that comes to my mind. But a close runner-up is the person who plasters pictures of himself/herself all over the internet. Me in the car! Me at Black Friday! Me and the last discounted X-Box! Me in the ER! Not all who pose willingly for pictures are egotists. But social media has allowed us to construct a reality in our minds where the entire planet cares about the minutia of our lives. Old-school boasting carries the risk of someone putting the braggart in his place. But with boasting by selfie, people who dont like it will just ignore the subject, allowing the subj ect to persist in his/her delusion of self-importance. Dont let me stop you from taking and posting selfies if you wish. But ask yourself if you are as determined to draw attention to Jesus living in you (Galatians 2:20) as you are your new hairdo or plaything. Modesty means being adorned with good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness (1 Timothy 2:10). And as we preachers always, and rightly, say in our sermons on modest clothing, that principle goes for the guys, too.

I have grown tired of being astonished at the relevance and practicality of the words written by a man my age a halfcentury ago that were pointed directly at the then-current problems faced by the church and the solutions offered in Jesus. Dozens of times while reviewing PLAIN TALK in recent months, I found myself saying, Thats exactly what I believe! I made that exact point just last week! Eventually (I can be a slow study) I realized how little of consequence has really changed. That which has been done is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one might say, See this, it is new? Already it has existed for ages which were before us. There is no remembrance of earlier things; and also of the late things which will occur, there will be for them no remembrance among those who will come later still. (Ecclesiastes 1:9-11).
Well, there may or may not be remembrance of me and my things. But there is remembrance of Robert F. Turner, at least with me. And the more we as a church remember his plain talk, the more prepared we will be for the age -old and eminently current problems that face us in Satans world.

The Preacher
Acceptable to God
Posted 1/15/2014 Page 2

Hal Hammons

thepreachermag.com

The Preacher
Alone

Hal Hammons

thepreachermag.com

Colossians 1:9-12 A manner worthy of the Lord

Sing a New Song

Posted 1/15/2014 Page 7

In a very real sense, we will never be worthy of the Lord. As He Himself said at the conclusion of the parable in Luke 17:1-10, the most dutiful and effective servants in the kingdom ultimately say at the end of the day, We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done. But the ultimate unworthiness of man is a given in the gospel; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Therefore we repeatedly see worthiness discussed in the context of fallibility not sinlessness, but rather a demonstration of the power of the gospel at work in our lives. It is in this way we are told in Philippians 1:27, Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ and again in Ephesians 4:1, walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. The same point is made in the specific context of assisting fellow workers in the kingdom in Romans 16:1-2. The basic point is the same that the gospel and the Lord who sent it call us to holy thoughts and conduct. The more entrenched in the values of Jesus, the more our lives reflect that. Paul says in Colossians 1:9 this is a direct result of being filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. How could it be otherwise? We cannot know Gods will for us until He reveals it to us (1 Corinthians 2:10-13). And being filled with spiritual instruction cannot help but affect for the good our actions before God and our neighbors. Pauls prayer is for this process to continue that the same message that called them out of the world initially would continue to help separate its followers from the world. Paul briefly describes five implications of this process in our text: To please Him in all respects. The life of a Christian is beautifully summed up by Paul in Ephesians 5:10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. All respects of our life are to be devoted to Him as we make ourselves a living sacr ifice (Romans 12:1). No aspect of our life is exempted. Bearing fruit in every good work. Fruit sometimes refers specifically to the conversion of souls (1 Corinthians 16:15, James 1:18). Typically, though, it refers generally to the impact of Christ in the lives of individuals (John 15:1-5) and groups (Romans 7:4). Increasing in the knowledge of God. Increased exposure to the gospel results in a better understanding of God and of His will for our lives. Spirit fruit is described in the Christian graces For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:8). Strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might. Christ will perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish those who resist Satans efforts to tear them down (1 Peter 5:9-10). The power that was enough to bring us out of Satans clutches is also enough to keep us in the care of our Lord. Joyously giving thanks. Thanksgiving reminds us of Gods constant care; coupled with prayer and supplication, it provides one of the greatest of fruits the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension (Philippians 4:6-7).

In sorrow now I call to mind The life I chose to live before, The selfishness, the willful pride That was me at my very core. I was the very prodigal Who squandered every precious day, Who basked within his Fathers love And chose to throw it all away. In recklessness, without a care, I chose my path and paid the fare. Too late I learned, in dark despair, The curse is surely mine to bear Alone.

And so, accepting no relief, He bore abuse beyond belief, Rejecting aid, however brief, To shoulder all the pain and grief Alone.

My every hour, my every day, My life, my love, my everything, And all that may remain besides, I give it all to Christ my King. And as I sing His praises here, I know that this is just a taste. That more is promised yet for me. Make haste, my gracious Lord, make haste!

But somehow Jesus loved me still, Despite my sin and deep distress. He stretched His hand and picked me up To give me life in lifelessness. But taking all my guilt and shame Required of Him a frightful fee The nails, the blood, the loneliness,

My home awaits beyond the sea, With Jesus Christ who died for me, And with the saints eternally, I know that I will never be Alone.

The price He paid to make me free.

The Preacher
Words of Wisdom
Posted 1/15/2014 Page 6

Hal Hammons

thepreachermag.com

The Preacher
Saving The Church

Hal Hammons

thepreachermag.com

Proverbs 26:1-12 Worse than foolish

More PLAIN TALK

Lots of people are trying to save the church Posted 1/15/2014 these days There are so many problems among Page 3 brethren, and so many brethren who are apparently unconcerned, that I suppose we should rejoice that someone cares. Fact is, I have considered saving the church a time or two. Maybe I had a touch of the Don Quixote spirit and fancied the giants reeling from my trusty lance. But no more. In the first place it is hard to find a church that wants to be saved, and those who do want this, are pretty well on the road with a do it yourself job. Too, it occurred to me that the church already has a Saviour. My job, and that of every concerned member, is to stir up greater love and respect for the divine Saviour. We need a better understanding of what He saves, and how. We may work up an ulcer trying to save a union of people while the true Saviour is dividing people in order to preserve unity in the faith. Mat. 10:32-39; 1 Cor. 5:1-8. We may fail to confess Him because, in our pride, we are trying to save our place in the community. Not infrequently, we are more concerned about what people will think than we are with pleasing God. (Jn. 1:42-43) And multitudes are more concerned with the party (our institutions, our brotherhood) than they are with the church for which Christ died. Christ saves the church ONE MEMBER AT THE TIME. (1 Cor. 12:12 Jn 15:1-6, Gal. 3:26-27) The body of Christ, His church (Eph. 1:22-23) of which He is Saviour (Eph. 5:23), is composed of INDIVIDUALS. One by one, as we are saved from sins, we are added to this church. (Acts 2:47) This is a crucial point, yet one we seem determined to ignore, or refuse to apply. As the church was first worldliness, the social Somehow, some way, each his love and service to Turner, June 1964 saved from alien sins, so it must be gospel, institutionalism, or any other individual must be aroused from sleep, Christ, who alone can save the church. saved from sins. to renew Robert F.

The Bible does not use the word fool lightly. It is the fool who says, There is no God, and then lives his life accordin gly (Psalm 14). God calls a fool the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God (Luke 12:16 -21). But it is used repeatedly in the book of Proverbs. This is probably because of what Solomon writes in Proverbs 1:7 Fools despise wisdom and instruction. It may take some repetition to get the fool to recognize his foolishness. Perhaps the signature passage regarding the fool in Proverbs is in the beginning of chapter 26. We are criticized for honoring him (v.1). We are encouraged to chastise him (v.3). We are paradoxically told to answer him the right way and to not answer him at all (v.4-5). We are cautioned against giving him information or responsibility beyond his ability (v.9-10). It takes us half the chapter to realize hes not really talking about the fool at all; he is only setting us up for a proverb pointed at the man who is in even worse spiritual shape. After eleven harsh condemnations of the man lacking sense, Solomon writes in verse 12, Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him. As bad as it is to wander through life without the answers to life, without even a clear understanding of the questions, Solomon says it is even worse to imagine yourself proudly prancing through life thinking you have the world by the tail. Why is there more hope for one wise in his own eyes than for a fool? After all, we are told repeatedly that the fools condition is virtually permanent. He returns to his foolishness like a dog to its vomit, says verse 11. Beyond the disgusting nature of this analogy, it also reveals a basic ignorance of what is in ones own best interest; if something is so objection able that ones body involuntarily rejects it, it would seem obvious that it is best left on the outside and not taken interna lly yet again. Yet that is what the fool does. But the fool can choose to cease his foolishness. Wisdom calls out, Forsake your folly and live, and proceed in the way of understanding (Proverbs 9:6). The entire premise of the gospel is that those who have chosen death can be persuaded to choose life instead. Moses begged Israel of old to do just that, even though they had failed repeatedly and spectacularly over a forty-year period in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 30:19). The wise one, however, needs no correction at least, in his own estimation. He sees his life as being pointed in exactly the right direction. Gods help is not required; in fact Gods help is often assumed to be counterproductive and is intentionally avoided. The gospel is foreign to him and therefore, by definition, foolish (1 Corinthians 1:18-25). And when confronted with his own true foolishness, he tends to react far worse than the fool. The fool has always known his own incompetence; he has just managed to convince himself it doesnt matter. Telling the wise man his wisdom is foolishness is like Jesus telling Nicodemus he had to be born again (John 3:3). Everything he has fought for and bragged about his sense of accomplishment, his sense of superiority must now be scrapped. Some, like Paul, are able to count such things as loss for the sake of Christ (Philippians 3:7). Most, tragically, are not. May God protect us from that kind of wisdom.

The Preacher
Reprove and Rebuke
Posted 1/15/2014 Page 4

Hal Hammons

thepreachermag.com

The Preacher
Excel still more

Hal Hammons

thepreachermag.com

The problem with magazines (and colleges, and lectureships)

Exhort with Patience

I boldly state on the front page of my website that I speak for no one and no group. I feel compelled to make and overmake that point because of the climate in the church today, throughout my lifetime, and to an extent I suppose, throughout the lifetime of the church itself. I refer to the problem of joining. Despite being moved by inspiration, Paul did not want people to be followers of him or Cephas (1 Corinthians 1:12-13). If the apostles avoided having a following, we have no excuse for being fame-seekers and entourage-gatherers ourselves. That said, we have a problem. A problem that is pretty much unavoidable in our era of long-distance traveling, internet publishing and social media. The problem is, when we put ourselves in position to be spokesmen, people expect us to be spokesmen. What is this colleges position on this issue? What is that magazines position on this preacher? The proper response is, Colleges and magazines dont have positions; individuals do. No human organization should be expected to be the pillar and support of the truth the church of the living God already has that mandate (1 Timothy 2:15). To suggest my group or your group is obligated to take a firm stand on this or that is to infer the church is incapable of doing so adequately. Or to put it more bluntly, the idea that any action of a human organization can significantly contribute to or detract from the work of the gospel is laughable, arrogant and blasphemous. Not necessarily in that order. Jesus was doing fine before we arrived. And if He tarries, Hell continue to do so long after we and our organizations return to dust. Im all for brethren joining forces to do carnal things in godly ways. I do not necessarily oppose brethren joining forces outside the auspices of the local church to preach the gospel, either muzzled or unmuzzled (a 1Timothy 5:18 reference there). Paul and Barnabas conducted their first preaching tour with the aid of the church in Antioch (Acts 13:1-3), but their respective second trips appear to have been individual efforts (Acts 15:36-41). So if brethren want to run a school with godly values and teach the Bible as course work, or if others want to pool energies and publish books and magazines for profit, I have no issue with that. But it is imperative that we avoid looking to such institutions as bastions of truth. They are not. To treat them as such is to put an unreasonable and unscriptural burden on them. They speak for themselves, not God. Likewise, they should avoid any appearance of courting a doctrine-setting position in the brotherhood. One of the reasons I do not solicit articles for The Preacher is my absolute refusal to be anyones spokesman. What you read here is not church of Christ doctrine (and God forbid there ever be such). It is not an attempt to reflect the positi on of conservative Christians anywhere, let alone everywhere. Its just one man with a Bible, a laptop and a platform. Jesus is Lord. Listen to Him (Matthew 17:5). If I can facilitate the listening process, Im glad to do so. But dont join me and my cause. Join Him and His.

I was working in the sports department of my college newspaper the night Posted 1/15/2014 James Buster Douglas beat Mike Tyson to win the heavyweight championPage 5 ship of the world. It was generally considered the greatest upset in boxing history. That night in Tokyo shocked the world and changed forever the life of a (to that point) unknown and relatively inconsequential man.

He was the champ. For almost eight and one-half months. He lost his very first title defense to Evander Holyfield, getting knocked out in the third round. He retired immediately afterward and never fought another significant fight. He will go down in the history books as the man who beat Mike Tyson on February 11, 1990. And nothing else.
Getting to the top of the heap is an exhilarating thing. I would not do anything do take away from that. But the great ones reach the top of Mount Everest, or the other side of the English Channel, or the medal stand at the Olympics, and they say, Great. Whats next? They take pride in their accomplishment, certainly. But they want to excel still more. That is the attitude that will serve us well in Jesus. We celebrate the forgiveness of our sins when God washes them away in baptism (Acts 22:16), and we should. We expect our spiritual family to rejoice with us as we rejoice (Romans 12:15). But the Christian life is not to be lived in the past tense. We are always looking forward to the next opportunity, the next challenge. Even Paul, who would seem to have accomplished as much or more for the cause of Christ than anyone, writes in Philippians 3:13-14, Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do; forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. The goal in that passage is not salvation; that had already been achieved. Nor is it the prize of heaven that awaits, which he distinguishes from the goal. The goal is Jesus. Being conformed to His image (Romans 8:29). Crucifying our old self (Romans 6:6). Having His mind in us (Philippians 2:5). God be thanked, we do not have to reach that destination in this life to receive His grace after all, thats what grace is. But we do have the opportunity to do better than we did yesterday. The opportunity, the privilege, and the pleasure. Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10, Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you brethren, to excel still more. God teaches us through His word how to love one another, how to pursue godly character (2 Peter 1:5-8), how to sow the fruit of righteousness in peace (James 3:18), how to do a thousand other things in pursuit of His will in our lives. But very few of these things are one and done accomplishments. Most are character-building exercises. And we will always need to build more character. The endless pursuit of Christs perfection may seem daunting at times, but it need not be. As Paul writes in Galatians 6:9, Let us not lose heart in doing good for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. A marvelous reward, the crown of righteousness (2 Timothy 4:8) waits not for those who achieve, but for those who pursue. Do not rest on your laurels, brethren. Continue to excel in the things of Christ, brethren. And then, excel still more.