Month: September 2009

In my life, I have had the privilege of visiting nearly every part of the United States. I have visited every state but Alaska, which is on my agenda sometime before I end up on the wrong side of the grass. I love to travel and I find beauty in every type of landscape. I like mountains and I like the desert. I like oceans and I like forests. But perhaps one of the most beautiful parts of the country to me is the wheat fields of Kansas.

My family is originally from Kansas and as a child I loved to visit there. I especially liked the time of wheat harvest because when the winds blow across the plains, you can really see the “amber waves” as they ripple across acres of ripened grain. The plains states are known as America’s “breadbasket.” We produce food in abundance and we feed ourselves as well as many other places of the world.

While very few in this country actually go physically hungry, there are millions who are starving spiritually. Although spiritual hunger pervades our society, there are very few that are looking to satisfy this hunger. People die every day never having tasted the righteousness that will satisfy their souls. Jesus asked, “What are we profited if we gain the whole world and lose our souls?” He promises that those who seek to satisfy their spiritual hunger with His righteousness will receive not just some righteousness, but all righteousness. They will be filled and their souls will be saved.

But satisfying this hunger is not done by your personal efforts. You can seek it, but you cannot satisfy it. You cannot feed yourself; only Christ can feed you. Do you recognize “the hole in your soul” that needs to be filled? Jesus will fill it if you give up on self and seek Him alone. Perhaps America does not have the resources to feed all the physically hungry in the world, but God certainly has the resources to feed all the spiritually hungry. His word says, “He hath filled the hungry with good things.” If you seek Him, you too shall be filled.

Pastor V. Mark Smith

What does it mean to be “poor in spirit?” Most people have the idea that Jesus is speaking about taking a vow of poverty. They give this beatitude the sense that there is some holiness attached to forsaking all worldly goods and living a meager existence. A vow of poverty can actually be antithetical to Christian teaching especially if it robs us of industriousness or the ability to earn money to be used in the service of God. If Jesus were speaking of material poverty, there would never be any hope for sending out missionaries, supporting pastors, building church buildings, conducting Christian schools, or any benevolent works. The simple truth is the poor cannot feed the poor, missionaries cannot travel without money, pastors cannot physically live on prayers and good wishes, therefore if everyone tried to be blessed by being poor many of our Christian works would never be accomplished.

Holiness achieved by poverty would actually rob the richness of the true meaning of this beatitude. Jesus is speaking of spiritual bankruptcy. We are depraved, vile creatures with no personal worth that commends us to God. It is only when we recognize how destitute we truly are that we are driven to the cross of Christ. We have no hope but in Him. We cannot achieve holiness by giving up anything because we don’t have anything to offer God. “In my hand no price I bring; simply to Thy cross I cling!”

Pastor V. Mark Smith

For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. (Ephesians 5:23)

One of the most difficult principles for marriages today is the biblical command for a wife’s submission to her husband. Most husbands gladly seize upon it without understanding the tremendous responsibility it places upon them. Before a wife is willing to submit, she must have a husband who is willing to lead in a loving, Christ-like manner. Ephesians 5:22-33 has 2 ½ verses dedicated to submissive wives and 8 ½ verses dedicated to how the husband should lead his wife.

Among these verses is a very interesting statement made in verse 23. The husband is the head of the wife and he stands in relation to her as Christ does as the saviour of the body, His church. The wife submits to her husband because he is her saviour. Does that statement blow your mind? The husband is the saviour of his wife? How is that possible?

We have to look closely at the word “saviour” because this does not mean saviour as in the sense of personal salvation from sin. The word here means “preserver.” Paul uses “saviour” similarly in 1 Timothy 4:10: For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.

Some would love to argue universal atonement from this verse meaning that Christ’s atonement is intended for every person without exception. But the last phrase, specially of those that believe, would make no sense if the atonement is in view. Universal atonement logically infers universal salvation. Since there is no universal salvation, this verse must be interpreted in the sense that Christ shares benefits with believers and unbelievers. The only explanation for this is God’s common grace.

The Bible says God sends rain on the just and on the unjust. Whether you are saved or lost you receive benefits from God because He is the one who gives “life, and breath, and all things.” In 1 Timothy 4:10, “saviour” means that Christ is the preserver of all men in sustaining their physical life, but He is the saviour of those who believe in a much greater sense in that He gives them not only physical life but spiritual life.  The first sense is what the husband is for the wife. He is her protector and preserver. Because he is the one protecting, she should offer submission to him.

So, the idea of submission is a godly principle. It is a Christian principle, a creative principle, and a church principle. It is taught in scripture; it is to be obeyed; and a woman who seeks the filling of the Spirit will gladly put herself in her God given role as a submissive wife. Do it because it glorifies God; and when you do, it will be a blessing to you.

Pastor V. Mark Smith