Marked

Today's passage:  Romans 16:1-18
     There was a movement in education several years back (seems like there is always some kind of movement) regarding grading student work.  Studies showed that negative red marks on student work lowered their self esteem. I'm not sure what the solution to this "dilemma" was, because I had pretty well tuned out after that, but I would not be surprised if the recommendation had been never to point out wrong answers on schoolwork.  I guess that explaining to the kindergartner that two plus two is indeed four and not five would shatter his self image too much, and well, we wouldn't want that.
     I just thought to myself, wouldn't it be more harmful to his self esteem if they were allowed to believe that their wrong answers were alright even into adulthood?  Isn't someone along the way going to make him feel ignorant for his well, ignorance and maybe in a much less kind way than a red mark on a paper?  I can understand that a student might be discouraged at seeing a failing test with red x's all over it, but am I doing that child a favor by not pointing it out so he can learn from his mistake and get it right in the future?  And what about his classmates?  When they see each other's work (which they always do somehow), aren't they going to point out to me or to him that he got two plus two equals five wrong too?
     This brings me to the passage today.  In verses 17-18, Paul writes:

17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.

18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple." 

Demetrius the Silversmith Stirs up a Riot
Taken from Treasures of the Bible
By Henry Davenport Northrop, D.D.
International Publishing Company, 1894

     When I saw that word "mark", I immediately thought of taking a big red marker and drawing an "x" across something. Must be the teacher in me.  This is a hard truth.  And what is harder is that Paul points out the exact method a person uses to do this.  A person who is trying to divide a congregation doesn't go about it like a cyclone, although he has that exact effect.  How?  "By good words and fair speeches".  That would probably mean this is somebody who is very well liked.  I have seen this happen in churches before.  The pastor usually has to call out these particular people because it is what the Bible commands. Half the congregation feels this is extreme, because after all,  Mr. Division was such a helpful person.  He would see a need and be the first person there to assist (all the while planting heresy in the listener's ear).  Or Ms. Offence was always so efficient (especially at explaining why the pastor was wrong about the resurrection).

      The pastor has to expose this kind of behavior.  Why?  The end of verse 18 explains why, so that these deceivers can not lead hearts away.  The Bible calls them "simple", which I think would mean naive or trusting.  And who would be the most trusting in our congregations?  New converts and children.  I don't care how kind or helpful or efficient somebody is, if they are filling my children's ears with wrong doctrine, I don't want them teaching my children.  I don't want them around my children at all.  I would be justified in that because Paul doesn't only say "mark them", but he also says, "avoid them".  When a Mr. Division or Ms. Offence is asked to leave, he and she will more than likely take some followers with them, which is exactly why they have to be asked to leave in the first place.  If that kind of behavior is allowed to continue in a church, the whole congregation could be destroyed. I have never seen a  pastor enjoy exposing this kind of thing, but he is commanded to do it.  People may leave, but losing a few (although it would be preferable not to lose any) has to be risked than losing the whole church to heresy.  Church members who only saw the smiling, jovial, everybody's friend, Mr. Division or Ms. Offence may have been too wise for these people to expose their true selves.  Or true motives.  And this is the hardest part because it would be easier to believe that they are just deceived as well and they just need to grow more in the Lord.  And that may be true, but when they are trying to win others over to their point of view, especially in an already established church with a clear doctrinal statement, Paul says they are only doing it for one reason.  They are trying to serve their own belly.  Serve their own belly?  I've heard of filling a person's belly?  But I would guess it means about the same.  Serving one's belly would mean to have a full one.  And how would he be full?  When he has enough money to fill it.  So I'm guessing these deceivers have only one thing in mind.  Money.  I would like to assign purer motives to people most of the time, as I've said before, I like to think the best about people, but Paul is clear that these people are not trustworthy, and their motives are impure.
     If a pastor were to avoid pointing out these people because he was afraid of crushing someone's self esteem, he would be just as guilty as the teacher who fails to grade a paper properly.  Someone along the way is going to catch on, and the damage then might be far worse.

The Whole Truth

Today's passage:  I Corinthians 13:6
     Often I am so busy learning about myself, that I forget it is not the only reason to read the Bible.  It is also to learn about God.  The things God has been reminding me about Himself has renewed me.  Not that He has ever needed me to have confidence in Him, I have always been confident of His love for me, of His watchfulness, of His provision.  I have always been sure of His infallible Word, of Holy Spirit conviction, of the law of sowing and reaping.  I am certain that He wants me to lean on Him, worship Him, serve Him, in that order.  Yet, even though I stand firm on all these, God still shows me more about Himself, not because He needs to instill that confidence, but because when I am confident in who He is, I am confident in who I am.  And honestly, I've needed that a little the last couple of weeks.  I have had inner wrestlings in my spirit.  I have been bearing  weights when I should be allowing God to flex His muscles.
     This has little to do with the verse today, but this chapter has reminded me so much about my loving God.  It has been refreshing to dwell on Him, and not on me.
    "{Charity}Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;"  Brackets are mine.  This seems like an obvious characteristic of God's love.  It is not ground-breaking revelation that God is not joyful about our sin.  In my prayer time this morning I thanked Him for having this quality because it was what prompted Him to plan our salvation.  As much as the Lord Jesus loathed sin, He was willing to come close to it, to have it put upon Him, so that it could be taken from me.  That is true love.  He took hateful, despicable, detestable sin upon Himself.  The Holy Spirit does not rejoice in sin. He does not hurrah every time He has to point it out in my life.  He isn't cheering when the sin I didn't know was there is revealed to me.  He doesn't wave each transgression in my face.  Sometimes it hits me hard, unveiled like a rabbit in a magician's hat, but He doesn't say "I told you so".  Sometimes He shows me in a quiet way, quivering my calm, off-balance steps, which provokes me to see the cause. 
     God also rejoices in the truth.  He is The Truth.  So does He rejoice in Himself?  I know He rejoices in His Son.  Remember at Christ's baptism and at the Transfiguration when God says, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."?  He rejoices in His Son, who is the Truth.  In Roman 13:17, Paul says, "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."  He is also referred to by Christ in John 17 as the Spirit of truth.  Very little here on earth or in man is truthful.  Which would leave only one answer as to what truth would cause rejoicing.  Him.  I should rejoice in Him here, but when everything points away from Him, away from the Truth, it gets very difficult.  How marvelous it will be in Heaven when everyone will rejoice in the Truth.  None of us will have hidden motives or secret agendas.  God says charity is rejoicing in the truth, and the only real truth exists in Him. When I rejoice over every sinner who has been found by Christ, I am rejoicing in the truth. 

Courtesy of http://breadsite.org

     I may give my money to many "charities" but true charity is found when I give that money to organizations that give out the truth.  Since there is only one truth, it would be better to invest my money not in humanitarian causes, but in spiritual ones.  Giving money to fight cancer, to save children in the Sudan, to political candidates is fine.  Will we ever find the solution through those?  Will there ever be a day when cancer is cured, children are no longer hungry, politics solves our problems?  I know the answer to the last two.  And while I don't condemn anyone for donating to these needs, if truth is not being revealed through all of these fine and noble organizations, it isn't true charity.  If God allows the doctors to eradicate cancer from the body, but the soul has never been touched, I don't see the cause for rejoicing.  Trust me, I want to see a cure, I'm just saying we call them "charity", but unless it somehow points to God, it is not.  Should Africa conquer malnourishment in every child on that continent, unless each little life is presented with the gospel of Jesus Christ, we have only prolonged the inevitable.  I'm not heartless.  I don't want to see those children die.  But I know that they are hungry for something more substantial.  They need to be filled with the truth.  If all the political bickering subsided, if our nation were to somehow fix unemployment, education, the deficit, foreign policy etc., etc., etc., we might think it time to celebrate.  But in our material health, our spiritual selves would lean less on Him, and more on us.  We would seek our own truth instead of the real Truth.  So as much as I would like to see members in my church family gainfully employed, as much as I would like to see the housing market rise again, I know that sponsoring a candidate to deliver us from these woes will not deliver us from our eternal ones.  I would never discourage anyone from giving to these needs, but we label them wrong.  They are not true charity unless with the earthly cure they are giving out the spiritual one. 
     God does not rejoice in iniquity, and did something about it.  He rejoices in the Truth that was sent long ago to deliver me from my iniquity.  He rejoices in every wayward sinner, trudging with Bunyan's burden, eyes opened at the Cross for the first time.  He rejoices when that burden falls from our backs and He gives us a scroll of Truth to exchange in that Celestial City.  I love God's way, when I sorrow for people in sin, and I give out the Truth of God.  I love the way God loves when I give my money to disease fighting physicians who also tell about the Great Physician, when with the morsel of bread they give out the Bread of Life, when in the political debate they offer The Way, The Truth and the Life.  Charity is God's love in action.  His actions tell the whole story, a story of the whole truth.

Edit, Backspace, Delete

Today's passage:  James 3
     While I am deciding which book to study next, I will share a thought that occurred to me (as I was ironing clothes).  I was thinking how often I censor myself.  Not in the way TV networks need to do when someone curses and the show logo appears across their mouth, but when I'm about to say too much.  How many times on a social networking site I visit often have I started to post a comment and then decided maybe it was better left unsaid.  I am able to review what I've said before I post it.  Sometimes I erase the comment before I hit enter.  If I said everything I thought, I would probably have few friends left. Wouldn't it be nice if I could do that in real life?  How convenient it would be to have a playback in my head of how something sounds so I could erase it if I need to.
     "Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you?  let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom."  If I would always think before I speak or post, I would be perceived as wise.  Many times, I don't think before I speak.  Those words are forever out there.  I can't take them back, I can't backspace and delete.  Am I considerate before I leave a comment?  Not just in cyberspace, but face to face?  Do I guard my words?  They are so powerful!  The book of James talks about the tongue being like a fire.  Uncontrolled, it does irreparable damage.  James says the tongue is like the horse's bit and the ship's rudder.  It needs taming and steering.  Am I the captain of my tongue?  Do I steer it in the right direction?  Do I consider before I speak, or do I just assume that because it is truth, it needs to be said?  I've done that too many times before, and have regretted it.  I am nobody's Holy Spirit.  Just because my intentions are right, does not mean I should always say what I believe.  People can not hear my intentions, only my words.That is not saying that there isn't a time for truth. Sometimes I haven't said enough.  Sometimes I should have intervened.  It can be a very fine line.

Sailing the Mediterranean by Ship--Taken from Treasures of the Bible (The Early Church)
By Henry Davenport Northrop, D.D.
International Publishing Company, 1894

     I've been thinking about this because I often feel lonely.  I talk to people, but I don't feel as if I have many close friends.  I am close with my church family, but not in an I-can-reveal-my-heart to you way.  Have I alienated people with my words?  Do I seem self-righteous?  Perhaps one of the reasons I started this blog is because it allows me to be transparent in a way I don't feel I can be in real life.  I am somewhat reserved.  I like to be proper (maybe too much).  Do people feel I'm aloof?  I hope not.  Sometimes I have heard the comment that I am not genuine.  Am I fake?  I don't mean to be. I can see why people may think that way.  I try to be careful in everything I say and do because I don't want to bring any shame to my Savior in word or deed.  I try to be careful with my words because I don't want to give offense when it is not warranted.  I'm not talking about waffling or wavering in my opinions.  I'm certain in what I believe, and given the opportunity to proclaim my Savior, I will take it.  But there are plenty of matters that my opinion does not need to be revealed unless asked, and even then, carefully.  I am probably only unguarded with my husband and children, and I probably need to be the most guarded with them.  My words affect them so deeply.  Why do I feel like since they are my family I can say whatever I feel to them?  Why do I not apply the same principles to them that I do other people?  Wouldn't it be nice if I could delete every hurtful thing I've said to them?  Wouldn't it be marvelous if I could backspace before I made that critical comment? If I am the captain of my tongue, there would never be need for it.

Pleading My Case

Today's passage: Isaiah 59
       "For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us:  for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them;..."    "And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off:  for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter."
     I have a very clear picture of my unsaved self approaching a courthouse.  Justice is standing at the courthouse steps, nodding at me and wishing me luck, with a sad look on his face.  Truth is waving me down, rushing across the busy street to catch up to me, and is nearly plowed down by a vehicle.  I enter the courthouse.  God sits in the judge's seat.  There is already someone sitting behind the witness stand.  It is Pride. He tells the Judge about how I think I can do things better than others, how I think I'm always right.  I want to cry out that it is not true, but the Judge will not allow me to speak, and my lawyer hasn't appeared.  Pride is dismissed from the bench and Anger is asked to give his account.  He tells the Judge about how I've yelled at people, how I've cursed under my breath, how I've wanted to take vengeance on someone who mistreated me.  The evidence is mounting up against me.  Why hasn't my lawyer arrived yet?  I know I didn't hire one, but doesn't the state have an obligation to provide a defense for me?  Now Anger is stepping down and Sloth is ordered to tell what he has witnessed.  Objection!  Objection!  Sustained.  Where is my lawyer?  I need a lawyer.
     I dash out into the vestibule and ask the clerk to call my attorney.  He points at a bench across the hallway.  Christ is sitting there.  Apparently, he has been appointed to my case.  I ask Him why He has not made a defense for me.  He says I never called on Him.  I tell Him I didn't know I had to.  His eyes are filled with tears.  He tells me that many people do not realize that He can not argue their case until they have called Him first.  I want to know how I was supposed to know this.  He shows me a Book.  He pulls out a picture of a friend who told me about a Great Lawyer she had asked to testify for her once.  He shows me a building I had once been to, that told me about His services.  I drop my head.  He was right.  I had known.  I had been told.  Was it too late?  I tell Him I am guilty of everything I have been accused.  I tell Him that I have given money to the poor, that I have been kind to the unpopular girl in my class, that I have gotten straight A's throughout school.  He tells me that will not cover my crimes.  Do I trust Him?  He shows me His hands.  Then He lifts His robe a bit and shows me His feet.  I remember now.  The cross.  He had taken my place for my crimes, my sins.  Only that would suffice.  I start to cry.  I'm sorry, I tell Him.  "Please forgive me," I plead.  I'm so sorry that all the witnesses against me were the reason He had these marks.  I tell Him I know now that only He can save me from the judgement to come.  Will he take the case?  He will.
     Christ swings open the wood-paneled doors.  I follow.  Self-pity is on the stand rattling away about all the times I have felt sorry for myself.  The Judge sees Christ approach the bench.  Christ whispers something to the Judge.  God raises his gavel and yells "Case dismissed!"  I fall to my knees.  I hug my Advocate and thank Him.  I thank the Judge for allowing my Lawyer to save me.  I run out of the courthouse as Justice heads up the steps.  Truth brushes off the dirt from the street and heads into the courthouse as well.  I want to tell everyone that Jesus will take their case too.
     If I had appeared in Heaven before God's courtroom and I had not accepted Christ, I would not have another opportunity as I did in my story.  I want to be clear about this, because I don't want anyone to think they will have another chance after this life.    "...behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)"  II Corinthians 6:2  Accept Him today!