ONE MONTH TO LIVE

If you had

ONE MONTH TO LIVE

Those of us who are involved with computers and the

Internet on a regular basis are very much aware of

the “teaser” ads which appear on our screens several

times each day and we are not often fooled by them.

We are offered phenomenal incomes, great vacations,

incredible discounts on prescription prices, trim and

muscular bodies with substantial weight loss, and

fantastic sexual achievements which make the Islamic

promises to suicide bombers pale by comparison.

But this week there was a different one: “What would

you do if you had only one month to live?”

That sounds like a situation in which any Christian

believer would be interested. It was surely worth opening

for careful consideration. And it proved to be an ad for
a new book with that title, “One Month to Live.” It isn’t

an expensive book -- the list of book sellers referenced

in the ad show the regular retail price as $19.99, and it

is already being discounted to as low as $13.59. Then

there is a church program to go along with the book, and

it costs $149. No discounts for that program were listed.

The title is -- at first glance -- an intriguing one, and opens

the mind’s door to thinking about such a concept. For the

Bible centered Christian it is a bit off base for at least two

reasons; First, the new life that God gave us in John 3:16

(and elsewhere in the Scriptures) is permanent -- “eternal”

-- and not divided into various periods, such as up to now,

and then in a “one month to live” period.

And Second, the return of Jesus Christ is imminent --
He can return at any moment . . . there is no allowance
for that “one month to live” interval.

How we should live, from the moment of receiving God’s

gift of salvation, is clearly set forth throughout the New

Testament. Peter, upon whose statement of faith Jesus

said He would build His church, instructs us in I Peter 3:15,

“be ready always, to give an answer to every man that

asketh you a reason for the hope that is in you.” We are to

be ready to witness “always” not just in some 30 day period

before our death.

Paul, whose writings define the Christian life so clearly,

wrote in Ephesians 4:1, “I beseech you that ye walk worthy

of the vocation wherewith ye are called,” and then gave

some examples, including lowliness, meekness, long -
suffering, etc. Paul did not limit our Christian walk to
the month prior to our death, but set forth those examples
as the way our entire Christian life should be lived.

And finally, Jesus spoke to His followers in Matthew 28:19

and Mark 16:15, telling us to “go into all the world and
preach . . . go and teach all nations.” He certainly didn’t
limit His Great Commission to the month before we might
die, but gave it as a permanent instruction for all believers.

How should we live at this moment, and throughout our
life,right up to the moment of His return? In Mark 13: 32,
33,37 Jesus gave us instructions concerning His return:
“of that day and hour, knoweth no man . . . take heed,
watch and pray , for ye know not when the time is . . .
what I say unto you, I say unto all: Watch.”

None of us is ever given the assurance of a month to live,

but each moment should be lived as the Scriptures teach . . .

witnessing and watching . . . preaching and teaching . . .
walkingworthy of our calling before Him.

MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The Evangelical Viewpoint is pleased to present this

new series of essays by Dr. Jerry Beavan, in which he

offers mature discussions of important elements of the

Christian faith, with the goal of helping Christian believers

to live the Christian life more effectively. At age 89, he

already has a lifetime of experiences in Christian ministry,

as a graduate theologian, as a professor in college and

seminary, and as a world traveler involved in government

relations at high levels, here in America and around the

world. The late Dr. Jerry Falwell referred to him as "one
of God's giants and modern patriarchs." Dr. Billy Graham

said of him, "Jerry Beavan is the architect of world

evangelism as we know it today." Now living in "active

retirement" on America's Pacific coast, although physically

impaired, he is using his writing skills, via the internet, to

help other believers gain a better understanding of their

Christian faith. He is the author of several works, including

his recent volume, “A Handbook of Applied Christianity.”

NO WRITERS’ STRIKE FOR PASTORS

There was great rejoicing, or at least a bit more than

mild rejoicing, this past week when it was announced

that the writers’ strike had been settled and American

show business could get back on its regular schedule.

One of the results of the strike was that the stars of the

late night shows were unable to do their usual 5 or 10

minute opening monologue, and all their one-liners and

conversational bits during their shows were simply not

possible. As a result the nation was entertained by some

re-runs of old shows.

The reason? The writers were on strike and no one was

available to write for the stars those entertaining bits

of conversation which they do so well . . . . and which

for so doing they are paid exorbitant salaries, in the

millions of dollars annually.

But during all this strike period, we have not heard of a

single church which canceled its services because there

was no one to write sermons for the pastor.

Those pastors not only write their own sermons, but they

also keep busy visiting the sick, counseling those in need,

marrying couples starting a new life together, baptizing

newcomers to the Christian faith, and conducting funeral

services for those who have passed away.

And they do all those things at salaries which pale into

insignificance when compared to the amounts those

entertainers receive -- people who couldn’t even perform

without someone to write their material for them.

If you never felt that you had reason to appreciate the life

and ministry of your pastor -- well, you now have a very

graphic reason. Take a moment next Sunday to thank him

for never going on strike, and for being faithful to his calling.

MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The Evangelical Viewpoint is pleased to present this

new series of essays by Dr. Jerry Beavan, in which he

offers mature discussions of important elements of the

Christian faith, with the goal of helping Christian believers

to live the Christian life more effectively. At age 89, he

already has a lifetime of experiences in Christian ministry,

as a graduate theologian, as a professor in college and

seminary, and as a world traveler involved in government

relations at high levels, here in America and around the

world. The late Dr. Jerry Falwell referred to him as "one
of God's giants and modern patriarchs." Dr. Billy Graham

said of him, "Jerry Beavan is the architect of world

evangelism as we know it today." Now living in "active

retirement" on America's Pacific coast, although physically

impaired, he is using his writing skills, via the internet, to

help other believers gain a better understanding of their

Christian faith. He is the author of several works, including

his recent volume, “A Handbook of Applied Christianity.”

ARE THE HISTORICAL CREEDS IMPORTANT

ARE THE HISTORICAL CREEDS IMPORTANT
TO THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH TODAY?


In Matthew 16:13-18 it is recorded that Jesus was
discussing with His disciples the reaction of the
populace to Him and His ministry, and He asked
who the people were saying He was. There were a
variety of answers, and He pressed the point, asking
who did the disciples think He was, and Peter spoke
up, saying “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God.” Peter used the term christos, often translated
as “anointed” or “Messiah.”


In His response, Jesus used a precise choice of words,
and in a voice both tenderly loving and mightily
prophetic, said “thou art Peter (petros) and upon
this rock (petra) I will build my church.” The Greek
word petros means a stone which is easily moved, and
that is the way Peter often acted, while the word petra,
which Jesus used in speaking of Peter’s expression of
faith, means a mass of rock, solid and immoveable.


But beyond the play on words, Peter’s affirmation can
well be considered as the first Christian creed. The
word “creed” does not appear in the Bible, but is
derived from the Latin credere, “to believe” or credo,
“I believe.” Historically, the early Christian creeds were
developed essentially as statements of agreements on
the Trinity and Christology, the study of the person of
Christ. Whereas Peter here called Jesus the “Son of the
living God,” John would later speak of Him as God’s
“only begotten Son.” (John 3:16)


The New Testament provides several examples of
creedal statements of belief: in John 1:49 where
Nathanael confessed to Jesus, “Thou art the Son of
God,” or in Acts 8:37 where the Ethiopian eunuch
confessed to Philip, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the
Son of God.”


Foundational to all of the later creeds was the “Rule
of Faith” from St. Irenaeus of Lyons, who had been a
student of Polycarp, who in turn had been a protégé
of John, the beloved disciple of Jesus. It has a date
of approximately 185 AD, and is amazing in how it
expresses a complete statement of the Christian faith.
Jesus had ministered in the first century, and now
just a century later, Irenaeus, who came to be called
the “father of the church,” sets forth a clear statement
of God‘s plan for His creation, which would become
the foundation for the creeds which centuries later
became enduring definitions of the Christian faith.



Some of those historical creeds are familiar to us
today; in order of their dates of adoption, they are
the Nicene Creed, 4th century; the Athanasian Creed,
5th century, and very likely the best known, the
Apostles Creed, adopted probably in the 6th century.



Perhaps a thousand years later, several more specific
expressions of particular denominational aspects of
the Christian faith were adopted, dating from Martin
Luther’s Catechism and Augsburg Confession about
1530, to the Methodist Articles of Religion in 1800.



Probably the best observation as to the value of the
historic Christian teaching, came from the great
British preacher, evangelist and educator, Charles
Haddon Spurgeon, in a lecture to his students in the
mid 1860’s: “You are not such wiseacres as to think
or say that you can expound the Scripture without
the assistance from the works of divine and learned
men who have labored before you in the field of
exposition … It seems odd that certain men who
talk so much of what the Holy Spirit reveals to
themselves, should think so little of what He has
revealed to others.”



No better summary could be given than this brief
one by J. L. Neve in his volume, Churches and Sects
of Christendom: “Creeds, confessions and covenants
… are the expressions of an experience which the
church of Christ has had in its study of Scripture,
in its search for truth, in its conflict with error.”



To answer the initial question, as to whether the
historical creeds are important to the church today
-- yes, they most certainly are. In a time when the
basics or the fundamentals of the Christian faith
are being abandoned, those creeds, conceived and
adopted in the early centuries of the Christian
church, and thus close to the life and ministry of
Jesus Christ, are important as concise statements
of what actually comprises the Christian faith. And
they have stood the test of time for hundreds of
years, actually for more than a millennium.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR


The Evangelical Viewpoint is pleased to present this
new series of essays by Dr. Jerry Beavan, in which he
offers mature discussions of important elements of
the Christian faith, with the goal of helping Christian
believers to live the Christian life more effectively.
At age 89, he already has a lifetime of experiences in
Christian ministry, as a graduate theologian, as a
professor in college and seminary, and as a world
traveler involved in government relations at high
levels, here in America and around the world. The
late Dr. Jerry Falwell referred to him as "one of
God's giants and modern patriarchs." Dr. Billy
Graham said of him, "Jerry Beavan is the architect
of world evangelism as we know it today." Now
living in "active retirement" on America's Pacific
coast, although physically impaired, he is using his
writing skills, via the internet, to help other believers
gain a better understanding of their Christian faith.
He is the author of several works, including his recent
volume, “A Handbook of Applied Christianity.”