“It’s Just Incense, Right?” Part Two

“Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them.  And the fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.”  (Leviticus 10:1-2, ESV)

A young lady had been seriously contemplating being baptized.  She knew the story of Jesus and the sacrifice of His own life and blood on the cross to become her Redeemer.  She knew she had sinned.  She knew she could not save herself from the eternal destiny Satan had planned for her as a consequence of her sins.

She knew all the steps to the plan of salvation that would lead to her being forgiven by God.  She understood there was “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all,” but what was that “one body?”  (Ephesians 4:4-6)

She asked her mother, “How do you know which church is the one body of Christ?”  Lovingly, her mother pointed her to the Scriptures and instructed her to compare what she read about the church in the New Testament with what she found in the church she was attending, and also with what her friends believed was pleasing to God.

Does that remind you of an instruction from long ago?

“When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘what is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son: We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand; … And the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day.  Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the Lord our God, as He has commanded.” (Deuteronomy 6:21-22, 24-25)

One of the best ways to strengthen our own faith is to look back … often … at all our Heavenly Father has done for each of us and REMEMBER just how faithful He is in all that He does and promises to do!

This is exactly what the Lord, through His wonderful servants Moses, Joshua and the various judges and prophets, was constantly exhorting the Israelites to do!  They were to pass down the history of these great truths and wonderful events to their children and to their children’s children!

When we remember the truths of God’s Book and share them and explain them, we will all be encouraged to trust our loving and caring God with the future, and continue to mature in our own life to “walk by faith and not by sight!”  We must teach about the wise and foolish builders (Matthew 7:24-27) and how every rainbow that appears in the sky is to remind us of God’s promise to never destroy the world by water again (Genesis 9:12-17).

Could it be that we as parents and grandparents have not been or are not teaching our children and grandchildren the history of the one body, the church, which has Christ as its head?  There are so many religious bodies in our world today which leads to confusion, uncertainty, even doubt and desertion!  Where do they go to answer their question, ‘why do we do that’?

The thought being expressed by a growing number of religious people including some within the church itself is being spoken in ways like this, “The world is changing so quickly and rapidly and the church just needs to keep up with these changes!”  Really? The rainbow first appeared how many years ago?

The problem with such faulty thinking lies in the fact that God’s Book, the Bible, does not change!   Words spoken by Jesus Christ affirm this truth to be so, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” (Matthew 24:35)

May I warn you that men have always tried … are trying and will try in the future to alter or in some way soften God’s Book, offering versions not translations that do not plum with the original intent of God in His Book as His Spirit revealed it through the various writers over some 1600 years.

Just as Nadab and Abihu presumed that what was pleasing to them just had to be pleasing to God, only to discover in a terrible and final way they were wrong, we need to be teaching, reinforcing and reminding our children and grandchildren about the heritage, history of God’s Book, the Bible … the church with Jesus Christ as its head … and the ever-present need to “walk in the light of His Word” because it will be by that very Word that each of us will be judged (John 12:48)!

Our young people are searching, questioning, asking and yes … even doubting spiritual truths. May each of them find the loving, tender and patient guidance that will enable them to know what God wants from them, why He will not accept substitutions, and where they can find the scriptures to teach their friends these truths.

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matthew 7:24)

 

Bill Fairchild, Jr.

NOTE:  Tomorrow, we would like to pose a series of questions and principles that are vital to the saving of our souls and those of our young! We invite you to read over them … take the time to reflect on them!  You will be glad you did!

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