“Come Now, And Let Us Reason Together”

by Micky Galloway

The gospel of Jesus Christ is reasonable. God expects us to use our ability to reason in our efforts to both know and teach God’s will. When Paul went about preaching the gospel, we repeatedly read in the book of Acts how he “reasoned with them from the Scriptures” and sought to “persuade” them with the truth of God’s word (Acts 17:2, 4, 17; 18:4, 19; 19:8-9, 26; 26:28; 28:23-24). Peter wrote in I Peter 3:15 of our need to be able to provide reasons and defenses for our hope and faith, “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence” (NASV). As Peter stated, our reasoning and persuading is to be done in a gentle and reverent manner. We are also commanded in Colossians 4:6, “let your speech always be with grace, seasoned, as it were, with salt, so that you may know how you should respond to each person” (NASV). We must remember that our efforts to reason and persuade are to be spoken in love (Ephesians 4:15) rather than an attitude of combativeness. We should never expect others to believe just because we said so! Let us examine the evidence.

Beginning today, we have an opportunity to take part in a gospel meeting that has been planned and designed to help us “Live For Christ.”

The lessons planned for this gospel meeting include:

• Ten Important Questions
• Fit For The Master’s Use
• Seven Lies The Devil Wants You To Believe
• The Language Of Ashdod
• Excuses, Excuses
• Involvement Or Commitment
• Security Of The Believer
• Woe To Those At Ease In Zion

Let us not neglect the opportunity that we have presented to us this week. Gospel meetings such as this one can be very helpful if we commit ourselves to supporting it. As noted above, there is a special theme and purpose to this series of lessons. But we need to remember that there are some common purposes to all gospel meetings. At the core, these purposes were best expressed by Cornelius when he invited and welcomed Peter to come and preach the gospel and said, “we are all here present in the sight of God, to hear all things that have been commanded thee of the Lord” (Acts 10:33). Cornelius and his friends and near kinsmen did not come together to listen to any theories or varied philosophies. They did not come together to be entertained or to hear some famous personality. It was not their interest to start a denomination or to proselyte people from one denomination to another. Let us never forget that the purpose of gospel meetings should always be to:

Preach God’s word. The word of God is His power to save souls (Romans 1:16). God’s word is the incorruptible seed (Luke 8:11; I Peter 1:23). The Bible contains all of God’s revealed will to man and it is sufficient to save man (II Timothy 3:16-17; II Peter 1:3; Galatians 1:6-9). The gospel of Christ, free from denominational bias and sectarian creeds, will be preached with love and plainness.

Call upon all people to be Christians only. “The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch” (Acts 11:26). The wearing of human names is strictly forbidden (I Corinthians 1:10-13). Only in the name of Christ is there salvation (Acts 4:12). You too can be just a Christian (Acts 26:28; I Peter 4:16) without the denominational names and stigmas that are often attached.

Exalt Christ’s church. People often say, “One church is as good as another.” “Go to the church of your choice.” They have evidently forgotten that Christ built HIS church (Matthew 16:18). It belongs to Him because He purchased it with His blood (Acts 20:28). Christ built only ONE church (Matthew 16:18; Ephesians 1:22-23; 4:4; I Corinthians 12:12, 20). Christ is the savior of His church (Ephesians 5:23; Acts 2:47). You can be a member of His church!

Lead the lost to Christ. All have sinned and need salvation (Romans 3:23). God wants all sinners to be saved (II Peter 3:9; Titus 2:11). We must hear, believe, and obey His commandments to be saved (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:46-47). This is exactly what early Christians did and taught.

Edify the church. Christians must “resist the devil” and “draw nigh to God” (James 2:7-8). We are to keep ourselves “unspotted from the world” (James 1:27). This gospel meeting will provide Christians with the opportunity to feed on God’s precious word, to hear the old story that has thrilled the hearts of people across the centuries, to sing and pray with other Christians. Surely, no child of God would resist such opportunities.

Let us make plans to be “here present in the sight of God, to hear all things that have been commanded thee of the Lord” and take advantage of the opportunity to “reason together.”