Tag: Idolatry

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!

 

Elimelech said, “I got this!”

The book of Ruth, a wonderful love story. The power of love between a man and a woman right there in the word of God. Did you know that there are some who argue that the book of Ruth should not be in the bible. It is an opinion of a few that the only reason the Book of Ruth is in the scriptures is to show a lineage to King David, then of course to Christ Jesus. If you read the book of Ruth, and the only thing you take away from it is a love story, then you are reading with a shallow eye. May I suggest prayer before your reading…as well as your attention here as I share some wonderful information over the next few articles.

ELIMELECH- THE APOSTATE

KEY VERSES RUTH 1:1-3

1Now it came to pass, in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to dwell in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. 2 The name of the man was Elimelech, the name of his wife was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion—Ephrathites of Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to the country of Moab and remained there. 3 Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons.

The first thing that we should notice is that the beginning of the story of Ruth is set in a time when there was no king. The judges ruled. Judges ruled after Joshua (about 1376 or 1200 BC) to King Saul (somewhere right around 1050BC). This is important because the times of Judges was always a period where the tribes of Isreal were experiencing hardship. Inspired Judges would come along and relieve that hardship in their faithful service to God for an unfaithful nation. This is important because after the author tells us the time period, we also see that there was a famine in the land.

Famines were used by God for one of three reasons, usually. First, to move the people from one area to another. If we apply that here, we could say that Elimelech was being moved to Moab. There is another reason why God brought famine to the land, and that is as a consequence for the repeated disobedience of His people. It was punishment. The last reason for a famine is the spoils of war. When conquered, the armies would pilfer the resources of the land. So which one was it, did God move Elimelech to Moab, or did he go on his own because either the nation was being punished or because it was attacked and defeated, and believe me, that is an imperative question to ask. The first four words of the second sentence in verse one state that “a certain man” went to Moab. Verse one goes on to say that he went to dwell, which is to live. So if it was God’s intent that the entire nation go, why do we see here that only a certain man went. Most either believe that the famine was caused by God because of disobedience or war. There are ten major famines that God clearly used as punishments. This one is not clearly identified as one of those ten. Most indicate that because this chapter starts off with, ‘it came to pass’ that the famine was not God caused, but as a result of being invaded and pilfered. In the book of Judges we can see that in this time period the nation was attacked and defeated a few times. It is probably that this is a result of “to the victor go the spoils.”

Judges 21:25

25 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

If we go back to the last verse of the book of Judges, which is the book right before Ruth, we see that we are talking about a time period where everyone did what was right in their own eyes. It may be true that this was another disobedient time period. I believe it is most important to take one position away from these clues. No matter which one of these two theories you subscribe to, Elimelech was not being moved from the land by God, but rather was surveying the situation and took matters in to his own hands.

I imagine that his assessment went something like this. I have a wife and two children. There is a famine in the land. There is much in the land of Moab. I need to leave my nation, go over to that land, pitch my tent and take up residency so that I can provide for my family. At this point I would like to say that some say Elimelech was wealthy and did not want to lose his possessions. Even if you subscribe to this theory, I believe it does not change the main course, but just adds another side dish. The main course for ole Elimelech is the same main course that most of us partake in daily. That is Idolatry. Idolatry is not just worshiping idols. It is looking at the world through man centered eyes. It is moving through life making man centered decisions. It is making choices that suit you first.

Dueteronomy 23:3

An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever:

Zephaniah 2:8-10

8 -I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, whereby they have reproached my people, and magnified [themselves] against their border.
9 – Therefore [as] I live, saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, [even] the breeding of nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them.
10 – This shall they have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified [themselves] against the people of the LORD of hosts.

The Moabites worshiped false gods. They gave up their children as human sacrifices to those gods. God Jehovah had no place for the Moabites. The bible also speaks about crushing the forehead of Moab. I think the best thing a Christian can do for his/her own spiritual growth, not salvation, but your growth in your faith, is understand that God really does have zero tolerance for disobedience. But at the same time, He has great mercy for those who understand that and live with great faith! Remember I said that in later editions on this study of Ruth. You cannot see it, but I am winking at you.

If I tell you that Elimelech left Bethlehem Judah to go to Moab, using the interpretation of the original language, it sounds something like this. ‘God my King’ left ‘the house of bread and praise’ to live in the land ‘of his father’. How does that sound. Well… notice that ‘father’ is not capitalized. Maybe we can understand God’s wrath towards Moab if we remember the story. The land of Moab is from Moab, remember him? Remember when Lot’s daughters thought they were the last people on earth after the destruction of the five cities? Remember when Lot and his family were fleeing and the wife turned and looked back and was turned to a pillar of salt for her disobedience? Remember when the two daughters conspired with each other to get Lot drunk so they could have sex with him so they could get pregnant and continue civilization? Remember the youngest had a son? Do you remember his name? It was Moab, ‘of his father’. So this is not a reference to any spirituality. It is a reference to the incestuous and sinful relationship that took place and brought in existence, Moab. So it is not like he left the land of bread and praise to go to the land of God, but more like the land of Lot, the land of immorality, the land of sin. And remember that Lot made a bad choice when given the choice of two lands to live in by Abraham. Lot chose the land of the world, the land of sin. As a result, Abraham pled with God not to destroy the city if he found just one righteous man there? Lot, and his family, was not saved because of his righteousness, he, and his family, was saved because of Abraham’s righteousness, and God’s love for Abraham.

The land of bread! Has it occurred to you yet that in the midst of a famine, ‘the land of bread’ might be a place where you would want to stay? I draw this lesson to a close by relating Elimelech’s actions to ours. He was face with a horrible circumstance. If you are a real leader, man or woman, you do not want to see people under your leadership suffer. You just don’t want that. Elimelech looked at the situation and took matters into his own hands. What he did was left the land of bread. He left his nation. He left the house of God. He turned his back on God and said, “I got this”. The fact that his name means ‘God my King’ indicates to us that he was a follower. We are not to believe that he was an atheist, or in any other way a non-believer. He knew God. In his hour of trouble, he turned his back on God, said, “I have had enough of this”, and left the house of God. He led his family out of the house of God, and into the world of sin. He gave up his faith. When we look up other men in the bible, we see a story about their life. We see how their last days went before they died. Here, we just see he died. It was quick, with no explanation. We see nothing about mourning, or how people gathered, where the tomb is, or anything. There is just this cold quick abruptness to Elimelech’s death. Commentator Adam Clarke states that he believes the death occurred shortly after their arrival to Moab.

Matthew Henry

Elimelech’s care to provide for his family, was not to be blamed; but his removal into the country of Moab could not be justified. And the removal ended in the wasting of his family. It is folly to think of escaping that cross, which, being laid in our way, we ought to take up. Changing our place seldom is mending it. Those who bring young people into bad acquaintance, and take them out of the way of public ordinances, thought they may think them well-principled, and armed against temptation, know not what will be the end. It does not appear that the women the sons of Elimelech married, were proselyted to the Jewish religion. Earthly trials or enjoyments are of short continuance. Death continually removes those of every age and situation, and mars all our outward comforts: we cannot too strongly prefer those advantages which shall last for ever.

How is the condition of your faith? Are you like me and Elimelech? I certainly admit that there are times when I try to ‘take the bull by the horns’ instead of leaving my cares at the foot of the cross. I freely admit that there are times when the world looks so good to me. I am so tempted by the pleasurable sins of the flesh. I praise God for using Elimelech’s apostacy to teach me about keeping the faith and leading my family in the way God wants, not the way I want. To the men reading this, from Adam not stopping Eve from partaking in the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, from Abraham not stopping Sarah from introducing Hagar to bear the child she thought God was lying about, From Abraham knowing better to not lie about his marriage to Sarah to the Pharaoh, and the same for Isaac lying to King Abimelech, and Jacob lying to his father, from Moses and Aaron not being obedient to God, all the way to me and you not being the spiritual leaders that God intended us ALL to be, let the first three verses of this ‘love story’ be a testimony to how we are to be patient and to wait on the LORD. Do we really think that God would not provide for His people in the land of bread? We must have deeper faith that this. We must think about our choices with spiritual consideration, not earthly and human consideration. It is not power that God gives unto men. Men have to realize that God is the power. It is responsibility and accountability that God gives to men. Men operate under the authority of God, not your own power and authority and thus God must always come first.

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