Teaching and Admonishing Each Other

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:16-17 ESV)

These exhortations are for the church (the body of Christ) as a whole, not just for preachers and pastors and for those with the specific gift of teaching and/or singing. All of us within the body of Christ are to be ministering to one another in a manner in which we are helping one another to grow to maturity in Christ and where we are encouraging and helping one another to not walk in sin and in disobedience to God. This is the responsibility of the whole body of Christ to one another, and not just for a select few.

[Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Lu 6:27-28; Jn 4:31-38; Jn 13:13-17; Jn 14:12; Ac 1:8; Ac 2:14-18; Ac 26:18; Rom 10:14-15; Rom 12:1-8; Rom 15:14; 1 Co 12:1-31; 1 Co 14:1-5; Gal 6:1; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:11-27; Eph 6:10-20; Php 2:1-8; Col 1:9; Col 3:12-16; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:13; Heb 10:23-25; Jas 5:19-20; 1 Pet 2:9,21; 1 Jn 2:6; Jude 1:22-23]  

For all of us are to be being equipped for the work of the ministry, according to the Scriptures, and not according to human flesh and marketing schemes. We all are to be ministers of the gospel of Christ and of his grace and mercy to the people of the world and to the body of Christ, utilizing the gifts given to us of the Spirit in our specific body parts (roles) assigned to us by God. We all are to speak the truth in love to one another so that we will not be taken captive by teachers in their cunning, craftiness, and deceitfulness.

This is the purpose of the body of Christ and of our gatherings together, that we might be exhorting and encouraging and helping one another daily to walk in holiness and in righteousness, in walks of surrender and in faithful obedience to our Lord and to his commands. And, although women should not be serving in positions of authority over men, women are given the gift of prophecy (preaching, proclaiming the word of God), too, and we should be given the opportunity to do so within the gatherings of the church, as well.

For we should all be given opportunity to share with the body of Christ what the Lord is teaching us from his word each day, for the encouragement and strengthening of the body of Christ, as a whole, to walk in faithful surrender to our Lord in doing his will and purpose for our lives. Women should not rule over men unless there are no biblically qualified men to lead a congregation, but God gave all of us gifts which are to be used for the encouragement of the whole body of Christ. We can learn from each other.

And the singing of songs is not just for congregational singing led by only one person who picks out all the songs to sing. The whole idea of this is that we are to be addressing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, like in the old days when people in the congregation were given opportunity to share a song and a message that God put upon their hearts to share with the body of Christ for their encouragement, as led by the Spirit. And the songs should be messages of encouragement to one another, too.

These modern-day institutional market-driven “churches” (businesses) are not biblical role models at all of what the gatherings of the body of Christ should look like. They are mostly all controlled by a small group of people, being led oftentimes by one man who acts more like a cult leader rather than as a servant of the people. And usually one man does all the preaching, and usually there is no one present to challenge (to test) what he is preaching against the Scriptures to see if what he is teaching is the truth.

And many of these preachers are being trained in seminaries and in Bible colleges and in training classes on how to market their “churches” to the people of the world and on how to “draw in large crowds of people from the world into their gatherings.” So marketing books and schemes are superseding the Scriptures and God as the only head of his church. And in order to attract the world they are largely altering the character of God, of his church, and of the gospel of Christ to win the world to themselves.

But this is not biblical church. Biblical church is the body of believers in Jesus Christ who have died with Christ to sin and who are living to God and to his righteousness who are gathering together any day of the week, at any location, at any time of day, for the purpose of mutual edification and encouragement and exhortation so that we all remain steadfast in our walks of faith in holiness and in righteousness and in obedience to our Lord, and so that none of us are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

But it seems this is rarely taking place here in America. Instead, the majority seem to all be taken captive by marketing schemes and by patterning their gatherings after the world in order to attract the world to their gatherings. And so it ends up largely about entertaining people and having fun and laughing while these diluted and altered gospel messages are replacing the true gospel of our salvation. So many are convinced then, that their sins no longer matter to God, and so they continue in sinful rebellion against God.

And I believe God is judging the church in America, and that more severe judgement is on the way (examples in Revelation 2-3), because so much of his church has gone the way of the world and they are not operating as the biblical body of Christ, and they are not stressing the necessity of us denying self, dying to sin daily, and walking in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in practice (lifestyle, habit). And my prayer is that many will surrender their lives to Jesus Christ and will now follow him in obedience.

[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg 

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