While a brother in Christ and I were sitting in the waiting room of a local chiropractor's office, I decided to investigate the reading materials the office offered. There were a number of papers that dealt with current health issues, along with a couple of different types of medical bulletins. One of the bulletins, because it contained a poem that used the word "God," caught my eye. So I picked it up, sat down, and began to read. After finishing, I looked to find the poem's origin. Imagine my surprise when I read, "the church of Christ, Oregon City, OR." I proceeded to read that entire bulletin. In the bulletin, there was an article entitled, "How Easily We Can Reject God's Authority," by J. T. McClung.
This was my brother's first time to visit this doctor, and I was very interested in learning how the bulletin came to be in his waiting room. (When did you last walk into a doctor's office and find a bulletin from the Lord's church? What's more, it dealt with the timely subject of Bible authority and was soundly written?) My brother, during his time with the doctor, learned that he was a member of the church of Christ in Corvalis. Sadly, this congregation gives new meaning to the word liberal. You name it, and they are involved in it.
After the doctor finished and came out to the waiting room, we conversed briefly. I mentioned to him how much I had enjoyed the article. He told me that his grandfather had written it. Then, without missing a beat, he said, in a matter-of-fact way, "he's from the old school." Since I had read the article, and since I knew about the church in Corvalis, I surmised that he meant his grandfather was from the school of those who believe in, and humbly submit to, the authority of God, who submit to, and believe in, the law of Christ; versus the new school, which sees no law, no pattern, and no authority. Thus, everything is up to private and personal interpretation.
The article first brought out Old Testament examples of disobedience to God's authority -- Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10:1,2 and Moses' failure that kept him from entering the Promised Land, Numbers 20:1-12. The writer then turned his attention to the New Testament. He wrote of the scriptural method of, and reason for, baptism (Romans 6:1-7; Colossians 2:11-13; Acts 8:31-39). Going on, he spoke of the sin of instrumental music in worship to God. He concluded by quoting John 4:24: "God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth." We are not permitted to tell God or His Son what we will or will not do. We are to accept His authority and do what he has commanded through His word. I just assume that all people who believe in God and His Son Jesus Christ want to know the truth. Didn't Jesus say, "Ye shall know the truth and the truth will make you free." {John 8:32} How sad that even one soul should be lost as the result of offending just one point of truth. Yet, that is exactly what the good book says (James 2:10).
I've never met brother J. T. McClung. But, after reading his article, I venture to say that this man belonged to the same school as the apostles! I, too, want to belong to this school! The old school is nothing more than good old book, chapter, and verse. The old school is the "pillar and ground of the truth," (1 Timothy 3:15). I believe that every person who seeks to please God in matters of religion should seek to be part of the old-school way of thinking.
The old school is nothing more and nothing less than the doctrine of Christ. "Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ hath both the Father and Son." {2 John 9} It is the same doctrine, and the only doctrine, authorized by God's Son. It is the gospel the apostles taught, the same gospel they recorded as the message of the cross for men today. "Go ye therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the age." {Matthew 28:19,20}
The old school is made up of those who desire to hear sound doctrine, not those who want their ears tickled with fables! Remember Paul's words, "I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables." {2 Timothy 4:1-4}
Members of the old school realize the great treasure entrusted to them and are not ashamed to share it with lost, dying sinners. Paul wrote to the church at Corinth: "Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God..."{2 Corinthians 4:1,2} What was Paul's attitude concerning the message of life? "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes..." {Romans 1:16}
We are entering a new millennium, but God's word remains constant--it does not change! "For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers and the flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever." {1 Peter 1:24,25} Why doesn't the old school change its thinking? It is founded upon a rock, a rock that cannot be moved, and that rock is Jesus Christ! (Matthew 7:24-27) Can we say that about the new-school way of thinking?
The young doctor paid his grandfather a great compliment--though he probably didn't mean to. He truly loved his grandfather; this was easy to see, but he was of the old school. It was all right for the grandfather, but not for the grandson. Many think that teaching has outlived its usefulness. "Times are changing, people are changing, and the message must change." This is the message many profess today. People tell us that the Bible's methods, habits, and attitudes are outdated and no longer fit in today's world. While I am sure the majority would agree with such conclusions, I know one person who doesn't--God--and that is something these new-school thinkers need to soberly consider! What about you dear reader, are you part of the old school, or are you leaning toward the new-school way of thinking? As for me, I'll stand with God, thank you--His ways of doing things seem to work just fine!
(edited-KG)