Gazingstock Christians

By John Waddey

The Hebrew Christians had "endured a great conflict of sufferings; partly, being made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions..." (Heb. 10:32-33). "A gazingstock is a person or thing gazed at by many, especially with curiosity or contempt" (Webster). We better under­stand the meaning of the NIV's rendering of these lines, "Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution..." J. B. Phillips rendered them, "you suffered harsh words and hard experiences..."

First century Christians were accused by their enemies of every vile and infamous thing. Because they were taught to love each other, they were accused of base im­morality. Because their communion com­memorated Christ's crucified body and shed blood they were accused of cannibalism. Because they confessed Christ as their only Lord, they were accused of treason against the government. Because persecution forced them to meet secretly, they were ac­cused of subversion. Because they preached that the world would end in a fiery judgment they were accused of being ar­sonists. Because they refused to worship the idols of their neighbors they were ac­cused of atheism. Being a despised minor­ity, they were falsely blamed for every nat­ural disaster every fire and military loss. They routinely endured these and other in­sults in addition to cruel persecution that often ended in their death. The gazingstock Christians were right and their critics were wrong. God blessed and rewarded those who endured the slanders and punished those who heaped scorn upon them.

Unbelievers and rebels still slander God's children and make them a gazingstock. As members of the Church of Christ strive to follow the Bible in every detail and be Chris­tians in the same way that first generation of saints were, we hear a constant stream of ridicule from those without her fellowship.

·         They scorn our vocal praise. "No instru­ments of music!" "How ridiculous," they say. In their ignorance they say we do not "believe in music in our church."

·         They poke fun at our weekly commun­ion. They see it as unnecessary. They say it makes communion commonplace.

·         The plainness of our meeting places and the simplicity of our worship is viewed with condescension and pity.

·         They hiss with anger when we point out from scripture that Christ has only one church of which he is savior (Eph. 1:22; 4:4). With great contempt and sarcasm they ask, "Do you think you are the only ones who will be saved!"

·         They despise our teaching that baptism must be by immersion (Rom. 6:3-4) and that it is essential for man's salvation (Mark 16:16). How ridiculous! they say.

·         Our preachers are held in contempt by such gainsayers. We are satisfied with a man's knowledge of God's Word, a reason­able education and a faithful life of service. We are glad for him to preach. We make no demand for advanced educational creden­tials. We do not ordain and license our preachers. The world dismisses such men as unworthy of their attention.

·         Our insistence that we are truly nonde­nominational they scorn. To them, being de­nominational is the accepted norm. To be undenominational is a concept beyond their bewildered conception.

·         Our plea to return to the ancient pat­tern revealed in Scripture (II Tim. 1:13) and believe, worship and serve as the earliest Christians did, they label as obsolete, irrele­vant.

It is sad that we must endure this from ig­norant sinners of the world, but it is far worse that today, turncoats within the church are hurling these same insults at us. Patternists, traditionalists, hidebound Bible bangers, "moderns" rather than post-mod­erns are common insults progressive change agents hurl at us who will not aban­don our faith in New Testament Christianity. With an air of elitism, they cast aspersions on those who established, built and financed the congregations and schools they now oc­cupy. They seek to make us a gazingstock. But in the eyes of God and Christ, the head of the church, we are His elect race, his royal priesthood, his holy nation, a people for his own possession (I Pet. 2:9). We gladly bear their insults and despise the shame (Heb. 12:2) We press on in the Mas­ter's service, keeping our eyes on the goal set before us (Phil. 3:13-14), looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, knowing that the crown of life is reserved for those who are faithful unto death (Rev. 2:10). &

Keep On Keeping On!

It would likely amaze us if we knew how many people were once followers of Christ but have given up. They've just stopped trying. They don't follow Hun any more. They quit.

That phenomenon doesn't happen all at once. People don't just getup one morning and decide to quit serving the Lord. Spiri­tual death happens slowly. Their faith erodes gradually. They stop their personal worship and meditation about spiritual things. They don't pray much or seek the company of brethren. In fact, they shy away from such associations. They become critical of the services and dodge having an': part in the public worship. People who call and inquire about their whereabouts are considered "meddling in my business."

They begin to look for ways to justify their Lack of spiritual zeal. They find excuses for not attending on Wednesday night. Once their conscience will tolerate that neglect, they find it easy to excuse themselves from Sunday night. It’s just a step then to quitting all together.

There are preventatives to spiritual decay, ways to prevent the gradual demise of ones’ faith and faithfulness. Here are three:

Keep on living. Living the Christian life, I mean. It's hard. There's no doubt about that, but think about what is the reward, think about what your faithfulness means about your eternal destiny. A hard life is a small thing when compared to an eternal life of bliss. Simple economics argues that a small investment that results in a large divi­dend is good. In this case, it is foolish to do otherwise. "Be ye therefore steadfast, un­movable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, inasmuch as ye know that your la­bor is not in vain in the Lord" (1 Cor. 15:58) is saying invest in the eternal things, hang the difficulties. Live the life. If it's hard, en­dure it. If it calls for courage, get it on. If it means you must suffer, remember, "no pain, no gain". Heaven is worth the living. That's all there is to it.

Keep on learning. Lack of spiritual growth is a decision, not a natural occur­rence. You decide to do it. "But grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Pet. 3:18), and if you digest the word, you will grow. Bread is necessary for your spiritual growth just as it is for the sus­tenance of your physical body. And learning is the basis for all spiritual growth. Further­more, in this case, you don't ever get grown-you have to keep on learning to keep on growing.

Keep on loving. Motive is such a vital part of all we do. And love is what motive is all about. It furnishes the energy for one who wants to keep on living the righteous life. It furnishes the necessary propellant for learning, creates curiosity and determina­tion to fuel growth. It is the incentive for good strong relationships—family, friends, business. It even brings a stimulus for solv­ing torn or fractured relationships. Paul says love is longsuffering, kind and not eas­ily provoked (1 Cor. 13:4, 5). You have to love people in spite of their warts, in spite of their occasional disappointing actions, even in spite of their not loving like you do. You don't ever give up on love, it's the su­preme motive, the highest good, the strong­est provocation for righteousness and piety. Love lives.

It's almost impossible for your faith to erode, your care to diminish, your faithful­ness to fade if you keep on living, learning, loving. The person who wants to go to heaven will keep on—keep on living, keep on learning, and keep on loving. How about you? &

Southside Sunday, Pasadena, Texas