After a recent sermon I was stopped at the door and informed I had made a terrible mistake in the presentation of my lesson. Inquiring as to the mistake I was told, "You didn't read far enough!" It seems I failed to read far enough in the text to see the passage itself made the point I had to labor to make. I stood guilty of not reading far enough.
My mistake is one all too common in the religious world today. The Baptist and others read we must have faith to have salvation (cf. John 3:16) but fail to read on to see it must be an obedient faith (cf. John 3:36); thus they reject baptism as necessary to our salvation (see Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16; Romans 6; Galatians 3:27). They fail to read all of God's word and come to the sum total of His will for us. They don't read far enough.
Some of our own brethren are also guilty of not reading far enough. Some have read what they must do to become a Christian but fail to read on to see they have many responsibilities as a disciple of Christ that must be fulfilled. So they forsake the assembling of the saints together (Hebrews 10:24,25) and fail to take the gospel to the lost around them (cf. Matthew 28:19; 2 Timothy 2:2). Others show they haven't read far enough when they ask the church to be involved in and sponsor activities the church has no business being involved in. I refer to activities such as church sponsored recreational activities and church support of benevolent institutions. If these brethren would read far enough in the New Testament they would see the church of the first century was involved only in Evangelism, Edification and Benevolence (cf. Ephesians 4:12). Furthermore it would be seen from the book of Acts and the epistles they always sent their support directly to the preacher, not through some "sponsoring church", and the physical aid they gave was always to the saints, and not general benevolence as practiced today. Not reading far enough is a problem which plagues the Lord's church.
Brethren, what all this should tell us is it is vitally important for us to study the word of God. We should meet with the brethren regularly to study the word and also spend some time on our own learning His will.
I was accused and stood guilty of not reading far enough. Have you read far enough to be assured a home in heaven?
This page is © Copyright 1998 by Alex Ogden,
All Rights Reserved.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, November 04, 1998.