The pathway

When I first became a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, after experiencing His physical healing powers, it was nearly two years before I set foot inside a church.  But from the moment I did so, I made up my mind I was going sit under the preaching and teaching of God’s word and apply it to my life.  In those two years I had done enough personal reading and studying at home to convince me that the Bible was more than simply a book full of words printed in black ink on white paper, like all the other books I was reading that were teaching about it.

The minister I sat under was an expository preacher and teacher.  Expository teaching is also referred to as systematic exposition – a form of teaching that expounds upon the meaning of a particular text or passage of Scripture.  The Spirit of God used this type of teaching to burn His truths deep into my spirit.  In my opinion, it is the most disciplined kind of preaching, because it greatly reduces the chances of one teaching Scripture out of context, which means the hearers are much less likely to learn Scripture out of context.  In other words, the chances of being deceived are greatly reduced. 

I was momentarily deceived however, when it came to people.  Because I was ignorant of the Bible’s warnings about who and what many are that sit in churches, I thought we were all the same.   I thought the church would be, “all things in common – all for one and one for all.”  Not so.  I certainly do not advocate Communism, Nazism or any other ism, but in my opinion they portray these ideals better than many churches.  I was yet to learn that not all in God’s house (Christendom) had the same goals and agendas 2 Timothy 2:20.  A favourite mantra among Christians is, “do not judge, that you may not be judged.”

I call it a mantra because nearly all Christians I know who use this Scripture, use it out of context.  They either don’t know or don’t want to know that the Bible has plenty to say to us about judging.  How else would we know “their fruits” if it were not for judging?  How else would somebody know my fruits?  Anyhow, because of my naivety, I took everyone of us to be the same because of how we all looked and what came out of our mouths.  Before I became a Christian, I had spent my whole life acting a part that I never was.  The last place I was expecting to see people acting a part that they never were, was in a church – my own or anyone else’s.

I was aware that as a people we still have our faults, sins and idiosyncrasies, but that is what the word of God is all about – putting each of us on the pathway of deliverance from them, so that we can be maturing and conforming to the image of Christ.  Yes, it is a process and we are all at different stages, but this applies only those who get on the pathway in the first place.  What I learned was, that although many gave the impression they were on the same path, they were in actual fact not.  If it were left at that, it would have been none of my business and I would have no right to make any judgement about this.

But within two years (for three and a half years) it became my business when people asked for help.  Neil was one of those.  He sat in our fellowship under the same teaching, he was in a young adults group as well, being ministered to by leaders of similar age.  Neil gave all the impressions of one who was growing in the grace of God, he spoke the part and he looked the part and if it were not for his own confession we would perhaps have been none the wiser.  He had a stealing problem. 

He, with his leaders came to one of the ministers and I was asked to counsel him with Neil giving the approval.  A time was set for our meeting, and he was asked to pray in the meantime, seeking the Lord to reveal to him the real issues for this behaviour.  Stealing was not the root of his problem, only the fruit of his problem.  At the counselling session I had to prise just about everything from him.  No wonder.  He looked me in the eye as he told me he didn’t pray for this time together and, “I never pray.” 

Our time together stopped there.  Neil was not serious about this at all, it seemed.  It’s not that he didn’t understand his culpability, he did.  Otherwise, he wouldn’t have admitted to anything when found out.  So I gave him a list of what I believed to be the real issues of his life and asked him to go away and get before God, then come back in ten days time and we would start again.  Once again, when it came to looks and words, he demonstrated the part of a fine young Christian man in every way.  He didn’t show up ten days later though.  He chose to get off the pathway.  Neil was not the only one and I will write about that on another post.

Andrea came to the church with her sister.  She was a married lady, being blessed sitting under the teaching like the rest of us.  She was having marriage difficulties and asked me if I would meet with her husband Maurice, whose verbal violence was getting her down and frightening their young child.  I went with her to met Maurice.  He was not a believer at the time, but due to the restraining power of God he sat and listened as I shared the gospel with him in his garden.  Two hours later he asked the Lord into his life and he experienced immediate internal change.  Christ opened his eyes on the spot.  Smiling, he said he saw God’s creation of, “flowers and trees in a new light.”

Maurice came to the church, “to learn where I’ve been and where I’m going in life.”  He appeared to be on the pathway.  He slipped off however, falling back into his old ways.  That is not uncommon for a new Christian and is not to be judged.  This is why mature believers make themselves ready for any assistance needed.  Maurice told me he had three dreams in the midst of this falling.  By God’s grace I interpreted those dreams and advised that if he was obedient to them, then God would move on his behalf.  Maurice acted and God acted.  His marriage was back on track and God was ministering to him and the family.  Maurice had regular struggles on the pathway, none of which helped his wife and child.

Jennifer came into the church with her boyfriend Michael.  She came from a traditional church and although she was a seeker of God she was not a believer.  As she sat under our expository preaching and teaching she was very guarded and apprehensive.  It was a foreign language to her, as it is for all who have not been born again.  But as the weeks turned into months, Jennifer had become visibly relaxed and was now opening up like blossoming flower.  This came about because she had given her heart to the Lord.  Jennifer’s thirst for a deeper knowledge of God was mightily slaked.

She commenced a systematic foundational Bible study with my wife and myself and within a few weeks she had taken those same studies to teach other people.  Jennifer’s love of the Lord and her willingness to share His word, plus His work in her life, quickly became an inspiration to others.  She was a popular member of the church with a gift in relating to people of all ages.  Within a year or so Michael and Jennifer got married and continued to witness to the truth of God’s word by their lives, demonstrating the reality of its promises to transform us if we will but choose to believe and embrace it.   

Some years later both of them went off to do three years of formal Bible study at a well known Bible College.  Today they are parents of a beautiful young girl and are continuing as teachers and leaders in their local church in the country.  Jennifer never swerved from the pathway she had chosen to set her feet upon.  “In the way of righteousness there is life, and in it’s pathway there is no death.”  Proverbs 12:28.  “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”  Psalm 119:105.