Musick-al Notes

Musick-al Note # 308

         Christians are to be unique in their love.  It is not to be pretended for that is hypocrisy but the true expression of the heart. Love for Jesus will lead us to obey His words, not from a sense of duty but because of an earnest desire to be like Him.  Christians have willingly given themselves to follow the Christ because they have come to love Him who gave so much to redeem them from their iniquity.  They know that life is more than living on the earth and more than having things of the world.  Life is eternal and Christians look toward the fruition of their hope when they shall be in the presence of their redeemer whom they love with all their hearts.

         Sincere love for Jesus is also expressed by Christians in their relationships with other Christians.  It recognizes a bond greater than family ties and blood relationships.  The redemption they share in Christ Jesus brings them into a spiritual unity where companionship and fellowship erase all distinctions, enmities and differences.  They are ONE in Him and anything which hurts another hurts all so that they love others as they love themselves.

         It is no wonder that Christians abhor anything that would destroy their fellowship with one another.  Any bitterness, discouragement, hypocrisy, discord, gossip, backbiting or such like which discloses insincere love within is rooted out that pure love may be manifest.  When any Christian harbors within his heart any ill-will toward his follow Christians, sincere love cannot live within – thus he falls short of the glory of God.

           Gordon Musick

Musick-al note # 307          

   The English language has only one word for “love” whereas the Greek in which the New Testament was written had four different words that express four different “areas” or “kinds” of “love”.

The Greek words and their meanings are:

     1. Philia = tender affection – good feelings- warm feelings – delight in

          This word is usually a spontaneous response when we “like” something.

          Philia is an emotion and therefore cannot be commanded.

     2. Storge = blood bond – kinfolk affection – a natural bond in a family.

          Storge is the unbidden recognition of family, for blood kin, married

          partners and  therefore cannot be commanded.

     3. Eros = sexual feelings – erotic emotions – ardent desire.  It is a sensuous     

          quality showing sexual interest, arousal and self-fulfillment.

          Eros is an emotion and therefore cannot be commanded.

     4. Agape = to speak, think and act toward another in a way that is best for the

           other, regardless of one’s feelings about them.  It is a decision resulting from

           rational thinking and reason.  As a result, it can be commanded by the Lord

           and obeyed by His followers as they seek to do His will.

        Agape is not sexual, nor affection and has nothing to do with blood             

           relationships.  It is not self-seeking nor fulfilling self-will nor acted upon

           because of our “feelings” for another person.  It seeks the best welfare for all

           people whether we are naturally inclined to do so or not.  It is a principle by

           which we deliberately live as a result of our decision to do the Will of Christ.

        Agape is not an emotion, therefore it can be and is commanded by Christ.

           Matthew 5:44-45 But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse

           you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who despitefully use   

           you, and persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in

           heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain

           on the just and on the unjust.

       Agape is commanded by the Lord God so that his disciples could live and work among people to show that they live in a realm above the world and draw others to also follow Him.

          Gordon Musick

Musick-al Note # 305                      

         So often we are prone to excuse ourselves from doing a work in the church.  We’re too tired or too busy, or some other excuse. While we may be tired or busy or may not feel like doing this particular work or attend all the time, we ought to realize that such reasoning will not suffice with God.  To put it another way, we need to remember God and Christ gave so much of themselves to bring about our salvation.  They could have allowed us to be lost, but their love constrained them to save us.  It meant sending the Son from heaven and living among sinful man as man himself.  It meant laying to burden of sin on Him.  It meant Jesus had to endure the suffering of the cross.  It meant agony, torture and death, yet from their love and endurance of these things, salvation has been granted you and me.  How do your excuses and my excuses compare when we say, “I’m too tired” or “I’m too busy” or “I don’t feel like it” or “I just have to get away for a while?”  They sound pretty shallow and childish don’t they?  Shall we continue to give excuses when we consider the great gifts of God and His Son, Jesus?

           Gordon Musick

Musick-al Note # 306                                              

         Many people regard going to church services as they would attending a play on the stage. Because they are so man-centered, and not God-centered, they think of themselves as spectators, with the preacher as the main performer and if God is anywhere in the production, He is certainly on the sidelines.  How unfortunate and how different from true worship!  GOD IS THE HEARER, THE RECEIVER and approver while the congregation is the actor and the preacher should be only a prompter to help draw close to Him from whom all blessings come.  Worship for the Christian is offered to God the Father from the heart, through Jesus Christ and according to truth (John 4:24).   When you come to the worship service, do you consider your presence in that worship service as you would attend a lecture or a concert?  Or do you realize that the service is a meeting with God to offer Him expressions of love, adoration and devotion?

In meeting with God, truly the place where God is becomes “The ground on which you stand is holy ground.”  Should we not consider our hearts to offer God those actions and activities that express our love, joy, and thankfulness?

Gordon Musick

Musick-al Note # 304   

          Did you ever have or try to use a desk or chest drawer that was hard to open?  Exasperating, isn’t it?  Something is usually wrong for manufacturers do not design desks with hard to open drawers.  Many things happen to those drawers which cause such a condition.  They may become swollen and warped by dampness.  They may be dropped, roughly used or overloaded.  They may not have been securely fastened together or have inadequate support.  The bottom of some desk drawers fall completely out, making them only a shell.     Whatever the cause, such a drawer is hard to use or worse, impossible to use at all.

          Did you ever know or observe a Christian whose actions reminded you of the descriptions of desk drawers?  Exasperating to try to work with them, isn’t it?  He who made us and bought us did not have such in mind for He wanted Christians to be zealous of good works (Ephesians 2:10, Titus 2:14).  Yet there are Christians who have become swollen and warped by sin and thus cannot be used. Other have been converted then dropped to succeed or fail without the careful nurture of older fellow-Christians.  Some have been roughly used and broken by the unthinking cruelty of those who should have lifted them up.  A few Christians have been overloaded with things for which they were never designed to carry and unable to handle.  In all fairness to the brotherhood, a few Christians lacked dedication and consecration so that they have simply come apart in use.  Part of these may have lacked adequate support when their load began to get heavy and they could not stand the strain. Then there are those how seem to work easily and appear from the outside to be very good that simply will not carry anything.  In the language of the drawer, the whole bottom is gone.  They have plenty of support, are in the place they ought to be, but the carry nothing.  A hypocrite, you say?  Yes, declaring to be a Christian, acting like a Christian, in the place where Christians are found, but only a shell, doing nothing and carrying no load.  One other problem with desk drawers comes to mind.  It is the one that will move only so far and no more.  There seems no reason     for its failure, the support is excellent, the construction is faultless and the contents adequate by not overloaded.  The trouble?  Something in the back is out of place and wedges against the support or against another drawer.  A thorough cleaning and     straightening to the back of the drawer will take care of the matter.  Christians may have something from the past or a secret sin that has risen to wedge against others that causes them to cease working or work only a little.  A cleaning and straightening will take care of this also.  In cleaning a drawer, one will clean all the way to the back and take out the offending article, but Christians may have too much pride to admit failure and sin in their past and do not wish to reveal and clean it out.  Until they are clean, they cannot be used properly in the Lord’s kingdom.  A Christian can carry a great load if he keeps the load in its proper place, gives himself to usefulness and turns from every sin.  A joy to know, marvelous to behold and encouraging to work with such a Christian, isn’t it?

           Gordon Musick

Musick-al note # 303           

In 1 Corinthians 12:4-31, the apostle Paul refers to the work of the church in the First Century before the Word governing the Church was completely written.  God had given to the apostles the baptism of the Holy Spirit which enabled them to have all the gifts of the Spirit such as are named in 1 Corinthians 12.  The apostles were able to transmit these gifts of the Holy Spirit to others through the laying on of hands (Acts 8:17-18; 1 Tim. 4:14), however those could not transmit the same gifts to others (Acts 8:12-18).  These gifts of the Holy Spirit were ended when the fullness of the Revelation came (1 Cor. 13:8-10).  Various gifts were given to guide the church until the complete Revelation was finished.

          Following Jesus, the church today must rely on the Word (2 Timothy 3:16-17) to know God and His son Jesus (John 20:30-31).  These words have come to us through the years and we recognize them as scriptures inspired by and given by the Lord.  The apostle Peter revealed this truth when he wrote that Paul’s writings were scriptures to be considered true as other older writings were (2 Peter 3:15-16). Thus we must give careful attention to all these words (Hebrews 2:1-4) so in believing and obeying them we show that we believe Jesus and follow His will.

          Jesus said that scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35), we dare not change or nullify His Word by our human reasoning and decisions.  We do not have the authority to nullify the scripture by substituting hidden meanings given by men without regard to the obvious and plain language of scripture.  Let us then study the Word and handle it carefully that we can be approved to God when we stand before Him in Judgment.

          Gordon Musick

Musick-al Note # 302    

          The words of the prophets have been searching the hearts of men down through the centuries. An especially penetrating prophesy is quoted by Jesus from Isaiah, “This people honor me with their lips; but their heart is far from me” (Isaiah 29:13).  Lip service has never pleased nor is acceptable to God.  It matters not how much we say we love God – proof of the matter lies in our service to Him.  Jesus also said, “If you love me, you will keep my words.”  John said, “This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3).

          An outward appearance of righteousness can never hide our true nature which may be hidden to mankind by our seeming obedience to God.  God looks upon the inner man whether we are in obedience to Him or just pretending to serve Him. Look carefully at Matthew 7:21-23. Just saying that Jesus is Lord and declaring that one’s works are in His name is not sufficient for one to enter heaven.  Jesus said, “I never knew you”. Why? Look at a few preceding verses where Jesus urged everyone to ‘enter the strait gate and walk the narrow way’ that leads to life.  If one does not enter Christ, they will miss the narrow way. The doctrines of men saying, “Just believe” will not suffice. The apostle Paul related his experience of meeting Christ on the road to Damascus of how he met the Lord, believing Him, went into Damascus, praying and fasting for three days, learned what he was to do and was baptized to take away his sins (Acts 22:6-16).  In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he stated that this obedience is the way into Christ (Galatians 3:26-27). 

We need to examine ourselves in the light of the perfect law of liberty and place correct obedience upon ourselves that we might meet the standard of God’s Word to be saved.

          Gordon Musick

     Musick-al note # 301

 Paul in writing to the Romans said, “And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob” (Romans 11:26).  In stating that ALL ISRAEL will be saved, he did not mean all the Jews or Israelites as counted from birth but ALL SPIRITUAL ISRAEL will be saved.  He had stated earlier, “For they are not all Israel who are of Israel” (Romans 9:6).  Who then is the Israel that he is speaking about?  He said, “nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.”  That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the

children of the promise are counted as the seed” (Romans 9:7-8).  Then in Galatians 4:28 he said, “Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise.”  John also spoke of the believers being the children of God in 1 John 3:1-2, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”  Christians are then the true Children of God or true Israel and they all shall be saved.

          Gordon Musick

Musick-al note # 300   

          There are many preachers and teachers who offer a great many words to explain their doctrines when asked about becoming a Christian.  Most of their words are given in regard to becoming a member of their particular religious group consisting of acceptance of their teaching, name, requirements and customs. Biblical scripture is used to support their doctrine by twisting its plain wording to make it say what they desire, claiming that the original language has other meanings or simply by ignoring or adding their own explanations that fit their teaching.  This is especially true in regard to the teaching of baptism. To either ignore baptism or change the meaning of the word in order to substitute and add another teaching violates the basic principle of truth (Revelation 22:18-19}.

          The importance of Baptism is revealed in the New Testament so I urge you to study these words carefully.  Consider what the New Testament says that baptism is. It is a ‘burial in water’ (Romans 6:4), it is ‘obeying a form of the teaching’ that Christ died, was buried and has been raised to life again (Romans 6:17-18), it is ‘obeying the Gospel’ of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), it is the ‘answer of a good conscience’ in response to God’s invitation to obey Him (1 Peter 3:21), it is ‘calling on his name’ (Acts 22:16) as ‘our sins are washed away’ (Acts 22:16) and it is the ‘act that saves’ a person (1 Peter 3:21). What shall we say then? If we desire salvation from our sin, we will answer God’s call to die to our sins, be buried in water to signify our obedience to Him and be raised to walk in newness of life.

          Now consider what the New Testament says that obeying God’s Word in faith does. It ‘puts one INTO Christ’ (Galatians 3:26-27, Romans 6:3-17), it puts one into His death (Romans 6:3), it puts one ‘into His body, his church’ (1 Corinthians 12-13), it ‘washes away our sins’ (Acts 22:16), it ‘frees us of sins’ (1 Peter 1:22, Romans 6:17-18, Romans 8:1). It ‘gives us new life’ (Colossians2:12), it ‘makes us new creatures (2 Corinthians 5:17), it ‘gives us the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:32), it ‘reconciles us to God’ (2 Corinthians 5:18-20), it makes us ‘servants of righteousness’ (Romans 6:17) and makes us ‘children of God’ (Galatians 3:26-27).  All these things are to be desired and can be obtained through faith in obedience to God’s Will.

          Gordon Musick

  Musick-al note # 299   

 Predestination simply means “to determine beforehand.”  It is sometimes translated “foreordination”.  As used in the Bible, it means that God foreordained or determined beforehand a plan of salvation for men, and decreed that all who would obey that plan would be saved by it, and all others who refused it would be lost.  The gospel is God’s foreordained or predestined plan to save men (Romans 1:16).  Therefore, when Jesus sent out men to preach it, he said, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be condemned” (Mark 16:16).  Never was there a more positive decree than this.  Therefore, whether men are saved by God’s predestination or not depends on whether they believe and obey the requirements of the gospel. Every man’s salvation depends on his voluntarily obeying the gospel and his damnation is certain if he does not (2 Thessalonians 1:8).  If you will read carefully Ephesians 1:3-12, you will notice that those who were chosen before the foundation of the world to be saved, and predestined to be children of God were those trusted in Christ and obeyed Him (v. 12).  That means God predestined before the foundation of the world that those who trusted in Christ and committed themselves to him by obedience would be saved.

Gordon Musick