Month: January 2023

The Preeminence of Christ Over The Church

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Shelby G. Floyd

In Colossians 1:18, the apostle Paul expressed the preeminence that Christ should have over His church when he said,

“And He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead: that in all things He might have the preeminence.”

We must give Christ preeminence in all things and especially we must give Him first place of importance in the church.

Christ Is The Head Of The Church

When Paul said He is the head of the church, the word “head” means originator, source, leader and ruler. Christ is the head of the church in the sense that He brought the church into being. He is the originator of the church. Christ is the head of the church in the sense that He is the source of the life of the church.

Christ Is The Ruler Of The Church

Christ is the head of the church in the sense that He is the ruler of the church. He has all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). He has executive authority: He proposes. He has legislative authority: He disposes. He has judicial authority: He judges. So we must give preeminence to Christ as the head of the church, the originator of the church, and the source of all life in the church, the legislator, the executor and the judge of the church.

Christ Is The Preexisting Beginning

Concerning Christ Paul says, “Who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.” The word “beginning” there does not mean that Christ had a beginning. He preexisted before the creation,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind (John 1:1-4 NASB).

Christ Is The Firstborn From The Dead

Christ is the firstborn from the dead: “and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood” (Revelation 1:5). He was not the first to rise from the dead, but this means he holds the preeminence or highest rank over the church. God’s children should always give Jesus Christ first place in our lives, the church, and our worship.

Copyright © 2023 Shelby G. Floyd, All Rights Reserved

 

Shelby G. Floyd, Minister, Heartland Church of Christ, 1693 West Main Street, Greenwood, Indiana 46142

shelby@thefloyds.net

AMERICAN GREED OR GOD

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Shelby G. Floyd

Our Pilgrim ancestors came to the shores of America in search of freedom to seek and serve God according to their conscience. Others came seeking gold and material wealth. While God has given us all good things to richly enjoy, he wants us to put the spiritual above the material world.

About one hundred seventy-five years ago when gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill in California, it caused the stampede of the Gold Rush. Many found fortunes and spent it all in worldly pursuit. The same thing happened on the Klondike at Dawson City, Canada and on the golden shores of Nome, Alaska in 1898-1900. Today the worship of wealth is called American Greed. Many who have trusted in their gold have been wiped out by an economic crisis. If one does not have God in his life what is left but despair and death?

Jesus taught his disciples to lay up their treasures in heaven where moth and rust does not corrupt and where thieves do not break in and steal. In an old folk song someone had the refrain, “some will rob you with a gun and others will rob you with a pen!” Many have been robbed by the pen of hucksters, greedy bankers and investment brokers. The greed and love of money is as old as man. Paul admonished Timothy to preach about this:

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs….Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs….Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life” (1 Timothy 6:10, 17-19).

We do not need to be rich to miss heaven. All we must do is covet money and then after our coffers are full, worship it as our idol god. Let us all remember that God is worth more than all the gold in Fort Knox. Jesus taught: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done” (Matthew 16:24-27). If we could become as rich as old King Midas and then be lost forever what would we gain?

 

Matthew 6:31-34
Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Let us put Christ and his kingdom first and God will add the other.

Copyright © 2023 Shelby G. Floyd, All Rights Reserved

Shelby G. Floyd, Minister, Heartland Church of Christ, 1693 West Main Street, Greenwood, Indiana 46142. shelby@thefloyds.net

BALANCED HUMAN GROWTH

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Shelby G. Floyd

Jesus Christ is the best example that I know of as to the kind of growth that God expects us to make. In Luke 2: 51, 52, when Jesus returned back to his hometown of Nazareth, at the age of 12, the Bible says that he was subject to his parents, and that he increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and men. This is what we call a four-fold development or growth.

Jesus Grew In Wisdom

Jesus increased or grew in wisdom. What is that? Knowledge is one thing, and today we live in an age of knowledge explosion. In fact, they say that knowledge doubles about every ten years, at least the available knowledge. So there is so much to learn and to study today, and we can know very little about any one thing, even if we spend a lifetime studying it.
Jesus increased not only in knowledge but also in wisdom. Wisdom knows how to use the knowledge that you have, it is good judgment or making wise decisions. So Jesus grew intellectually in mind. Today there is an emphasis placed upon going to the university or college and getting a good secular education. Knowledge is good, but it is not only enough to know how to make a living, but we have to learn how to live. So we need to grow intellectually in mind or wisdom, but that is not enough.

Jesus Grew In Stature

Jesus grew in stature. That means that he grew in years or physically in body. You know this is natural. All that we have to do when we come into this world is to eat good food, drink water and exercise and we are going to grow in body. Today, there is an emphasis upon sports, upon recreation and physical fitness. You might go and exercise, lift weights and do all kinds of works to develop your body, but if you have a body that is strong and has grown physically and you have not developed these other areas which we have mentioned, then your growth is not complete, it is one sided. “Bodily exercise profits a little” (1 Timothy 4:8). But man is not a body with a spirit. We are rather a spirit dwelling in a body. The primary nature of man is spiritual rather than physical, even though we dwell in a physical environment.

Jesus Grew Spiritually

Jesus grew intellectually in mind, he grew physically in body, but then the Bible says that he increased in favor with God and with men. That means that he was able to grow spiritually in his soul toward God. That is where re¬ligion comes in. Religion is that system of things that binds man back to God. We have been alienated from God by our sins. The religion of Jesus Christ is de¬signed to reconcile us and unite us back to our maker and creator. So we must grow religiously and spiritually in our souls. Many people today have grown intellectually and physically, but they are mere pygmies when it comes to spiritual growth.

Jesus Grew Socially

But man is also by nature a social person. We are at our best when we work and live in proximity with our fellow human beings. Therefore, Jesus increased in favor with men. That means that he grew morally in heart, in life and in relationship with his fellow man. The story of the Good Samaritan has inspired more people to build hospitals, old folks’ homes and orphan homes than perhaps any other in the Bible. What is the lesson? We have to grow and develop in our relationship with other people. So we are emphasizing that spiritual growth involves growing in our souls and growing in our relationships to our fellow man. And after all, Jesus said those were the greatest commandments of all: to love God supremely and love our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:29-31).

Jesus then is our prime example of the kind of growth that every young boy and girl ought to be experiencing from the time they come into this world, mental, physical, spiritual and moral development.

Copyright © 2023 Shelby G. Floyd, All Rights Reserved




Shelby G. Floyd, Minister, Heartland Church of Christ, 1693 West Main Street, Greenwood, Indiana 46142 

shelby@thefloyds.net

STEADFASTLY SETTING THE FACE

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Shelby G. Floyd

In the gospel according to Luke, Jesus resolutely determined to go to Jerusalem to face the suffering, humiliation, crucifixion, resurrection, and his ascension back to his heavenly Father in heaven.

He Steadfastly Set His Face

The biblical writer Luke in his account of the life of Christ described it like this: “Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51 NKJV). In Luke 9:53 his proposed journey to Jerusalem is expressed by similar words: “…His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.”

The expression “set his face” is found in several of the newer translations and in many of them it is not found. In fairness, in some of them where this expression is not found, it is found and explained in a footnote. In some they do not even have footnote that this expression is found in the Greek text in which the New Testament was written.

Why am I writing about this? The point I am trying to make is that this expression “set his face” is found in the original Greek language in which the New Testament was written on our behalf. That language is: “autos to prosopon autou esterixen,” literally “he resolutely set the face.” (Luke 9:51). Because many of the translations simply say, “Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem,” this does not fairly represent the language of the original text. To “set the face” is a figure of speech that is very expressive of how “resolute” he really was!

Why was he so resolute that he set his face to go to Jerusalem? It was because he was swamped for time – his time would soon be over to live upon the earth. His time on earth was expiring soon and then he would be received up after his trial, cruel mistreatment, crucifixion on the cross, burial in a new tomb, and then raised from the dead on the third day. He then would later appear to his apostles and disciples and give them the great commission to go into all the world and to preach the gospel to all people (Matthew 28:18-20). Then he would be received up into heavenly glory to be with his Heavenly Father:

“Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 11 who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:9-11 NKJV).

I HAVE SET MY FACE LIKE A FLINT

Every Bible student recognizes the statement in Isaiah chapter 53 as referring to the Messianic Savior. He describes in great detail the humiliation, suffering and crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we have in the book of Isaiah another great statement that describes the same event that Jesus went through as revealed in Isaiah 53– and that is Isaiah 50:5-9:

The Lord God has opened My ear;
And I was not rebellious,
Nor did I turn away.
6 I gave My back to those who struck Me,
And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard;
I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.
7 “For the Lord God will help Me;
Therefore I will not be disgraced;
Therefore I have set My face like a flint,
And I know that I will not be ashamed.
8 He is near who justifies Me;
Who will contend with Me?
Let us stand together.
Who is [a]My adversary?
Let him come near Me.
9 Surely the Lord God will help Me;
Who is he who will condemn Me?
Indeed they will all grow old like a garment;
The moth will eat them up. (Emphasis sgf).


Therefore, the prophecy of Isaiah 50:7 adds another dimension as to how Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem. He was so determined and so resolute that his face was set “like a flint!” That simply means that his determination to carry out God’s will was like a rock. Nothing could stop him from carrying out his God-given commission to be the Savior of the world.

Therefore when you read the word of God, make sure that whatever translation you are using, it expresses the entire thought as found in the original language–“the jot and the title!” The common people today, as they have always been, are leery of people changing the word of God as they are changing a lot of other things also. The devil is hard at work trying to change the United States Constitution, the education system, the moral standards, and the landmarks and institutions that have stood us in good ways for over 200 years as a nation. Therefore it should come as no surprise that the devil is also at work trying to change the word of God. And that is the only thing that can defeat him. Remember when Satan tempted Jesus, he refuted him and drove him away by quoting the word of God, saying, “it is written!” (Matthew 4:1-11). Friends, “set your face like a flint” to live out the Christian life!

Copyright © 2023 Shelby G. Floyd, All Rights Reserved

 

Shelby G. Floyd, Minister, Heartland Church of Christ, 1693 West Main Street, Greenwood, Indiana 46142. shelby@thefloyds.net.