James 3:7-10
Can you be “filled with the Holy Spirit” and have the “gifts of the Holy Spirit” without also being led and changed and sanctified and purified and convicted and controlled and governed and made holy by the Holy Spirit? Can you be filled with the life of the Holy Spirit while your life is filled with the works of the unholy flesh? Can you be full of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and also full of the works of the unholy flesh? Can you love the Spirit and also love the sin? Can you love the Spirit while also suppressing the truth? Can you eat from the table of the Lord and also the table of demons? Can you be the temple of the Holy Spirit and also the temple of idols? Can you experience the Spirit while enjoying the flesh? Can you feel happiness without finding holiness? Can you have the presence of holy fire and also the passion of fleshly flames? Can the Spirit of God be your leader without the Son of God being your Lord? Can you hear the Spirit and ignore the Word? Can you be controlled by the Spirit and uncontrolled? Can you be swimming in the Spirit and soaked in sin? Can you have the gifts of the Spirit without the fruit of the Spirit? Can you love what is holy without hating what is unholy? Can you be Spirit-led and flesh-fed? Is, or is not, the Holy Spirit Holy? The apostle Paul said “walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” (Gal. 5:16)
"If you knew how much work went into it, you wouldn't call it genius."
~ Michelangelo
Mark Buchanan, in an article entitled “Trapped in the Cult of the Next Thing” wrote this:
"I belong to the Cult of the Next Thing. It's dangerously easy to get enlisted. It happens by default—not by choosing the cult, but by failing to resist it. The Cult of the Next Thing is consumerism cast in religious terms. It has its own litany of sacred words: more, you deserve it, new, faster, cleaner, brighter. It has its own deep-rooted liturgy: charge it, instant credit, no down-payment, deferred payment, no interest for three months. It has its own preachers, evangelists, prophets, and apostles: ad men, pitchmen, celebrity sponsors. It has, of course, its own shrines, chapels, temples, meccas: malls, superstores, club warehouses. It has its own sacraments: credit and debit cards. It has its own ecstatic experiences: the spending spree. Most of us spend more time with advertisements than with Scripture. The Cult of the Next Thing's central message proclaims, ‘Crave and spend, for the Kingdom of Stuff is here.’"
I know the title of this post seems to contradict what Jesus said on the Sermon on the Mount but give me a chance to explain. Many today are attacking the objectivity, clarity, authority and certainty of truth. The result is that two of the very few so-called virtues left today are tolerance and diversity. I believe we Christians today need to be more judgmental. We are called and commanded to discriminate and discern. We Christians need to judge more that we be not judged.
The great theologian Steve Martin joked, years ago, "Never judge a man unless you’ve walked a mile in his shoes. Then you’ll be a mile away and you’ll have his shoes." That's funny but what did Jesus mean when He said what He said in what is now one of the most popular and well-known verses by Christians and non-Christians alike? Everyone knows and often quotes this saying of Jesus: "Judge not that you be not judged." (Matthew 7:1) The phrase has been twisted to mean "You live your lifestyle and I’ll live mine but don’t judge mine and definitely don’t try to force your standards of morality on me." The phrase "Judge not" now means "I’m OK, you’re OK. Believe what you want but stay out of my way!"
Jesus said "Judge not that you be not judged" in the first verse of Mathew chapter seven. The irony is when you read the rest of the chapter. This chapter is full of warnings and admonitions by Jesus Himself to judge people. In verse 6 He says, "Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you." Jesus is telling us to discern or judge certain people as "dogs" and other people as "pigs." How can you not not give dogs what is holy if you cannot judge certain people to be dogs? How can you not throw your pearls before pigs if you cannot judge certain people to be pigs? Describing people as dogs and pigs seems pretty judgmental to me.
Than in the same chapter, in verses fifteen though seventeen, Jesus says this: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit." Here, Jesus also tells us to beware of people who are "wolves" in sheep's clothing. He also tells us to judge whether someone is a "diseased tree" or not by their fruit. Again, this is sounding quite judgmental.
So, if this chapter is full of instructions on how to "judge with right judgment" (as Jesus also commands in John 7:24) what does He mean in the famous verse one? All we have to do is read the next few verses: "For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 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? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." (Matt 7:2-5)
Jesus was simply telling us not to be hypocritical judges. He was NOT telling us that we should not judge. In fact, the reason He gives for taking the log out of your own eye is so "then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." He starts off the chapter by tellings us to remove the log first and then He goes on and on with instructions on how to judge rightly. Remove the log from your eye so you can judge between dogs and children, pigs and people, wolves and sheep, and diseased trees and fruit-bearing trees. A half-truth is a lie. Read the whole chapter. Stop misquoting Jesus and judge more that you be not judged.
Shyness is caused by morbid introspection. According to Dr. Bernardo J. Carducci of the Shyness Research Institute, shyness has three components:
“Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance.”
~ St. Augustine of Hippo
Now that is probably the strangest title for a post that I've done. My students and I are reading through Luke and Acts this week. In our reading I came, again, across this text. "And he [Christ] told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’" (Luke 13:6-9).
Notice the relationship between fruit and manure. No fruit means more manure. Biblically, "fruit" means doing good works or thinking good thoughts. Jesus said, "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:5)." Doing nothing means bearing no fruit. So, the parable in Luke 13 is warning us that doing nothing guarantees more stinky manure. When you lack good works (fruitlessness) you might need some manure. Manure fertilizes the soil. Good soil means more fruit. More fruit means you won't be wasting space in the vineyard or be cut down or cut off.
We all know that in life, "manure happens." Stinky stuff happens to us. What we fail to realize, many times, is that it is God who is doing it for our good. For "those who love God," Paul says, "all things work together for good" (Rom 8:29). God can take stinky, dirty manure and use it for good in our lives. He can use it to grow fruit. He uses it to make us grow and mature. You could say: "no stink, no sanctification." As Martin Luther beautifully put it: "This life therefore is not righteousness but growth in righteousness; not health but healing, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not what we shall be but we are growing toward it; the process is not yet finished but it is going on; this is not the end but it is the road. All does not yet gleam in glory but all is being purified." Yes, manure happens, but when it does we should rejoice in the Lord of the vineyard because fruit happens as well.
Spend your time, your every moment, as if someone was videoing your every move and your every thought in order to prepare a video recording of you that would be given to a Just and Holy God on judgment day.
In a bad mood?
I have no respect for justice. I maim without killing. I break hearts and ruin lives. I am cunning and malicious and gather strength with age. The more I am quoted the more I am believed. I flourish at every level of society. My victims are helpless; they cannot protect themselves against me because I have no name and no face. To track me down is impossible. The harder you try, the more elusive I become. I am nobody's friend.
Once I tarnish a reputation, it is never the same. I topple governments and ruin marriages. I ruin careers and cause sleepless nights, heartache and indigestion. I spawn suspicion and generate grief. I make headlines, headaches and heartaches I make innocent people cry in their pillows. Even my name hisses.
WHO AM I? ... I AM CALLED GOSSIP. I come in many forms: Church gossip, Office gossip, Shop gossip, Party gossip Telephone gossip and Online gossip. I make headlines and headaches. Before you repeat a story, ask yourself, is it true? Is it fair? Is it necessary? If not, SHUT UP.
Whichever one of these two phrases you choose to use every day determines your attitude throughout the day toward everything. Do you say I have to or do you say I get to? There are many people who have never been able to have kids or who have lost kids to death or divorce. Do you have to teach and train and nurture and discipline and love your kids every day or do you get to? There was a time when the Bible was only written in a language that only the priests could understand and there were many who died bloody and torturous deaths making that Bible accessible to the common man. Do you have to read and study your Bible, the inspired and living Word of God, today or do you get to? Praise God we get to! There was a time when no one could go directly to the throne of God and make petitions to Him. There had to be sacrifices made, blood poured and priests interceding. Do I have to pray today or do I get to run right through that torn veil into the Holy Place and pray directly to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lord's through faith in the blood-bought righteousness of Jesus Christ my once-and-for-all sacrifice? There are so many things I don't have to do today because Jesus already did them and they never have to be done again. There are so many things I get to do today. Hallelujah!
"And what is there in me that could be hidden from thee, Lord, to whose eyes the abysses of man’s conscience are naked, even if I were unwilling to confess it to thee? In doing so I would only hide thee from myself, not myself from thee. But now that my groaning is witness to the fact that I am dissatisfied with myself, thou shinest forth and satisfiest. Thou art beloved and desired; so that I blush for myself, and renounce myself and choose thee, for I can neither please thee nor myself except in thee."
~ St. Augustine (Confessions Book X - translated by Albert C. Outler)
Happiness and anger are God-given emotions that must be God-ordered and God-ordained. Anger is not something that Christians should be ashamed of. In fact, many believers today would probably be surprised to find out that we are commanded, in Scripture, to be angry. The apostle Paul says, “Be angry and do not sin…” (Eph 4:26) Right before Paul tells us to be angry he is talking about those who are “darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!” (Eph 4:18-20) We need to be angry at sin when we see it but we shouldn’t sin in our anger.
There is so much corruption and sensuality in our culture that has been entertaining us Christians for so many years. There are scenes in movies that we, as Christian parents have seen, that would horrify us if our children were watching them. There are things I have seen on the silver screen, as entertainment, that I would be disgusted if my children had seen them. Rousas J. Rushdoony says “What disgusts God should disgust us.” Why would I be angry if my kids have watched something that I was entertained by? Where was my anger when I was laughing at something that should have made me furious? The response of parents should not be apathy but anger. We can’t cower under the fear of being labeled as hypocrites. Its one thing to stumble but it’s far worse to cause our little ones to stumble. Jesus said “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.” (Mark 9:42)
The problem with America is that Christians are too nice. Christians have been so afraid of anger. Anger is a great and godly emotion as long as you do not sin. It is not a sin to be angry; it is a sin to sin out of anger. As a parent it’s always amazing to me how the same thoughts that would anger me coming from my kid’s mind would be ignored coming from my own. Words that easily slip out of my mouth with impunity are met with wrath if caught through the teeth of one of my kids. Am I saying that my kids should get a free pass? Not at all! I just need to be impartial with my judgment. I shouldn’t stop being angry; I should just be angry more consistently. What we need is an anger that moves us to solutions not to sin.
How do we laugh at the things that crushed our Saviour? How are we entertained by the things that caused our Lord to suffer? How can we joke about the things that nailed God’s Son to the cross? Why are we amused by the things that caused Jesus to be accursed? There are so many things in our culture that should anger us and move us to faithful Kingdom service. We need to be angry at sin and sin not. The very things that have been attractive to us are the things that are trying to steal, kill and destroy our children. There is a battle for the hearts and minds of our kids. The enemy in the battle has been masquerading around as our friend for years. We need the kind of anger the Psalmist had when he said “Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies.” (Psalms 139:21-22)
This is a good encouraging reminder to us parents who are home educators. We want to build strong Christian character in our children so that their lives will bring honor to God. We are raising world-changers who will advance the Kingdom of God in the earth. This quote comes from the pen of John Adams to his wife:
"Education makes a greater difference between man and man, than nature has made between man and brute. The virtues and powers to which men may be trained, by early education and constant discipline, are truly sublime and astonishing… It should be your care therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds of our children, and exalt their courage, to accelerate and animate their industry and activity, to excite in them an habitual contempt of meanness, abhorrence of injustice and inhumanity, and an ambition to excel in every capacity, faculty, and virtue. If we suffer their minds to grovel and creep in infancy, they will grovel and creep all their lives."
"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (1 Thes 5:18)
We ought to give thanks in ALL circumstances. This is a powerful and often ignored command even though it is the will of God in Christ Jesus for us. All circumstances does mean all circumstances. Thanksgiving Day, obviously, is not the only circumstance where we should give thanks. In good times give thanks (do not forget the One who made the good times good). In bad times give thanks (do not forget the One who brings you through the bad times). In happy times give thanks for His blessings. In sad times give thanks for His comfort.
If you truly believe that God is completely sovereign and completely good than you must believe your circumstances are completely perfect. He could be rewarding you, blessing you, training you or testing you. Give thanks in prosperity, give thanks in adversity. Give thanks on the bed of roses; give thanks on the bed of sickness. Our prayers should not be only filled with requests but with thanksgiving. We should praise as much as we petition. We should extol as much as we entreat. God gave us His image, His breath, His world, His Word, His Covenant, His grace, His Spirit and His only begotten Son. Dare we grumble? Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Happy Thanksgiving!
"Men will wrangle for religion; write for it; fight for it; die for it; anything but live for it."
~ Charles Caleb Colton
"A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue they will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader... if virtue and knowledge are diffused among the people, they will never be enslaved. This will be their great security."
~ Samuel Adams
Its been said that pride is the only disease that makes everyone sick except the person who has it. C.J. Mahaney explains that, “Pride is when sinful human beings aspire to the status and position of God and refuse to acknowledge their dependence on him.”
Joe Thorn summarizes Puritan Richard Mayo in his sermon on The Prevention and Cure of Spiritual Pride where he warns us that pride can lead to all kinds of other sins. He says, “It is a big-bellied sin; most of the sins that are in the world are the offspring and issue of pride.” He gives a number of example. Here is a summary of most of them.
Pride gives birth to:
The Skin - The skin is the largest organ in the human body and the sense of touch can be a huge temptation from which you must flee. Since, to me, the most obvious way in which youth are tempted by their sense of touch is with the opposite sex, I am going to focus on that. Christians today are all over the map as far as their standard for what is appropriate touching and what is not among unmarried young people (and old people for that matter). Is it OK to sit real close? Is it OK to hold hands? Is it OK to put your arms around each other? Is it OK to be wrapped up all around each other? Is it OK to kiss on the cheek? Is it OK to kiss passionately? Is it OK to... I better stop there (I think you can see where I'm going). Does the Bible say anything about touching? Most people have heard the phrase "you can look but don't touch" but most Christians now feel that you can touch but not have sex. Is touching as innocent as many believe? Or is it something youth should flee? The Apostle Paul warned, "Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband." (1 Corinthians 7:1-2 NKJV) The word "touch" in the original language can mean "to touch" or "to cling" or "to fasten one's self to" and even "carnal intercourse." I think any honest person would admit that no one ever got involved in sexual immorality without first touching the other person. Also, most honest Christians will admit that once "touching" lights the fire, usually something gets burned before the fire gets put out. That is why Paul also says in verse 9, of the same chapter, "For it is better to marry than to burn with passion." If you are not married, bound in covenant for life, then you are not completely sure (no matter how much you think you are "in love") that this man or woman is going to be your spouse. So you must ask yourself the question: "What would you want someone to do with your future spouse?" Remember, God transcends time and space. He is not bound by the restrictions of time. He sees you touching another person's spouse while they are married, as it were. So-called innocent and flirtatious touching should be something that young people run from as fast as they can. No one, not even strong Christian and mature men, should put themselves in that situation. Save it for the marriage. There is "a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing..." (Ecc 3:5)
