Tag: Follower

Inch by Inch, Little by Little

Psalm 1 

1Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

6 For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

The first Psalm is only believed to be written by King David. It is really not known for sure, so often it is captioned authored by “Anonymous”. It describes the WAYS of the faithful, as compared to the WAYS of the faithless.

It is amazing how, while in prayer over a particular issue in life, God will send us to a spot in His word that will bring to us some understanding. This is what happened to me. I am struggling with many things, but a couple are at the top of my prayer list. I often find myself asking God, “am I right on this?”, “Am I speaking your will or my own?”, “Am I pleasing you, or am I not understanding what I am reading or have read?” I was led to this Psalm, which is certainly Holy Spirit led because rarely do I go this far back for support. I usually look for the red letters. But nevertheless, here we are.

“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of the sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful”. In case you are not catching the theme I am searching for here, I am looking at the participation of Godly people in the world of the ungodly. When I say that a Godly person has no business interacting with the world, my Godly friends look at me like I am insane. How can we not interact? Easy!!! Understand that we are to witness and testify of God’s Gospel. That is what a Christian is called to do the moment we take the yoke of Christ upon us. We are instructed to do so. We are also told that the moment we are saved, the moment we accept Christ into our hearts, we are set aside. We are set aside for a greater purpose, the purpose of spreading the gospel. Because this is true, we can no longer keep doing to things that we used to. For before we served satan, and now we serve God. The world is the secular atmosphere where evil is the behavior of the day. In God’s eyes, and in His word, even those who do good deeds all day long and do not hurt a flea are ungodly and wicked if the good deeds are not spirit led and all done for the glory of God. So in other words, apart from God, there is not one of us that are good, not a single one of us. Therein lies the difference. Everything a Christian does is supposed to glorify the Father. The world glorifies itself. Only a person full of self and worshipping their own self can think that they alone have the sovereign authority to decide what is morally right and wrong.  Christians are no longer in that atmosphere.

Albert Barnes comments on the word walk- “Whose character is that he does not walk in the manner specified. Prof. Alexander renders this, “Who has not walked.” But it implies more than this; it refers to more than the past. It is the characteristic of the man, always and habitually, that he does not thus walk; it has not only been true in the past, but it is true in the present, and will be true in the future. It is that which distinguishes the man. The word “walk” is often used in the Scriptures to denote a way of life or conduct – since life is represented as a journey, and man as a traveler.”

When I talk like this, some go right to JUSTIFYING their own actions by saying, “Jesus spent time with the sinners”. Of course He did. He was a preacher. He sat with them and ate with them, and defied all Jewish law, man’s law, that said that the righteous should shun the “unclean” and all non-Jews, commonly referred to as gentiles. Jesus was a champion of civil rights before it was called civil rights, mainly because membership in the club of the saved has nothing to do with ethnicity, gender, handicap, and so on, and everything to do with Faith and Obedience. But Jesus did not live in that world, meaning He did not stay there. Every second of every day, Jesus was about His Father’s business. After talking about sin and hell with the sinners, because he more than anyone else in the bible spoke about Hell and wanted to tell the sinner why it was important to be redeemed (what we commonly refer to as the “spreading the GOSPEL”), he would leave. He usually went off to pray. Jesus was always in communion with the Father. He was always talking about how much the Father loved His children and wanted them to have faith and to obey the scriptures and to love one another. Jesus NEVER stood in the WAY of the sinners, He never SAT with the scornful, Jesus never said that disobedience was good or even non-consequential, and Jesus never said that loving someone meant that you did not have to share the gospel with them or correct them. In fact, Jesus says the Father corrects those He loves. Standing in the WAY means to do what they do, to look and act like they act, to participate in the sinful WAYS. In fact, did you know that before the word Christian was used in a positive manner to describe a follower of Christ it was used as a derogatory word to insult a follower? Before the word Christian, a person following Christ was said to be “in the WAY” of Christ. You did what he did, looked like he looked and so on. The world is the “council of the ungodly.” “Sitteth in the seat” refers to the same thing, but with a great deal more determination. We have now taken root, we have gotten comfortable. We are them. How will we know if we are in the WAY or sitting in the SEAT? If our non-saved friends don’t see us any differently than they see their unsaved friends, we are doing something wrong. If we say that we want to be friends with the unsaved because we have a lot in common with them, we are doing something wrong. The unsaved people of the world should be looking at us and either thinking that we are the strangest person they ever met, or examining us because what they see in us is different and interesting. But if we spent an abundance of quality time with the unsaved, if we invite unsaved people to be the make-up of our inner circle, and there are no conversations about the differences between us, we are doing something wrong. It is important to me to stress the importance of this because contrary thinking leads us one step at a time in the wrong direction. Does one act alone cause grave concern, maybe not? Does the totality of years of bad choices cause grave concern, absolutely yes! I usually refer to this by saying, “inch by inch” or “one small step at a time”. In researching this, I see that Spurgeon referred to it as “little by little.

Charles Spurgeon remarks, “The sum of the whole is, that the servants of God must endeavor utterly to abhor the life of ungodly men. But as it is the policy of Satan to insinuate his deceits, in a very crafty way, the prophet, in order that none may be insensibly deceived, shows how by little and little men are ordinarily induced to turn aside from the right path. They do not, at the first step, advance so far as a proud contempt of God but having once begun to give ear to evil counsel, Satan leads them, step by step, farther astray, till they rush headlong into open transgression. The prophet, therefore, begins with counsel, by which term I understand the wickedness which does not as yet show itself openly. Then he speaks of the way, which is to be understood of the customary mode or manner of living. And he places at the top of the climax the seat, by which metaphorical expression he designates the obduracy produced by the habit of a sinful life. In the same way, also, ought the three phrases, to walk, to stand, and to sit, to be understood. When a person willingly walks after the gratification of his corrupt lusts, the practice of sinning so infatuates him, that, forgetful of himself, he grows hardened in wickedness; and this the prophet terms standing in the way of sinners.”

 

Ephesians 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. (side note- look at the last four words. For those of you who think Christians should “live and let live”, or “to each is their own” or wait until you have your act together before speaking, notice the COMMAND of these four words. To reprove, elénchō –  ἐλέγχω, means to rebuke, expose, bring to the light. It is defined in Ephesians 5:13- But all things that are reproved (same word elénchō –  ἐλέγχω) are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.)

Even for those in the WAYS of Christ, we are commanded to separate ourselves. The book of 2 Thessalonians is a letter to the church of Thessalonica. It tells them of things that have to happen before Christ returns. It was needed because people started to WALK in the WAYS of Christ differently, and some became idle. So even in the church we are told to separate ourselves from those who are not following the WAY of Christ (again, not to not witness or testify, but not to socialize or abide- which is another great word which means to hang out, to set up residence).

2 Thessalonians 3:6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.

 

2 Corinthians 6

14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.

18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

Often we look at these verses and consider it to refer to marriage only. I would challenge you to see that the principle here expands out to all relationships a believer has. This principle, this ruler, should be applied to our marriages, to our selection of friends to the decisions we make about where we go and what we do.

The books of Acts, Romans, 2 John, and more, state something about separating yourself from the secular world, the sinful WAYS and scornful SEATS, ran by the prince of darkness. It is getting increasingly difficult to teach this principle because we live in a sinful world where satan spreads the lies that if you keep yourself separate you are hateful, you think you’re better than others, you are a racist (a word which is incorrectly used since there is only one race to begin with), or are labelled guilty of any one or combination of more than one of the numerous –isms and –phobes. We must stand on these principles! It is not okay for us to joyfully, willingly, knowingly, and purposefully, participate in the world. There is a difference between making a mistake to which you seek God’s correction and forgiveness, and actually living in the behavior thinking it is okay. Huge difference!!

In closing, I will quote Albert Barnes, again, in summation, “So also it is in regard to the persons with whom they associate. They are, first, irreligious men in general; then, those who have so far advanced in depravity as to disregard known duty, and to violate known obligations; and then, those who become confirmed in infidelity, and who openly mock at virtue, and scoff at the claims of religion. It is unnecessary to say that, in both these respects, this is an accurate description of what actually occurs in the world. He who casually and accidentally walks with the wicked, listening to their counsel, will soon learn to place himself in their way, and to wait for them, desiring their society, and will ultimately be likely to be feared identified with open scoffers; and he who indulges in one form of depravity, or in the neglect of religion in any way, will, unless restrained and converted, be likely to run through every grade of wickedness, until he becomes a confirmed scoffer at all religion. The sentiment in this verse is, that the man who is truly blessed is a man who does none of these things.”

If you stand in the mirror what will the reflection tell you about yourself, and what are you going to do about it? May the peace of God be abundantly heaped upon you and your house, straight from the cross to the Christian!

Be Unspotted of the World

James 1

22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.

27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world

I post this because I see many hearers of the word and few doers. In fact, if you even try, just a little bit, to be a doer in this world you are labeled as an -ist, or a -phobe, or declared guilty of some form of -ism, and if none of these apply then you’re crazy, hateful, abusive, and so on.

I wish we would read the word of God with the intent to be doers no matter what the world says. I wish we would read God’s word, God’s written plan for our lives with the intent to follow it and not the intent to make God’s word fit into our plan. I wish we would read and study the God’s sovereign word with the intent to become more firm and fervent, and bold in our faith, not to try and use his own word against himself or to try and disprove his word. That has not worked ever since the word was penned yet we still try. I wish we would all stop thinking so highly of ourselves and realize the futility in trying to do it our own way.

Not a single one of us is so great as to be able to claim a greater sovereignty than God. Be hearers and then be doers of GOD’S WORD, NOT YOUR OWN AND BE UNSPOTTED OF THE WORLD!

The Carrot and Stick Principle

Its captivating to me that when I go through something, I tend to relate what I am going through, the relationships and grievances, with God. When I think of how children who do not listen to their mother, who do not use the skills and lessons that they have been equipped with to navigate even the simplest of task in the home, I tend to turn that around and wonder how God must feel when I, as an adopted child of His, refuses to do what I have been taught, refuse to use the gifts that He blessed me with, when I pick and choose what I will and will not do. If I am a small bearing in a big wheel, I wonder just how much more His feelings are amplified as the Father of all, the Father who sacrificed His son only to be used like a flashlight. To be used only when times are dark. To be minimized and placed on a shelf. To feel totally ignored and disrespected by His selfish children.

Whether you are a parent in a home, a supervisor at work, a leader in a group, a person in some position, any position of authority and responsibility, it is your job to teach, to grow, to influence, and to lead others. In these capacities, it is always more difficult to do so when just one, let alone more than one, of your flock is being disobedient. When just one person holds on to the idea that they can do whatever they want to do, come in late, wear things not an official part of the uniform, totally usurp the chain of command, fail to complete routine tasks, call in sick repeatedly, make excuses not to come to trainings and meetings, cause discord amongst the team, and so on, the task of growing and leading a team is made difficult because everyone is seeing what you are seeing and if permitted to continue, the rest of the crowd in today’s America adopts the, “well if he can do it, so can I” doctrine. It is a small percentage that ignore the negative and continue to engage the positive, even if they are alone in doing so. It’s like the one child who does right, living among brothers and sister who not only don’t do right, but make fun of and intimidate and harass the one who does. This is hard for that one. Again, I think often, how does my disobedience hurt my Father’s heart.

Throughout the bible, cover to cover, God speaks repeatedly about being obedient. As sinners, we must understand that our willful, purposeful, and deliberate disobedience causes God’s heart to mourn. Yes, mourn! He mourns because if we do not change our disobedient ways, we will surely die, TWICE!!!

Exodus 23:20-24

20 Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.

21 Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.

22 But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.

23 For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off.

24 Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.

God starts off by stating that IF they, His children the Israelites, follow the angel, the angel that has the nature and authority of God himself, then God will bless them with the following. God starts off like this so that in a gentle way He acknowledges that man has the tendency to ignore God, and do what they want. So here God employs the early version of the Carrot and Stick principle. He wants nothing but the best for His children. But He needs them to see, ON THEIR OWN, that it is in their best interest to follow Him so that they do so willingly and without duress. God is stating to his children that if they are obedient, He himself will not let anything happen to them. He will provide victory after victory. If His children obey Him, those who oppose them, will also be the enemy of God.

Charles Ellicott states- “God is “the rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” He chooses to “reward men after their works,” and to set before them “the recompense of the reward.” He “knows whereof we are made,” and by what motives we are influenced. Self-interest, the desire of our own good, is one of the strongest of them. If Israel will keep His covenant, they will enjoy the following blessings :—(1) The guidance and protection of His angel till Canaan is reached; (2) God’s help against their adversaries, who will, little by little, be driven out; (3) the ultimate possession of the entire country between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea on the one hand, the Desert and the Euphrates on the other; (4) a blessing upon their flocks and herds, which shall neither be barren nor cast their young; and (5) a blessing upon themselves, whereby they will escape sickness and enjoy a long term of life. All these advantages, however, are conditional upon obedience, and may be forfeited.”

Fast forward to almost the end of the Bible.

1 Peter 1:13-15

13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:

15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;

16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

There are so many scriptures on obedience. John 14:15, Acts 5:29, Luke 6:46, and Ecclesiastes 12:13 are just some of my favorites on the subject. However, I believe these versus fit with those from Exodus. I believe in verse 13 we can clearly see God saying to us as gentiles, “If you obey me….” This is what He said to Israel, “If you choose to follow me…” When we read “Gird up the loins of your mind” and “be sober” what we read is God telling us, Prepare yourself for battle and hard work.

Gird Up Your Loins

God is saying to us…. Prepare yourselves to follow me, prepare for battle and hard work and focus on me and I will bring you victory in the face of your enemies. Don’t even think about the lusts and desires of your flesh. Listen to my voice, do what I say. Do not conform to the world, do not bow down to the gods of the world, do not follow them, do not serve them, and do not do as they say. Be Holy as I am Holy. Be obedient children not fashioning, not molding, not conforming to the behaviors of the world. That’s what God is telling you! And finally, where is the victory that God spoke about in Exodus, “hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” For the Gentile Christian, the adopted child, this is our victory. The hope, or better translated, the expectation in the salvation in Jesus the Christ. What a victory that will be.

Joseph Benson Comments- “The apostle alludes to the manners of the eastern countries, in which the men’s garments being long and flowing, they prepared themselves for travelling, and other active employments, by girding them up with a girdle put round their loins, to prevent their being encumbered by them. The loins of the mind, therefore, is a figurative expression for the faculties of the soul, the understanding, memory, will, and affections, which the apostle signifies must be gathered in and girded, as it were, about the soul by the girdle of truth, so as to be in a state fit for continual and unwearied exertion in running the Christian race, fighting the good fight of faith, and working out our salvation with fear and trembling. Our mind must not be overcharged at any time with surfeiting and drunkenness, or the cares of this life: our affections must be placed on proper objects, and in a just degree; and especially must be set on the things that are above, which are to be our portion and felicity for ever: our various passions must be under the government of reason and religion, of the truth and grace of God.”

On the hope of Christ, John Calvin states, ” For the object of Peter was to call us away beyond the world; for this purpose the fittest thing was the recollection of Christ’s coming. For when we direct our eyes to this event, this world becomes crucified to us, and we to the world.”

Obedience is not a choice. Being a Christian is not a game. It is a discipline. The world will exercise large amounts of discipline when it comes to the study, to the execution, to the devotion of many aspects of our lives. But when it comes to God, many treat it as a passing fancy. It is not something that requires effort. There is no work in faith. I know there was a time when we used to focus on faith without works is dead, but I believe we have been so heavy on the anit-works righteous movement, and rightfully so, that a negative side-effect has taken place. That is that love is all there is and that no work is necessary. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you love God, you will follow Him, you will obey Him, and you will gird up your loins, you will prepare yourself for battle against the world and against your own flesh.

Once again, in his daily devotional, Dr. Charles Stanley reports something directly to the point. “Are you trying to rationalize a decision or behavior? Perhaps you’ve offered reasons for pursuing a certain path. Or maybe you tried bargaining with God. I assure you He isn’t moved by any arguments. Remember: Partial obedience is disobedience in His eyes. And no sin is worth being outside His will.”

If you stand in the mirror what will the reflection tell you about yourself, and what are you going to do about it? May the peace of God be abundantly heaped upon you and your house, straight from the cross to the Christian!

All of the rules are set

I praise God for His mercy, and His blessings. I praise him for this message.

I sat down this morning and started reading my daily devotionals, I have a couple. I was also reflecting on the Sunday School class, and sermon from yesterday. All of a sudden, a basketball analogy came to me. This is pretty amazing since I could not care any less about basketball than I already do. I don’t intend to insult anyone, it is simply not a sport I have ever been any good at and I just cannot sit there and watch a game. I do, however, understand the scoring system. And then the message came.

In basketball the hoop never moves. It is fixed in one position, carefully measured out. In fact, the court is measured off the proper placement of the hoop. The GOAL is to put the ball through the hoop and score more points than the other team. You don’t have to put the ball through more often than the other team to win, because certain circumstances can exist that cause the completed GOAL to earn you anywhere from one to four points. So, again, you do not have to meet the GOAL more often then the enemy, you just have complete the GOAL when it matters most.

Sometimes, when a player is missing a lot of shots, we say they are off their game. A coach might tell them that they are not focusing; they may tell them to “get your head in the game.” But for many reasons, even the best players have bad games. In fact, one of the modern day greats has repeatedly conveyed how physically draining an entire basketball season can be, and that sometimes he is just flat out tired. So again, there are many reasons why a player will not be focused enough to accomplish the GOAL.

Life is not a game. Oh people have said it is; there are so many analogies and sayings about life and games, especially chess, that I cannot even begin to document them all here. But the truth about life is that life itself is a matter of life and death. If you think about it for a second, we actually start to die the moment the egg is fertilized. Many say that its growing, and that would be true, but it is also on the journey to death. This was not always the case. God did not start off by creating man to die, but to live and to have communion with Him. But man got selfish. Man got to thinking that he knew better, and listened to whispers of an angel whose fate had already been sealed. Man brought death and all its forms into the world the moment they partook of the forbidden fruit. Disobedience occurred, and the consequence of sin entered the world. As time went on, God brought people into this world that He used to show that in spite of man’s disobedience, He still loved His creation very much. Because of our sin, God had to show how mighty His love for us was. So he brought men into the world that He used as leaders. And as time went on, God provided a way of atonement through animal sacrifices. But don’t you know man just kept on being disobedient. Again, throughout the old testament there is consequence after consequence for the disobedient actions of man. Finally God said, I am going to provide you with the perfect sacrifice. If you believe, if you have faith that I sent Him, and that He is my son, and that He is I, and I am He, and that He and I are perfect, and you love us by following our commands, then you shall be saved. So what does this have to do with Basketball? Don’t forget about the fixed hoop.

A basketball court is 94 feet long. It is 50 feet wide. There numerous dimensions all over the court. Here are some more.

Basketball court deminsions

When you look at the demensions, notice one in-particular. The hoop, it is only 18 inches in diameter. On a 94 X 50 foot court, a player has to get into position to be able to put a basketball, which is 29.5 inches in circumference through a hoop that is 30 inches in circumference. Yes, there is only one half of an inch to play with.

The comparison is this. God wants to have a relationship with us. He has taken great care to put His will for us into a book that we can read and understand. All we have to do is believe it. If we believe it, then we have to become the fixed hoop. We cannot live our lives running all over that court. We have to become that fixed hoop so that we can receive the blessings that God has for us. We have to try to understand that His love is so perfect, so true and honest, that we cannot redefine the rules, no more than any player can walk onto a court and drag the rim to half-court so he doesn’t have to run as far because he is tired. All of the rules are set, the court and all the dimensions are set, there are no changes. There are no changes with God. He is steady sinking blessings through His fixed hoop. You have to deny yourself, and all that you think you want and go and become that fixed hoop so He can heap blessings upon you. And the more fixed you become, the more and more blessings you receive. Do you remember earlier when I spoke to you about not having to put the ball through the hoop more often than the other team to win because of circumstances? Well, one such circumstance is the 4 point play. If a player shoots the ball from behind the three point line and is fouled, he will get the basket (provided he makes it) plus an additional penalty shot because he was fouled. That’s called the free throw line because no one is allowed to distract him. He can concentrate on just making that one basket to get a 4 point play. That is the highest score you can get on one play. Now, life has all kinds of circumstances and fouls, doesn’t it? But God does not move. He is fixed, and I praise Him for that because He is always right where he has always been. All I need to do, all you need to do, is play through that foul and be that fixed hoop and no matter what kind of foul life threw at you. Keeping your faith, keeping your discipline will keep you at the hoop so God can bless you abundantly and maximize His glory!!! Remember, everything is about the Glory of God!!

In his devotion for June 12, 2017, In touch Ministries Dr. Charles Stanley wrote, “It’s easy to get so caught up in the daily grind or preoccupied with chasing a goal that we miss the good that the LORD has in mind to give us.”

That’s the importance of being fixed.

 

James 1:13-17

13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

16 Do not err, my beloved brethren.

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

How wonderful are these verses that share with us this very lesson. God does not sin; He does not tempt man to sin. God does not allow bad things to happen to good people. Sin, bad things, happen because of man. Remember, death entered this world because of man, not God. Man brought death in disease, murder, accidents, all manners of death entered this world at that fall of man. Verse 14 says that it is our flesh that tempts us. Our humanness is what makes not a single person good. Even if you do “good” all day, if not led by God and working for the Glory of God then there really is no good in any effort. Verse 15 talks about that death brought to us by our fall, by our sin. Because of our sin we need Jesus, and because of His love, He gives us forgiveness. And again, anything that is good, comes from God. His blessings come down and are delivered through that fixed hoop. Look at the end of that verse, there is no variableness nor shadow of turning. He does not move. He is fixed. His blessings flow through that narrow and fixed hoop. You are the one that needs to put yourself into the position to receive His blessings. That hoop is faith, that hoop is love, that hoop is obedience. Remember that Christ told us himself that if we love Him, we will follow His commandments. That is the fixed part. There is no other way.

If you stand in the mirror what will the reflection tell you about yourself, and what are you going to do about it? May the peace of God be abundantly heaped upon you and your house, straight from the cross to the Christian!

 

 

 

 

 

There is nothing that you can do for yourself.

There is an incredible burden on my heart, one that has been even more profound these last few weeks. Daily sanctification is a journey. When we truly confess our sins, and have a genuine repenting heart, and professed that Jesus Christ is LORD, His blood cleanses the soul. After we have a soul free from the bonds of sin, then the spirit is free to dwell inside. Justification is the result of faith in and acceptance of God’s grace and mercy. Once the Spirit of the LORD dwells inside of us, we are able to have intense fellowship with God. It is a direct line to Him. We feel that correction of a loving father through the imputing of the Holy Spirit. The conviction we feel when something is wrong, or when we have offended someone comes from the Holy Spirit that dwells in us. But so does power. When we have the Holy Spirit inside of us, and we call on the Holy Spirit to take control and genuinely give up that control to the Holy Spirit we have power from God. It is important to recognize that that power is not ours. It is important to recognize and praise the source of that power. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit strengthens us as well as corrects us.

This is on my heart because of two things. The first is this. These past few weeks I have been confronted by a man. I believe he is a good man, and a hard-working man. I should know I work with. Over the past few weeks, and especially the last week, he has texted me often. He has been quoting scripture as he seeks answers for some work related issues. But this man believes that he is being wronged by administrators of our company. This man has a tendency to allow anger to overcome him. And I believe that he is using Scripture to authorize his anger and wrath. The second thing is simple. I believe I recognize this because I am guilty of the very same thing. We have been told “it takes one to know one”. Well, I believe that is true in this case. I love the word of God. I love the feeling of communication and communion with God during biblical studies, prayer, fellowship with like-minded Christians, and other situations where the presence of the Lord is genuinely felt. But in situations where things are not going well, the sinful flesh of my old self wants to take over. It is in this regard that my heart is burdened.

All of us, every self-proclaimed follower of Jesus Christ who believes that they benefit from the mercy and grace of the Almighty Father, better understand one thing. There is nothing that you can do for yourself. The Holy Scripture is meant to be our source of many things. The Scripture is our source of wisdom, of comfort, of guidance, of power, and so on. What the Bible is not, is a weapon to be used to justify our own desires. We cannot talk about putting on the full armor of God to go to battle to defend our desire of selfishness and still be in the will of God. In one of his texts, my coworker quoted the book of James. The book of James is one of my most favorite books. It should not be misconstrued as a book of works righteousness, but rather instruction on how the indwelling Holy Spirit brings about good works through you. Once again, you better understand that there is nothing that man can do for himself. My coworker specifically quoted verse 22 and 23.

James 1:22-23, “22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:”

My coworker went on to quote a few other Scriptures. He was collecting them verse by verse from various places, trying to explain to me that the Bible says that we are to stand up and defend the faith and defend his position that he is not going to take anymore of the administrations non-sense by saying in his words, “compromising no more.” This would be a good thought if what we were talking about not compromising was faith in the word of God. My coworker is struggling with some personnel issues with administration, as well as some pay issues. In some regards I don’t think Jesus ever expected us to be pushovers. If we were to truly let all non-believers, like ISIS, just kill all of us, there would be no-one left to preach the word. But I do think that he expected us to use the spirit to help us discern between what’s right and wrong. My observation is that my coworker will take Scripture and use it to defend the execution of his wrath instead of allowing himself to be humbled by the spirit so that God’s wrath will prevail. Once again there is nothing that man can do for himself. God’s wrath will always be more righteous and more just than anything that man can come up with. I must repeat myself. I do not say this to lecture my coworker. I say this because it is a hard lesson, one that I have learned about myself over and over. I am grateful for the conviction of the spirit.

So let’s take a look at what James is saying here. It is my intention to lift up the word of God so that we can have a better understanding of what it means to be doers of the word. In order to do that, I think we have to quote more than just two versus, to keep everything in context. So let’s start and James verse 19

James 1:19-27
19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: 20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. 26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. 27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

My study Bible the Tyndale life application study Bible has a small paragraph providing commentary on the 27th verse. That commentary, on page 1887, reads as follows,
“to keep ourselves unpolluted (“unspotted”) from the world, we need to commit ourselves to Christ’s ethical and moral system not the world’s. We are not to adapt to the world’s value system based on money, power, and pleasure. True faith means nothing if we are contaminated with such values.

I think that it is absolutely awesome that Joseph Benson makes the following commentary about “slow to speak”. When I think of my coworker and myself I think about his words here that say,

“To deliver his opinion in matters of faith, that he does not yet well understand. Persons half instructed frequently have a high opinion of their own knowledge in religious matters, are very fond of teaching others, and zealous to bring them over to their opinions.”

We have a high opinion of our own knowledge and are very fond of teaching others in order to bring them over to our opinions. Again, I have to be honest. If you cannot look at this and say, “Yep, that is me sometimes.” the let me simply say that it is most certainly me sometimes. Unfortunately, for my co-worker, I think that is so true in these text messages. I love the book of James and am very familiar with it. And when I know what my coworker is trying to accomplish; and I see the Scriptures that he’s quoting in order to accomplish it, I see these words by Joseph Benson come to life. My coworker also texted to me that brethren in the faith, “also stand up for each other when we are being wronged” I would say that I would go to war for a friend if I believe my friend was being wronged. The problem is what he believes is wrong and what I believe are wrong are two different things. And he is willing to put our spiritual relationship on a hook if I don’t stand up for him; If I don’t go to war with him over what he believes is right. The Scripture does not say anything close to that. But I must say I have shared that opinion in the past and had the audacity to be upset with a brother for not being on my side. You want to talk about guilt. Once I realized what I was doing, there was no apology big enough. But THANK GOD FOR THE BLOOD OF CHRIST that allowed a brother to forgive another brother and for one brother to learn to pay attention to his mouth more often.

I’m going to continue with more commentary by Joseph Benson, because I believe he is spot on. Continuing to refer to the rest of the verses in James 1:19-27, he writes,

“The apostle, however, may be understood as cautioning his readers against easily yielding to provocation in any respect whatever, and especially when injuriously treated by their persecutors. For the wrath of man — Even when it appears in the garb of religious zeal, worketh not — But, on the contrary, greatly obstructs, the righteousness of God — Instead of promoting the cause of true religion in the world, it is a reproach to it, and a means of exciting the prejudices of mankind against it. Persecution, in particular, the effect of the wrath of man, if violent, may make men hypocrites, by forcing them to profess what they do not believe; but it has no influence to produce that genuine faith which God accounts to men for righteousness. Nothing but rational arguments, with the illumination of the Spirit of God, can do this.”

When I read these words I cannot help but think of myself, “On more than one occasion I have represented this hypocrisy, lack of influence to produce genuine faith, and reproach in exercising my own wrath. I am certain that people have looked at me and said, “who is this man?” One minute I was talking about God and the next minute I was acting like a lunatic. I am ashamed to admit that this still happens from time to time. My daily sanctification has me working on this issue because I believe every word that Joseph Benson is saying here is truth. I believe that this is something that I clearly see in others because I am so acutely aware of its existence inside my own body. It is something that I wanted to take time to caution everyone about. We live in a day and age where people are looking at Christians and scrutinizing us with the most critical eye. We cannot afford to dampen the light of Jesus Christ, we cannot afford to contaminate the ethical and moral system of Jesus Christ with our own wrath brought about by the violation of our own morals. This whole relationship, salvation, is not about us. I say again, there is nothing that we can do for ourselves. Everything is about Jesus the Christ!

I have had many conversations with myself, the man in the mirror, and the triune God. My question to you is, “are you having these conversations yourselves?” I know many Christians, just like my coworker and I, who have used or continue to use Scripture to validate their questionable behavior. There is righteous anger. There is anger that has compassion for change in it. But if your anger leads to sin, if it produces hate in your heart or even just a little anger in your thoughts, then perhaps this conversation in the mirror is something you should take time to have sooner rather than later.

If you stand in the mirror what will the reflection tell you about yourself, and what are you going to do about it? May the peace of God be abundantly heaped upon you and your house, straight from the cross to the Christian!