HAS GOD GIVEN US A PATTERN ?

Some are boldly proclaiming that the New Testament is not a God-given blueprint, or pattern, for Christians of all ages to follow. They argue loudly that the cultures of today's generation are so different from the cultures of the first century-when the books of the New Testament were written- that the words of the New Testament cannot possibly mean now what they meant then. Their plea is, "Since we have no pattern, we must restructure the church or she will die." As a result of such thinking changes are being introduced into the church on a grand scale.

Think about this idea, seriously. If the New Testament does nor serve as our pattern in religion today, man is left free to follow his own feelings, desires and ambitions. Because of the failure to accept the New Testament as a religious guide man is hopelessly divided. The competing churches of our time are testimony to this fact.

To deny that the New Testament serves as our religious pattern is to deny the inspiration of the Bible. Paul wrote, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works," 2 Tim.3:16-17. These words are just as true today as they were when written. God leads man, guides man, by His word.

This has always been the case. When Noah found grace in the eyes of God, the Lord gave Noah a pattern for building the ark.God specified the kind of wood, the dimensions, a window, a door and other needs for the ark.God told Noah, "This is the fashion which thou shalt make it of," Gen.6:15. When Noah followed God's pattern and "did according to all that God commanded him," Gen.6:22, Noah was saved from the flood.

It has always been God's policy, in dealing with man, to give him a pattern to follow-to tell man what to do and how to do it. Cain and Abel offered sacrifices unto God, Gen.4:3-4. God accepted the sacrifice of Abel but rejected the sacrifice of Cain. Why? Abel followed God'a pattern and did what God commanded. Cain did not. The Bible says, "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain," Heb.11:4. Abel simply believed what God said and obeyed.

It's unreasonable to suppose that God will hold us accountable for the kinds of lives we live and not give us a pattern to live our lives by. If God had treated man so unfairly, man would have been hopelessly lost. No pattern to follow, no eternal salvation to gain. Jeremiah recognized this and wrote, "Oh Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his own steps," Jer.10:23.

Men today fail to ackowledge this. Unwilling to follow God's pattern they set out to blaze religious trails of their own. "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools," Rom.1:22. They have "changed the truth of God into a lie," Rom.1:25. It is strange that men will deliberately turn from the truth to a lie but that is what anyone does when he turns from God to human wisdom.