Continuing In Christ’s Teaching

Introduction While on this earth one of the most important things that the Lord taught was that those who follow Him must hold on to his teaching. This was something of very great importance to him as it has great implications for the believing soul. For, to him, holding on and living by his doctrine are inseparable with discipleship. In no uncompromising terms therefore, to hold on to his teaching is what determines, to a large extent, the quality and consequently proves our discipleship, and none other. This, initially, entails that we understand the Lord’s doctrine, his whole doctrine. It therefore does not suffice to simply hear about the Lord from others. Rather, we must personally take an initiative to know the Lord. In actual fact, it is the Lord’s will that we have a personal revelation of him, both his nature and character, and of the power of his resurrection. For it is then that we will see the outworking of his power in our lives. Indeed the Kingdom of God progresses from words to power, since God’s kingdom is not only a matter of speech but outworking. So we see that it is the Lord’s will for him to operate in every single area in our lives, and the extent to which he can do this is that to which we hold on to his teaching; finding pleasure in knowing it and in assimilating its deep truths. And then, holding to Christ’s teaching means obeying his teaching. To know Christ’s teaching is not enough but more so to obey it. And to obey Christ’s teaching is to practice it, to be encouraged by it and, similarly, to be rebuked so as to have a change of character and attitude. This, I believe, is the crux of the matter, for true discipleship is shown in one’s lifestyle. Through our thoughts, speech and actions. This, however, is not of our own making. It is more of surrender than our own ability. If we surrender our lives daily to the Lord he will show his power in and through us so that we, like Paul, may say ‘I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.’ So, effectively, Christ was saying that those who commit themselves to finding out his teaching and, more importantly, who proceed to practice it in obedience and daily surrender to me are true disciples. Indeed we can love the Lord no more than we can obey him, and if we don’t obey him we don’t love him. It doesn’t get any simpler than that. The essence of all this is that Christianity is, in every way, practical. It is so practical that if we are true disciples, holding on to and living by God’s word, we basically have God as the very essence of our lives. He becomes the hub on which our whole lives revolve. In essence we become friends with God so that whatever we do emanates from our love for, and surrender to God. My heart’s desire is that Christ’s people understand His teaching and more so that they surrender daily to their Lord obediently allowing him to live through them. Moffat D. Ngalande, CISA, ACCA, CPA (MW), BACC The Doctrine of God God’s Nature and Character Man has always been fascinated with the idea that there is a higher being in the universe, which he has decided to call God. Through the ages the notion of God has been strongly held on to, greatly questioned and reverently adhered to in many forms of racial and cultural diversity. This may be due to man’s general sense of inadequacy and limitation that affect all forms of his nature, or it can be one of the mysteries of our world, which like many other things cannot simply be explained. But what is this drive to seek and worship a superior being and where does it come from? Can it be that man simply and truly senses the reality of this higher being? Can it be that the world he lives in testifies to the fact that such a being exists? Well, whatever man’s persuasion is, and whether this notion is true or not, it seems to have certainly had an immense impact on today’s societies. For we see that whole nations and cultures adhere, even today, to certain notions of God. Nations like the United States of America had great leaders like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson who founded it on Christian principles. The Islamic nations too are founded on Islamic religious principles. So we see that nations and governments all over the world also recognize this superior being, they inaugurate their leaders using religious oaths, seeking help from this great God. He is also echoed in the legal systems of the world as we seek his help and invite him in our courtrooms when we make an oath to tell the truth. One of the most fascinating people, that have been equally intrigued with this notion are the Greeks. It is known from history and recorded in the most popular book in the world, the Bible, that they worshipped in various forms and developed different gods for all aspects of their life. This culture of having multiple gods was true to many other cultures in the world. The Egyptian culture also had different gods and so do other cultures even in the modern world. The reason for this might be due to the diverse aspects of man’s life which it was thought that a specific god had sole responsibility over, or it might simply be because man, in ignorance of whether only one or more god’s exist, does not want to miss out the true god(s). This fear is what was reflected in the knowledge thirsty and philosophical culture of the Greeks. During the time of a man named Paul who was very learned in the traditional Jewish religion but later converted to worshipping what he found to be the ‘true God’, he found that the Greeks had so many gods and each was given a representing idol (carved image). But as he looked at the many idols erected he came across one fascinating idol that was labelled, ‘TO THE UNKNOWN GOD’. The Greeks certainly were very religious and made provision for the possibility of a God they did not know. Paul then tells them and us that there is indeed a God whom they and we have missed out in our numerous religious attempts. There is a God who is close to us that he may be found. He created the world and everything it contains and has given us breath and life. He tells us that he is the very essence of our existence for ‘in him we live and move and have our being. He explains that this God is not served by human efforts as if needing anything for we ‘spring’ from him as offspring. This True God is not worshipped with crafted man-made images, as do most of the world’s religions. He dismisses all these efforts as ignorance, which God has in the past overlooked but will certainly overlook no more. He says this God is a judge who will hold all people accountable to him for everything they do and consequently, he commands all people everywhere to repent. The proof of all this is that the man this God has appointed as the judge was killed and raised from the dead . Through Paul the Greeks of his day were introduced to this new and unique God. A God who stood alone as God and who required only one way of worshipping him. A God who demanded that from then on all the other possible avenues and method’s of seeking and worshipping God should be discarded and only his true and revealed way should be adhered to .