As I continue to search
through God’s word and spend time in meditation and prayer; I feel as if I’m
being taken to a place that is making me very uncomfortable. The place that I
am talking about is a spiritual place of relationship with my Heavenly Father
which brings more understanding of Him and His word. What is making me
uncomfortable about this place is that I am finding myself in more and more
conversation where I am
defending His word. I am finding myself more isolated and alone, standing apart
from most “Christian” in my belief and that has sent me into deep reflection.
“What do I mean by ‘defending His word’”; you’re probably
asking yourself. I mean that I am having more and more conversations with
people that either don’t agree with what the Word of God says or they don’t
believe it applies to them. Now I’m not talking about those who don’t believe
and don’t follow the teachings of Jesus Christ; I’m talking about professed
Christians who don’t acknowledge all of the truth of the content of scripture.
Not just the parts they like, but all of His word. What
frightens me the most is how long I lived in denial myself and how long will
our Heavenly Father be patient until His day of judgment is upon us?
I am just going to pour out what is in my heart and just
some of the scripture’s that have brought me to this place and I will leave it
to you to either agree or disagree.
I am going to start my position with the greatest
commandment:
And one of the scribes came up and
heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he (Jesus) answered them
well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus
answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord
is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is
this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment
greater than these.” (Mark 12:28-31 ESV)
So; it seems as if Jesus makes
everything plain and simple for us. Love God with everything and love others as
you love yourself. However, take time to listen to what Jesus said. The
greatest commandment is to “love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all
our soul and with all our mind
and with all our strength”.
The word “all” seems to be very popular in this statement. It really doesn’t
leave a whole lot of wiggle room for negotiation. He said; “all”.
The first place that God began to
take me to; or if you will, reveal to me about my heart, is that I want to love
God – with exceptions. If you will indulge me, I will share with you just a few
of the area’s that the Holy Spirit convicted me in:
·
I will love God with all that I am; just not with my time.
·
I will love God with all that I am; just not with my money.
·
I will love God with all that I am; just not with my
marriage.
·
I will love God with all that I am; just not with my family.
·
I will love God with all that I am; just not with my work or
career.
·
I will love God with all that I am; except for my neighbors.
·
I will love God with all that I am; except for my drugs and
alcohol.
·
I will love God with all that I am; except for my sexual
immorality.
Now,
every time I start to have one of these conversations, I begin to hear the
arguments of the defendants (word
chosen deliberately and carefully):
·
We are covered by God’s grace.
·
God views all sin equally, no one sin is worse than another
and we are all saved by grace.
·
Your advocating “works”, and we are not saved by works, it’s
by grace through faith.
·
I’ve prayed to God and I have been forgiven.
I
do not dispute any of the arguments that you just read or you may have. But
what I would like to do; is to just take a few moments to examine scripture on
what Jesus said about loving Him and our Heavenly Father:
One of the most, if not the most
quoted scriptures of the Bible is John 3:16 – For God so loved the world, that
he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have
eternal life. But if we were to just continue reading;
“Whoever
believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned
already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And
this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the
light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things
hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be
exposed. But whoever does what is true
comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been
carried out in God.” (John 3:18-21 ESV)
I
don’t know about you, but there appears to be a suggestion that the things you
do…may reflect what you believe. Chapter 3 finishes with this thought:
Whoever
believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on
him. (John 3:36 ESV)
Here
we finish with if you believe, you will obey.
Jesus
has more to say to his apostles when he promises the Holy Spirit and they
question him:
“If you
love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he
will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth,
whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You
know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
“I
will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the
world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will
live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in
you. Whoever has my commandments and
keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my
Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot)
said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to
the world?” Jesus answered him, “If
anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we
will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that
you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me. (John 14:15-24 ESV)
Jesus
said very plainly and clearly; if you love him you will keep his commandments
and those that do not love him do not keep his words. Jesus was very clear as
Matthew recorded on the teachings of Jesus.
“Do not
think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to
abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and
earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches
others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but
whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of
heaven. (Matthew 5:17-19 ESV)
What I have been sharing so far goes
against much of what is being taught in “church” today, but I plead for your
patience as we look at how Jesus impacted “sinners” and what instructions he
gave to them.
The
scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and
placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught
in the act of adultery. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women.
So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some
charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the
ground.
And as
they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is
without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he
bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one
by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman
standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they?
Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither
do I condemn you; go, and from now on
sin no more.” (John 8:3-11 ESV)
Notice
here that after Jesus had shown this woman grace, he issued a commandment. He
did not say; “You’re good; go back to committing adultery.” He said; “go, and
from now on sin no more.” Grace and forgiveness was given with a commandment.
Here’s another popular story. The
story of Zacchaeus:
He
entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus.
He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus
was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature.
So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was
about to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said
to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”
So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it,
they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”
And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold,
Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone
of anything, I restore it fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today
salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the
Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:1-10 ESV)
Now
here is Zacchaeus, a man who had been a cheat and a swindler. A man that once impacted
by the presence of Jesus Christ, by allowing him not only into his home but
into his heart, was markedly changed. After having “faith” in Jesus Christ, he
gave away half of his possessions and to anyone he defrauded he returned four
times as much. This is a man who’s behavior change is a reflection of his heart
change.
For those who desired to follow
Christ as they were seeking eternal salvation, there were some stumbling blocks
and Christ’s response was plain.
And
behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to
have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good?
There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.”
He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall
not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness,
Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” Jesus
said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to
the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the
young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
And
Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a
rich person enter the kingdom of heaven.
Again
I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for
a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they
were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at
them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are
possible.” Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed
you. What then will we have?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the
new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have
followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel. And everyone who has left houses
or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's
sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many
who are first will be last, and the last first. (Matthew 19:16-30 ESV)
As
they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you
wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the
air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he
said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
And
Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go
and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord,
but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and
looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:57-62 ESV)
The
message that Jesus is clearly conveying here is this; there should be nothing
that is of greater importance than following Him. Not money, not a funeral, not
saying goodbye to friends and family. Nothing is or can be more important. Love
God with all – no exceptions.
This is not a popular message and it
sure doesn’t fit the “feel good” message that is so popular in our culture. But
Christ addressed that as well:
“Do not
think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring
peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a
daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father
or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and
follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever
loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:34-39 ESV)
There is even an interesting story
in John chapter 6. After Jesus feeds the five thousand, he continues to teach
that He is the bread of life and over simply put; all should be seeking him and
nothing else. Now some of his disciples could not swallow all that he was
teaching (pardon the pun), so the following ensued:
When
many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can
listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling
about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were
to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who
gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you
are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus
knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who
would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to
me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
After this many of his disciples turned
back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you
want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to
know, that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:60-69 ESV)
Now, I know that there are some of
you that are already upset and you’re setting up your defenses; but I want you
to understand that I just want to bring you the truth, so that you may be set
free:
So Jesus
said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly
my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to
anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”
Jesus
answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to
you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not
remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you
free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet
you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I
have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”
(John 8:31-38 ESV)
Paul
writes concerning the continuation of sin;
What
then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!
Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves,
you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death,
or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become
obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were
committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of
righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural
limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity
and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as
slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
For
when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what
fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now
ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of
God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For
the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ
Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:15-23 ESV)
We
all agree that we are saved by faith through grace, but remember James issues
this challenge;
What
good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?
Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking
in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and
filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?
So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
But
someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart
from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God
is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be
shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not
Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the
altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was
completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham
believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a
friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith
alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works
when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is
dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. (James 2:14-26 ESV)
I believe we are in the time that
Paul wrote to his spiritual son Timothy about:
I charge
you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and
the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in
season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience
and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching,
but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit
their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander
off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the
work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. (2 Timothy 4:1-5 ESV)
So I urge you, I beg you and I plead
with you; do not take anything that I have written here for granted. Do not
take what your church or your pastor/priest/preacher tells you for granted. I
implore you to read the Gospels, read the New Testament. Study the word and
earnestly seek wisdom in prayer and meditation. Test all that you hear. So that
the conclusion that you may come to, comes to you from our Heavenly Father and
not from what anyone may tell you.
The fact of the matter is that here
in the United States we are sheltered and spoiled. While we sleep comfortably
under the blanket of our freedom and our “rights”; there are those that have
freely sacrificed all we enjoy to be a follower of Christ. There are those in
other countries that by simply professing their Christianity; they are being
disowned by their families, beat and tortured by their communities, and jailed
by their governments. There are those that risk life and/or prison to smuggle
bibles into countries where they are forbidden. There are those who leave
America and are imprisoned for “simply” spreading the Gospel in Muslim led
countries.
We walk around arrogantly professing
the love and “grace” of Christ with our mouths yet wallowing in the slavery to
the sin in our hearts. We must begin to hold ourselves accountable. And before
you take off down the road to start pointing fingers;
Jesus also said; “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you
will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be
given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will
be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to
you.”
He
also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both
fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is
fully trained will be like his teacher.
Why
do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log
that is in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take
out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that
is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and
then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye.
“For
no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for
each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from
thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of
the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his
evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth
speaks.” (Luke 6:37-45 ESV)
This is a call to self-examination.
This is a call to self-reflection. This is a call to repentance. This is a call
to action. What are you willing to sacrifice for what you believe? Are you
prepared to love the Lord your God with all that you are and all that you have…or
are there exceptions? When Jesus Christ died on the cross, he died for all…without
exception. Will you continue to love him back with exceptions?
