Fences, Freedom, and Following Christ

By Jack Exum

‘Fence building’ can be very important and helpful. They say, “Building a fence makes great neighbors!” I happen to agree with that! Fences come in varied styles, materials, heights and widths, depending on the purpose it is to serve. Spiritually, fences serve as an important addition to one’s life as well.

“Fences, Freedom and Following Christ,” deals with the “Who? What? Where? When? and Why?” The author deals (quite frankly) with the unfortunate activity of some who wish to ‘build your fence’, or even to ‘enforce their fence on everyone’ instead of respecting the rights and responsibilities and opinions of the individual in this matter.

Freedom in Christ is precious. One can ‘give up’ certain ‘rights’, but there is no mandate to give up ones ‘freedom in Christ’. You will find great encouragement here, as the author examines Paul’s writing in Galatians 5 (and other scriptures), and find out that ‘Freedom in Christ’ as one grows in grace cannot be ignored, as the Christian deals with ‘church traditions’ (which are not all bad).

Following Christ is not a ‘sprint’ it is a ‘marathon,’ where one, with the help of God’s word and ‘personal fences’, avoids pitfalls and temptations of life. Growing stronger in grace is as ‘individual’ a responsibility as salvation, and yet the need of encouragement and fellowship with believers is invaluable.

The goal for the struggling Christian is, "Grow in Grace"! As the author says, “Help me, encourage me, correct me gently, or get out of the way.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jack Exum
• Release date: Nov 6, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310813702

Jack Exum

Redeemed and added to the body of Christ, May 31, 1959 at Southside Church of Christ, Beaumont, Texas. Graduated from Preston Road School of Preaching, Dallas, Texas, 1971. I ministered to congregations in Georgia, Saskatchewan, Canada, Indiana, Ukraine, and Florida. After the passing of my brother Robert Exum January 25,2016, my wife and I moved to begin work with the West Keene Church of CHrist in Keene, New Hampshire. I am a committed Christian, happily married to my wife Lauw Liang (Wiwik), from Indonesia. Together, we seek only to grow, and serve together in His grace, so freely given in Jesus. (Mailing address: 69 Blossom Street, Keene, NH., 03431.) Purpose and Philosophy statements: * To reach out to and encourage the body of Christ. Not only by publishing books by dad (Jack Exum), and eventually my own, but also dad's and my own studies on www.jackexum.com. I strive for BALANCE, avoiding EXTREMES, LEGALISM and LABELS which have contributed to division and sectarianism in the church. Growing in faith, hope, and love, unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace, and being true to the Gospel of Christ, is 'where we stand.' My prayer is that we grow in grace, and learn to accept each other, being patient with those who question, or differ, while being 'Heaven bound' together. * To reach the lost. This is the mission of Jesus. Everyone deserves the privilege to hear about Jesus at least once. There is ONE God, and he loves you INCREDIBLY, There is ONE Savior, who gave His all that we might belong to Him forever, and ONE faith given to be shared in the power of His Spirit. There is ONE body to which all believers are added (Acts 2:38-47). That body has no official name in the New Testament but has several designations which describe relationship, with God, Christ, and each other. * To hold to restoration principles: 1. “No Creed but Christ.” (Written creeds, and traditions are not authoritative). 2. “Where the Scriptures speak, we speak; where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent.” 3. “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, love.” 4. “We are not the only Christians, but we are Christians only.” Allow the Lord to deal with the 'weeds.' * We understand what the Bible teaches about being saved. One "must be born of water and the Spirit" (John 3:3-5). For more on this read Acts 2. However, now everyone who obeys the gospel of grace will be found in a congregation with the 'acceptable name.' God knows all that are His. Whoever does what early Christians did to be saved, is my brother and sister in Christ. I let God do the judging, I have 'my plate full,' working on my own sinfulness, and growing in grace, while encouraging others to do the same. Grow in grace! Heaven bound!

Book preview

Fences, Freedom, and Following Christ

By Jack Exum

Copyright 2014 Jack Exum

Smashwords Edition

All Rights Reserved

Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International VersionR NIVR Copyright C 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.T Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.T

License: This book is for your personal growth and enjoyment only. You may not resell this book or give it away. This book or any portion thereof may not be copied without permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations of fifty words or less. If you would like to share this book with others, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Description: ‘Fence building’ can be very important and helpful. They say, Building a fence makes great neighbors! I happen to agree with that! Fences come in varied styles, materials, heights and widths, depending on the purpose it is to serve. Spiritually, fences serve as an important addition to one’s life as well.

Fences, Freedom and Following Christ, deals with the Who? What? Where? When? and Why? The author deals (quite frankly) with the unfortunate activity of some who wish to ‘build your fence’, or even to ‘enforce their fence on everyone’ instead of respecting the rights and responsibilities and opinions of the individual in this matter.

Freedom in Christ is precious. One can ‘give up’ certain ‘rights’, but there is no mandate to give up ones ‘freedom in Christ’. You will find great encouragement here, as the author examines Paul’s writing in Galatians 5 (and other scriptures), and find out that ‘Freedom in Christ’ as one grows in grace cannot be ignored, as the Christian deals with ‘church traditions’ (which are not all bad.).

Following Christ is not a ‘sprint’ it is a ‘marathon,’ where one, with the help of God’s word and ‘personal fences’, avoids pitfalls and temptations of life. Growing stronger in grace is as ‘individual’ a responsibility as salvation, and yet the need of encouragement and fellowship with believers is invaluable.

The goal for the struggling Christian is, GROW IN GRACE! As the author says, Help me, encourage me, correct me gently, or get out of the way.

Dedications

The ‘hard copy’ of Fences, Freedom, and Following Christ is dedicated to a good friend and brother of Dad’s, Jerry Gross. To this, we wish to add Charles Hodge Jr. who was a close friend to Dad and is a good friend of mine.

Jack Exum Jr.

Contents

Dedications

Preface: Isn’t There A Better Way?

Introducing… The List

Chapter 1: The Great Commandment

Chapter 2: Freedom In Christ

Chapter 3: Human Judgment (Who?) (Why?) (When?)

Chapter 4: Human Judgment Must Be Confirmed By Time

Chapter 5: You Offend Me

Chapter 6: Fence Building

Chapter 7: Traditions: Good, Bad, Or Neither

Chapter 8: On To Perfection

Closing Thoughts

Author’s Note

Note: This book contains the original material found in the paperback edition, but has been revised not only to make some needed corrections in scripture quotations, but also to add a few clarifying thoughts, which are in parenthesis. However, some of the thoughts in parenthesis are in the original book. — Jack Exum Jr.

Preface: Isn’t There A Better Way?

We have heard so many speeches and have read so many church bulletins in the last six months that were dedicated to cutting someone to pieces, or to destroying the work of some church or group, that we are considerably discouraged. An ego that has to be fed on such stuff really doesn’t fit a born-again person at all. There just has to be a better way of dealing with our problems.

The great loss to the church, of the bright young preachers who have given up and are leaving is appalling. They are not all crooks, renegades and apostates. They have simply become disillusioned with our critical bickering and completely unchristian and downright sinful methods of our dealing with them.

When you set out to change the way things are traditionally done people are going to resist it. Things we do not know anything about, we fear most. Someone can come up with scare talk and, regardless of how false and unfair it may be, thousands will believe it and seize upon it rather than go to the trouble of finding out whether there is any validity to the charge. Saturate people with one issue after another, and they feel that where there is smoke there is fire. It isn’t necessarily so. We are suffering right now from sins of disposition more than from sins of dissipation. Someone recently said, The church is the only army I know that kills its own wounded.

We have developed an issue oriented church.