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 Make
All Things According to the Pattern (From a radio program
delivered by Jack Thompson of the Whites Park church of Christ on
KSHN, Liberty, Texas. Date unknown.)
God has always demanded that men follow His direction in matters of
religion. Taking as a text or starting point, Hebrews 8:5, may we
all, as fellow travelers to eternity, study together our duty to
"make all things according to the divine pattern" as revealed in the
New Testament---not my pattern, nor yours, but God's. This is a very
practical line of thought for Christians and all men alike, seeing
that all men must mold their thinking, their speech, their life and
conduct in every way by this divine pattern. We are to be workers
for Him and must conform our work and worship to this pattern. It
also helps us to teach others the way of life and salvation more
perfectly and helps us to fight the "wiles" of error more
efficiently.
God says: "It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps"
(Jeremiah 10:23). Hence, man must have a divine guide to be saved.
God also says: "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but
the end thereof are the ways of death" (Proverbs 14:12). Cain's way,
no doubt, seemed right to him, (Genesis 4:3-7), but not to God.
Hence, it was the way of death. Nadab, no doubt, did what seemed
right to him when he offered strange fire: but not to God, and was
smitten of God while in the very act of worship, because he did not
follow the divine directions (Leviticus 10:1, 2). NOTE: God did not
tell him NOT to offer this kind of fire; neither did He tell Cain
not to offer the fruit of the field as a sacrifice; nor did He tell
Moses not to smite the rock the second time. When God tells us how
and what to do, that forbids our substituting anything else—His
commands are both inclusive and exclusive. You, too, may be well
pleased with what you are and what you are doing religiously, but
you are not the one to be pleased in these matters.
You might please your own conscience, as did Saul of Tarsus in Acts
9. Yea, you might please the whole religious world and yet be lost
if you do not please God. It is not possible for man to guide
himself and please God. We must surrender to God's will and follow
it as our only guide. God has given man a guide in religion in all
ages of the world and he has always demanded that man follow it and
not his own ways or the creeds of man. He has pronounced a curse
upon all who change or alter His worship in any way. Listen to
Christ, "But in vain do they worship me teaching as their doctrines
the precepts of men. Ye leave the commandment of God, and hold fast
the tradition of men. And he said unto them full well do ye reject
the commandment of God that ye may keep your tradition." (Mark
7:7-9). He has forbidden men to alter or change His word, in any way
in all ages of the world. Look closely at Galatians 1:8, "But though
we, or an angel from heaven, should preach unto you any gospel other
than that which we preached unto you, let him be accursed." Deut.
4:1-3 states, "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you,
neither shall ye diminish from it, that ye may keep the commandments
of Jehovah your God, which I command you."
Giving man a guide and demanding him to follow it is a manifestation
of His love for man, seeing man could not direct himself aright.
Hence the need of this lesson, "making all things according to the
divine pattern." God's word is our guide book, our chart and
compass, our pattern, our blueprint. The purpose of a pattern, guide
book or a blueprint is to direct people. And we are to be directed
by what the guide book, the pattern says, not by its silence or what
it does not say. Sometimes we hear someone say, "Well the Bible
doesn't say NOT to do this or that." Can we take a chance on
eternity by appealing to the silence of the scriptures, what it does
not say? Any guide is worthless unless we follow its directions. If
you give a man a blueprint by which to build a house, you expect him
to be governed by it and make the house according to the pattern. If
you give a woman a pattern by which to make a dress, you expect her
to be governed by it and "make all things according to the pattern"
-- not by her own wishes, seeing she is not the one to be pleased in
that case. Now, this is just what God has done for us in matters of
religion—He has given us His words in the New Testament as a guide
book or pattern to govern us in all things that pertain unto life
and godliness. Listen to the apostle Peter in 2 Peter 1:3," seeing
that his divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain
unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that called us
by his own glory and virtue." Peter says, "if any man speaketh, let
him speak as the oracles of God" (1 Peter 4:11). It then follows, if
God's word has not spoken, man is to be silent. This, in all our
faith and practice, is "making all things according to the divine
pattern."
When Jehovah gave Moses the command to build the tabernacle in the
Old Testament, He said to Moses, "See, saith he, that thou make all
things according to the pattern that was showed thee in the mount."
(Hebrews 7:5). Moses has no choice as to how to make the tabernacle,
what kind of wood, how long, how wide, what kind of covers, etc. He
was given a divine pattern, a divine guide, to follow. If Moses had
been commanded to build several tabernacles, would they not all have
been exactly alike, seeing they were all made by the same pattern?
If a man builds you several houses by the same blueprint, will they
not all be just alike in their makeup? If not, why not? If a woman
makes several dresses by the same pattern, will they not all be just
alike? If not, why not? This seems to be too self-evident to be
questioned by sensible people.
God, through Christ Jesus, established His church on earth, and gave
us the New Testament to guide us, as our pattern or blueprint, in
making this church. He did not give you nor me the right to just
build the church however seems right to you or to me. If we build
anything that pleases Him, it will be built according to the divine
pattern given by Jehovah. Does it not follow, if the pattern is
followed, that each church will look alike and do things that are
alike? How can mankind escape this conclusion? Hear Paul as he
speaks under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, "Now, I beseech you,
brethren, through the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all
speak the same thing and that there be no division among you; but
that ye be perfected together in the same mind and in the same
judgment" (1 Corinthians 1:10-13). Does that sound like God is
pleased with one religious body doing one thing, and another doing
something entirely different? That one church is called by one name,
while another is called by another name? Is that what God meant when
he said we are to "do all things according to the divine pattern"?
It seems to me that someone is not following the pattern. It may be
that none are following the divine pattern, but we cannot be
following the pattern and come up doing different things.
Now, I am not being critical in this matter. But, in love for God's
word and the souls of men and in view of the Judgment, I must plead
earnestly with all within the sound of my voice to be satisfied with
God's word and it alone, as our only safe guide in matters of
religion. This is not a narrow view of the matter, but it is the
broadest view one can have. It is narrow to divide folks into sects
and creeds, with each group doing something different from the other
group. May we all go back to the Bible as our only guide, speaking
as it speaks, and remaining silent where it does not speak. No two
truths can contradict each other. When we differ my friend, one of
us is wrong. Possibly both of us. But, two cannot differ and still
hold to truth. Truth does not divide. Truth unites. Did not Jesus
pray for the unity of all believers? Listen to Him, "Neither for
these only do I pray, but for them also that believe on me through
their word; that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in
me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us: that the world may
believe that thou didst send me" (John 17:20, 21). A divided
Christianity breeds atheism, a divided Christianity is a slap in the
face of Jehovah. But a united Christianity will produce faith in
Christ Jesus in the lives of others! Don't you think that we should
all speak the same thing? Who out there in radio land will affirm
that we should be divided religiously? Who will affirm that it
pleases God for us to speak different things?
If all people hear and obey the Gospel now, as those people did in
Paul's day, then they will all be saved as they were then. If all
obey the same gospel now, will not all be members of the same
church—if not, why not? If you do what the people did on the day of
Pentecost in Acts 2, will you not be a member of the same church as
they were and be just what they were religiously. If not, why not?
If the same seed is planted, it will produce the same results. Jesus
said the seed is the word of God (Luke 8:11). Even the farmer knows
that the same seed will produce the same crop. If you plant corn,
the harvest will be corn, if you make a crop. But, the religious
world has developed the idea that we can plant the same seed and
come up with many different results. That, my friend, is not God's
arrangement. That is the work of men. God says, "Speak the same
thing." Man says, "We speak different things." Whom shall we accept?
There is one point that all of us MUST remember. God never sets
aside His law for anyone. This is one point that must be impressed
upon our thinking. If man is saved, it will be according to the
Lord's arrangements; not mine nor yours. And since God is no
respecter of persons as Acts 10:34 so clearly states, we must all
agree with and obey the arrangements that the Lord has made.
Therefore, the concluding word and exhortation of this program is:
With a sincere, fervent, passion for lost and dying men, let us go
into the field white for harvest with no word to offer but the "Word
of God," with no requirements to make but the Bible conditions of
salvation, with no church to offer but the "church of Christ," with
no name to offer but the name "Christian," with no discipline to
offer but the New Testament. Let us all "speak as the oracles of
God." May we make all things "according to the divine pattern." ~
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