Don't Put Jesus Away

          Our house is very quiet now after the busyness that comes with 15 precious family members coming to celebrate Christmas with us.  How quickly the time flies by!  It seems like only yesterday that I unpacked all the decorations and my manger set.  Now it is time to start putting it away again.  However, I never want it to be just a routine I have to go through each year.  Have you ever wondered how many people look at it that way?  They get out their decorations without ever stopping to consider why they are celebrating or whom they are celebrating.  It is just something they do out of habit, and they may even look at church attendance in that light.  Certainly, most churches are filled to the brim on Christmas Eve and on Easter, but then, those same places of worship see fewer of those folks in the ensuing weeks.  Why is that?  Is it because they take Jesus out of His box once in a while and then put Him back in it like putting away the manger set?  Some people believe they only have to attend church once in a while, and somehow that inoculates them against sin and pleases God for a while before they have to do it again.  This is not a new approach.  Relying on church attendance and rule keeping to please God was a fre
quent tactic of the Pharisees.
     In Mark's Gospel, Jesus is questioned by the Pharisees concerning his disciples who had not properly washed their hands before eating.  Jesus is quick to reply in Mark 7: 6-7:  "And He said to them, 'Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'"  What Jesus pointed out here is that the Pharisees were very good at keeping rules...especially their own rules designed to keep them from breaking the Ten Commandments.  However, they went through the motions.  Their hearts were not in what they did; rather they wanted to impress others with their religious activities.
     Matthew's Gospel account further explains the hypocrisy of the Pharisees in chapter 23.  Jesus called them out for not practicing what they preach (vs. 3-4).  They would lay upon others the heavy burdens of the Law, but they, themselves, found ways around them.  Jesus rightly said in verse 5a:  "They do all their deeds to be seen by others..."  This was their primary motivation.  Throughout this chapter, Jesus pointed to the hollowness of their faith, and this is precisely why the Pharisees wanted to destroy Him.  He saw through their empty actions done more for show than for God's glory.
     As followers of Jesus Christ, this should cause us to do some serious evaluation of our own walk with the Lord before the dawn of the New Year.  We need to ask ourselves if we are just going through the motions to look good to others or are we sincere in our efforts to live for the Lord?  Are we spending quality time in prayer asking for God's wisdom, guidance and forgiveness for our sins?  Do we have a plan for reading the Bible, and are we faithful in following it?  This is not meant to be a checklist for us to merely mark off each day.  Instead, it is meant to be a guideline for evaluation.
     Going through the motions is exactly what the Pharisees were good at doing.  Yet Jesus said that their hearts were far from Him.   They are like the people that unpack the decorations, go to church out of  habit or tradition, and then, when Christmas is over, they wrap up their manger set and put Jesus away again.  Christians are meant to walk with the Lord each day living for Him and bringing glory to His name.  We will be known by our fruits not by empty deeds.
     As we pack up our Christmas decorations, lets not pack away our faith in Christ, but let us seek to stir it up daily that what Jesus said about the Pharisees may not be true of us:  "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness.  So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness"  (Matthew 23:27-28).  May we live, instead, for His glory each day!  Selah!

The Standard of Truth

     Recently, a discussion took place where the question of a certain "Christian" author came up.  This writer has been a pastor who has since left the church in pursuit of a T.V. career and whose writing is nothing less than controversial in terms of his position on issues that touch Christian doctrine.  Have his critics been too harsh in their examination of his work?  Perhaps.  However, whenever we put ourselves out there in the marketplace of ideas, we are open to scrutiny.  It comes with the territory of leadership, and being a pastor makes

words and actions even more critical.  James (3:1) shares these words of caution:  "Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness."  So how are we to look at the many books, teachers, pastors and blogs out there today?  

     First, we must have a frame of reference.  We cannot compare what someone has written or spoken unless we have a standard by which to evaluate it.  For the Christian, our foundation is no less than the Word of God in its entirety.  It is the truth written for our instruction.  As 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us:  "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness...."  Because God is the author who is immutable (unchanging), holy, and righteous, we can trust what is written in the pages of the Bible.  The Reformers found this to be the center of their complaint against Rome.  They held that this is the only rule for life and faith not Papal authority or tradition.  Therefore, we need to weigh anything we read, hear or see according to the truths contained in God's Word.

     In His high priestly prayer for the disciples, Jesus said in John 17:17:  "Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth."  Jesus came not to abolish the Law and the Prophets but to fulfill it.  With this in mind, we can rest knowing that we have the best resource at our fingertips.  Unfortunately, many believers fail to dig into the Word of God on a regular basis.  This leaves them vulnerable to every "wind of doctrine" that comes along including the ideas of "popular" authors or speakers.  We have been warned repeatedly to be on guard, and we have the example of the Bereans in the book of Acts 17:11 which says:  "Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the Word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so."  Even though it was the Apostle Paul, himself, and Silas that came preaching to them, they still took the time and effort to check Scripture to see if what they were saying was correct.  This is an important example of how we need to take our faith seriously so as not to be misled.

     At this time in our history, there are many ideas swirling around in our culture:  homosexual marriage, the emergent church, goddess worship, and other "New Age" concepts.  How will we be able to keep our balance unless we are grounded in the Bible?  We need to know what we believe and why we believe it.  As Acts 20:27 reminds us, we must be able to know and share the "whole counsel of God" as revealed in both the Old and New Testament.

     Our weakness in this time is the tendency to be drawn by celebrity preachers, mega churches, contemporary styles that eclipse the true meaning of worship, and feel good books/messages.  Let us, therefore, be proactive and take the time to examine books, sermons, and activities to make certain they line up with God's Word.  If they do not, we must put them aside in favor of the Bible.  May God help us to be faithful!  Selah!

In the Holiday Rush

     This is a busy time of year for all of us especially if we have family coming to join us for the holidays.  In our haste, we often times can say or do things which might not have a positive impact on another person.  For example, last year at this time, our family read through a list of text messages where autocorrect had totally changed the meaning of a text message sent in a hurry.  Obviously the person sending the message did not check it out before hitting send.  We laughed so hard at some of the examples because it has happened to most of us one time or another.  Then, on the other side of the coin are messages that are derogatory in nature which accidentally get sent to the person who is being criticized.  Not only is it embarrassing, but it is also very hurtful.  Whether done in haste or done out of carelessness, we can certainly find ourselves in a bind.
     In the Book of James, we read these words of wisdom (James 3:9-10):  "With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.  From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.  My brothers, these things ought not be so."  This passage refers to the problem we all have with our tongues.  Long before Smart phones, texting and email, people communicated verbally, and not all their words are kind.  That is the problem with having a sin nature.  As James describes the tongue, he calls it a fire in verse six and refers to as a world of evil.  If this were not enough, the Apostle goes on to say that the tongue is set on fire by hell itself.  Those are strong words, but they ring true.  There are very few of us who have not let something fly out of our mouths at least once or twice that we wish we could have recaptured before it hit the ears of the person we were speaking to.  However, once spoken, words can not be taken back.

Our sweet granddaughter Everleigh and
her cute little tongue!

     Jesus also spoke to the issue of our mouth and the words we speak when He said this in Luke 6:45:  "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."  Quite often, our mouth testifies against us to show us and others what is in our heart.  As believers in Christ, we should feel convicted when we let a careless word fly from our lips.  In fact, Jesus also told us in Matthew 12:36-37:  "36"But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. 37"For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."
     When we stop and think about it, who has not made an unkind remark, a cutting comment, a sarcastic joke or some other verbal bomb that has left devastation in its wake?  This is how relationships and marriages are destroyed by the little things that are said which tear down one another.  However, there is a remedy for this.  Unlike smart phones that have the unpredictable autocorrect, Christians have the Holy Spirit living and dwelling within us.  He is able to guide and guard us in our speech with one another.  Our job is to listen to Him and ask for Him to give us the right words at the right time said in the right manner.  The Spirit can teach us what to say (Luke 12:12), but we must be willing to listen to Him and not respond to others out of anger or emotion.
     In those times when we do mess up and speak hurtful words, our remedy is to confess it to God and seek His forgiveness and then, ask forgiveness from the one we have offended.  For myself, I love the prayer of David in the Psalms when he wrote:  "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer."  If we strive to please and bless the Lord, we will not only guard our lips but we will also seek not to speak in haste.  Yes, autocorrect can be a shortcoming for the smart phone, but we need not walk in a careless manner when it comes to our tongues.  James reminds us again of how we should approach communication (James 1:19):  "Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;..."  If we live this way, we have nothing to fear on the day of judgment. Selah!