Does God Approve?

If I were discussing any Bible subject with a person in an effort to determine what is the proper action to take, and should discover that he is not concerned with whether or not God approves of such an action, I would stop that discussion. The reason is simple. If there is no standard by which to measure anything, there is no value in discussing whether it should or should not be anything.

If a person indicates that he is concerned about God’s approval, the next step is to discover how he decides if God approves or disapproves of something. If his standard of measurement is how he feels in his heart, we stop the discussion, for not only is there no way for me to determine how he feels in his heart, but there is no way for me to determine if he feels the same way from one moment to the next. If he concludes that the way to decide what God wants in a matter is by an examination of God’s Word, then we ask, “What shall we look for in God’s Word to determine that?” If he admits that God’s specific command that a thing be done is one way we may be assured that God approves of it, we continue talking. If he admits that we do not have to find a specific command provided there is an approved example shown to be approved by the inspired record, we continue talking. If he admits that even if we cannot find a specific example, if it is necessarily implied that God approved, then we continue.

To illustrate how this works, let us take the subject of when we should partake of the Lord’s Supper. There are those who claim membership in the Lord’s church who are today suggesting that since the Lord’s Supper is for the purpose of calling our attention to the sacrifice of Christ for us, and we can properly remember the Lord’s death at any time, then we can properly take the Lord’s Supper at any time.

Let us examine the question in this fashion: Does the Lord approve of us taking the Lord’s Supper on the first day of the week? If we have already established one of the means for finding out what pleases the Lord is an approved example, then we settle that matter by reading Acts 17:20.