Ira North and Church Benevolence

There are two extreme positions that one can take on the question,  “Must all benevolent work be done through the church treasury?” First, the position that  benevolent work must be done through the church treasury and second, the position that it should all be done individually.   In this case, as in so many others, the truth lies between the two extremes. The Bible does not say that everything must be done through the church treasury.  If so, a cup of cold water could not be given in the name of Christ without running it through the church treasury. ,We must do all in the name of Christ or by the authority of Christ. The  Book does not say, “And whatsoever you do in word or in  deed, do all through the church treasury.” Yet, it is a  mark of wisdom for Christians to do all they can through the local congregation.

I was born and reared in the shadow of David Lipscomb College and the great spiritual giants such as David Lipscomb, James A. Harding, and H. Leo Boles had great influence in my home country. My great-grandfather and  grandfather were preachers. My father is an elder in the church. I have been taught from my youth up that it is a mark of wisdom whenever possible, for Christians to do benevolent work through the local congregation.  When a local congregation in a community is active in benevolent work, it puts the church in a favorable light before the public, it builds good will for the church of our Lord, and it causes the church to be spoken well of by outsiders.  From my own study of the Bible, I know of no reason to reject these thoughts which I received in my youth.

Abilene Christian College Lectures (1950’s)

The Preaching Business by Charles Hodge

Only preachers preach. Church, get yourself a preacher. Tragically, we have office managers, lecturers, storytellers, speakers, psychologists, entertainers, comedians, but we don’t’ have preachers! A read sermon is a dead sermon. Foy Wallace used to say, “We have preacherettes preaching sermonettes to Christianettes who smoke cigarettes.” Too much preaching is not preaching. I am a country boy. I practiced preaching to cows. One cow ate my sermon notes; she dried up. In listing his jobs, Paul listed preaching before apostle and teacher (1 Timothy 2:7).

God’s sheep are starving at the Master’s table. Our brotherhood is starved for simple, plain gospel preaching. We cannot have a bully pulpit that beats people up; we do need a gospel pulpit that shakes people up. We hire preachers telling the church they are better than they are; we then fire them, telling the church they were worse than they are.

Brethren have become “lookers” rather than “listeners.” God calls us through our ears not our eyes. Preach it!

(Gospel Advocate, January 2009, p. 48)

The 1906 Division

The 1906 Division – Principles For Today by Alan E. Highers.

A Commentator’s Question’s On The Use of Mechanical Instrumental Music In Worship

“And with them Heman and Jeduthun, to sound aloud with trumpets and cymbals and the musical instruments of God. Now the sons of Jeduthun were gatekeepers” (1 Chronicles 16:42).

• Did God ever ordain instruments of music to be used in his worship?

• Can they be used in Christian assemblies according to the spirit of Christianity?

• Has Jesus Christ, or his apostles, ever commended or sanctioned the use of them?

• Were they ever used any where in the apostolic church?

• Does the use of them at present, in Christian congregations, ever increase the spirit of devotion?

• Does it ever appear that bands of musicians, either in their collective or individual capacity, are more spiritual, or as spiritual, as the other parts of the church of Christ?

• Is there less pride, self-will, stubbornness, insubordination, lightness, and frivolity among such persons than among the other professors of Christianity found in the same religious society?

• Is it ever remarked or known that musicians in the house of God have attained to any depth of piety, or superior soundness of understanding, in the things of God?

• Is it ever found that those churches and Christian societies which have and use instruments of music in divine worship are more holy, or as holy, as those societies which do not use them?

• And is it always found that the ministers which affect and recommend them to be used in the worship of Almighty God, are the most spiritual men, and the most spiritual and useful preachers?

• Can mere sounds, no matter how melodious, where no word nor sentiment is or can be uttered, be considered as giving praise to God?

• Is it possible that pipes or strings of any kind can give God praise?

• Can God be pleased with sounds which are emitted by no sentient being, and have in themselves no meaning?

• If these questions cannot be answered in the affirmative; then, query, Is not the introduction of such instruments into the worship of God antichristian, and calculated to debase and ultimately ruin the spirit and influence of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

• And should not all who wish well to the spread and establishment of pure and undefiled religion, lift up their hand, their influence and their voice against them? The argument from their use in the Jewish service is futile in the extreme when applied to Christianity.

–Clarke’s Commentary, Volume II, pp. 610-611

The following observation is certainly applicable today… (SM)

• “My brethren, we ought to be ashamed to allow a Methodist commentator to lift up his hand more strongly, and use his influence more determinedly,and lift up his voice more loudly than we do against the introduction of things foreign to the simple worship of God” (Fred E. Dennis, Fifty Short Sermons II, p. 75)

The Indwelling Spirit

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